How Long Will World of Warcraft Last?

World of Warcraft gives joy to millions of players worldwide. It's very rarely disputed that the game has given MMORPG and Role Playing Game players a new sense of massively multiplayer. The game stole as many subscribers as you can possible expect to gain from the likes of Everquest, EQII, Dark Age of Camelot, and the other lesser known MMOs out previously to World of Warcraft. That being said, how long can World of Warcraft (or any MMORPG) really last?

First of all, the game is based upon a time investment to reward system. For the amount of time you invest in the game, you'll be rewarded for your time with items, gear, experience and gold. This makes the player feel as though they've accomplished something. Whether these items give a sense of a stronger persona or presence within the game, or just bragging rights (who doesn't want those), players differentiate themselves from the others by investing their time. But what happens when there are no more rewards or they become to simliar to previous versions?

If World of Warcraft is going to fail, it's going to fail within in the next year or two. I give you these reasons as support:

- Items very rarely add any new excitement to the game once you've achieved them. (Just more stats)

- Battlegrounds (PvP) is now overlapping and there are no more possiblities of a new combat or objective system without combining previous versions (capture the flag, hold the checkpoints, etc)

- Arena brought new light to PvP, but there can be no expansion upon this concept without at least including previous versions.

- New expansions only add new territory (that is more of less the same as the previous) with new quests (which are the same) and new gear (which is the same but more powerful).

If you cannot add something new to a game, then that game will eventually run out of fuel and die off. Everquest was insanely popular from it's launch and it's still fairly popular with a small but fanatical fanbase today. They lost customers and subscribers because they failed to improve their game and add diversity throughout. World of Warcraft will do the same inevitable. With all MMOs, the plane is crashing from the beginning - It's just figuring out how to land it as safely as possible.World of Warcraft is a great game, and I still play and write about it. I fear the end is coming soon though. Blizzard! It's time to unleash something revolutionary. You did it before! You can do it again!