Cosmo Magazine in The World of Warcraft

The Daily Blink is a webcomic about World of Warcraft, produced by a pair of Blood Elves called Chris and CP. Here's their vision of Cosmopolitan magazine would look like if it was published in WoW.

via reddit

Alliance vs. Horde Conflict in World of Warcraft Results in Gamer Getting Turned Down for Job

The long struggle between the Alliance and the Horde in World of Warcraft recently boiled over into real life and real consequences. This might be a hoax, as the claim has not been verified, but one man claims that he was turned down for a job because the interviewer's character was in the Alliance, and his character is in the Horde:

A recent thread located on the Official World of Warcraft Forums told a story about what a player went through at their recent job interview. The job in question was a pretty important position at a local television stated located in Chicago. It seemed like a reputable place to the player, and all was going well according to the interviewee.

As the interview carried on, the player, known as "Urge," was asked what they enjoyed doing in their spare time. Of course, to this question this Urge responded by saying she played World of Warcraft. It turned out that the interviewer was also a big fan of World of Warcraft, and like any fan, asked which race Urge played on.

Excited now, the the player told her interviewer that she played a level 80 Blood Elf Priest. Unfortunately, it seemed as though this was the wrong answer because he replied, "Well I play Alliance" and almost immediately the interview was cut short, leaving Urge to ponder.

via Digg | Image by deviantART member EspenG

Sociologist Says that World of Warcraft Informs Us of Future Cultural Conditions

Sociologist William Sims Bainbridge says World of Warcraft has cultural implications beyond the virtual world. From an interview in New Scientist:

In the past, you've done a lot of work with religion. What does religion in WoW tell us about religion in the real world?

The horrendous question that always troubles me is, what if religion is factually false but necessary for human well-being? What does science do then? Could there be some other stage of development in which we express ourselves through a kind of protean self in numerous realities with different levels of faith or suspension of disbelief appropriate to each of them?

That, on a much smaller scale, is what is happening with the fictional religions in WoW. The overwhelming majority of the people that play WoW don't take its religions seriously.

And we actually have good reason to believe that people who play computer games are, on average, much less religious than the average person in society. I tend to think that fantasy literature in general inspires people to believe that the traditional religions are fantasies too.

Maybe we will move to a time when we no longer make a distinction between belief and the suspension of disbelief. The difference between faith and fantasy might not have been very distinct in ancient times, and it's possible that we will move towards a time when instead of religion, people's hopes can be expressed in something that's acknowledged to be a fantasy but also, on some level, sort of real. WoW might exemplify that kind of post-religious future.

via Digg

World of Warcraft Papercraft

Pixzii has a large gallery of some rather impressive papercraft versions of characters, creatures, and scenes from World of Warcraft.

via GearFuse

World of Warcraft Infographic

Pictured above is one small slice of an impressive infographic about the numbers involved in World of Warcraft.

via Digg

"I Love the World" -- World of Warcraft Edition

(YouTube Link)

Here's the backstory: two years ago, the Discovery Channel put out an impressive commercial called "I Love the World." It led to many imitations, foremost among them was xkcd's version, laden with references to that webcomic. This version was then recently mashed-up by an assortment of famous bloggers.

Are we up to speed now? Good. If you're still confused, think "Internet meme starting to peak", and you've got the gist of the situation.

Speaking of Internet memes, I'd say that this Hitler/Downfall video represents the fulfillment of that meme, and hopefully its conclusion.

via reddit and Instapundit, respectively.