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The New York Times Celebrates 20 Years of Orcs, Guilds and Memes in World of Warcraft
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To many, it's more than just a game. From serving as a case study of real-world diseases, to changing the way we talk, love, and grieve, World of Warcraft's reach has stretched far beyond the bounds of entertainment to become a pop culture phenomenon that permeates nearly every part of our lives in some fashion or form.
Reflecting on this, The New York Times has published a look into the many ways World of Warcraft has impacted our lives and culture over the past two decades, which we've recapped with a little bit of extra context from a few of our own articles from over the years.
20 Years of Orcs, Guilds and Memes in World of Warcraft
WoW was a
social network before social media
, and continues to prove that the connections made inside it are
just as real as any other
.
Politicians have used WoW as a campaign tool, in an attempt to
connect with younger, disaffected voters
.
A ‘South Park’ episode about WoW won an Emmy, and continues to be one of the
highest ranked episodes
in the show's history!
There is a
high-minded academia
within WoW, extending to Blizzard's own
Student Art Contests
and even
university sports
as well!
WoW showed that
subscription services could pay off
, despite long-time criticisms of the model and similar games shifting to more freemium styles.
WoW said
orcs could be heroic
, offering players an entirely new perspective.
A meeeeeeeeme is booooooooorn, after Leeroy Jenkins took the world by storm and
continues to this day
.
WoW provided a
case study on epidemics
, with the Corrupted Blood incident marking the first online instance of uncontrolled plague to affect millions of real people.
Celebrities are not immune to WoW fervor, from
Jamie Lee Curtis
, to
David Harbour
,
Kristian Nairn
,
Henry Cavill
, and many more.
Steve Bannon participated in WoW’s fringe economy, eventually using
Chinese gold farmers
as a conceptual framework to help build an audience for Breitbart news.
Players opened their wallets for WoW. Whether supporting
charity pets
or getting their own
extravagant mount
, players purchase them in record numbers, despite the sales being one of the game's most hotly debated controversies.
Successful games can make bad movies, though its
reputation and reception have improved
over the years.
WoW jargon spread to the alt-right, attempting to co-opt "kek," though the the Horde translation of "lol" may be seen less often these days as players can much more easily communicate with each other now.
‘I’m a Night Elf Mohawk’ was another wildly successful celebrity campaign in a time where video games were just starting to reach the wider television audience. More recently, the
20th Anniversary celebrated the return
of the infamous
Granata Moicana
to engage a whole new generation of players!
Cryptocurrency developers were inspired by WoW, purportedly being an inspiration for the
creation of Ethereum
, although the creator
later retracted
the claim.
Many women found WoW welcoming, which Blizzard has fostered through several
events
and
scholarships
.
WoW merged our modern worlds, bringing the digital world into the physical with a wide and ever evolving line of
props, toys, card games, and more
.
WoW is a place to love and to grieve, again proving that the
relationships formed online
can be just as real as those in person.
WoW became a virtual stage for artists, with Blizzard
continuing to foster their development
and celebrating
some of the best talent in the industry
!
WoW harnessed the power of nostalgia, first by
bringing back WoW Classic
, changing up the game with a
fresh spin
, and then starting all over again! More than ever before, World of Warcraft has strived to provide something for everyone.
Agree or disagree on these points, it's clear that World of Warcraft has had a profound effect on both its players and our wider culture over the last two decades.
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