World of Warcraft is one of today’s largest online games, with over 11 million subscribers, each one paying $11 to $15 a month on fees. And yet, the game itself plays like a generic action RPG – You run around, cast spells, and fight the same monsters over and over, with some varying tactics based on whether you get additional creatures attacking you, or if the enemy is resistant to an element. For the most part, you use the same moveset over and over again, repeating a set – For example, a battle in Warcraft can go as such: You run up to an enemy while attacking, cast a beneficial spell which heals you for every swing, then do an offensive move, and then recast the healing spell once it wears off, and then repeat from there – means that for the most part, the game is a monotonous grind of whittling away one monster’s health down to nothing only to go to the next, with the occasional new monster type thrown in.

With such an obvious grind in a game, why does it have so many subscribers?

The answer is the fact it’s online.

Well, okay, most play it for the multiplayer, and about two people enjoy the Warcraft plotline.

A single-player version of World of Warcraft would be a stifling affair: You’d level up, and level up, then run through instances… With no big crescendo, no end in sight. This would be a very, very bad game. However, by being online, the human desire to be the best kicks in, making players want to level, and grind, to be considered the best in the game- Even if it means very little. Another reason multiplayer saves Warcraft is the cooperative aspect. Players may not enjoy the grind but have an ultimate goal for the endgame: to work together in large parties in order to defeat a boss and receive the loot. For some players, the loot isn’t the goal, but to help others get the loot and see more of what the game has to offer.

Players may stop playing the game, too. This is usually because they value the $15 they pay every month over the time and entertainment the game offers. In short, they’ve found something better to do with their time.

In short, the MMO World of Warcraft is a good game, but it isn’t for everyone. People who enjoy a community, having a somewhat living environment around them, would like it, but the slow paced gameplay (Outside of PvP, that is) before you reach the endgame may turn you off.