Time Magazine has announced its latest list of the 'Time 100', subtitled: "The People Who Shape Our World", and alongside the Builders & Titans, Heroes & Pioneers, Scientists & Thinkers, and Leaders & Revolutionaries, Blizzard's Rob Pardo merits a place in the Artists & Entertainers section of the prestigious listing.
Pardo, who is vice president of game design for Vivendi-owned Blizzard Entertainment, is cited in the magazine's accompanying article for helping to create
World Of WarCraft, which now has over 6 million subscribers, and is "one of the most immersive and successful video games ever created... it could be the future of electronic entertainment", according to Time's Lev Grossman.
Grossman also rationalizes: "Pardo didn't invent this kind of game (which enthusiasts refer to as "massively multiplayer"); he merely perfected it. It takes an obsessive mind to make sure there's something interesting going on everywhere in an entire world, all the time, for both newbies and veteran players. If anything, he's almost too good: some players have a tendency to confuse their virtual lives with their real ones."
Blizzard's Pardo is the only video game-related figure on the entire list, and shares the Artists & Entertainers section with notable figures including novelist Zadie Smith, Alias and Lost creator J.J. Abrams, and architect Renzo Piano. The full Time 100 list is
viewable at Time's website.
