De Anza College students manage time between homework, a social life and Azeroth with World of Warcraft’s newest expansion pack from Blizzard Entertainment, Cataclysm.

Commonly called “WOW,” World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game or MMORPG. It made “Guinness World Records” in December as the most popular subscription-based MMORPG, with over 12 million subscribers.

The premise of the game is to create and customize a hero living in the Warcraft universe. Players explore an expansive world of exotic lands and large cities. They can go on “quests” or missions and they can work together in groups referred to as “guilds.” Characters can also engage in combat with each other in the player-versus-player servers.

“I’ve played since its first conception – actually even before that when it was in beta or alpha,” business major Brian Li said. 

“I’ve been playing Warcraft since the day it came out. Picked it up, played it and haven’t really left the game,” Chuckie Marshall, film production major, said. “Each day, I clock about six to eight [hours] unless I have a day off and absolutely nothing to do, [then] I will play from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep.”

Some players say they find it easy to juggle game play with education, like Marshall, who keeps two monitors on while he plays, so that between quests and chatting, he can swing over to his second monitor and do homework. 

“I always make sure I get stuff done before I play,” Andrew Hatzke, mechanical engineering major, said.

Other players are not as school-focused, like Li, who admitted he missed four days of school and subsequently stayed awake for three of those four days.

Blizzard Entertainment, the masterminds behind World of Warcraft, has released several expansion packs since the game hit the shelves in 2004. The latest, Cataclysm, was released in December, shattering the records of its predecessors as the fastest-selling PC game.

“It focuses a lot more on group strategies … there’s a lot more teamwork involved,” Marshall said.

The term “social interaction” has come to include people who have never met face to face.

“I’m able to communicate with other people while I play,” Hatzke said. 

“I had a friend online and I noticed he was my classmate and we became friends,” said Shouyi Ru, a mechanical engineering major.

In 2006, Comedy Central’s South Park released an episode called “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” which featured a satire on World of Warcraft and gamers in general. South Park creators worked with Blizzard Entertainment to make the episode, and it went on to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. 

“It was a great tribute,” Li said. “Some things were completely incorrect about the game, but [it was] a good tribute overall.”

With over 12 million subscribed players online, it’s no wonder so many students are playing. That woman in your math class just might be World of Warcraft’s next best druid.