Project Lore

A guild castle from Runes of Magic.

This week we look back at the recurring idea of guild housing, and Upper Deck Entertainment's thoughts on the WoW TCG issue.

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Our new listeners out there know that we've been struggling to come up with a name for Project Lore's official audio podcast.  We've currently recorded an entire trilogy of shows - impressive, I know - but the best title we've been able to come up with is the Dave Edition.  It was a hit with at least one fan, our current maximum.  Now we are asking, neigh begging, our fans to help us create the perfect moniker.  And this time we are offering rewards phat loot.

Tokyopop, makers of the World of Warcraft manga, my most beloved surprise of 2009, has donated three prize packs that will be awarded to the best names.  The winners will be chosen at the discretion of Project Lore's contributors, and a vote from Tokyopop will break any tie.  Ideas must be submitted as comments to this post.  Leave your real e-mail address or we'll have no way of contacting you should you win.  If you have submitted ideas on previous posts, please resubmit them for further consideration.  You are allowed to submit more than one entry, and more than once.  Feel free to explain the reasoning behind your submission as well.

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It's the time of year again, boys and girls. As Hallow's End approaches, everyone is gearing up to slay the Headless Horseman and gorge themselves on Tricky Treats, but it might be worth your while to celebrate the holiday's real-life equivalent, too. Each year, Blizzard hosts a pumpkin carving contest, and 2009 is no exception. They're looking for some talented gourdsmiths to artfully slice up these over-sized fruits to depict characters or scenes from at least one of the company's video game franchises. Zarhym details the rules below:

"The Royal Photographic Society of Azeroth is renewing its competition in celebration of Halloween. In a longstanding Blizzard Entertainment tradition, this year we're proud to announce our seventh annual pumpkin-carving contest. 2008's Winner, an exquisitely-crafted Horde pumpkin by Merrlynch Between 12:00 a.m. PDT on October 13 and 11:59 p.m. PDT on October 28, the RPSA will be accepting submissions for the pumpkin contest. The shutterbugs who submit the most outstanding photos of their work will have their pictures proudly displayed on WorldofWarcraft.com and Blizzard.com on Halloween. In addition, the crafters of the five most interesting, original, and well-carved pumpkin designs will each be recognized for their merits with a 32 GB iPod touch! Special thanks go out to Apple for this fantastic prize! Pumpkin submission tips:

• The winning entries will display high levels of originality, craftsmanship, and possibly humor.
• Your pumpkin must be lit up by a candle or other light source in your photo entry. You can show another photo of the pumpkin unlit if you wish.
• Pumpkins must be related to World of Warcraft or another Blizzard Entertainment title.
• Try to take the best picture possible, as picture quality helps make a good impression on the judges.
• Make sure you tell us what the pumpkin is supposed to be in the caption, just in case it's not clear."

Having big, meaty fingers like my own, and the carving skills of a back-alley surgeon, I don't think I'll be participating, myself. Every jack-o-lantern I try to make looks like Gary Busey after a motorcycle crash. And, besides, some of the winners from past years are intimidatingly well-made! But if you think you've got the chops, why not try your hand at it? Even if you don't win, you'll still have a bad-ass looking pumpkin to put on your doorstep. Full rules and a submission form can be found here.

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We reported, pre-Blizzcon, that Blizzard had created several new Twitter accounts, each focused on one of the company's key franchises. Some of you started following them instantly, while others maintained their distance from the social networking site wonder what, precisely, it could offer beyond the usual community or news features. Well, so far, the latter would be right. Posts have generally concerned themselves with daily questions, opinion polls, and highlighting the more creative aspects of the Blizzard fandom (things like fan art, stories, and, most recently, papercraft). Though there is an on-going Battlecry contest -- in which fans of the Horde or Alliance update their own accounts with "For the ____!" whenever their side's banner is lifted -- there have yet to be any prizes that you can actually use within the game. But, a recent post on the Warcraft Twitter page hints that might not be the case for long:

We are talking to our licensing department about giving out some#WoW in-game pets/mounts through Twitter. Looks promising. Stay tuned.

That's right, soon enough, you could be earning in-game content just for participating in the usual Twitter shenanigans. I can tell you from personal experience that it's not a sham, either. I recently won a Starcraft 2 Beta Key through Blizzard's Starcraft Twitter page. Generally, these contests involve little more than "re-tweeting" a phrase or offering up your own thoughts on a given subject. At 140 characters, that's not very hard at all. So what sorts of things might Blizzard actually give out? According to another tweet from yesterday, quite possible pets and mounts normally available only through loot cards:

What types of in-game prizes would you like to see us give on Twitter? Interested in #WoW TCG loot items? Spectral Tiger Mounts maybe?

This is wonderful news for those who have no interest in playing (or spending money) on the Trading Card Game. I wouldn't expect to see anything game-changing to be offered through these contests, but vanity items like Spectral Tiger Mounts, alone, are desirable and rare prizes. Do you think this sort of giveaway might get you to sign up for Twitter if you haven't already? Well, if you do, please make sure to follow Project Lore and myself, as well! We're always keen on having new friends to talk to!

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The first day of BlizzCon, as you have seen from numerous news coming out here at Project Lore, was an amazing time with a cataclysm of news (ba-dump-shh). Some of you may also be living it up at the convention, some are undoubtedly watching the organized chaos unfold from pay per view at home, and others of you surely have been refreshing your browsers as news comes out for you to soak up. So what about the other, fan-centered aspects of BlizzCon, beyond the news? Yes, I'm talking about contests. Costumes, sound-a-likes, dances, fan-art, songs and videos - all were showcased at the close of BlizzCon day 1. And although all the news has got my heart pumping in anticipation, I think the contests have been my favorite part so far. It's the first BlizzCon I've attended, or really even followed that closely. As iTZKooPA's photos showed, the halls are packed with a whopping 26,000 in attendance. And I don't want to play down the sheer amount of fun that being here has been so far, but the experience has been overwhelming at times. I found myself in a sea of other spectators, frequently lost and sore from carrying a ton of swag around because I didn't want to take the long hike back to the car. Not to mention the somewhat staggering nature of LA alone, for us non-locals. The contest was a time to sit back and marvel at the lengths some fans will go to show their dedication. Jay Mohr led the competitions with constant, expertly delivered comic relief (which is apparent by my constant laughter in the videos). As with previous years, we saw a hodge-podge of the good, the bad and the ugly. Costume-wise, I was smitten with interpretations of Queen Alexstrasza, several succubi and Lady Sylvanas Windrunner. And somewhat frightened, but very impressed by the overall winner who donned an unbelievably intricate Diablo Mistress of Pain costume. Amazing. Then dancing and sound-a-likes ensued, and many impressed. My faves: a blue, costume-wearing troll female shaking her thang for the audience, a band of "ninjas" doing the infamous Napoleon Dynamite dance and a seemingly husky man who surprised everyone with his tap-dancing prowess that translated perfectly to the dwarf female's moves, and won him first place in the process. The sound-alikes also were interesting for the most part, but the panel ran long. Each contestant had 30 seconds to mimic something heard in-game. Many chose speeches that bosses give when they attack or die. Some chose side effects or emotes. And we heard a whole group of Orc peons at "work, work." Between performances, Blizzard lit up their big screens with images of  the winning fan-art, and videos, and turned up the volume for excerpts from the winning original songs. I must say, I nearly fell out of my seat laughing at one video about a human man begging the moon not to get full because his wife is a Worgen and would rip his guts out. And again at an epic video about a player whose alt gets ganked over and over again. Finally, he gets his main and is ready to kick ass as he heads to confront the ganker. Then, a rogue unstealths and the pair team up to kill him again anyway. Loved it. Anyhow, who else here gets revved up by fan contests? How'd you feel about the costume winners? I'm curious how many of you would be brave enough to strip down and dance in front of tens of thousands of people watching (many with video cams) ? Personally, I've been known to enjoy costuming from time to time. But hell if I'd ever do a dance on stage! ...Now get pumped for Day 2!

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Hey all you writers out there - Blizzard's got a deal for you that may be hard to pass up. The makers of WoW announced this week the company's first global writing contest. I'm looking at all you roleplayers and lovers of Blizzard's intricate lore. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just starting out, here's a chance to have some fun with the storylines that we've gotten to know in-game. The grand prize winner gets a trip to Blizzard headquarters in Irvine, Calif. (just south of L.A.), where you'll meet (and apparently eat with) the staff behind the lore that we all love. And the lasting prize is your very own RL Frostmourne sword (valued at $429), for whenever you feel like you need a bit of power eternal. Seven runners up also will be chosen to receive signed copies of the Warcraft Archive, Warcraft War of the Ancients Archive, Diablo Archive and StarCraft Archive. Here's what Blizzard posted:

To enter, submit a 3,000 to 10,000 word story written in English and set in the Warcraft, StarCraft, or Diablo universe by April 12 and earn your chance to visit the Blizzard Entertainment headquarters and meet the writers and staff behind the lore seen in the games and books.

The official contest rules are pretty straight-forward. You've got to be of legal age in your country of residence, and although it's called a "global" contest, it is limited to residents of 22 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, most of Europe and parts of Asia. Oh, and apparently if you live in North Dakota, Vermont, Connecticut or Maryland or Quebec, you're ineligible. So you'll have some competition. But that's part of the fun of it! You'll also have to sign a release, make sure your work is original, etc. Now for those of you who are looking for a more lasting prize, check out Blizzard's job openings page. Last I checked, there was an opening for a writer for StarCraft II. For anyone who's more interested in other aspects of game making, there also are several openings for WoW and Diablo III. The exciting part of looking at the page is seeing what kind of work they're doing. Included in the listings under the WoW tab is a position for a Dungeon Artist. More dungeons, anyone? But back to the topic at hand. I'm thinking of giving this contest a try. Any other takers?

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The folks over at Topless Robot recently held a contest for their readers asking people to give their most traumatic video game related stories. Before I give you the link, it does contain some spoilers for Final Fantasy VII and some content on the racy side, but fair warning has been given, so here is Topless Robot's contest. There were a couple of WoW related stories in the comments, which is quite understandable. World of Warcraft takes internet anonymity, combines it with social interaction and great value placed on in-game goods, which creates opportunities ripe for emotional trauma. The most interesting WoW story was one by a person named Jason. He wrote:

My video game of choice for the past seven years has been World of Warcraft. To say i play a lot would be an understatement. At level 60, and that was several years ago, i had two chars that were both at over 100 days of active playtime. As of today I have 3 level 80's with one of them haveing over 300 days played. For those of you that do not play wow that means i had spent over 300 days logged into the game on that char.

Now for my story.

I go to bed Christmas eve with my char wishing all my guildies a merry Christmas. I logged out In Dalaran wearing my full Christmas costume. Fast froward 14 hour. I get back from my grandparents where i just spent all morning acting like was excited about a new sweater vest. Now i go to log in, and i notice something is wrong. My char has no clothes on. A sense of dread floods over me. I go to log in as my main, a prot warrior just recently 80 and almost in full heroic epics. The zone loads and here i am standing in Westfall. Thats when it hit me, i had been hacked. Later my wife will tell me i kept muttering oh no oh no oh no.... Sometime in the middle of all of it i get sick and throw up... also my fist ends up going through a wall.

When everything is tallied up, gone is all my gear, gone is all my gold on all my toons. 9k of my own hard saved gold, gone. Gone was hundreds of days of gear. Then it really hits me, i am GM of my guild. I run to the flight master, the bastards even deleted my hearth stone. I get to the flight master with no gold to buy a flight home. So now i mount up and run to stormwind. I get into the bank to see it empty. 5 Tabs full of mats and boe gear gone, the 12k in guild bank funds gone. I become sick again. I get back to my computer and then the worst part of all of it hits me. I get a whisper from one of my guilds officers asking why i kicked him. The thief kicked everyone from the guild, leaving myself alone in a shell that once held 200+ members.

At the total cost the thief stole close to 50k gold worth of gold and mats and left me alone in my guild, all on Christmas day. 5 years worth of effort undone in mere hours. Traumatic doesn't begin to describe the loss of 7 years.

This is a very sad story. Losing everything in the World (of Warcraft) on Christmas Day? It doesn't get much worse. Unfortunately, it was also posted on the internet in hopes of winning a contest. The cynic in me, which is a very big part of me, wants to ask how true Jason's story is (and just did). It's hard to lose seven or even five years of work when WoW has only been released for four. There is no real way of knowing how true this story is, but this type of thing happens all too often. How many of you have similar stories? I've talked about mine, so tell us about yours!

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