WoW geek fest 2008

THIS WEEKEND World of Warcraft fans prised themselves away from their computers and began the pilgrimage to Blizzcon 2008.

The Anaheim Convention Centre in California saw 15,000 WoW fanatics heading its way dressed either as their favourite character from the game – or as themselves (consistently black t-shirt and backwards baseball cap).

Many of the attendees probably wouldn’t step out of their house for anything less, as this event is one of the biggest and most important on the WoW calendar – the £90 tickets selling out in just 15 minutes, the rush causing the system to crash.

Fans flew from all around the globe to unite and speak about a world they are all far more familiar with that the one they’re standing in – nearly 11 million gamers pay the £7 a month subscription to the game which has become a virtual world phenomenon, the world’s biggest “Massively Multi-player Online game”, or MMO.

The event must have looked like something out of Lord of the Rings to the oblivious passer by as wizards, dwarfs and blood-elves excitedly rushed past.

As the Blizzard chief executive, Mike Morhaime took to the stage the place erupted with anticipation, “We are on the eve of a historic event next month, and I don’t mean the presidential election,” he announced, speaking of November, when “Northrend will be open.”

Northrend is a feature of the latest WoW expansion pack – a new continent to explore alongside the release of the ‘Wrath of the Lich King’ which will mark the biggest computer game event this year.

After hours of waiting, gamers finally got their chance to play at one of the hundreds of computer screens to experience new aspects of the game, others played fantasy card games, chatted to the creators at Blizzard and generally soaked up the geek-fest atmosphere.

Some however, admit that they only came for the much-coveted gift bag containing the means to obtain a polar bear mount which can be ridden during the game and is an extremely rare find – these have changed hands on Ebay for the tidy sum of $300.

For those who really couldn’t bear to drag themselves away from Azeroth for more than a few minutes, visitors to the show could actually cough up another $40 to sit and pay the game all day... sigh.

We're going out to get some fresh air. µ