Why World of Warcraft is Brilliantly Designed

In "Why World of Warcraft is Badly Designed," Simon Hill hit on some common points of contention with the world's most popular MMORPG. He opens up with a simple question:

Does WoW's popularity mean the game is any good?

The answer is a resounding yes.

Hill wrote at length about what he believes is a poor in-game social experience, the lack of clear objectives, balance problems, and what he feels is a GM staff too heavy-handed with the griefers and ragers found in every online game.

And while I think Hill's right in some ways -- who doesn't want to see more balance, especially in PvP? -- the issues he raises are mostly indicative of MMORPGs as a whole. No matter what one thinks of the genre, the fact remains WoW is the most-appealing, most polished and most celebrated MMORPG to date.

Hill's first argument centers on the issue of popularity. If 11.5 million people play the game, the thinking goes, it must be good. But as Hill notes, there's no shortage of examples when pointing to entertainment that may be wildly popular but without redeeming qualities. Hill compares World of Warcraft to "the cult of celebrity and the pop charts."

But WoW isn't Britney Spears, it isn't Megan Fox, and it isn't US Weekly reporting on what Jennifer Aniston had for lunch last Thursday. Gaming itself itself may no longer be a counterculture, but gaming -- and MMOs in particular -- is still an activity largely restricted to folks sitting at home, on their computers or at their consoles. People don't pony up $15 a month and $80 for two expansions in addition to the base game because they think they're getting in on some exclusive club. They do it because they geniunely enjoy the game.