Category Archives: World of Warcraft

Democratic Party SUPPORTS Terrorist Attacks On Theramore! Vote GOP!

but… orcs actually
*like* Mitt Romney…

This one definitely goes in the oh-god-I-could-SO-not-make-this-up-file. Let’s hear it from the Maine Republican Party on one candidate for the state legislature, shall we?

Colleen Lachowicz, AKA Santiaga, is a gamer in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft(WoW), which takes place in the make-believe land Azeroth. Today, Colleen/Santiaga is an orc assassination rogue playing at level 85–the highest level one can attain. She and the members of her “Wreck List Guild”—Colleen/Santiaga’s WoW online alliance—post comments to each other on liberal online forums including the Daily Kos, where they discuss politics, military policies, and WoW battle tactics.

Studies have found the average WoW gamer is 28, and spends 22.7 hours a week playing in Azeroth.

Note that the Maine GOP feels it necessary to remind everyone that the world of Azeroth does not actually exist, yet then continues to attack Lachowicz for anti-social behavior in said fantasy world.

You’re in Blizzard’s world! Bad Democrat! No cookie! (click to enlarge)

Other things the Maine GOP attack Colleen for include being a slacker, reading Daily Kos, using bad language, taking Eminem videos seriously, participating in Brewfest as an ogre, and having a uterus.

In case you were curious on if this was an official initiative or just some Tea Party crank yelling at clouds for being so gosh-darned high up in the sky? The Maine GOP site is having technical difficulties this morning, but I promise this was there last I checked:

Democratic Senate Candidate Colleen Lachowicz’s Disturbing Alter-Ego Revealed

…“These are some very bizarre and offensive comments, and they certainly raise questions about Lachowicz’s maturity and her ability to make serious decisions for the people of Senate District 25,” said Maine Republican Party spokesman David Sorensen.

The Maine Republican Party will make an effort to give voters all of the information about candidate Lachowicz. To that end, the party has established a website, www.colleensworld.com, where people can see Lachowicz’s online activity for themselves…

I think I can safely speak for everyone who reads this blog (which at this point consists mainly of other game developers and devoted inside baseball fans but STILL) that I firmly support a candidate for office like Colleen Lachowicz who actually is a connected and social member of society, whom, like millions of other happy and well-adjusted people, choose to be happy and well-adjusted by way of stabbing Internet Dragons in the face.

I’ve already contacted Ms. Lachowicz’s office asking for a link to really the only proper response: a link for donations to her campaign. Because, dammit, we NEED more mohawk Orc ladies representing us. Even if they’re not combat spec.

Edit: Her response to my request/this story:

Thanks for standing up to support me. While I cannot accept contributions personally (I am a publicly financed candidate), other organizations are raising money. For more information on how to donate, and learn about other ways to help the campaign, please head to my website here: http://www.colleenlachowicz.com/

I have no comment on Theramore at this time.

More coverage: Maine Online Sentinel, Kotaku, Wonkette

Now That’s A Veteran Reward

Buy a 12-month subscription to World of Warcraft, get Diablo 3 for free.

Also, surprising no one whatsoever, WoW is getting a new expansion. Level 90 pandas are involved.

Moneypet! Blizzard Adds Convertible Currency to World of Warcraft

"Do You Still worry about Buying Gold? Old brand provides cheapest and favorable price for you! Fastest delivery Speed! WWW.BLIZZARD.COM Discount code: CUB Welcome!"

Well, this is fairly large news. Blizzard is set to add a new vanity pet for World of Warcraft to its out-of-game shop – the difference being that unlike all the others they sell, this one is freely transferable in-game. And Blizzard is not shy about pointing out exactly what that means:

While our goal is to offer players alternative ways to add a Pet Store pet to their collection, we’re ok with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services. However, please keep in mind that there’s never any guarantee that someone will purchase what you put up for sale in the auction house, or how much they’ll pay for it. Also, it’s important to note that we take a firm stance against buying gold from outside sources because in most cases, the gold these companies offer has been stolen from compromised accounts. (You can read more about our stance here.) While some players might be able to acquire some extra gold by putting the Guardian Cub in the auction house, that’s preferable to players contributing to the gold-selling “black market” and account theft.

If this back door to monetizing in-game gold transfers looks familiar – well, it should, as Eve Online has a similar scheme where players can buy monthly game-time codes and then sell them for ISK (in-game currency) – CCP even has an out-of-game secure transfer website set up to facilitate this. Trade in these GTCs are very active, and the player base has essentially embraced this pegging of in-game ISK to out-of-game currency value (currently US$ 1 / ISK 40m). It hasn’t eliminated in-game botting but it has put a stake in RMT dealers – why bother, when everyone is an RMT dealer. It also, ironically, at the highest end of the game turned Eve into a free-to-play game since it is possible in nullspace to earn more than 400m ISK / monthly and thus pay your own way via purchasing game time from people who don’t want to bother to.

Blizzard’s moneypet isn’t the same, and that may be its weakness. For while Eve’s GTC traffic is based on an actual good (a monthly subscription, which already has implicit value, at least to people who want to play Eve), WoW’s moneypet is literally created from thin air. Which, while better financially for Blizzard in that it literally is printing gold and/or money, it also inherently has less value than a more tangible good. There is also the small matter of the moneypet being an in-game manifestation of “Hi, I like to sell gold”, and that, to put it gently, may not be a popular opinion.

So, unlike Eve’s GTCs, investing in Blizzard moneypets for resale is far from a sure thing. The irony may well be if a game company sells a moneypet and no one actually buys it, does anyone care? It would, after all, be a market-driven response of disapproval that would say more than any message board post…

…oh, who am I kidding. Blizzard is going to sell 9 trillion of these in an hour.

World Of Canada Declares War On World Of Warcraft, Users Caught In Very, Very Slow Crossfire

As part of Rogers (Canada’s largest cable ISP) essentially declaring war on Bittorrent, Canadian World of Warcraft players discovered they weren’t immune, as it was discovered this weekend through an audit by Canada’s telecom regulator that Rogers classified the game they were playing as a bandwidth Weapon of Mass Consumption.

Thank you for your letters of February 23rd and 25th, 2011 regarding the impact of Rogers Internet traffic management practices (ITMP) on the interactive game called World of Warcraft.

Our tests have determined that there is a problem with our traffic management equipment that can interfere with World of Warcraft. We have been in contact with the game manufacturer and we have been working with our equipment supplier to overcome this problem.

We recently introduced a software modification to solve the problems our customers are experiencing with World of Warcraft. However, there have been recent changes to the game, which has created new problems. A second software modification to address these new issues will not be ready until June.

The problem, in a nutshell, is twofold.

First, Blizzard launched with a peer-to-peer update system using Bittorrent. While many people complained about this at the time (including myself, loudly), over the years Blizzard has refined their downloader/the Internet has caught up with the need to keep millions of WoW clients updated/people just accepted the fact that patch day downloads were awful. Eventually third party vendors such as Pando other MMOs (especially free to play ones) such as Lord of the Rings Online moved to peer-to-peer updating as well. However, to ISPs examining traffic, Blizzard’s users were using a Bittorrent client. Because… well, they were!

Second, with the introduction of Cataclysm, Blizzard refined their peer-to-peer downloading system to the point that it was embedded within the client itself, allowing users to play while new content was being streamed to them. This in and of itself wasn’t new, but it meant that WoW players could potentially be running a peer-to-peer application – called World of Warcraft – the entire time they’re playing WoW. Which resulted in Rogers throttling ALL traffic used by the World of Warcraft client, to the point that Rogers customers were being advised in the WoW forums to use a VPN tunnel just so they can play the game.

Of course, you would think that ISPs would be aware that World of Warcraft is, by dint of being one of the if not the most popular internet online game, something that users might be a bit sensitive regarding. Then again, given that Rogers also regularly breaks the internet’s most popular VoIP client because apparently people have the temerity to actually use it, maybe they just don’t care.

So much for that stereotype of Canadians being well-mannered and civil, eh?

Blizzard To Successfully Monetize Guild Drama

I'm saaaaailing away.....

Now your ENTIRE GUILD can individually pay $25 to collectively pack up and move to another server where you’ll no longer have to look at THAT STUPID BASTARD/BITCH/TAMPERPROOF FOOD PRODUCT that totally destroyed your guild by hitting on your raid leader/whining about loot distribution/wouldn’t respec out of shadow.

(Actually, this is kind of a good idea, if still, um, kinda evil. So I guess that makes it a True Neutral idea. Which means that only druids can activate the Guild Transfer service. You read it here first.)

(Pic credit here)

WTB WoW GM

Aww, our little hobby made the big time

From the Orange County Craigslist comes this:

I got my WoW account banned yesterday during the archaeology bot ban wave. I wasn’t a gold farmer or seller, never bought gold. I just botted archaeology because it’s a boring profession. I’m looking for a WoW Account Admin (WoWAccountAdmin@blizzard.com) to unban my account for $1000 USD. No questions asked – your anonymity will be preserved.

This is a serious offer. I live locally and can meet you in person wherever you like with cash, PayPal you money as a gift (non-refundable and non-disputable by me), leave an envelope under a tree, or pay you in any other manner you prefer. You will definitely get your money if I get my account back. You will have my full information – name, address, everything. Email me and I will give you my phone number and we can talk.

Given that this has appeared on some high visibility sites now, I think it’s safe to say his account is going to remain banned for a while. Assuming, you know, it’s not a clever plot by Blizzard’s internal affairs team to flush someone out…

Speaking of money, Blizzard is about to print some more.

WoW Lore Is Very Important

Nuclear Launch Detected Against WoW Private Server

Eighty Eight. Million. Dollars.

A judgement was just entered in a lawsuit Blizzard filed against Scape Gaming, which ran a “unofficial” World of Warcraft server. Apparently they made $3 million off of it! They have to give it all back, though. Along with.. um, $85 million in damages.

Gamasutra notes that Scape Gaming apparently out-Blizzarded Blizzard in RMT:

The original complaint said Scapegaming would ask for “donations” from players — but these donations were in exchange for virtual items ranging from $1 to advance characters two levels, to $300 for a pack that included a collection of rare items.

The judge’s order said Blizzard “submitted satisfactory evidence from third-party PayPal Inc. showing that Defendant’s PayPal account received $3,052,339 in gross revenues.”

The order also said that Blizzard submitted satisfactory evidence that showed Reeves’ website (Scapegaming.com, currently down) hosted 32,000 users on a given day in June 2008. That same month, there were over 427,000 members of the Scapegaming community, and Reeves, who goes by a number of aliases including “Peyton,” said that 40,000 people play on Scapegaming’s servers every day.

The court took the size of the community, 427,000, and multiplied that figure by $200 “per act of circumvention” of a copyright security system, and came to the statutory damages amount of over $85 million. It’s unclear if Reeves, who didn’t respond to the suit, would be able to pay the award to fulfillment, or if the defendant would appeal the ruling.

420k users… that’s the size of most second-tier MMO subscription bases. Kind of humbling that World of Warcraft thieves make more than some actual MMO devs.

Jas Purewal at Game/Law has more analysis:

$88m in damages is a pretty crippling blow to bring against an individual and I would guess that, unless Rees is a wealthy individual living in the US (or she manages to win an appeal against that award – seems unlikely), then actually recovering anything like that sum of money may be difficult. However, the sheer size of the damages award certainly should send a clear message to other WoW private server providers (particularly any of those who have moved in on Scapegaming’s territory since the lawsuit began).

Which leads us to the last point for this post. What this case shows most strongly is that Blizzard views private servers as a sufficiently significant problem to merit lawsuits – particularly if other private server providers are earning anything like the $3m that Rees made from Scapegaming. Couple that with the fact that there are clearly other private server providers out there, and it suggests we will see more of this kind of action from Blizzard in the future.

Whoops. Time for a new business model. I suggest “not stealing things”.

Law And Order: Special ERP Unit

In the World of Warcraft, sexually based erotic roleplaying (ERP) is considered especially heinous. On the Moon Guard server, the dedicated game masters who investigate these vicious terms of service violations are members of an elite squad known as the Special ERP Unit.

These are their stories.