World of Warcraft Adds Weather

Posted on April 6, 2006

MTV reports that the World of Warcraft is adding a realistic weather element to the game. We think this is an excellent idea and offers a way to make virtual worlds feel more alive and fluid.

Rain and other inclement weather had been promised to the millions who play "World of Warcraft" since the massively multiplayer online PC game's launch in November 2004. A rotating team of developers at Blizzard Entertainment actually worked on creating a weather system for five years. Only last week, however, did the game's developers find a way to patch it into the game in a way the meets their expectations - and that they hope will meet fans' as well.
In the course of preparing that weather, developers have to make decisions about what video game weather should actually be. Should it just be something to look at or should it have an impact? When should it rain and where? And if game designers could decide the time and date of a rainstorm, should they?

So far there are three types of weather in WoW. They include rainstorms, sandstorms and snowstorm. Blizzard may even make it rain blood.

Jeff Kaplan, 33, lead designer at Blizzard Entertainment's Irvine, California, headquarters, tells MTV, "Coming up with the weather system for a world is fun. We've talked about how cool would it be when you killed the blood god, that it rains blood."

The article says WOW rainstorms will last several hours so they feel realistic. Let's hope the WOW gamers take care of their world and don't end up with global warming.