World of Warcraft

About

World of Warcraft is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing game (MMORPG) that takes place in the fantasy world of Azeroth, and follows the tale of the eternal battle between the Alliance and Horde factions. Since it’s release it has gathered about 11.4 million subscribers world wide, making it the most-subscribed MMO of all time.^[1]

History

World of Warcraft was released by American video game developer Blizzard Entertainment on November 23rd, 2004. It was preceded by 3 Warcraft real-time strategy games starting with Warcraft: Orcs & Humans released in 1994 and ending Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne which was released in 2003. The World of Warcraft storyline picks up 4 years after Warcraft III.

Expansions

There have been 3 expansions since its initial release as of August 2011. The first expansion, Burning Crusade, brought new zones to explore called the Outlands, and included new adversaries called the Burning Legion with their leader Illidan Stormrage. It introduced the Blood Elves for the Horde faction, and Draenei for the Alliance..

The Lich King expansion brought the continent of Northrend, also know as the crown of Azeroth. The main adversaries in this expansion were the Lich King Arthas and the Scourge, his army of the Undead. The renegade elites of the Scourge, known as the Death Knights, formed the first hero class of the game.

The Cataclysm Expansion remapped the entire world of Azeroth due to a major disaster caused by the dragon aspect Deathwing who had been living underground during the previous two expansions. The new races included in this expansion were the Worgen for the Alliance, and Goblins for the Horde.

Mists of Pandaria

On October 21st, 2011, Blizzard announced the expansion “Mist of Pandaria” during their annual BlizzCon gaming convention. The expansion will take place on the continent Pandaria, and will include the new “monk” playable class and the Pandaren humanoid panda playable race.

Gameplay

To start playing a server must be selected that will determine the player base the user will be interacting with. It is often selected based on server population size, and geographic location (which can greatly effect latency). After a server is selected, a faction (horde or alliance), race, sex and class must be chosen in the character creation screen.

After selecting a character the player begins in the “newbie zone” for the chosen race at level one directly next to a quest giver that will introduce the character to the game. To progress in the game, experience must be gained through questing and killing enemies, called “mobs”, in order to reach the next level and gain attribute points. Armor and weapons must be continuously upgraded in order to survive. As of August 2011, the maximum level that can be reached is 85.

Reception

From 2005 to 2006, World of Warcraft was the best-selling PC game.^[4] It has received Editor’s Choice^[2] awards, Best Mac OS X Entertainment Product from Apple Design Awards^[3], and Best PC Game, Best Multiplayer Game, Best RPG, and Most Addictive Game from Spike TV.^[5]

References to Internet Culture

• Portal: In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, there is a quest titled “A Bone to Pick,” in which the player is asked to kill King Gurboggle, and in an oyster next to his throne, you can see the Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube.

• All Your Base are Belong to Us: In Cataclysm, one of the new released Guild Perks in 4.0.1 is called “For Great Justice,” which is a reference to the ‘All your base are belong to us’ opening sequence from Zero Wing. In Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos/The Frozen Throne, “allyourbasearebelongtous” and “somebodysetupusthebomb” are both cheat codes for the game.

• 300: In Cataclysm, the quest Madnessω δ is a reference to the scene from the film when the negotiator is thrown into a bonfire.

• Pokemon: In World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the achievements I Choose You, Runemaster Molgeim (10/25), I Choose You, Steelbreaker (10/25) and I Choose You, Stormcaller Brundir (10/25) may be a reference to the catchphrase “I choose X!” used in the Pokémon franchise.

• Need More Cowbell: In Wrath of the Lich King, the Ebon Hold (the Lich King’s floating necropolis and starting area for Death Knight characters) lists various Death Knight trainees and their fates. The player’s character is named on the last significant page with a note saying “Need more cowbell”, a reference to a Christopher Walken sketch that the development team must have really, really liked.

• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: In Wrath of the Lich King, the achievement I Could Say That This Cache Was Rare (10/25) is a reference to the TV series’ theme song.

• Cthulhu Mythos: In Wrath of the Lich King, the crazed dwarves in the Howling Fjord’s Whispering Gulch speak of “that which must not be named”. While it could be a reference to Harry Potter, it might also refer to The King in Yellow from the Lovecraftian worlds together with the various tomes of “Things Men was Not Meant to Know” found therein.

• Tunak Tunak Tun: In World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade, the male Draenei’s dance moves are taken from the video for the song “Tunak Tunak Tun” by Daler Mehndi which was a moderate internet phenomenon.

• Leeroy Jenkins: In Burning Crusade, the Classic Dungeons and Raids Achievement “Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy” is based from the player video of Leroy Jenkins charging into a room full of rookery whelps during a raid, while screaming his name through the microphone. The title received from this quest, killing 50 rookery whelps in 15 seconds, is his last name, Jenkins.

• O RLY?: In Burning Crusade, one of newly added Goblin Auctioneers in Booty Bay was named “O’Reely” in reference to the popular Internet catchphrase. There is also a white owl that flies around a hut near Steamwheedle Port in Tanaris named “O’Reilly”. An Undead auctioneer by the name of “Yarly” has been added in the Undercity Auction House.

• Pirates vs. Ninjas: In Burning Crusade, eating a [Savory Deviate Delight] will cause your character to turn into either a Pirate or a Ninja. The effect is purely cosmetic. The effect will read as “Arrrrr” for pirates or “Flip Out” for ninjas, the latter is a reference to the phrase “The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.”

• Peanut Butter Jelly Time: In Burning Crusade, one of the Tauren Male’s dance cycles is based on the famous ‘Dancing Banana’ that appears in the popular Internet Flash animation.

Notable Events

Leeroy Jenkins

A video featuring a paladin named Leeroy Jenkins of the guild Pals for Life from the Laughing Skull Server became one of the first major World of Warcraft memes. In the video, a paladin foolishly runs into a nest of eggs which ends up killing his entire party in the Upper Black Rock Spire Rookery. More information can be found in the Leeroy Jenkins entry.

The Corrupted Blood Incident

A dungeon called “Zul’Gurub” introduced in patch 1.7 featured the end boss Hakkar that casted a hit point draining debuff spell that lasted only a few seconds, but was highly contagious. Eventually players found out that Hunter class pets were able to keep the debuff when dismissed immediately after becoming infected. When summoned in a city it would immediately infect anyone nearby including non-player characters(npcs).

On September 13th, 2005, Corrupted Blood infected the major cities of Orgrimmar and Ironforge due to their large player populations. Lower level players died within seconds, the ground was littered with skeletons in highly populated areas. It took a few patches and server restarts to clear out the Corrupted Blood Plague. Due to largely positive feedback about it however it was used as a model for the Zombie invasion event shortly before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion was released.

Red Shirt Guy

At Blizzcon 2010, a teenage boy wearing a red polo shirt was recorded asking a question that managed to stump lead Blizzard designers. The video was uploaded to YouTube and managed to reach the front page of Reddit. For more information, visit the Red Shirt Guy entry.

In Machinima

In the context of Machinima art, or the practice of using 3D graphics rendering engines found in videogames to create cinematic pictures, World of Warcraft also became used as a popular source material for Machinima production, most notably in the South Park episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” which partially takes place in an alpha server of World of Warcraft. For more World of Warcraft-based Machinima, check out the video gallery.

Search Interest

Search queries for “world of warcraft” peaked in February of 2005, the same month as its European release, and several months after its initial US release.

External Links

^[1] Wikipedia – World of Warcraft

^[2] Gamespot – World of Warcraft

^[3] Macworld – WWDC: Apple Design Award 2005 winners announced

^[4] Web Archive – World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade continues record-breaking sales pace

^[5] Gamespot – RE4 named Game of Year at Spike Awards

^[6] WoW Wiki – List of Pop Culture References in Warcraft