World of Warcraft Virtual Community

In addition to playing the game itself and conversing on discussion forums provided by Blizzard, World of Warcraft players often participate in the World of Warcraft virtual community in creative ways, including fan artwork and comic strip style storytelling. Blizzard furthers this community by offering in-game and out-of-game prizes, as well as highlighting community events and occurrences. Blizzard has also provided incentives for introducing new members to World of Warcraft. In late October 2005 each subscribed player received a 10-day free pass which they suggested be employed as seasonal gifts that could either be used by the current player or given to a friend. These passes would generate a free month's usage if the guest player purchased a full account.

There are various memes, including "Face Melting," a reference to a very long thread on the priest forums on the World of Warcraft website that consisted of players saying, "You will melt faces as a Shadow Priest in PvP" in different ways. This is because the icon for Mind Flay, a powerful skill used heavily by Shadow Priests, looks like a melting face. Another popular phenomenon in the community are machinima videos such as the one starring a player named Leeroy Jenkins, showing him and his guild in a funny encounter. Leeroy's popularity inspired more videos and tributes in other games, and he was even part of a clue on the November 16, 2005 episode of the TV game show College Jeopardy!. These memes gain notoriety through postings on the World of Warcraft Forums.

As of August 2005, the Dark Iron server has been home to the guilds of web-comic creators Scott Kurtz (PvP) and Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins (Penny Arcade). Kurtz created Panda Attack and Djörk on the Horde side, while Holkins and Krahulik initiated a series of guilds that is now known as the Penny Arcade Alliance. This event is referred to as the Comic Guild Wars, and has created healthy competition between the authors, to the extent of dedicating some of their strips to the subject. Tim Buckley of Ctrl+Alt+Del and the creators of Holy Bibble have also joined in on making guilds for Dark Iron players.

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