World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) played by millions of players across the world.

 

While WoW itself is not strictly a competitive eSport - it's a very large and expansive game aimed at many different types of players - there are certain aspects of the game that lend themselves to competitive gaming at a level comparable with other eSports.

 

Namely, WoW raids (content aimed around large groups of players) and WoW player-versus-player (PVP) content, when played at the highest caliber, are often done so competitively.  Worth noting: raids are played against computers, which are pre-programmed.  This makes raid content more predictable and something players are more easily able to prepare for ahead of time.

 

While most eSports games are played against other players, there are still aspects of both raiding and competitive eSports

 

As a raider myself, this project is going to be focused primarily on the raiding experience and its relation to the social aspect of competition and eSports.