This week Blizzard celebrated the sixth anniversary of their hugely successful MMO, World of Warcraft.  In honor of this remarkable achievement the developer rewarded all of its current game subscribers with a free in game achievement, officially making it the most pointless achievement of all time.  This, of course, is in place of the traditional sixth anniversary gift of candy or iron.  This week (tomorrow, to be exact) also marks the release of WoW's third expansion, named Cataclysm, which introduces players to a world which has been devastated by a dragon named Smog Deathwing who wreaks havoc on the land and effectively changes the world forever (DRAMATIC)!  

Over the six years of Warcraft's influence on the MMO community, it is almost impossible to understand the amazing sense of humor Blizzard has infused into the game.  Along with Warcraft's ability to laugh at itself, it also has the ability to mirror and emulate some very real life issues.  We often discuss this on the MMO Show, where the topic of Warcraft's incredible capacity to capture a sense of simulated realism never seems to get old and never seems to stop fascinating myself and my MMO loving colleagues.  So in honor of one of my favorite games of all time, and it's forthcoming latest iteration, I present you with a list of some real world elements that have seeped their way into an otherwise totally fictional game.



Stormwind Searches
Right before Cataclysm's release, Blizzard implemented some major in-game changes to set up the story arc for the expansion.  There were earthquakes, cults, screaming villagers, and Death Metal music played at all times (unconfirmed).  The cults that sprouted up in game were a reaction to the terrifying "end of the world-like" events that were taking place throughout Azeroth.  One of the questlines required you stop citizens outside of the major city of Stormwind and search them as if they were suspected terrorists.  This, of course, came hot on the heels of the TSA's highly criticized and questionable searches of airline passengers in US airports.  What is strange is that the real life outcry against the TSA seemed to explode right as the in-game event was taking place, proving to me, without a doubt, that Warcraft is indeed the Matrix.

Wildhammer Fact Checker

Some of you WoW fans are probably already aware of the number one Dwarf fan in all of Azeroth.  He is, of course, the very knowledgable and sagelike Red Shirt Guy.  Apparently during a Blizzard Q&A, Red Shirt guy asked a very reasonable and not at all nerdy question about his favorite clan of dwarves, which seemed to stump and embarrass the Blizzard programers with an astounding degree of skilled nerdism that hadn't been seen since the question prior to Red Shirt Guy's.  As a reward for his extreme wisdom (dorkyness), Blizzard fixed the inconsistency in-story and Red Shirt Guy was given a permanent avatar with the title of "Wildhammer Fact Checker" alongside of one of the three Dwarf kings in the game.  This, once again, proves that if you're a huge huge dork you will be rewarded (get super laid).

ICC Raid Quest
Not unlike Red Shirt Guy, Blizzard has implemented story arcs based on the real life events that its programmers have experienced. During one of the game's final raids, players can experience a quest which is remarkably touching and heart-wrenching.  Purportedly during game development, a friend of one of the designers was dying of cancer.  In honor of his friend the designer created a quest in which an avatar of this friend is also dying in game.  Your quest is go to various places and try to cure him.  Ultimately, you cure him of his ailment, but he still succumbs to his illness, dying in game.  Tragically, the quest mirrored the fate of the actual friend.  For a fan of WoW, I can think of no greater honor than to be memorialized in such a manner.  Azeroth is a world meant to reflect our own for entertainment purposes, but every once in a while it manages to touch close to home in a way that is unexpected and strangely poignant.  If I had to shed this mortal coil, it would give me great pleasure if my likeness was a part of a world which brings millions of people joy everyday. The game has various memorials like this, you just need to know where to look for them. The first one I remember hearing about was a grave in the Barrens for a member of the design team, which is one of the more famously notorious zones.  There is another memorial that is relatively new to the game in honor of an employee of Blizzard named Tony Stark.  Blizzard ran with the fact that his name is the exact same as the comic book character and had the man's in-game character dressed in Iron Man armor.  These guys has an amazing sense of humor...

                                                             Tony Stark

Plague in Ironforge/Scourge Zombie Invasion
Finally, the most fascinating correlation between this game and a real life event as to be the great Ironforge plague.  At one point there was a glitch in the system (matrix) which caused a deadly computer virus to be spread from character to character in the city of Ironforge.  This caught the eye of various organizations who were very curious as to how such a virus in real life would effect people and how people who were experiencing such a pandemic would respond.  During the glitch, players were said to have been blatantly infecting other players.  Others were said to have been healing and handing out resurrections to others who had succumbed to the deadly DaVinci virus.  The effects were remarkably similar to the events that occur during real life epidemics, and even though in the game you have an infinite amount of life, it is fascinating to see how one's actions translate in a simulated world.  This is also coupled with the WoW event which had players turning into "zombies" and infecting other players at random.  Luckily, in both instances, the designers could end the outbreak at any time.  In real life, we'd probably have to wait for Techno Jesus to save us just like in that movie The "The Matrix."  Or... die…we'd probably just all die.

                                            Awww...deadly adoralbe.

So when you're all standing in line tonight, waiting for your copy of the new expansion, just remember: someone might be playing as you, standing in that line, in their video game.  But probably not…because your (my) life is boring and nobody would want to play it.  For those of you who may look on Warcraft as an addictive, relationship-killing, mind-numbing video game, well…you're not all that far off.  But this game IS based off of our real world.  It is built on communication with other human beings, even though those people may be hiding behind a cartoon character who shoots magic missiles out of his hands. It is based on the lives of the people who design it, and is effected by real human emotions.  For me, this game is as real as you choose to make it and as authentic as you want it to be.  So for all of my fellow WoW fans: I hope we can be friends in game despite everything being all December 21st, 2012, and have fun standing in line tonight.  I can't wait to see you there.

Josh Henderson is an actor/writer who has mad purples.