After the announcement about losing 800 000 subscribers (after the 300k and the 600k before) forums are full of "apocalyptic messages" around the incoming end of World of Warcraft. It seems as if World of Warcraft is really dying and all the skeptics are leaving their holes to tell that they have been always telling that. Good, let's clarify some points.
First: World of Warcraft is old. Not as old as Everquest 1, for sure, but old. Seven years are a long time - not only regarding gfx stuff, but gameplay, too.
Ever played chess for about seven years for at least two hours per day? If you would take a break this would be more than understandable.
But: What would happen if you would tell that your break is symptomatic for the problems chess has?
Honestly, it would be difficult to not laugh. But why?
Because it would be clear that you left because you got bored, not because chess is like chess has ever been. No one would change the rules to make it more appealing to you. And there will always be people playing chess. Good.
But what would happen if you mention other games? Like "Halma got a release soon, this will smash chess, believe me!". Again people would laugh. But why again?
Because diversification is a blessing, not a bane. The more different games exist, the more people are able to choose. Regarding MMOs this is much better as they can learn from each other which would be not possible if there would only exist one big game, World of Warcraft.
So learn to accept the truth that over 10 mio. subscribers are still playing a game, the same game, and that there is a reason for it: Either there is no other choice for them or because they are quite happy with the game, beside the bad aspects every MMO has. Pretty normal.
It has never been and will never be good for markets if only one company rules - we honestly need competition, we really need new ideas, new stuff.
So I've always have to laugh when someone writes that WoW has serious problems, often written by guys who already quit a long time ago. They seem to justify their decision, where nothing has to be justified: Play what you want, World of Warcraft is not made for everyone. And if you find something else, feel "congratulated" and be happy that you found something. Perhaps some of the remaining 10 million gamers still haven't. But also accept that a bunch of guys are happy, too, and that they could quit if they want. After all other MMORPGs have far less active subscribers - and I consider only Pay2Play as "Free2P(l)ay"-subscriber-numbers are a joke (create 10 accounts, costs nothing and you have a bunch of toons to play with).
These high amount of active subs means that even if WoW keeps losing players at that speed it might last some years till it would be really considered dead. Let's say the game would have reached a lifetime of ten years. Ten years... some games even exist for one year. And then? Will Blizzard shut down everything?
Probably not. It might get F2P and, before, there will be some server merging (which will take a while considering the high amount of servers out there). And even then Blizzard probably won't shut down WoW - they even patched Diablo 2 some time ago and this game is really old.
In other words: Do not panic. This game will last for a while and even if it might end one day, ok, acceptable. After all it's only a game. We play because it's fun, because of the people we've met. We play for the moment - not for family planning or house building purposes. We simply want to have fun. If someone plays only because he hopes the game will exist for a while he will never be happy - those times are over. The risk of server shutdowns is not abstract anymore, happening all the time. Some will say "yeah, the games deserved that", but never forget that there were players who had the same hopes like the guys now judging and laughing.
We're all in the same boat. We want the same following different paths but still marching in the same direction. Accept the truth of others and hug differences - they might help you, your game and helps you to quickly find new paths if you lose yourself during your walk.
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