World of Warcraft community as a whole

The methods mentioned above are built into the game, specifically designed for player to player interaction. However, the larger World of Warcraft playing community itself is a sea of networking possibilities. Players exist everywhere that can become potential friends, acquaintances and guild members. Similar to all communities, norms evolve and culture forms. Both Horde and Alliance have their own separate culture, with Alliance members being typically of a younger demographic than that of the Horde. Players are expected to be courteous to each other and to help one another. As a result, language evolves and words such as ‘tank’ and ‘ding’ frequent everyday speech. Furthermore, norms develop such as the expectation for players to congratulate you (‘gratz’) when you level up (‘ding’). These customs suggest that a community is prevalent within the game, and like with any community, this creates various opportunities for networking.

Perhaps the greatest advantage of this online gaming community is that it is not restricted by geographic barriers, differing from many ‘real world’ communities. Consequently, gamers can network with like-minded players from all over the globe, expanding the reach of possible networking chains and increasing opportunities for profiting from these acquaintances. Gamers can simultaneously chat to many people from all around the world. As all players play the game due to their liking of it, the chances that gamers will find somebody in the game who shares their interests is greatly increased. Therefore, it is highly probable that a gamer would be able to create strong ties with contacts from around the globe which in turn would increase their chances for finding international employment. Therefore, the international nature of the web allows access to networking possibilities which would be unrealised without it.

However, this networking potential is limited to those who play and have access to the game. Thus, in reality, gamers are only able to connect to those with access to an Internet connection, distancing a large proportion of the world due to socio-economic barriers. This digital divide infers that players can reach only affluent members in society who have the time and money to invest in such a game. Furthermore, the gaming community is largely male dominated, making up 60% of gamers around the world (De Peuter 2005:4). Female players are increasing in number, however although female characters do exist in World of Warcraft, often they are controlled by male players. This can be seen as a way to increase chances of social interaction, as female characters are often pitied upon in the game, and are therefore more likely to be helped out by nearby male characters. However in general, the female populace is generally hard to network with through gaming. Thus although massively multiplayer online games such as World of Warcraft can in theory enable gamers to network with any individual in the world, the reality is that this is limited due to the digital divide and individual tastes and preferences.