World of Warcraft shaped a lot of what modern games do. Loot scores, live service loops, and the way RPG systems spread through other genres all trace back, at least in part, to WoW.

Jeff Kaplan says he pushed for first-person

Jeff Kaplan, who used to be a vice president and game designer at Blizzard, revealed during a long stream about his new studio's survival game, The Legend of California, that he wanted WoW to be played in first person early in development. "I really wanted WoW to be first-person," he said. "I argued a lot for that."

Why he preferred first person

Kaplan credits EverQuest for shaping that preference. EverQuest used a first-person view, and Kaplan says that made him notice other players up close. He did not see his own character on screen, but seeing guildmates so near made him care about how his character looked.

In his words, the proximity of other players in a first-person setup made character art feel more important. That idea is the core of his argument: the camera changes how players relate to avatars and to each other.

How different could things have been?

  • Game design would shift: A first-person WoW would force different choices about navigation, targeting, and UI. Combat and world interactions might have been built around a closer, narrower view.
  • Industry influence would move: Many games copied WoW. If those games started with a first-person view, the whole trend of third-person MMOs might look different today.
  • Popular franchises might swap roles: A series like Destiny could end up as a third-person giant if first-person MMOs dominated earlier, changing how shooters and loot games evolved.
  • Fashion and gear visibility: Armor design decisions could be different. Imagine spending hours trying to see past massive shoulder plates in a first-person view.

These are speculative questions, but they show how a single camera decision can nudge design, player behavior, and even industry trends.

Kaplan's anecdote is a neat reminder that game history is not a fixed road. It is a sum of many small arguments and preferences. In this case, one of those arguments helped shape the version of Azeroth most players know today.