World of Warcraft
"World of Warcraft" was first announced by Blizzard at the ECTS trade show in September 2001. Released in 2004, development of the game took roughly 4–5 years, including extensive testing. The 3D graphics in "World of Warcraft" use elements of the proprietary graphics engine originally used in "Warcraft III". The game was designed to be an open environment where players are allowed to do what they please. Quests are optional and were designed to help guide players, allow character development, and to spread characters across different zones to try to avoid what developers called "player collision". The game interface allows players to customize appearance and controls, and to install add-ons and other modifications.
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
"Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans" was a graphic adventure game with a point-and-click interface, which the player would have used to navigate the world, collect items, solve puzzles and interact with non-player characters. It was set in the "Warcraft" universe two years after the events of "". In that game, the human Alliance defeats the orc Horde, which is then split between Azeroth—the human plane—and the orc homeworld of Draenor. In "Warcraft Adventures", the defeated orcs left on Azeroth were confined to reservations and reduced to slavery. Alcoholism and passivity spread among them. The player assumed the role of Thrall, an orc raised from infancy as a slave by the human Lieutenant Blackmoore, who had found Thrall on a battleground during the events of "". Blackmoore kept Thrall from encountering other orcs throughout his early life, and sought to raise him as a pawn to rally the orcs as his personal military and conquer Azeroth.