'Make Love, Not Warcraft' Episode Wins An Emmy

WoW Insider has the word that the South Park Episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" has won the Creative Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. The episode, which heavily features machinima shot inside a Blizzard-run World of Warcraft server, has proven extremely popular with fans of both the game and the show. So much so that the DVD set including that episode includes a 14-day trial for WoW, and extensive commentary on the episode from the show's creators. From the WoW Insider post: "This isn't the first Emmy that South Park has won, but perhaps this kind of attention will get WoW more positive (or at least humorous) attention in other television shows. Though, when it comes to TV ratings, 9 million people worldwide does not a target audience make. For example, American Idol was considered slipping when it only had 30 million US viewers for an episode. Would you like to see WoW references appear more often on TV? Or are you too busy playing to care?"

I was impressed, until...

[damrat]

I was impressed with the Emmy, until I saw this morning that Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake's "Dick in a Box" won an Emmy last night, too. Makes you wonder just how low the standards for winning an Emmy are, after all. Or how sorry the competition was...

more choice

[Tom]

Or are you too busy playing to care?

No, like most non-WoW-players, I'm too busy caring about whether or not WoW is good or bad for me (as a player and consumer) and the industry.

Certainly the size and money involved allows Blizzard to try things nobody else could afford. On the other hand, in markets in general and creative markets specifically, too much concentration on one offer (no matter how good it is) reduces the progress of everyone else.

I'd rather have more choice.

Well, Emmys are for television...

[AmazingRuss]

...and television is 200 channels of suck. I would hate to be the person who has to dig through all that and find the bits that suck the very least.

Re:more choice

[brkello]

Huh? You are too busy worrying about a game that you don't even play? I'd say that you are unique and there aren't a bunch of people suffering anxiety attacks because they are worried that World of Warcraft is stifling creativity in gaming. Even though you don't make any sense, let me put these fears to rest. For gaming to be accepted as an art form and accepted by society, we need a game like WoW. You need a game that is a hit with so many people so that it becomes known to people who don't play the game. Once society recognizes enough people play games, it will become a "normal" activity...rather than something to be feared by parents and played by children and nerds. So stop worrying...WoW is good for gaming.

Re:No, I wouldn't.

[Don853]

Except that it's special just because of the size of its user base. It's a huge force in the PC gaming industry, and it affects future development because everyone else wants to try to replicate that kind of success. (and it seems to be unfortunately keeping Blizzard pretty occupied with a genre I'm not particularly interested in).

Walmart doesn't do much of anything unique either, they just do it better/faster/cheaper, and because of that they're very relevant.

Re:I was impressed, until...

[multisync]

I don't know what the competition for it was, but I remember that Samberg/Timberlake video well and found it hilarious. In fact, I remember the show Timberlake hosted as one of the best of last season. If you didn't think it was funny, you're entitled to your opinion, but for me it doesn't work as an example of the "low standards for winning an Emmy."

Re:more choice

[phildawg]

But you have one major failure in your logic. WoW isn't stealing MMO players away from other competitive MMOs. It is creating new MMO players from those who used to refuse to pay a monthly fee for a video game they could never own, or never had a desire to try out an MMO as they were content with playing diablo, counterstrike, etc.

Re:Just watched the episode again

[Vexor]

Best part about what I learned is that Blizzard was gun-ho to help out with the episode.

As they say, no publicity is bad publicity.

Re:The Simpsons also...

[shark72]

"Where have you been? The Simpsons died more than 10 years ago."

NB that the South Park film grossed something like $50MM at the US box office. The Simpsons Movie earned more than that in its opening weekend, even after adjustment for inflation.

Re:No, I wouldn't.

[Brigade]

Not just the size of the user base, mind you, but the demographic.

WoW was the first video game medium to tap in to the "non-gamers" on such a large scale. I remember when I was addicted to FFXI and even had it installed on my then-girlfriends laptop so I could grind levels while we were just hanging out at friend's houses socially (yes, addicted) .. that particular group of friends gave me no end of grief about playing a damn game (and an MMO at that) instead of being sociable (read: Getting drunk and smoking pot).

Cut to less than two years later, and EVERY one of them (and their girlfriends) are playing WoW and trying to talk me into getting into the game. To this day I can call them looking for something to do on a Friday night and the response I usually get is "Sorry, this is the only night that we can get together to make a run on X." (I think it's Molten Core .. I swore off MMOs)

Both Blizzard and Nintendo have figured out that the "hardcore gamer" segment is just that, and they have expanded and tapped into the mainstream market. Meanwhile, Sony and (to a lesser extent Microsoft) are busy playing catch-up. Since when (before South Park) has a specific video-game been considered a pop-culture reference? (Maybe Pac-Man, but not in a LONG while).

Re:more choice

[statikuz]

Pretty niche? 9 million players worldwide (plus another 3.5m for TBC) compared to only 11.6 million Xbox 360's SHIPPED worldwide? 26 million PSP's sold, which is indeed a lot, but one single computer game that not only sells, but has subscribers in those numbers definitely isn't "niche."