When I read the title, I had a very different idea in mind for what the content of the article would be. I think it's interesting to apply a sort of topographi

When I read the title, I had a very different idea in mind for what the content of the article would be. I think it's interesting to apply a sort of topographical analysis to the virtual regions of WoW to try to understand why they're so important to us. Kudos to the author, I enjoyed reading his analysis. However, as other commenters have noted - I believe it's impossible to understand the allure of the game independently of the social elements. To me the most important part of what made these environments compelling was the ability to actually quantify my interaction with them, exactly. Almost 20 years ago - god, has it been that long? Going into this virtual world with a counter that exactly captured how 'well' or 'good' I did was some kind of revelation. To people who played: these were the first DPS meters or counters. The foundations of quantitative gaming analysis for these kinds of games. Of course, in the real world we have tests and races and everything else. But it wasn't the same. In World of Warcraft you could bend your entire intellect against the goal of maximizing some number which summarized your interaction with a virtual agent in a public way. This wasn't the first game to do this, but it was the most successful. If you were were good at the task (of interacting with the game environment), this gained you prestige in a highly visible way. For a million faceless and lost teenagers across the world, this mechanism was an indispensable lifeline.