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MIT Press
April 2010
On Sale: March 30, 2010
256 pages
ISBN: 0262013703
EAN: 9780262013703
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
World of Warcraft is more than a game. There is no ultimate
goal, no winning hand, no princess to be rescued. WoW
contains more than 5,000 possible quests, games within the
game, and encompasses hundreds of separate parallel realms
(computer servers, each of which can handle 4,000 players
simultaneously). WoW is an immersive virtual world in which
characters must cope in a dangerous environment, assume
identities, struggle to understand and communicate, learn to
use technology, and compete for dwindling resources. Beyond
the fantasy and science fiction details, as many have noted,
it's not entirely unlike today's world. In The Warcraft
Civilization, sociologist William Sims Bainbridge goes
further, arguing that WoW can be seen not only as an
allegory of today but also as a virtual prototype of
tomorrow, of a real human future in which tribe-like groups
will engage in combat over declining natural resources,
build temporary alliances on the basis of mutual
self-interest, and seek a set of values that transcend the
need for war. Bainbridge explored the complex Warcraft universe firsthand,
spending more than 2,300 hours there, deploying twenty-two
characters of all ten races, all ten classes, and numerous
professions. Each chapter begins with one character's
narrative, then goes on to explore a major social issue—such
as religion, learning, cooperation, economy, or
identity—through the lens of that character's experience. What makes WoW an especially good place to look for insights
about Western civilization, Bainbridge says, is that it
bridges past and future. It is founded on Western cultural
tradition, yet aimed toward the virtual worlds we could
create in times to come.
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