Napster once allowed millions of listeners the ability to share their music. Although a utopian kind of idea, it didn’t sit particularly well with the music industry, and the RIAA eventually shut down the party. Now, Napster’s founder, Shawn Fanning, wants to get people back together, this time in a massive gaming forum that is supposed to improve on a World of Warcraft interactive element he believes is broken.
The idea stems from Fanning’s own disgust with the lack of cohesive social environment in the online phenomenon. Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft has raked in about 7.5 million visitors, making the land of Azeroth a very busy place.
Those breaking down Fanning’s idea have called it a “MySpace for Warcraft”. Although Blizzard (makers of games like Warcraft I, II, III, Diablo, and Starcraft) are remaining mum on the topic, Fanning wants to pull statistics from the online game to his site, where users can boast the strength of their character. That level fifty orc sure will bring in the ladies.
Fanning is tentatively calling the idea “Rupture”. It will also feature instant messaging abilities, meaning the site could suck at the teet of a whole range of different popular internet trends.
It’s an interesting idea, and credit to the popularity of WoW that just a concept of this sort could drum up such attention.
