Mongolia is Awesome: Blizzard vs. the Golden Horde

Some of you may be familiar with the gaming phenomenon “World of Warcraft,” or at the very least with the enlightening South Park episode about it. Part of the brilliance of WoW lies in the fact that people keep playing it, and keep paying for it. In addition to paying the regular price of the game, gamers have to pay $20 each month to stay connected to the World part of  Warcraft, and because the game is engineered to keep people playing, Blizzard makes millions from regular subscriptions, in addition to the money from selling the game.

But Orcs and Elves are no match for the Mongols. Apparently, in Mongolia, players just don’t have to pay the monthly subscription fee. Though they have to pay for the game (and a computer), apparently there is a nationwide hacked account that gives Mongolians access to the game for free. This was described to me as “an official Mongolian server” for WoW, but what exactly “official” entails was not made completely clear. Though I doubt that it’s official in the sense of government-sponsored, this is Mongolia, and the government could be just that Awesome.