"It is possible that wow gold is so complex, so culturally rich, and so expansive, that it will become a permanent part of our civilization," says William Sims Bainbridge at the climax of The Warcraft Civilization, his sprawling academic report into Blizzard's MMORPG.Bainbridge has simultaneously run dozens of characters across a thorough cross-section of servers, races and classes, and he has played to the maximum skill-levels attainable; he also hosted Azeroth's first-ever scientific conference. And even if wow gold does not become a permanent part of our culture, Bainbridge says, it's essential to study it now. If, decades hence, researchers want to examine wow gold, they can restart the servers and run the software, but they can't provide the hundreds of thousands of players distributed across the world that make the wow gold game what it is. This is a book that demands to be taken seriously.Bainbridge begins each chapter of the book with a character commentary from one of the 22 roles he played during those 22 hours, using them as a diving board to launch into exploration of major social issues from the character's point-of-view. Through his experience in the game, he tackles issues of religion, learning, cooperation, economy, and more.Bainbridge's ultimate thesis is that WOW GOLD is no more a game than life is – both are part game, part drama, part truth. His analysis of how players cooperate without cooperating – a hunter randomly hacking through wildlife might provide raw materials for someone with the skinning skill, and together they make the world a richer place by introducing more materiel into it – has much to say about how our society works. His chapter on how people assemble their identity examines behaviour that has always existed, but which was made obvious by the advent of virtual worlds. However, these jewels are saved up for the endgame, and there's much grinding to be done before we get there.
