World of Warcraft Part I: Commercial and/or Educational Game?

After several hours of downloading the game, and a couple more hours downloading and installing updates, I was finally able to register an account and begin my free, 10-day trial of World of Warcraft(WOW). Upon logging in, I was faced with the task of creating a character. Easy right? For some, yes, for others, no. It was kind of like ordering a coffee at Starbucks…first I had to choose between creating a character that was part of the Alliance (the good guys) or the Horde (the other guys); then I had to select whether to play a male or female character (apparently you can’t judge the player by the sex of their character); followed by a race, class, profession, hair style, hair color, etc. Wheeew! After making a series of choices, I was finally ready to play the game. Lucky for me, I know someone who was able to guide me and help me to understand the play. We played for about 2 hours (it’s amazing how much time flies by when your engaged in something) and during this time I learned the following things:

1. The guys with the !’s above their head pass out the quests.
2. The guys with the ?’s above their head greet you and provide you with the items won for succeeding in your quest.
3. When trying to kill the animals, don’t just stand there and get killed while they fight back
4. If you can’t use an item you pick up, sell it.
5. How to communicate with other players

…and several other things, however, I did not discover how the World of Warcraft can be used in teaching and instruction. So, is the World of Warcraft educational? Maybe. I plan to further explore the game to see if I can answer the question of whether or not WOW can be considered an educational game.