Now, All Restaurants are Taco Bell

I was at a LAN recently.  A wide mixture of games were being played – FPS, RTS, driving, sim, fighters even rhythm games – but the game played the most was an MMO, namely World of Warcraft.  I see more and more WOW at LAN events and, given that it’s not a LAN game, I thought that the people playing the game were just being antisocial.  With my recent exposure to the social side of MMOs I’ve changed my view.  Playing an MMO in the same room as other players, grinding a few levels or just doing an instance together is a fun experience online or in person.

Long gone are the days where LAN events were for FPS die-hards or RTS strategy kings.  WOW has made its mark on all types of gamers.  So, if there were to be a war of franchised games, which would win?

I put together a list of all of the current series games that I own and I thought I’d break it down to what I look for most:

Game name	Regularly updated	Regular new content	Massive multiplayer battles	Character customisation
WOW
Cod Series
BF Series
CS / CS:S
C&C Series
GTA Series
Burnout Series

You pay for a subscription and for that fee Blizzard keep the game up to date. They address any balance issues and constantly add new content.  On top of that you can do instances with 25 people, faction vs faction events with hundreds of players and with the weapon and equipment drops you will be able to look completely unique.  It’s got everything that I’m looking for.

What keeps me going the most in this game is the possibility for interaction and discovery.  The game is massive.  There isn’t another game out there that can match the size or depth of WOW.  So, if there were a war of games, I’m pretty sure that World of Warcraft would win.  Then all games would be called World of Warcraft.