The Bottom Line

Since its release on November 24, 2004, World of Warcraft has been the icon for massive multiplayer online games. Blizzard Entertainment once again proved to the world that they "still had it." Its newest game sold over 290,000 copies in Europe its first weekend and over 200,000 copies in North America in its first twenty-four hours! This time last year, World of Warcraft had over 1.5 million users total. Currently, for most of World of Warcraft's 6 million subscribers, the game is the epitome of the online gaming experience, and for the rest of us it is something to be despised and plotted against.

Xfire is an instant messenger that allows gamers to add other gamers to their buddy list. Then, if you have the same games as your buddies, you can see what games they are currently playing and even join them. One of the best things about Xfire is that it logs the number of hours you have spent on specific games. For example, in my profile, my top three most played games are Call of Duty 2 with 162 hours, Counter Strike: Source with 147 hours and World of Warcraft with 120 hours. Xfire has become a necessity for the online gaming community and its influence over what games people love and hate is not to be underestimated.

Based on the number of people who play World of Warcraft, let's say a vast majority also have Xfire. At http://www.xfire.com there is a dynamic "Top 10 Games" list that is generated by the total number of hours people play a particular game on Xfire. For example, the current top three most played games are Call of Duty 2 in third, Counter Strike: Source in second and take a guess as to which game is number one. Yes, that's right, World of Warcraft! Now for the most part, this list shuffles around a bit from day to day. One day, Guild Wars will be sixth, the next day it will be fourth. In the end, the only game that never really changes is World of Warcraft. Many gamers hate the fact that World of Warcraft is the number one played game on Xfire. "You know, the only reason WoW gets first all the time is because a ton of n00bs play it," explained one disgruntled gamer during an Xfire chat. World of Warcraft has been number one on Xfire pretty much since its release about a year and a half ago and other gamers were fed up.

It seemed as if no game could possibly come close to dethroning the king. No matter how much people played Guild Wars or Counter Strike, World of Warcraft never budged. Gamers began to start giving up hope. Then, one fateful day, the Xfire team released an update, and in the patch notes read the line: "Solitaire added to list of supported games." Suddenly, there was hope again. Gamers began what is now popularly known as the "Solitaire Coup." People began leaving solitaire open on their computer all day long. One by one, thousands of gamers joined the cause. During this time all non-subscribers of World of Warcraft joined together in an attempt to finally remove it from the number one position. Even I joined the fight by leaving my game of solitaire open all the time. Unfortunately, the power of World of Warcraft was too great and the coup ceased. At its pinnacle, the solitaire rebellion managed to climb to third place with 3,756,111 minutes played, missing World of Warcraft's 5,685,364 by a small margin of roughly 2 million minutes. Despite its failed attempt, the "Solitaire Coup" remains one of the most interesting online gaming revolutions to date. GG.

Article Tools