Emily writes, "I love playing World of Warcraft, and I'm looking into playing the next-generation MMO's from Blizzard and SquareEnix (that new Final Fantasy game looks interesting). So, how do I build a good gaming computer that will not only play World of Warcraft, but could possibly play Final Fantasy XIV?"

To be honest, building a good gaming computer for an MMORPG isn't as difficult as you might think. The key, I believe, it using multiple monitors.

While any MMO is going to be taxing on a system, it's taxing for various reasons. Hard drive space is a significant limiting factor, with the basic game taking up several DVD's worth of space, and then you add additional content, personal UI mods, and other changes and suddenly what turned out to be a simple MMO is now a monster.

Another limiting factor is the video card. Most (sane) MMO's try to keep their graphics at a sane level. You're not going to see an MMO try and push the graphics limit simply because MMO's are just that - massive. You're going to run into several hundred (or thousand) players, and the developers don't want the players to all have their computer simultaneously choke when more than one character is on the screen.

The trick to building a good MMO system is, as I said, multiple monitors. In fact, being able to do other things while you're playing the game is essential to keeping your sanity in an MMO. Whether it's a chat program, a web browser, e-mail, or something similar, a second monitor is a great solution to the downtime of an MMORPG.

Beyond the usability of a computer, the functionality is very important. I suspect - although I cannot guarantee it - that any one of this generations high end graphics cards will be able to play next years Final Fantasy XIV. That's only a hypothesis I've made based on the idea that SquareEnix will want PC players to enjoy the game just as much as PS3 players. I doubt you'll need SLI or CrossFire, but I do know that you're going to need your hard drive space to play all of these games!

Do you have a question you need answered? E-mail me! lordkat@gmail.com

Click here to check out How to Build a Gaming Computer for Under $1000.

Be safe,

Jason