Project Lore

Never before has a deep, demanding voice booming angrily at me through Ventrilo made me laugh so hysterically. But Samuel L. Jackson, of all people, stating in that signature big, bad voice of his, "THAT'S A 50 DKP MINUS!"... well, it's just too much for this girl to take without exploding into laughter.

No, I'm not buddies with the actual Samuel L. Jackson (although, I did take my picture with his life-size wax statue while I was in L.A. for BlizzCon... does that count?!) His interaction with my raid group actually came through a nifty little iPhone app that one of my guildies decided to share with the rest of us.

On the surface, iSamJackson isn't much different from other apps that allow you to interact with celebrity voices at the touch of the button. You pay a $2.99 download fee for either a "clean" or explicit version of the app, and in return get a collection of more than 150 Sam Jackson quotes delivered with his stylish swagger. But the best part is yet to come. The app also has two optional quote packs (for an additional $.99 each) -- Sports and "MMO pwnership." I'm sure you can guess which one makes it relevant to this blog!

Jackson takes inspiration for several of his quotes in the MMO pack from the infamous Onyxia wipe animation. So, while our raid leader quickly reviewed strategy for taking down Lord Marrowgar the other night, Samuel L. Jackson chimed in: "Do I really have to tell you NOT to stand in the fire?" (FYI - I'm paraphrasing these from memory). That got our attention, and the quotes kept rolling. "That's a 50 DKP minus!" And when we wiped while bringing down Deathbringer Saurfang because of some ranged coordination issues, Sam declared: "You know, up until the part where we all died, I thought it was going pretty good!" It kept our raid group in high spirits and laughing along with Jackson all night.

So would I personally buy the app? Absolutely -- if one of my guildies didn't already have it for everyone's amusement. It has definitely brought a lot of fun to the group, but I also wonder when the novelty will wear off. Perhaps if I still find it 100 percent funny a couple months down the road, I'll get it for myself, too. What would be GREAT is if, somehow, someone made the MMO-relevant quotes into a WoW addon.

Has anyone else encountered iSamJackson? What are your own impressions?

Earlier this month Hollywood Reporter put out the news that Heroes actor Masi Oka is working on a family movie called "The Defenders," inspired by his love of MMORPGs, and WoW in particular. (Yatta!) DreamWorks has picked up the film, and apparently the story will focus on a group of mostly teens who play an MMO together and end up working together in a RL adventure of their own. Sounds like a pretty neat idea, and it got me thinking. (Looking back in my blog, I do that a  lot). Anyhow, the environment of WoW allows for a great deal of anonymity for those who choose it. Of course, some of us, such as the crew on Project Lore, put their character names out there, and so we're known for our toons. But for the rest of us, WoW can be an escape of sorts from all our RL worries. And beyond Masi Oka, there are plenty of celebrities who have told the world that they, too, have gotten sucked into the World of Warcracft. Of course, there are the celebs we know from WoW commercials: Mr. T, Verne Troyer, Ozzy Osbourne, William Shatner, Steve Van Zandt. I think I got everyone. And there are many others who have admitted to their fandom that the wider community doesn't necessarily understand (or approve of). Off the top of my head, Vin Diesel comes to mind as a definite who has admitted to his geekdom. Other fairly well-known gamer celebs are Robin Williams, Matt Stone and Trey Parker (the creators of South Park who paid homage to the game in episode 147, Make Love Not Warcraft), Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov, and of course Felicia Day of The Guild. And then there are the lesser-known players of the game such as Dave Chapelle, Cameron Diaz, Kanye West, Ben Affleck and Maculay Culkin. Now, a lot of you may not give a damn who you're playing with. And I suppose it doesn't really make a difference in the grand scheme of things. But it's kind of neat to think about. That elusive rogue in your guild could be Britney Spears, for all you know. Or, that shaman that keeps sending you whispers could be your mom. Or ex-girlfriend. Or Barack Obama. You would never know! So, next time you log on, take a good, long moment to think it through. Could you be playing with someone you know (or at least know of)  in RL? It's a possibility. If I had to choose who to play with out of those I listed here, I think I'd go with Masi. He seems like a pretty cool guy. So what do you think are the odds that you've ever teamed up with a celebrity? Would you have acted any differently had you known?

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