Despite its popularity, World of Warcraft has been criticized for a number of reasons.

 

 

Stories of game addiction are a common source of criticism of WoW, earning it the nickname "World of Warcrack". In June 2005 it was reported that a child had died due to neglect by her World of Warcraft-addicted parents in Korea. In August of that year, the government of the People's Republic of China proposed new rules to curb what they perceived to be social and financial costs brought on by the popularity of online games in general. The measure would enforce a time limit on China's estimated total of 20 million gamers.

 

Dr. Maressa Orzack, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, was interviewed August 8, 2006, stating that of the 6 million subscribers "I'd say that 40 percent of the players are addicted." The 40% figure was not derived from a scientific study overseen by Dr. Orzack, but rather came from "a forum that Nick Yee runs". She added in an August 2006 interview that "even if the percentage is 5 to 10 percent which is standard for most addictive behaviors, it is a huge number of people who are out of control." Also, according to Dr. John Grohol, a colleague of Orzack's, "Dr. Orzack is not claiming that up to 40 percent of World of Warcraft gamers are addicted based upon any actual evidence or surveys of players. This is just her opinion, based upon her own experience and observation of the problem."

 

 

After Blizzard started offering free trial gameplay accounts, players started receiving increasing numbers of spam sent by bots in the virtual mailboxes of their characters, advertising virtual gold, honor, and experience selling services. One study shows that this problem is particularly prevalent on the European realms. In patch 2.1, Blizzard responded to this by adding additional anti-spam mechanics including whisper throttling, and the report spam function. Additionally, trial accounts are prevented from speaking in the public chat channels (although they may speak to players within range or whisper to other players that have first whispered them), participating in in-game trades, using the Auction House and the mail feature, and several other limitations. Though this has drastically reduced the number of spamming incidents, many offenders still attempt to get attention in the more populous regions in the game, such as major cities.