I’ve been playing the World of Warcraft the last month and I have to say that while I wouldn’t really call it my “dream” massively multiplayer online game, I would still say it is very enjoyable nonetheless. Without a doubt, the expansiveness of the realms you play within is one of the game’s greatest strengths. There will be points where you’ll just stop in your tracks and just sit there and enjoy the view for a few moments. Yet what I still find lacking is the level of interaction that I’m looking for on a realm vs realm level that involves much more usage of community and culture to foster cooperation among players on a larger level.
For example, when I’m playing in the World of Warcraft, while I may feel like I’m part of the Alliance, I don’t see any direct correlation between my actions and that of the Alliance’s goals overall. To make players feel like they are part of something larger than themselves, the game world itself needs to allow them to be a part of an ongoing story, no matter how small their contribution to it. I’d love to see the borders between the various lands changing on a regular basis depending upon who controls these areas so that a player who is a miner knows that his efforts in collecting ore went directly to aiding a blacksmith who in turn helped produced armor and weapons for the warriors who help defend and maintain the borderlands. Each player focuses on what they enjoy and yet all contribute to the greater cause.
