10 World of Warcraft facts

World of Warcraft has been a staple in several different video-gaming households. As an epic game - from the story to the characters and settings, WoW is literally a virtual world. Millions of players come together online to expand their created character, and explore the many different landscapes offered to them.

Here we explore 10 World of Warcraft facts 

10. World of Warcraft has attracted more than one hundred million players! 

World of Warcraft is, by far, the most popular MMO with its large population of active players. Since its release date in November of 2004, the game has attracted over one hundred million players, and these players have brought in over five hundred million created characters. WoW can be found on computers in 244 different countries and territories, including places such as Antarctica, Easter Island, and the Bahamas.

9. And the most popular race in WoW is... 

Even with a variety of choices in terms of race, including elves, orcs, and the undead, most humans still choose to create human characters. This is closely followed by the blood elves. With a vast selection of characters to choose from and so many lives to explore, why do we tend to choose the race we are most familiar with?

8. Even celebrities get addicted to World of Warcraft 

Several celebrities have reported their addiction to the MMO. This includes Kristian Nairn, Mila Kunis, Felicia Day, Vin Diesel, Dave Chappelle, and the late Robin Williams. Mila Kunis has even reported to MTV news, that she had to put the game on the back-burner, because her addiction took up too much of her time. Blizzard has even included Mila Kunis as a non-playable character referred to as Mina Kunis in Lunarfell.  

7. There's a Robin Williams tribute in-game.

After the death of Robin Williams, fans petitioned for Blizzard to pay tribute in-game, stating that he was not just a celebrity, but a part of their community. Of course, their wish was Blizzard's command, as they created a special area in the expansion pack, Warlords of Draenor, where players can stumble across "the Ever-Burning Lamp". Once the lamp was interacted with, it summons a genie named Robin. There are multiple Robin Williams' movie references in this area, including a large broken egg - a nod towards his sitcom Mork & Mindy.

6. Video game faves (& not-so-much faves) appear in-game! 

It was only matter of time before Blizzard started showing respect for other series by including some heroes, and even anti-heroes from other well-known video games. Cloud Strife from Square Enix's Final Fantasy franchise and Xur from Bungie's popular shooter, Destiny, both appear as non-playable characters. Both can be found in World of Warcraft's newest expansion, Legion.  

5. It's been proven that World of Warcraft improves cognitive ability.

Nothing satisfies a gamer more than finding out that playing their favorite game actually benefits them. Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that playing World of Warcraft actually has the ability to boost cognitive functioning for adults. Participants that were previously tested on cognitive functioning, were placed in either an experimental group, where they played fourteen hours during the week, or a control group who did not play the game at all. Afterwards, participants were retested and it was found that those who played actually seen an improvement in their cognitive ability.

4. Someone danced their way to level 100.

Rudeism stayed true to his twitch tagline, "I play games wrong", as he used the unconventional method of dance pads, instead of the traditional keyboard and mouse, to conquer the game and reach level 100. After reaching his goal, Rudeism broke into a victory dance and thanked his Twitch viewers with a teary-eyed speech. This isn't the only time that someone reached level 100 by strange means. A player has also been reported as simply picking flowers to gain XP.  

3. World of Warcraft saves lives.

Corrupted Blood gained the interest from a very unexpecting group, epidemiologists. This infamous coding incident caused a virtual pandemic in the game. After researching the different users and their reactions, they found that some players would risk their avatars in order to help heal weaker characters, while others would use the disease to kill as many as possible. A third group classified under the 'stupid factor' would go online to see the epidemic, and ended up spreading disease themselves out of curiosity. Although this can't be considered proof of human behavior, it brings them a step closer to learning human nature in the midst of chaos. 

2. Wrath of Lich King sold more than 1933 copies each minute during launch.

On November 13th of 2008, World of Warcraft sold their fastest selling expansion yet, and in fact, was considered the fastest selling video game of all time, until being beat by Blizzard's other franchise, Diablo III. By the end of its first day, Wrath of Lich King sold 2.8 million copies.

1. World of Warcraft is huge. 

It's very well-known that World of Warcraft is the biggest video game in the world. As previously mentioned, the game has over a million players. But not only is the player base huge, the game itself has six expansions that helps with the growth of the storyline. It also takes about 44-audio CDs to hold its selection of music and sound effects, and over 100k pages of Wikicontent to explain the game.