Blizzard Asks WoW Players For Their Stories

[John Funk]

Blizzard Asks WoW Players For Their Stories

Perhaps World of Warcraft may be infamous for tearing people apart, but for others, it helps bring them together - and Blizzard is asking players to share their stories.

If you aren't one of the eleven million people playing World of Warcraft, and I ask you to think about WoW players, what would be the first thing to come to mind? Would it be a PvP raid on the in-game funeral [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU]?

Though these are all rather entertaining, perhaps they aren't the best choices to sell the social aspects of World of Warcraft to non-players. And yes, there Player Stories [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94762-Playing-in-a-Guild-Is-Good-for-Your-Health] section, that's exactly what the company is doing.

Lovemymonkey [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/community/stories/archive/story23.xml], deployed overseas in Iraq, discusses how WoW helped him and his friends unwind after dangerous days - and how it'll let them keep in touch once they're back in the States when their tour of duty is over.

These are all short stories, and naturally there's none that are critical about the game - just go to the WoW forums for that sort of thing - but if you're in the mood for some feel-good stories about how online games like WoW can bring people together, it's worth a few minutes to read some of them.

(Via Wired [http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/09/world-of-warcraft-players-tell-their-stories/])

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[Diablini]

Very thoughtful of Blizzard.

 

[SharPhoe]

I should tell my friend about this (though I'm sure he already knows). He met his girlfriend through WoW, and he's been just peachy since.

 

[Radeonx]

That's very cool. I remember the PvP raid on the in-game funeral. While mean, I found it hilarious.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Very nice. It's good to see some good storys come out of WoW rather than all the shit people pile on top of it.

BTW, all thoughs videos you linked where genius even if I've seen them before. Though the funeral was pretty damn mean.

 

[Sven78]

Well, two of my friends met their future girlfriends / wives in WoW, that's not a bad quota.

 

[Geamo]

Not to throw a wet blanket over this, but I think it got set up quite a while ago. Like, when I was still playing (February).

Still, the stories are rather nice. I especially like the story of Ezra (forget his last name), who had some sort of terminal illness. There was a nice social response to it.

 

[Nuke_em_05]

Good call, Blizzard. It's about time something was done about WoW stereotypes. We constantly hear about several wackos every year who get crazy about it. We never hear about the rest of the 11 Million that lead normal, productive lives, and it's just a fun game to them. Let alone the equal or greater number (compared to crazies) who have actually been positively impacted by it.

 

[Keane Ng]

They should post my story about that one time the Horde was way better than the Alliance and Funk was a terrible player. Oh wait. The Horde is way better than the Alliance, Funk does suck, and that's all the time.

 

[Conveant0]

I think I've got something from me on another thread from a while ago now here. It is a good game, it's just unfortunate people and the media get a more interesting story of how Little Timmy did bad in his grades because of WoW/Insert any game here, whilst forgetting to go into any other details in their lives.
Not sure what to think of the funeral one though?

 

[The Great JT]

Not exactly news, I mean they've been doing it for a while, but it's still a nice sentiment.

 

[Silver Scribbler]

MOAR DOTS!

Good to see some of the good stories that come from wow for once, will have to give it a look. I know myself its more good than evil, even just from the real friends I've made from playing it.

 

[rougeknife]

Honestly, while there may be some good tales, they will be nothing near as entertaining as the tales coming out of EVE, which are more interesting to read about than playing the game half the time?

WoW is just far too dull on a humanities scale for any truly compelling tales to come out of it.

 

[quiet_samurai]

Ha the Serenity Now funeral raid... those were good times.

Honestly, if I died and my guild wanted to have an online funeral for me in a contested zone, I would be offended if it wasn't raided.

 

[Aardvark]

I lost my wife, my kids, my friends, my car, my house, my dignity and my slim, acne-free figure. Don't Do WoW.

 

[MisterColeman]

I'm not sure I have any of those.

 

[samsonguy920]

I have plenty of ingame stories, and can say I met another player in person, but nothing that translates into rl while playing the game. Either case I think it is a nice touch, and can see it lasting a long time.
As for the funeral vid, Serenity Now will remain a group in infamy, and a bunch of assholes, but in the end....that was damn hilarious! I agrees with quiet samurai, if a funeral was gonna be held in game in a contested zone, well hell, I'll just include it in my will that it has to be crashed. (Though I may leave a hint to my buddies that company's coming) That would be the video to trump that one. I do find it quite ironic that it was an alliance guild, representing goodness and light, doing the crashing and massacre.

 

[Mcupobob]

Cool stories clears up some sterotypes I like to play on the weekends with my cousin and his friend who are in the miltary.. also my other cousin who really does not live that far I made some friend at school cause of wow.

 

[Fearzone]

This has a smell of desperation to it, grasping at sentimentality straws. It seems beneath Blizzard to me. The old Blizzard anyway. WoW is fine as entertainment, but any crumbs of socialization the game may have thrown us, it takes away far more, and those cases where it doesn't I'll place a bet will rub a sensible person as more pathetic than inspirational.

 

[Typhron]

World of Warcraft. More like World of LOVECRAFT AMIRITE? *coughdoubleentendrecough*

Whether or not people like this or not, this is definitely a first in the MMO world of sorts. Got a feeling some of these will make it into their magazine.