(image courtesy of MMO Champion)

I have a hard enough time pulling myself away from my computer (and of course, subsequently from WoW) to go to work, much less play Guitar Hero, but I think the trip to the living room just got a little easier. Activision (who merged with Blizzard back in December of 2007) announced in a press release today that Guitar Hero III players can grab the epic ballad I Am Murloc by Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain as a free download from the XBox LIVE Marketplace if you’re rocking out on the XBox 360, and from the PlayStation Store if you jam on the PS3.

Never heard of it? Check out the video!

The song will be available starting tomorrow, and was released in conjunction with the Blizzard Entertainment WorldWide Invitational in Paris scheduled for this weekend. It makes sense that Activision and Blizzard are trying to do a little mingling of two of their most popular properties, and I wish them both all the best, but I can’t help but take this as a reminder that we got jilted out of a Bard Hero Class. I mean, I know it was an April Fool’s joke, but come on!

Ever curious how the World of Warcraft web-o-sphere (did I really just use that word?) looks in relation to one another? Nah, I didn’t either, but someone’s put a lot of time and energy into creating a very detailed map of the World of Warcraft virtual universe, and it’s worth taking a look. Of course the big names like WoWWiki, Thottbot, and WoWHead are listed, but what’s up with WoW Insider being the only blog listed in the blogosphere sea? No love for us? Ah well, we understand. It’s not like I didn’t see this first on WoW Insider, anyway. (Thanks!)

Anyway, the map of WoW virtual communities is pretty extensive, and is broken up into different geographic regions based on the types of groups that live there. For example, the “Evil East,” to the right of the map, includes the lands of pirate WoW servers, Gold farmers and sellers, and other unsavory characters. The “Superstar Guilds” like SK Gaming and Nihiluim live along the Cursed Sea, just north of the Blog-o-sphere. I’m very entertained by the L2P Isle, but I’ll freely admit to spending a lot of time over on the WoW Wiki island. They host the most informative luaus, I think.

Just about everyone has heard of the Geneva Conventions, but not everyone knows that they’re actually four separate treaties detailing appropriate treatment and conditions for prisoners, wounded, enemy soliders, and others during a time of war. They are, by most accounts, the foundation of international law during wartime.

Now I’m not saying that we need to declare war on people with ridiculous character names, but I think a little guidance might be in order. So to that effect, I think I’ll dedicate my first post (Hi there!) to what I’ll call the First Convention of Character Naming:

1. Names with “pwn,” “lol,” “uber,” and other such forms of l337sp34k in them somewhere are only generally funny for the first 10 levels. After that they make everyone else laugh at you. Not with you, at you.

2. Naming your character “irtankgud” is all but a guarantee that other players will, in fact, assume you are not a good tank. Naming your rogue anything with “stab” in it automatically kills your cred. You’d better be good enough to offset your name.

3. Hunters: naming your pet something like “gonnabiteya” or “poisonlol” or “chompy” is a sure sign that you’re probably a Huntard.

4. Terribly spelled variations on characters from popular media (I’m looking at you, mister hunter named “Leegolass.” You too, warlock named “Sauronn.”) do not make you look cool, they make everyone else roll their eyes at you. Twists on those names however, can be hilarious. A warlock named “Harrydotter,” for example. That’s kinda funny.

5. Spec-based names are only entertaining if they’re ironic. Naming your druid “massivhealz” is only funny if you’re actually feral. My good friend Rettarded, for example, is a prot pally.

Seriously folks, the “randomize” button is there for a reason, and usually turns out something palatable if you’re desperate and resorting to naming your character after furniture in your room.

Yikes. When did I get so jaded?

Anyway, as with the actual Geneva Conventions, there’s more than one. Suffice to say I’ll revisit this topic. Maybe we need some conventions around other aspects of the game, too.