Image via Complex Original
The original World of Warcraft dropped ten years ago this month. That's a decade of looting, raiding, pwning, trolling, and lulz. At its peak, WoW had 12 million subscribers, and collectively, they logged over a billion hours of gameplay. The game has received four expansions (with a fifth one, Warlords of Draenor, launching November 13), and Blizzard's masterpiece shows no sign of slowing down.
Most video games are only talked about amongst gamers. World of Warcraft, however, is different. The sheer size and scope of Warcraft in and out of the game has led to instances where it has intersected with pop culture, and here are some of those most surprising moments.
Kevin Wong is a contributing writer. He tweets here.
Jen and Nick's Warcraft Wedding
Date: 2014
We've seen all manner of weddings, but never have we seen a wedding so awesome, so nerdy, and so full of win as this one. Jen and Nick courted one another on WoW, and when they tied the knot, they wanted their special day to be truly special. So, they created WoW weapons for their group photos, they named their tables after raid bosses, and they had a loot table instead of a sweethearts table. Instead of bride and groom sides, they had Horde and Alliance sides. Too cool.
WoW Tracks Down Criminals
Date: 2009
Indiana resident Alfred Hightower was a Level 80 Tauren Shaman by the name of Rastlynn, but in his spare time, he was also a marijuana dealer. At first, he managed to avoid prosecution by hightailing it to Canada. Eventually, however, police caught up with him by collaborating with Blizzard. They got his billing address, his IP address, and his preferred server, and they arrested him a short time afterwards. Poor bastard. Gamers with "side interests," beware.
China: Gold Farming Capital of the World
Date: 2007
In 2007, The New York Times ran an incredible story about gold farming in China. First-world players in Europe and America outsource their grinding—for experience levels and gold—to people working for 30 cents an hour on the other side of the world. These "gold farms" are set up as factories with rows and rows of computers, and workers must meet daily quotas in order to stay employed. There are real life parallels at work here, such as the outsourcing of cheap labor, the class distinctions between players who can afford a gold farmer and those who cannot, and the bullying of Chinese gold farmers in-game.
eWeapons on Ebay
Date: 2007
Back in early B.C. (Before Craigslist), we only had eBay, the online auction house where you could bid on anything—even virtual goods. If you were too lazy to do the work yourself, you could buy a fully upgraded character and extremely rare weapons online for hundreds or thousands of real dollars. It still exists, but Blizzard has gone to great lengths to discourage the practice. In 2007, eBay banned the selling of "virtual goods" on their site citing the ambiguity of the law.
Moose Attack
Date: 2007
In 2007, 12-year-old Hans Jørgen Olsen was attacked by a moose near his home in Norway. But rather than panicking and pissing himself like the average preteen might do, Hans dropped to the ground, and the moose lost interest in killing him. Hans was "feigning death," a technique he learned from WoW; "Hunters" learn the technique at Level 32 to trick their enemies. Whatever it takes to save a life, we're certainly not complaining.
"Make Love, Not Warcraft"
Date: 2006
Written and directed by Trey Parker, "Make Love, Not Warcraft" was not only an incredible WoW parody, it's one of the best South Park episodes of all time, and won an Emmy the year it was released. Plus, Blizzard Entertainment were incredibly good sports. They collaborated with South Park to create the computer graphics seen in the episode, and even helped to design the characters and animations. You know that you've arrived as a cultural phenomenon when comedy writers decide to lampoon you.
Serenity Now Crashes a Funeral
Date: 2006
We don't expect classy behavior from a group of online video producers who call themselves Women Shouldn't Vote Productions, but even so, this is pretty tasteless stuff. For context: A player died in real life from a massive stroke. Her friends decided to hold a funeral/memorial service, in-game, next to Frostfire Hot Springs, and one by one, her friends lined up to pay respects to her avatar. That's around the time that the Serenity Now guild decided to crash the funeral, and killed everyone in attendance.
It sparked a huge online debate beyond WoW—at what point do online actions have real world consequences? When is a game more than "just a game"? WoW was doing a great job of blurring that line.
Jeopardy Appearance
Date: 2005
During a Jeopardy College Tournament in 2005, Alex Trebek gave the following clue: "This role-playing game out in 2004 returns to the 'world' of Azeroth, where heroes like Leeroy Jenkins do battle." Shockingly, none of the eggheads on stage knew the answer, but we were shouting it at our television sets. You can't get more mainstream than that.
The Corrupted Blood Incident
Date: 2005
In 2005, Corrupted Blood virtual plague spread through Azeroth, killing off hundreds and hundreds of players. People in-game reacted in interesting ways. Some of them deliberately spread the disease, infecting as many other people as they could. Many healers offered their abilities, providing medical triage for the plague. Urban areas, with large population densities, were abandoned in favor of the countryside.
Corrupted Blood was never intended as a pandemic; it was a game glitch that caused the plague to spread far and wide. But it turned out for the best—epidemiologists and counter-terrorist groups studied the incident, and it provided insight into how human beings would react to a real life catastrophe.
Leeroy Jenkins
Date: 2005
The hilarious, undisputed, No. 1 WoW crossover moment has to be this. It starts with the PALS FOR LIFE guild meticulously planning a raid, and it ends with everyone dead. The hero of this clip, of course, is Leeroy. He's probably sick of his teammates' overwrought, self-serious calculations, and so he just decides to YOLO it. He may not be winning, but he's probably having fun—which is, of course, the point of playing a video game.
This clip went viral back in 2005, and it's been referenced everywhere, from Community to The Daily Show to How I Met Your Mother. Its mainstream appeal in 2005 showed us that WoW was more than just a niche interest. Today, Azeroth is still going strong.
