You’ve surely heard about World of Warcraft somewhere. Regardless of whether or not you have a teenage son, the name of the world’s most famous game rings throughout many different spheres of life these days. Indeed, rarely has a single game come along that has had just that big of an impact on so many areas.
How many areas of life have been affected by WoW? You might have heard of a few. But the range of influences is truly astounding by any standards. Let’s take a look at a few of the places you can come across WoW, outside the console, as well as some of the other ways that WoW has made its mark.
Expansion into other types of games
In addition to the video game, WoW has branched out into other types of games, as well. There is a board game version, which now has two additional expansions with spin-off versions. There is also a trading card game and a collectible miniatures game. Trivial Pursuit even created a whole version based simply upon WoW trivia.
Celebrities in WoW commercials
WoW commercials have managed to gather some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Indeed, its lineup of stars may well rival any other product out there. One clip is a parody of a scene from Office Space, where Peter tells Lumbergh to get lost so that he can return to his “work.” He then turns back to his computer, and WoW is on the screen waiting for him.
Another commercial features William Shatner. Shatner comes on the screen dressed in an ancient-looking cloak, announcing that he is a shaman and can hurl bolts of lightning. How can you hurl bolts of lightning, he asks. Easy; get WoW.
Mr. T gets a spot, as well. In his piece, he comes on bragging about the size of his “mohawk” in the character that he plays. A narrator repeatedly corrects his use of jargon, telling him that he’s incorrectly describing his WoW character. Doesn’t matter, he concludes in the end. This is my character, he pronounces. What’s yours?
Even Ozzy Ozbourne has a moment, where he comes on claiming to be the Prince of Darkness and is suddenly transformed into a WoW character. The narrator then disputes his claim, saying that the real Prince of Darkness is not Ozzy himself, but rather this WoW character. “I’ve been the Prince of Darkness since 1979!” Ozzy proclaims.
South Park episode
WoW was also featured in South Park in an episode called “Make Love, Not Warcraft.” In the episode, Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny become characters in the game. They are killed again and again by a griefer, and when Stan’s father attempts to become involved, the griefer kills him, as well. After attempting to get rid of the griefer by complaining to Blizzard itself (and finding they are unable to do so), the boys decide to involve all of the kids in South Park in an attempt to do away with the griefer together.
As their attempts continue to fail, only Cartman manages to hold on and calculates a way to eventually overcome the griefer. He eventually convinces the other boys to start playing again, and they all begin a huge marathon of playing, without pause, for months on end. As they continue to pay, they are so wholly focused on the game that they start to become slovenly and acne-ridden. However, their tenacity is noted by the executives at Blizzard, who decide to become involved to help the boys. Unaware that they are about to receive help, the boys nonetheless plug along in their own way, eventually beating the griefer. The episode incorporates many detailed elements of the actual game.
Steve Bannon and the IGE trolling controversy
There was also a controversial moment when former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon managed to get $60 million from various big-time investment banks in order to pay the Chinese company Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE) for getting players to earn in-game WoW gold https://skycoach.gg/wow-boost/gold that could then be traded for real gold.
The result of Bannon’s actions was not only a massive anti-Chinese hate campaign on the part of other players that felt they were being cheated out of the ability to play the game normally. There was even a massive class-action lawsuit against IGE by one of the players. Following this, Bannon actually took over as CEO of the company. He had become so fascinated by the game and its ability to give power to players that he decided to create a full-scale troll army among players at IGE.
For six years, Bannon retained control over the company, and he managed to make millions of dollars out of his trolling efforts. The act caused massive controversy not only throughout the gaming world but throughout the political world and indeed, across society itself.
Inspiration for cryptocurrency creation
It is even said that the motivating factor for Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, to go into decentralized technologies was an incident in which the damage component of his character’s siphon life spell was removed. He said that the incident traumatized him so badly that he suddenly became aware of just how profound of an impact decentralized technologies can have on a person’s life. In his case, though, he decided to turn the scales and channel his energy into something positive. The result was the creation of Ethereum.
What else will there be?
It is hard to think of anything else within the field of recreation that has caused so profound of an impact in so many different areas of life as WoW. Politics, finance, society, seemingly no major area of life has remained untouched by it.
Will there be yet further forums for WoW? A theme park? Hotels? Are streets named after WoW kingdoms? Or will it fade into the background as new games take over the spotlight? Only time will tell. But there is no question that it was a first, and the legacy will remain.