When originally faced with the task of analyzing the rhetoric behind a web site, it took me only a few moments to decide which I would like to do. At first, I chose Blizzard.com, a site I have been visiting since the mid 1990s. However, when the final decision time came around I chose instead to talk about WorldofWarcraft.com. World of Warcrafts site is within the same company, managed by many of the same people, and sees as much traffic (if not more) than the Blizzard main page.

I also thought it would be a fun time to play with a fan site kit provided by Blizzard for those wishing to make web pages involved with or about the Warcraft universe. By using said tool, I feel the reader of this analysis can also feel more a part of the pages in discussion, adding to the effect of this argument. On top of that, the fan kit by itself is an extension of the rhetoric Blizzard chooses to put forth. It was not a simple copy/paste however that lead to this. In fact, much coding and image editing went into this final project, turning this into what you see here, which matches my previous site scheme in color and two column design.

The reason I decided to instead do WoWs page is pretty simple. The site, in my eyes, is far busier, yet far more effective at displaying information and the sites purpose. The overall purpose of the home page to World of Warcraft web site is to make the game look as visually appealing as possible. Beyond that, there are only tidbits of actual information, and it even uses design elements that collapse extra stories beyond the most recently posted, reducing the wall of text effect on the reader. It is through the effective use of images that World of Warcrafts site draws people through its main page and into the actual content and imagery found in the depths of the site.

While Blizzard adheres to many of the common design philosophies present throughout other major sites on the internet, they are now in a position of enough notability that they can break the conventional norms where they see fit. For example, they build beyond the normal resolution settings for internet pages, they heavily use dynamic and adjustable content, and are even free to advertise other games on the World of Warcraft web site.

The old World of Warcraft web page (Nov. 21st, 2002)


The new World of Warcraft web page (July 21st, 2008)