WoW: WotLK - How Warcraft Reigned Supreme in 2008

Opinion piece from The Register on why WoW still rules the roost.

Another year gone, and Blizzard's World of Warcraft remains the unrivaled champion of the massive multiplayer online (MMO) genre, and - in many ways - PC gaming in general.
At its feet lay 2008's pile of would-be "WoW-killers" left charred, battered, and wondering what Blizzard's four-year-old creation has that they lack.
"WoW-killer" is the marketing kiss of death in this town. Just as sure as "iPod-killer," or "Google-killer" is for digital music players and internet search. But the money's too good in the MMO genre for there not to be a constant stream of challengers. And there's profits to be had by owning the number two - hell, the twenty-second-best selling MMO out there.
But why can't anybody beat WoW after all this time?

More information.

But WoW does it all with grace. The game has refined - arguably homogenized - the formula of an extremely complicated and intimidating genre, and made it approachable to everyone - including women - rather than the usual serious male-gaming audience.

EH?? Uhhh, Austin, there are serious women gamers. Quite a few playing City of Heroes. And no, not all of them are empath defenders.

Yes, there are. But they are not loud enough to be actually spotted as a group by the average magazine editor, imho.