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Warcraft fan schools game's makers
MMOExposed
Member RarePosts: 7,400
Warcraft fan schools game's makers
by: Ben SilvermanIt isn't every day a fan gets a chance to directly confront their idols. And more often than not, such an encounter usually results in blank stares, forgotten questions, uncomfortable compliments, and possibly a signed body part.
But when one big-time World of WarCraft fan (currently known only as "The Red Shirt Guy") stepped up to the mic during a Q&A session at the recent Blizzcon Fan expo, he managed to not only ask the right question, but earn the respect of thousands of players by schooling two of the game's developers on a botched piece of fiction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwyMB19q7ms
Monotone voice, encyclopedic knowledge of Warcraft's universe...yeah, safe to say he's a robot. Or a mandroid. Either way, he's gotten props from gamers for having the nerve -- and the know-how -- to verbally spar with Blizzard.
"Good for him! It probably took a lot to get himself up to that microphone and to speak in a clear voice like that," said commenter Diamond Drogg on Kotaku. "And showing the devs how it's done, to boot."
Youtube commenter 7lip agrees.
"As? someone who has played through every single Warcraft game, and genuinely loves the storyline, this kid is my hero."
For those not versed in the intricacies of Warcraft lore (*meekly raises hand*), The Red Shirt Guy's question concerns the status of the character Falstad Wildhammer. Apparently, Falstad's appearance in the World of Warcraft book "The Shattering" -- a prelude to the coming Warcraft game expansion, Cataclysm -- indicates that he's sitting on a certain council, while the designers mistakenly believed the character to be long dead. Whoops! Guess keeping track of a fantasy franchise as massive as Warcraft isn't as easy as it looks.
Hiring, Blizzard?
http://blog.games.yahoo.com/blog/113-warcraft-fan-schools-games-makers/
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Comments
I liked how the two Blizzard guys were trying very hard to not just outright laugh at the kid. "Must not make fun of dork who loves the junk we write..."
http://mmo-hell.blogspot.com/
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/rejad
Lol! He wtfpwned those newbs! Thats great, good for him! Score one for the nerd underground!
Those 2 were so smug, then they realized arrogance doesn't equal knowledge .. OF OUR OWN FREAKING GAME!!
worst blizzcon ever. That vid sums up blizz's attitude towards it's customers.
I agree, those guys sound like jerks. How can you not know the story of your own game if your the frigging developer?
The guy in the red shirt although he may not have the best voice but he knows what he's talking about.
Blizzard, you suck and fail!!!
The funny part is, that kid is the only fan that Blizzard has left that really cares. The rest of ex-fan like me, don't really give a $hit anymore.
But it's not surprising that teh Blizzard Dev has those attitude, you can read it in MMO-Chapion's blue posts how arrogant they have become.
But there are still some who are still mezmerized that Blizzard cares, that Blizzard listens, and I wonder if these people will ever wake up.
Ready for GW2!!!
What's the big deal? I'm sure some other fan had noticed what the person in the video had noticed as well, he just happened to be the first one to point out the mistake of Blizzard's writers and happened to do it at BlizzCon instead of making a shabby forum post about it.
Besides I don't even find his voice or acting too strange. Not everyone handles social situations as well as others.
Good on the kid for bringing up the lore inconsistency.
Though, at this point pointing out plot holes in Warcraft's lore is a futile endevour. The lore has spiralled so badly out of control with regards to consistency, let alone quality, that correcting it and staying consistent is pretty much impossible at this point, because you can't build consistency over inconsistency.
Sure, any "lore" may have the occasional plot hole, logical flaw, retcon, etc... but nowhere near to the degree that Blizzard Churns out. Heck, I could probably recite the lore more accurately than Metzen, and I haven't even touched a Blizzard game in months.
Reminds me of the movie Galaxy Quest.
Who in the hell is this Metzen guy? He talks and acts like a complete tool. He obviously has no real grasp on his job position and just restates whatever he has been programmed to say. He speaks with such arrogance I really hate watching Blizzcon just because of him.
How do you hire people that have no clue what is going on ? Oh wait I forgot... ! LOL. Looks like quality just went out the window.
You think Blizzard is arrogant. HA! HA! HA! You make me laugh. And honestly, do you really think people would have that much memory to remember every single detail about the game's lore that could take hundreds of books to tell the complete story. Why don't everyone on this thread watch the ENTIRE lore panel and you will see that Metzen is actually an enthusiastic person.
Blizzard still cares, and listen and the panel, The Shattering Novel, and Cataclysm proves it.
So, according to you, some 12 million people need to wake up? Or perhaps, it might be better for your state of mind to find another area to troll, I mean it's not like we'll be losing valuable contributions!
While it IS kind of funny catching them off guard like that - it also needs to be said that they're dealing with a world that has thousands of 'important' characters, and considering that the Wildhammer clan has been no more than a footnote for quite a while, it's understandable
This is what happens when 90% of your staff either leaves or is replaced over the course of a game.
To be honest, I don't recognise those 2 guys who were doing the Q and A. Who are they?
Was that Chris Metzen, head writer and lore dev for Blizz? He looks..different now. Not the first time he's messed up though.
Draenei/Eredar/Sargeras lore, anyone?
He's the creater of the Warcraft world.
Update from Cata beta realms.
These guys are rolling in so much dough right now that I bet they care, from the bottom of their hearts, that they might have made an oopsie in the lore and being corrected by a fan.
Awesome references lol. I don't see any other company(-ies) doing the same.
Their faces said everything.
Is that...Wildhammer Fact Checker a dwarf "in a red shirt"?
Obviously red shirt kid does. They should give him a job.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
And ... they already included the fan in the game (picture above comes from the latest Beta).
Great move: the guy is already a hero in and out of the game. A week after the event: he gets his own NPC ...
Grtz !
lol the guy is a hero for challenging the devs on fucking lore of all things? Wow that guy sounds awesome, except anyone with a life is laughing at him.
Reminds me of the episode of Simpsons where Homer was a voice on itchy and scratchy as poochie.
Doug: [wearing a T-shirt that says "Genius at Work"] Hi. A question for Miss Bellamy. In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
June Bellamy: Uh, well...
Homer: I'll field this one.
Homer: [to Doug] Let me ask you a question. Why would a man whose shirt says "Genius at Work" spend all of his time watching a children's cartoon show?
[pause]
Doug: I withdraw my question.
[takes a bite from a bar of chocolate]
So in short, the red shirt guy is a loser along with any of his 'fans', and should be pitied.
Yeah or it could be took as their makeing fun of red shirt.Which im leaning that way because while Blizzard has had rl fans afect game cannon.Why would that character need a fact checker?Seems more that their trying to make good or make fun of some one who knows more about their lore than they do.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." Robert E. Howard, The Tower of the Elephant (1933)
lol, so reading a comic and actually paying attention to the story in a game they play makes them a loser? guess what? if that makes him a loser than that makes you a loser for posting on an mmo forum.
I pretty much hate Blizzard but seriously, damned if you do damned if you don't. If that is Blizzard's idea of making fun, hell, sign me up. lol
It's really hard, isn't it? Not making fun of another human being and acting all high and mighty when in fact, you're not.
WoW lore is all but a joke now after all the retconning they've done over they years. That and every major bad guy follows the same patter "uh, he used to be a good guy...then something happend and he went crazy, now he's bad"