(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.

The following links aren’t exclusively Warcraft or Azeroth-specific, but they are of interest to anyone who plays games or MMOs.

First: Griefer, a story by a fellow Metblogger (in Atlanta) Will Hindmarch that extrapolates the concept of griefing into a real-world, near-future(?). Well worth your time.

Second: Another link to The Escapist, this time on the topic of how or why “regular” folks view gaming: The Myth of the Media Myth.

Third: Winner of the “best comment” award on MetaFilter for this tongue-in-cheek “review” of the MMO “Outside”.

The respawn rate of objects and players is ridiculously slow. A dead player can expect to wait for years to respawn, and will be set back to zero assets and a tiny, nearly helpless form. Death is hardcore, and resurrection all but impossible. Outside is not a game for the QQers out there!

Happy Wednesday!

The miners among you will appreciate this WoW-themed Christmas tree ornament from Paul Pape designs. Make sure not to miss the fully rotating 306º view. I like it, but there’s nothing necessarily Christmas-y about it. I’d almost rather have it just to set on my desk.

via Wonderland

This most recent Sunday, the Horde hung up their swordbelts and put away their arcane tomes for one night to come together and celebrate the welcome home they have found on Azeroth. The All Hallow’s Eve festival and the burning of the Wicker Man signify that it is the end of harvest season and time for the Harvest Ball. It’s a time for merriment, for alcohol, for gorging on the best of the new crop. A time for old friends to meet once again and for rivals to put away their grudges.

For one night the war is forgotten, and the Horde can act like civilized people. We can celebrate our victories, and mourn our very many losses.

I attended with Whitman, and the students and faculty of Silvermoon University. There was storytelling, drunkeness, a scavenger hunt, and a play performed by the drama club that was a satire of the rise and fall of Sylvanas Windrunner. It was, of course, a comedy.

At one point, an Infernal crashed the Ball.

And here is Faelan, organizer of the ball, on the main stage in Silvermoon city.

With Silvermoon University, but not dressed for the event.

It was often hard to keep track of the conversations flying about.

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The elf masks are very creepy.

The trees have started changing color and their leaves have begun dropping to earth. A chill wind blows in the evenings. The farmers in Westfall and Arathi are finishing up their harvest seasons, whcih must mean tt’s time for Halloween in Azeroth again.

(The always excellent WoW Insider has a great round-up of the quests, but what is it actually like? To me, that is what MetBlogs is about: what is it really like to be there?)

During this holiday season the Horde cities are full of adventurers running around with pumpkins on their heads trying to sell brooms. Wisps and bats, pirates and ninjas run past on all sides. The zeppelin looks like a menagerie of terror. Blind party invites are flying, and if you accept you could find yourself turned into any sort of monstrosity. Pumpkins dot the doorsteps of every house, and huge barrels of apples lay prepped for bobbing.

Outside Undercity stands an enormous Wicker Man–no word on if uptight policemen fill his belly–and surrounding the Wicker Man are dozens of heavily armed sellswords waiting for Alliance scum to ride by. The ground is sticky with blood.

The Headless Horsemen shouts and rides across the sky, burning the towns of Brill, Razor Hill and Farstrider Square. Helpful adventurers carrying buckets run around dousing every flame as soon as possibe. The level of civic involvement would bring a tear to my eye if only they weren’t being paid so well to do it.

The Scarlet Monastery has become an abbattoir. A palace of bone and ash and corpse. You cannot see the flagstones for all the skeletons of dead Alliance. This is as it should be. But Alliance should be wary and be prepared. My guild–the Holy Hammer–spent all evening conjuring up the Horseman and slaughtering him over and over, making him pay for burning our innocent hamlets.

I have not yet made the trip to South Shore to play my pranks, but I expect it will be not unlike running headfirst into a meat-grinder over and over again.

Not sure if this is actually running anywhere, but this TV spot for the Toyota Tacoma created by Saatchi is surprisingly funny.

And disappointing. Here’s to hoping the next event sucks less.

Many players are unable to acquire the quests, especially “Pink Elekks On Parade.” While many other players are unable to repel the Dark Iron Dwarf attack. Sigh. Blizzard, why must you always break my orcish heart?

I completed the Wolpertinger quest and have a new ass-ugly pet, and completed the run into BRD for the off-hand stein of unlimited booze. Nice. Wish I had one of those for reals. But I’m finding the lag crushingly bad in the racing quests. It takes me a solid two minutes just to get to the Goblin with the kegs, even with pushing my poor ram all the way into the red and hitting both apple barrels.

People who want that six hundred ticket ram mount are going to need to be very lucky, persistent and have a better computer than I to get it.