World of Warcraft

What happened

Launched by Blizzard Entertainment in 2004, World of Warcraft was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in which millions of players around the world shared a single persistent fantasy realm, questing and battling together. At its peak it had more than ten million subscribers.

Why it matters

World of Warcraft turned online gaming into a vast social world and made the subscription-based MMO a mainstream cultural and economic force.

Sources

• The Strong National Museum of Play. World of Warcraft · Reputable source