A Balancing Act?

When I asked another gamer why he chose the Alliance over the Horde, like almost every other player, he said that all his friends were on the Alliance side and that he did not know anybody in the Horde. The company that makes World of Warcraft, Blizzard, has decided that they want to build the Horde, to an extent to where the new expansion for the game, “Burning Crusade,” has added benefits for the Horde side, and even a new part of their map. The new expnasion adds very little to the Alliance side, because they seem to assume that the Alliance side is good enough as it is. Blizzard also seems to be trying to reduce the lag as well as even out the teams. Equality between the two sides is important because people like to feel like the gameplay is "fair and balanced" or a victory is not worth as much. This is one aspect that MMOs share with sports games: the idea of associating oneself with a team, a clan or a group. People like to pick sides, and in a MMO, the sides can be humongous, which is something a lot of sports games fans can relate to wanting. I think this aspect of sides is far more important than who is good and who is evil and I think most gamers would join either side their friends were on. I think that Blizzard is probably trying to get players to switch over en masse, in hopes that the lag will immediately decrease, less Horde players will become disenfranchised and switch over, and the game will balance its own teams out, which might bring new gamers in who were looking for a more equal playing ground. Every new person Blizzard gets without losing one, with this new idea or that, is good for the game, but for Blizzard, it all comes down to the money.