First be sure to read the No. 5 pick and the No. 4 pick.

Our No. 3 pick goes to... Rob Pardo, Blizzard Entertainment's VP of Game Design.

Why? Well it's quite simple really. He's the brains behind the most successful massively multiplayer online role-playing game ever, World of Warcraft. Not unlike J.R.R. Tolkien, which all RPG/fantasy creators can't help but be inspired by, Pardo had to build his fantasy world from scratch. Over the course of five years, Pardo created an entire history, a culture, races, geography, etc.

He established a virtual world and with it a virtual following that has led to over $1 billion in revenue since the game made its debut over two years ago. Think about that... $1 billion over the course of two years from a single game! Not only are millions of people paying $50 for the game itself, but they continue to part with an additional $15 per month in order to go questing or just breathe the virtual air of Azeroth.

This kind of massive revenue (no pun intended) has been a major boon for publisher Vivendi Games. Each quarter that the company issues its fiscal results, it's as if we're rereading the same thing. World of Warcraft month in and month out is the publisher's biggest contributor. In the most recent quarter ended September 30, Vivendi Games reported revenue up 15 percent, and for the year through September the publisher's revenue is tracking up 20 percent at about $610 million. WoW, indeed.

Holding approximately 53 percent of global market share in the MMO space, World of Warcraft truly is in a league of its own. While games like NCsoft's Lineage or old stalwarts like EverQuest are certainly popular in their own right, they can't compete with the WoW juggernaut.

Pardo's accomplishment is also remarkable when you consider that it's a Western game that's become a phenomenon in the East. While there are over 1.5 million subscribers in North America, there are more than 5 million players hooked on WoW in China alone.

Part of the reason for WoW's global success is that Blizzard actually took the time to cater to each market. As DFC Intelligence president David Cole wrote back in August, "At least as impressive as the game's success in China is its more than 1 million customers in Europe. No other MMOG has even claimed 100,000 European subscribers. Blizzard actually treated Europe like a different market that needed its own operations staff, etc. They released the game in German and French in addition to English and have a Spanish version planned. Blizzard Europe has 450 employees with 22 nationalities represented among them. No other online game company has even half of that presence in Europe except Jagex, the British developer of Runescape."

The level of success that Blizzard has had with WoW has even surprised Pardo, who said in a recent interview, "We knew it would be successful... But we thought we were reaching for the stars by hoping we'd hit a million subscribers."

There isn't an MMO developer out there that wouldn't like to duplicate WoW's success, but as Cole pointed out, the chances of that happening are extremely slim. But rather than being envious of Pardo and World of Warcraft, the MMO development community should be thankful. Because of the game's global appeal and accessibility, the profile of MMOs in general has been raised.

No longer just a niche genre for super geeks, the very idea of an MMO has been elevated significantly over the past two years. And WoW has undoubtedly had a lot to do with that. In fact, the game has arguably transcended gaming. It's become a cultural phenomenon highlighted by the likes of Stephen Colbert and South Park.

With the Burning Crusade expansion pack shipping next month, World of Warcraft doesn't look like it's about to lose any momentum. Pardo can keep smiling.