No, I’m not talking about the hazards of being true to only one partner. I’m talking about the phenomenon that is currently sweeping the globe thanks to an insidious piece of software which has many gamers playing only one game - ‘Monogameous’.

There are gamers all around the world that once bought a swathe of games every year but now they buy very few if any. Why? Because they are playing World of Warcraft (WoW). Sure there maybe some other attracive titles that hit the shelves occasionally but who’s got the time to play them. Why play other games when you could be ‘raiding’ with your mates or leveling that ‘alt’. Highend instances take weeks to play and huge amounts of time and organization sunk into them just to complete them for the first time. Not only that, these same instances have to be completed over and over again if you have any hope of getting that rare drop or quest item that your character needs in order excel on the next run through or on the battlefield in PvP. In my opinion it’s a dastardly device that has huge numbers of the otherwise significant contributors to gaming retail coffers keeping their wallets in their pants or only opening them to pay their monthly subscription fee.

Some might claim that World of Warcraft is growing the market by bringing in large numbers of new gamers that may not have otherwise bought video games previously. I contend that the only thing growing is Blizzard and Vivendi’s bank balances because these new gamers are under the same spell as the rest and are only playing World of Warcraft.