5 reasons why 'World of Warcraft' is so popular

The original release of the game had two gigantic continents for players to explore, all based on the "Warcraft" series of computer strategy games. Each of its numerous expansion packs has added another sizable landmass, meaning there's a whole lot to see out there.

The "Warcraft" fantasy universe draws inspiration from pretty much every other fantasy universe, so there's a ton of variety around every corner. One playable race lives in a huge, crashed spaceship, while another is a race of zombies that lives in the sewers underneath an abandoned city.

There are also intelligent, bipedal cows and martial artist pandas to go along with your generic humans and orcs. The game's stellar art direction helps bring all of these different races and their respective homelands to life.

"World of Warcraft" requires a paid subscription to play, meaning it's designed to keep you playing as long as possible. That may sound like a negative thing, but it's just honesty, and they do it very well.

From the minute you start playing, the game constantly dangles a carrot on a stick in front of you. It could be a new ability, a powerful sword, or a cool mechanical chicken to ride on.

Whatever it is, it's always just attainable enough that you'll say "just one more quest before bed!" Before you know it, it's 3:00 in the morning. That's how "World of Warcraft" goes.

There is no right or wrong way to play "World of Warcraft." You can grind out quests for hours on end in search of new upgrades and gear, you can do player-versus-player content forever or you can just go fishing for a while.

There are even special role-playing servers where players are expected to stay in character in the in-game chat. You could do that, if you're so inclined.

I don't play anymore, but there was a genuine sense of community on my "World of Warcraft" server back in the day. The same group of knuckleheads would joke around with each other in the chat (much to everyone else's annoyance) every night, and I know people who married each other after meeting in the game.

Obviously, you can't get that in single-player games. It's fun to walk into one of the major cities as a low-level player and see all the veterans decked out in the most powerful gear, or to work with your friends to get through a challenging dungeon.