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World of Warcraft For The Win

In a press release from their website, Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft has won. Or, more specifically, that the game "has surpassed 1.5 million paying customers in China - just a month following the game's commercial launch on June 7, 2005. The critically acclaimed World of Warcraft has now achieved another significant milestone as the largest MMORPG in the world, with more than 3.5 million global customers." Relatedly, Gamespy's OnLife column this week centers around the WoW duping story that we touched on earlier. From the article: "Needless to say, many players are a bit incensed that Blizzard isn't taking this as seriously as they feel it should. Others, though, are convinced that there isn't any duping actually going on. It's an urban myth, they say, which gullible forumites are unwittingly perpetuating."

6 of 437 comments (clear)

  1. Article is wrong by theclam159 · · Score: 0, Troll

    It should read:

    "has surpassed 1.5 million paying eBay entrepreneurs in China"

  2. Re:Dupe exists... sad farmers by Amouth · · Score: 0, Troll

    personaly i think we should break everyones addiction.. not that WoW isn't a good game.. i just can't fathom paying for a game and then paying monthly to play it.. the need to pick one.. give us the game (or charge media cost only) and charge us monthly or sell us the game and be done with it.. i am glad this Dupe thing has started it makes it less worth while for people to pay monthly.. although i do wonder how they are storeing the items on the server side.. and why they don't have id's on the items to prevent this.. following the steps to make dupes i can see exactly why it is happening but personaly the server should throw a flag that a dupe item exist.. and here are all the ones.. and even for gold.. i mean there is a reason that in the real world we put serial numbrs on all our bills

    --
    '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  3. Re:Wow...I just love the rampant racism by Zed2K · · Score: 0, Troll

    Stereotypes exist for a reason. Oh and you tossed down the race card so hard it shattered. Get over yourself. No one cares. People who exist in the game for the sole purpose of collecting gold and selling it are gold farmers. People who are chinese and exist in the game for the sole purpose of collecting gold and selling it are chinese gold farmers. Its not racist, its fact. I think this whole internet online gaming world is a little to hard for you. I suggest you find a different hobby.

  4. You take part in racism just by playing WoW by Linux-based-robots · · Score: 0, Troll

    Forget the players; WoW itself is racist. From the moment you start the game you are racially segregated from the "enemy", who the NPCs constantly defame with derogatory and insensitive language ("Those filthy humans are at it again!", "The night elves are a bunch of tree-hugging scum", and so on). Now, you might be thinking, "But that's not real racism - it's just pretend! There are no "night elves" or "humans" in real life, so what harm could there be?" Besides the fact that such "pretend" racism has been scientifically demonstrated to provide a template for hate against actual ethnic groups, there are in fact plenty of examples of subtle (and not so subtle) slings against real minorities. Take the Tauren race, for example, which is a gross stereotype of native americans, complete with NPCs with such names as "Chief Runningbull" and "Brave Leapingdeer". As if the native peoples of this land haven't had enough to deal with already, now they must bear being mocked and compared to cattle in "World of Warcraft" (Or "World of Racism" as it should be called). Then there's the goblins, a race of money-grubbing, hook-nosed midgets, who have obviously been modeled after the stereotypical covetous Jew. 6 million didn't die in the Holocaust for Blizzard to get away with such disgusting racism.

    There are infinitely many more examples of the blatant racist overtones that appear in this game, but I think my point has been made. Next time, before you go complaining about people acting "racist" in this game, remember that the game itself was made by and for racists. Blizzard should be ashamed, and so should you for playing it.

    1. Re:You take part in racism just by playing WoW by Linux-based-robots · · Score: 0, Troll

      You definitely need to take this as what it is - a GAME. Yeah - a racist game, that 1.5 million impressionable young people are playing. If that isn't a template for hate then I don't know what is.

    2. Re:You take part in racism just by playing WoW by Linux-based-robots · · Score: 0, Troll

      The example you gave is completely inane. The Tauren in the game are depicted as a proud and honorable race of people(who yes do share a lot of similarities with Native Americans).

      Even "positive" racism (if one can call being depicted as an eco-terroristic pagan cow-like animal as something positive) can be damaging, as they set unrealistic standards for the group that members are expected to live up to, thereby setting them up for a lifetime of disappointment and low self-esteem.

      sensitism is almost MORE damaging than people who are actually racist.

      So according to you, being sensitive is worse than racism. You heard it here first, folks.