| I'm going to have to agree with Steve on this one. WoW has turned so many of my non-gaming friends into gamers. One of my best friends is someone who was never into fantasy novels, roleplaying games, or fantasy movies. She'd never seen LoTR, Star Wars, or any of those types of movies. She'd never owned a console game in her life, and only tried The Sims once for a week when it first came out. She watched me playing a Night Elf in WoW and the next day went out to Best Buy and bought a "brand new super awesome computer!!!!" (It was an HP for like 500 bucks) and bought WoW. She became quickly addicted and now because of the game she's now out reading fansites and forums, she bought a PS2 and a DS, she rented LoTR and Star Wars and bought a couple fantasy novels by RA Salvatore.
She also now is all about trying other MMO's. I tried to explain to her that the computer she bought may run WoW perfectly, but its not going to run EQ2 or VG:SoH for shit. She's not the only one I know who started out with WoW as their first MMO and then moved to EQ2 or another game. I'd say that WoW did a fantastic job of getting these people through the door and welcoming them to the land of MMO addiction -- but I wouldn't say these people are stuck with WoW. There is a definite potential for something truly awesome to be released that could end up gaining a lot of WoW's subscribers. Its not beyond the realm of possibilities. | 