Blizzard Entertainment launched World of Warcraft back in November 2004, and so it was that The New York Times celebrated the anniversary by outlining the many ways we can still see the influence of massively multiplayer online role-playing games 20 years later.

For one, online multiplayer games and early social networks such as MySpace were already available but WoW gave everyone a real preview of a future where all would connect to friends and strangers online. For another, the game made billions of dollars with a business model combining monthly subscriptions with in-game purchases (including for pets and animals that could be ridden) itself becoming a massive cash cow for Blizzard and pointing the way to future internet business models.

The game also spawned immortal memes, attracted celebrity fans, and prompted epidemiologists to argue that an incident involving the uncontrolled spread of a fantasy disease could be studied for insights into real-world epidemics.

And, for the record, I think the movie wasn't all bad.