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 * Team project:** Form teams of 3-5 people around your interest in a specific technological invention (i.e. iPad, wii console, WOW, iPhone, etc.). Spend the next 3 weeks researching every aspect of the design process. Capture your findings collectively with a tool such as Voicethreads, blog, podcast or video and post your work or a link in the forums before September 1. Your audience is the cadre so make it accessible, informative and entertaining. Be prepared to discuss what you learned at our last session.

__**Group Meeting:**__
 * August 8th - Facebook chat to decide jobs.
 * August 17th - Google+

World of Warcraft designers, and other important people to WOW:
 * __Jackie's Topic:__** **The designer/s (who they are, backgrounds, and why they were selected)**
 * Michael "Mike" Morhaime**
 * Was born in 1966
 * He is the president and a co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment (originally founded in 1991 as **Silicon & Synapse**)
 * He is a video game developer located in Irvine, California, currently owned by Activision Blizzard
 * He is also an alumnus of Triangle Fraternity and received his bachelor's degree in 1990 from UCLA
 * In 2008 Morhaime was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for Blizzard’s creation of World of Warcraft
 * His avatar is a male Troll, Mai'Kyl. He also appears in animated form in the //South Park// episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft," which deals with //World of Warcraft//
 * Rob Pardo**
 * Was born on June 9, 1970
 * He is Executive Vice President of Game Design at Blizzard Entertainment
 * Previously he was the lead designer of //World of Warcraft//
 * In 2006, he was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world
 * Frank Pearce**
 * Is one of three men who founded Silicon & Synapse in 1991, the company that went on to become Blizzard Entertainment
 * He is the executive producer of the video game, //World of Warcraft//
 * He is still with the company as a senior vice president
 * He received his bachelor's degree in 1990 from UCLA
 * Allen Adham**
 * Lead Designer of World of Warcraft
 * He is an Egyptian American businessman
 * He led the creation of The Lost Vikings, RPM Racing, Rock N' Roll Racing, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, //StarCraft//
 * In 2004, Adham left Blizzard to found Tenfold Capital Partners, a quantitative hedge fund, but he remains a consultant to Blizzad


 * Tom "Kalgan" Chilton**
 * Was a lead game designer for Blizzard Entertainment and is a lead designer for the MMORPG //World of Warcraft//
 * He has been referred to as "Blizzard's PvP guru"
 * Chilton, along with Rob Pardo and Jeffrey Kaplan, were the three Lead Designers for //World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade//, the fastest selling PC game of all time
 * Chilton was on the developer panels at BlizzCon 2005 in October 2005 and BlizzCon 2007 in August 2007. At BlizzCon 2005, he was on the developer panels for discussions about character classes, dungeon creation, raids, and battlegrounds
 * At BlizzCon 2007, he was on the developer panels for discussions about classes, PvP, user interface and mods, and professions and items.He also appeared on numerous pannels during BlizzCon 2009
 * He previously worked for Origin Systems and was Lead Designer for //Ultima Online: Age of Shadows//
 * Chilton attended the University of Arizona, and is a fan of the webcomic PvP

**Cadre 14 for those of you thinking of making a career move this guy is so cool :-) Read below...** Samwise has contributed to the following art books:
 * Greg Street**
 * Is an American video game designer
 * He is currently employeed by Blizzard Entertainment as Lead Systems Designer on the award-winning MMORPG //World of Warcraft//
 * Street is also known by his screen name "Ghostcrawler" on the //World of Warcraft//message boards
 * Prior to being employed by Blizzard, Street worked as a marine biologist, eventually moving into the game design field
 * He also worked with Ensemble Studios on the //Age of Empires//series of real-time strategy games, during which period he was also known by the screen name "Deathshrimp"
 * Street graduated from McDaniel College in 1991 with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Biology and Philosophy, later earning a PhD in marine science
 * Between 1996 and 1998, Street worked as a Research Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina
 * Street has said his work was only enjoyable to him "for the first several years or so…As I moved up the ranks, however, I was spending more and more of my time writing grant proposals, filling out paperwork and playing departmental politics." Street found that his profession involved "a lot of doing the same thing over and over again
 * PhD +marine science = Lead Systems Designer on WOW - Don't you love this guy. **
 * Shahram Debiri** (also known as **Shane Dabiri**)
 * Lead Producer responsible for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) //World of Warcraft//
 * He is an Iranian-American
 * Sam "Samwise" Didier**
 * Was born 1971 in Tustin
 * Is the art director at Blizzard Entertainment
 * He is responsible for creating much of the artwork for computer games in the //Warcraft//, //StarCraft,// and the //Diablo//series
 * He is the senior art director on //StarCraft II//. Among the veteran Blizzard employees, Didier has been a consistent artist for many years, his unique style greatly influencing the game art
 * Didier's art, and could be seen in //Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos//as the emblem on the Night Elf demon hunter's warblades, a picture in the Paladin's book, and the ashes that form after the usage of the Blood Mage's Flame Strike ability has a pattern of a panda's face
 * In Starcraft II, there is a multiplayer portrait, containing a "Panda Marine"
 * Samwise** does the art for HammerFall album covers. He has done the following covers:
 * 2002 - Hearts on Fire (EP)
 * 2002 - Crimson Thunder
 * 2003 - One Crimson Night (Live album & DVD)
 * 2005 - Blood Bound (EP)
 * 2005 - Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken
 * 2006 - Natural High (EP)
 * 2006 - Threshold
 * 2009 - No Sacrifice, No Victory
 * He has also done the cover art for Joacim Cans' (Hammerfall Singer) solo album, Beyond the Gates (2004)
 * 2002 - The Art of Warcraft
 * 2005 - The Art of World of Warcraft
 * 2006 - The Art of World of WarCraft: The Burning Crusade
 * 2007 - World Of Warcraft: The Art Of The Trading Card Game Vol. 1
 * 2008 - The Art of World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King
 * 2009 - The Cinematic Art of World of Warcraft: The Wrath of the Lich King
 * 2010 - The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty


 * Jeffrey Kaplan** (better known as **Tigole**)
 * Is a game designer at Blizzard Entertainment
 * He began working at Blizzard in May 2002 towards the end of Warcraft 3 development, which he tested extensively
 * Kaplan was responsible for the world design (quests, outdoor zones, dungeons, raids, etc.) for //World of Warcraft//, on which he worked closely with Chris Metzen and Pat Nagle
 * He is now working on an unannounced, unnamed massive-multiplayer online game in production at Blizzard Entertainment. The "unnamed" mmo is code-named "Titan"
 * Kaplan **__//was hired by Blizzard Entertainment//__** because of his former status as the leader of a guild in //EverQuest// known as //Legacy of Steel//
 * The guild was formerly run by Rob Pardo (another game designer at Blizzard Entertainment) and was well-known in the //EverQuest//community for its accomplishments in the game
 * Kaplan was also known at the time for his various commentaries about //EverQuest// posted on the website of said guild
 * Games he worked on include:**
 * //World of Warcraft//
 * //World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade//
 * //World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King//
 * Bill Roper**
 * Was born March 27 1965 in Concord, California
 * He is a video game designer and has been a well-known person in the worldwide gaming industry since 1994
 * He personally represents the games he works and has built a solid reputation with his strong relationships with press, developers, and gamers
 * He has been featured in numerous articles in hundreds of worldwide games magazines, as well as being in the New York Times, Newsweek, and CNN
 * Having worked at some of the biggest game development houses, Roper went on his own to found Flagship Studios
 * Bill was featured in a 2009 biography entitled “Santa Clause of Korean Game Market: Bill Roper” which examined the influence of his work in Korea
 * In December, 2010, he was a featured keynote speaker at the China Game Developers Conference held in Shanghai
 * Having stepped down from his position at Cryptic, Bill can now be heard on a Radio/Internet show called Bulletproof Radio, and is slated to assume control of Disney Interactive Media Group's Marvel Franchise

//**While at Blizzard Entertainment:**//

Roper served as a Vice President of Blizzard North and was a Director of Blizzard Entertainment from 1994 - 2003. He oversaw and managed all external projects, coordinated internal development teams, and headed Blizzard's project oversight teams where he was instrumental in shaping the direction of the company's games. Bill Roper worked directly on numerous million-selling games in varied producer positions and played a key role in the success of the //Warcraft//, //StarCraft// and //Diablo// franchises. He also acted in and assisted with the direction of the voice recording for Blizzard’s titles, as well as personally representing the games to the global gaming community.

Roper titles:
 * //Blackthorne//(1994) - Music
 * //Warcraft: Orcs & Humans//(1994) - Producer, Voiceover, Documentation
 * //Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness//(1995) - Design, Narration, Voiceover, Documentation
 * //Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal//(1996) - Executive Producer, Story Consultant, Narration, Voiceover
 * //Diablo//(1996) - Producer, Voice Production, Casting & Directing, Story, Voiceover, Documentation, Strike Team
 * //StarCraft//(1998) - Producer, Voiceover, Documentation, Strike Team
 * //StarCraft: Brood War//(1998) - Executive Producer, Voiceover, Caterer, Documentation
 * //Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition//(1999) - Producer
 * //Diablo II//(2000) - Senior Producer, Voice Casting, Voiceover, Strike Team
 * //Diablo II: Lord of Destruction//(2001) - Global Launch Team, Strike Team
 * //Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos//(2002) - Voiceover, Strike Team
 * //Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne//(2003) - Voiceover
 * //Hellgate: London//(2007) - CEO
 * //Champions Online//(2009) - Design Director, Executive Producer
 * //Star Trek Online// (2010) - Design Director


 * __Danna's Topic__: The design environment (where, when, social /technological space)**

>> >> The Frozen Throne started at the version 1.07 of the game (by the time the game actually shipped patch 1.10 was downloadable), but there have been many patches after the expansion was released. Important changes, beside gameplay and World Editor changes, include the addition of some new maps in patches 1.17, 1.18, 1.19, 1.21 and 1.22; and the new neutral heros Goblin Tinker, Goblin Alchemist and Firelord in patches 1.15 and 1.17. In patch 1.13 the Acts II and III of the Bonus campaign were added. The patch 1.21b allowed the game to be played without the official CD. >> >> Due to the patch 1.23, many third-party programs were rendered unusable and it also disabled collided maps, which would make modified custom maps appear to be the same as the original. Another effect of the patch, which is not included in the release notes, is that custom maps with large filenames will not appear in the game. The limit is believed to be 20 characters, but this has not yet been tested. >> >> The 1.23 patch included no actual changes to gameplay but rather dealt with security concerns relating to multiplayer hacks. The 1.24 patch and the subsequent and the 1.24a, 1.24b and 1.24c patches followed suit, also dealing with malicious code that could be contained in custom maps. Consequentially, many older maps using custom text rather than standard triggers may no longer work until updated. Hash Tables were added to the World Editor to compensate for some of the lost functionality. > > GameOgre.com's Online Game Of The Year For 2004 > > World of Warcraft > > This choice may have been the toughest one for this year's awards. In one corner, you have City of Heroes making a very mainstream MMORPG that casual gamers should be able to jump into easily. In the second corner, Unreal Tournament 2004 currently offers the best overall value in online gaming today. In the third corner, Half-Life 2 is one of the best PC games ever. In the final corner, World of Warcraft is the new king of MMORPGs. In the end, World of Warcraft gets the nod for being the first MMORPG to not only be easy to play for virtually any gamer, but for also including great depth. That depth and Blizzard's commitment to quality could keep World of Warcraft on top of the massive gaming world for years to come. > > Runners-Up: > > Half-Life 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, City of Heroes > http://www.gameogre.com/wowvseq2.htm > World of Warcraft vs. EverQuest 2 > > First round battle in the MMORPG Showdown series. > > The Match-Up > > Before these two highly-anticipated MMOs launched about the same time in late 2004, there was a question over which one would prove to be more popular. Both were extensions of proven PC franchises and both sported superior graphics to any other MMO at the time. Individually, EverQuest 2 was the considerably better looking sequel to the incredibly popular EverQuest aka EverCrack while World of Warcraft offered more cartoony graphics and was made by a company known for high quality, very addictive PC games. However, the question over which one would be more popular was answered almost immediately after they were both launched. World of Warcraft has surpassed EverQuest 2, and any other MMO for that matter, in terms of popularity and has not looked backed yet. > > Nevertheless, not all MMORPGers play or even like World of Warcraft. Besides the fact that WoW is pay-to-play, many players have been turned off by a lack of community, gold farmers, > > Tale of the Tape > World of Warcraft > The world's most popular MMORPG. > Awaiting its first expansion. > Each major update reworks a class based on a class review by Blizzard. > PvP is currently a long grind, but offers an extended life for characters that have reached 60. > Raid content continues to grow. > Auction houses simplify character trading. > > Versus > EverQuest 2 > Stellar graphics. > Sequel to one of the MMO pioneers. > Offers a free trial. > Can play 16 races and 24 classes. > Heritage system between EQ 1 and EQ 2. > PvP is not a major focus but has been implemented after a long wait. > Has had 3 expansions. > > Select Comments For World of Warcraft (Edited for Presentation) > Rating: 10 > Author: nevarine > Comment: Better than EQ. More fun to play period. No matter whether party gameplay, solo, or even PvP WoW has it all. > Rating: 0 > Author: Wowstinks > Comment: World of warcraft focuses too much around "groups" doing instances and stuff while leaving the solo players with nothing. > Rating: 9 > Author: Banger > Comment: Best MMO ever. Simple to play while EQ2 feels strained. > Rating: 10 > Author: WowMan > Comment: Played several other MMORPGs but none have come close to WoW in constantly bringing me back for more. > > Select Comments for EverQuest 2 (Edited for Presentation) > Rating: 10 > Author: Wowstinks > Comment: Better than WoW, hope this game wins > Rating: 10 > Author: ogikarma > Comment: Much better than WoW in every way. Graphics are beautiful and gameplay is awesome. WoW on the other hand is not fun and looks like my 3 year old daughter made it. > Rating: 6 > Author: mmomeister > Comment: EQ2 is ok, but not as good as its graphics would make you think it would be > > The Voting > World of Warcraft received a total score of 6.5 > Everquest 2 received a total score of 5.2 > > The Result > World of Warcraft Wins!
 * Everquest as precursor - Russell Revis, personal communication, August 2011
 * Metzen kicked things off by recapping 'the story so far...' If you haven't read the extensive backstory on the //World of Warcraft// website, here's a quick one-paragraph summary: At the dawn of time, the whole universe was Chaos, controlled by unchecked elemental forces. Then the Titans came along, bringing order to world after world. They dredged the oceans and formed the land, creating each as a cradle of life. In their travels they also came across opposing forces, forces who worshipped chaos and destruction. The greatest of the Titans rounded them up and imprisoned them. But his grim duty eventually got to him and corrupted him. He decided that the Titans had wasted their time, that creation was a folly, and he became bent on destroying it. He unleashed all of the demons that he'd imprisioned, and they became his army: The Burning Legion. "The Burning Crusade," the title of the expansion pack, is the name for his campaign to destroy all of creation. Tens of thousands of worlds have been undone by the Legion, but only Azeroth has fought back and won. Twice, in fact (once chronicled in the novels, and later as depicted in the //Warcraft// games.) That's where //World of Warcraft//picks up. (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/world-of-warcraft-expansion/662576p1.html)
 * History of talent development within the game (http://wow.joystiq.com/2007/10/21/the-history-of-the-world-of-warcraft-part-i/)
 * So far it seems that Everquest, Final Fantasy XI and Dark Age of Camelot were the popular MMOs when WoW came out. There were some single player games prior to WoW - have to ask my boys about that. I believe my husband played them until WoW came out but didn't keep on going with the multiplayer.
 * Announced in 2001; debuted in 2004 - several sources
 * http://spawnkill.com/2009/08/20/do-you-remember-warcraft-ii/
 * Story elements in real-time strategy games aren’t exactly the highlight of the genre, and admittedly they shouldn’t be. Blizzard’s approach to Warcraft II seems to give the player enough to work plot-wise that actions within the game wouldn’t seem random or unjust. The premise is that the Orcs, the canonical “winners” from the war set in Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, have set out from Azeroth to conquer the northern lands of Lordaeron. The Humans, banded together with the Elves and Dwarves, form the Alliance, and together fight to resist attacks from the Horde, comprised of Orcs, Goblins, and Ogres. Eventually, the Alliance manages to not only repel the Horde, but to force them back into Azeroth and challenge them on their own turf. Simple in premise, the plots of the first and second Warcraft games establish a huge narrative within Warcraft III, a story followed closely by the enormously popular World of Warcraft.
 * Other refinements to Blizzard’s RTS recipe was the ability to right-click for various functions, including directing units to travel to a given location or to attack the clicked unit or building.
 * If there is any real reason to revisit Warcraft II today, it is to see just how far ahead of their time the team at Blizzard was. Warcraft II not only perfected a genre, not only raised the bar higher than it had been before, but set the stage for two of the most unquestionably successful PC games to date. Through refinement, the Warcraft series has become one of the biggest hitters in the PC game market, and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness was the first major stepping stone towards that enormous success.
 * http://www.wowwiki.com/Warcraft_III:_The_Frozen_Throne
 * Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was originally announced on January 22, 2003.[2] On February 14, 2003, Blizzard announced the first beta test for the game, which offered 10,000 players to sample the game.[3] On March 10, 2003, 10,000 more players were selected to participate in the beta test.[4] On May 29, 2003, Blizzard announced that the expansion set had "gone gold". And was released in July 1, 2003.
 * http://www.gameogre.com/2004awards.htm
 * http://www.gameogre.com/wowkillers.htm
 * http://www.gameogre.com/wowvscoh.htm
 * http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/b20/


 * __Amanda's Topic:__ The design parameters (timeline, pressure, financial, specifications)**

> http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/company-faq.html) > >
 * In 1991, three guys fresh out of UCLA decided to start their own game company. Their goal: make cool games and have fun doing so. Twenty years later, the company has become a world-renowned game developer and publisher, with offices across the globe and millions of players enjoying its games in more than a dozen languages. (http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/b20/)
 * Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2, 2001. The game was released on November 23, 2004. So it took at least 4 years to produce. (http://www.chacha.com/question/how-long-did-it-take-blizzard-to-make-world-of-warcraft)
 * Vivendi Universal, publishers of World of Warcraft said that World of Warcraft took 4 1/2 years to develop, with a price tag of 50 million Euros, or just over 63 million US dollars. As of March 2006, WoW has over 6 million paying subscribers, making it the most popular MMORPG ever. (http://www.digitalbattle.com/2006/06/15/world-of-warcraft-cost-63-million/)
 * How much does WoW actually cost Blizzard to maintain? According to Kotaku's report, Blizzard stated during their Analyst Day conference call (on 09/15/2008) that the price has been over $200 million since the game launched in 2004. That's $200 million for the //total//cost of upkeep since the game's November, 2004 release (presumably not including the initial cost to develop the game). This includes payroll for the entire staff, hardware support, and -- apparently the biggest infrastructure cost -- customer service. (http://www.1up.com/news/world-warcraft-cost-blizzard-200m).
 * In addition to the ongoing development of World of Warcraft, we have teams hard at work on StarCraft II and Diablo III.(
 * Can I come visit your office? Due to the extremely busy schedules of our development teams, our offices are closed to the public, and we do not offer public tours. ([|__http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/company-faq.html__])


 * __Simone's Topic:__ The design inspiration (why, motivation, customer expectations)**


 * WoW: Design Inspiration, Motivation, and Customer Expectations: **

There are three key factors that contribute to the way WoW is designed. These factors are portrayed in a statement from an interview with Tom "Kalgan" Chilton, one of the original lead designers on WOW. Chilton said “Well, it all comes back to our original kind of WoW design philosophy as far as varying the environments and keeping things interesting for players. ”
 * The core factor in WoW ’ s design is creating a game environment that players want to be in and will return often to play. This leads to the second design factor, accessibility.
 * A player will not return to a game that is not easily accessible. Currently, the game is designed to be available online throughout the US and other countries, with both free and paid subscription formats. This represents accessibility on two levels: ease-of- use and access uninhibited by financial constraints.
 * The third factor is that WoW in itself represents designing with a larger goal in mind. For Blizzard Entertainment one of the larger goals is to eventually create its own social network of gamers.


 * So What Motivation Lies Behind the Design of Wow? **

Each year, Blizzard Entertainment hosts, BlizzCon, a gaming festival celebrating the communities that have evolved around the company ’ s games. According to Battle.Net, the event offers hands-on playtime with upcoming titles, developer panels, tournaments, contests, and more. This year, BlizzCon 2011 will take place on October 21-22 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA. Check out this BlizzCon 2010 video courtesy of YouTube. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[]
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The video depicts the community of gamersthat Blizzard Entertainment has achieved through the success of games such as WoW. It also represents a lead factor in the company <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">s motivation which is to sustain and increase its fan base.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">An event like BlizzCon is not just fun, it reinforces that the games that Blizzard Entertainment <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">s team creates is valuable to the gaming community. When one <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">s work is valued, that is motivation in itself to keep doing what you do.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">For the company, the event is designed to cater to its large fan bases, to ensure consumer loyalty, and let <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">s just be honest, edge out the competition.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The autonomy and success that the game’s PC and online design affords presents a motivating factor for its team to continue with this type of content delivery. When asked why the company does not move from an online to a console format, Chilton said. "I mean we love console games also. And I'm sure there will be a successful MMO sometime on a console. So it has nothing to do with that. It's just more like a square peg round hole thing for our game. It just wasn't designed with that in mind." With the success of their design concept, WoW creators understand what works and believe that there is no need to alter its PC based game environment.


 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">What Does the WoW Customer (gamer) Get Out of the Deal? What are their Expectations? **

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">WoW Gamers aren <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">t just idle couch potatoes trying to pass time (well, not most of them), but they are serious gamers that weigh in with the company about expectations surrounding their online gaming experience. Gamers want anonymity, challenging content, and a great gaming experience.


 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">According to Wikipedia <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">, in 2010 Blizzard Entertainment attempted to implement Real ID accounts in which players would have to display their real names. The change, announced in WoW forums caused such uproar in gamers concerned about security and privacy that it resulted in the largest user response ever on the Blizzard forums. In response to the forum, Blizzard released a statement announcing that the Real ID feature was being canceled.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Gamers expect game design to continually challenge them in their experience. After a recent decline in WoW subscribers, “ <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaine chalks it up to increasingly experienced players chewing through content more quickly with each new release.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Our group would be remiss not to share one final point about design and consumer expectation. On the official WoW website Battle.net, the company list five experiences that a gamer can expect from playing Wow. They are:


 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Create a Unique Avatar
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Indulge in Seamless Beauty
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Engage in an Ever Changing World
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Form Powerful Alliances
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Embark on Epic Quests

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">We would probably all agree that life has its mundane moments. These moments can make it pretty attractive to don the body of an ultra-fit human Paladin, in a beautiful online world, to take on quests that mean the continuation or loss of civilization as you know it. Surely, this beats out getting the bosses coffee. The point is, WoW is designed to attract a gamer and offer an alternative reality to what <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">s currently going on. With millions of subscribers, its evident, many appreciate this alternative.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[|www.wikipedia.com] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Sources: **


 * Any extra miscellaneous information worth sharing**
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">WoW: A Page from Tim Brown ****<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ ****<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">s Book? **

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">You can <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">t research a company like Blizzard and the game WoW without acknowledging that a great many of the theories introduced by Tim Brown come to life in this company. Brown stresses a human centered approach to design that incorporates prototyping and placing oneself in the consumer <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">s position.


 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">WoW created an experience for gamers based on what they wanted: a game that they can play relatively quickly, learning as they go, that they can choose who they want to be in, allows them anonymity, and that <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">s easily assessable online. Definitely, a human centered approach.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Who better to place themselves in the position of the consumer than a fellow gamer, which is largely who Blizzard employs. As far a prototyping, the annual production of BlizzCon is designed to present a huge venue by which Blizzard can test new ideas on a smaller segment of the gaming community prior to releasing them on a larger scale. This is prototyping at its best. One could say, considering these factors, that Wow took a page from Tim Brown <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">’ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">s book in what constituted their design inspiration.