isn't this obvious? that's because WoW will rule "indefinately"!

It's seriously sad how a part of the gaming press is striving to help blizzard in their marketing campaign to mantain the status quo... I guess they don't understand how much the MMO market would benefit by competitors making a sizeable dent in the wow monopoly.

You ask for analysis comparing WoW to other MMOs out there, but simply put, those articles are too simple. There's no complexity to an article about how LotRO MoM expansion will affect WotLK release. WoW isn't going to feel any pain from that release...but neither is LotRO. They each have their market of players at the level cap whom are eagerly awaiting the expansion.

You can either ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the room - which many commentors here are advocating - or you can write about it. Massively has found a decent balance. If you want to visit sites that completely ignore Warcraft, go visit MMORPG.com or something.

One would wonder why many commenters are advocating it. Maybe because there IS a divide between the celebrative tones used for wow and those used for other games? Or maybe because people are starting to be tired of hearing the blizzard marketing campaign directly echoed without any doubts or questions?

It's funny not to read any questions about if wotlk will deliver, if it'll be the same usual re-heated soup (which it is), if the PvP will be meaningless like it's always been in wow (which it is). The only question if what kind of shipping people are using...

There's already wow insider to make the wow fanboys happy. I see no reason to turn massively in a blizzard ad. But of course, this is just my two cents.

MMORPG.com is much more balanced. It talks about ALL mmorpgs, and wow is just treated (as it should be) as one of them. It even has obvious ads and banners for wotlk, but guess what, at least those are obvious ads, not ads disguised as articles.

Because WoW's the big kid on the block. It was the same way when EQ was on top of the heap. It's gameplay was seen as 'simplistic' and 'stupid', everyone complained about it being a 'boring grind', and any website that showed it any publicity at all was immediately branded as being in the tank for Verant/SOE.

And it probably would be better. Without so many whiny kids that see social interaction in MMOs as a chore, or that cry endlessly if they don't receive instant gratification at every step they make.

In the internet-fed world of nowadays there isn't much difference between being journalists and being bloggers (besides the fact that a blogger most of the times isn't paid). You still influence people's tastes and purchases, depending on the number of your readers and how much of your opinions you pour in your articles, so in the end a blogger is a marketing tool as much as a journalist is.

Maybe they balanced the number of articles, but the tone definatyely isn't balanced. Everything about wotlk is music and roses, while I saw them actually make an effort to try hard and find flaws in other games to point out. This without to mention the laughable TWO articles on the percentage of people going back to wow. Not one, but two.

And honestly, I'm not sure what's huge about what kind of shipping people chose to receive WOTLK.

Your view is distorted and incorrect.

"Without so many whiny kids that see social interaction in MMOs as a chore, or that cry endlessly if they don't receive instant gratification at every step they make."

I hate to say it, but it's been like this since Everquest. It's almost a time-honored tradition to whine when you don't get your way in an MMO.

The tone is what it is. Go read the WoW forums and you'll complaints about class balance...like every other game. But other than that, WoW is in a pretty rosy spot: new, highly anticipated xpac coming in a couple days; more players than ever; a great big wad of cash coming its way.

Now, go read the WAR forums. Complaints about empty RvR, bored with scenarios, people with dying guilds (sounds like AoC forums a month after launch). I don't think that everything is rosy at WAR, but the outlook is certainly much better than AoC.

So, you have a few choices as a blogger. Either: write stories that reflect the mood of the game and its players; write everything with rose-colored glasses; or write every story with a doom-and-gloom apocalyptic bent. What you get here is a reflection of the mood of the games players.

Eve articles are technical and full of depth. WoW's are fluffly and slightly shallow, WAR's are focused on PvP, LotRO's are feature-rich to let more people know the basics of that wonderful game.

I've gone on too long, so I'll leave it at that.