There as many aspects of the game that can be studied, but there are two that stands out the most: PvP (Player vs. player, where players fight each other) and PvE (Player vs. environment, which is what raiding is all about)




So what exactly is raiding? As mentioned briefly in previous blogs, raiding is when numerous players participate in a gigantic group endeavor to defeat a boss and collect epic loots... in the early days, a raid party consisted of 40 people, but Blizzard (creator of WoW) decided that 40 people was too huge of a raid party and reduced the # to 25. Now how does the whole raiding environment work for modern world?

Modern world is basically characterized by social networking, such as Myspace and Facebook. What raiding does is basically incorporating social networking with other WoW players and giving them a group endeavor to participate in



Let me explain



Raiding is actually a very time consuming activity...you have to have adequate gear just to participate (meaning before you can even think about raiding, you have to collect loots from pre-raid dungeons). Also, you have to spend a lot of in-game money on buying potions, materials for gear, gear repair money, etc. Basically, you have to prepare and "farm up" (game lingo) for raiding before raids can happen

After players are prepared for raiding, there's the actual process of aggregating for raids...remember, raiding is a big joint effort, meaning group meeting times and dates must be set before raids can start. My WoW guild, for instance, has raid times on tuesday/thursday/sunday at ~7p.m., meaning all participants usually log on prior to 7 and meet at a designated place in game. Once everyone's present, raid members will venture into raid dungeons and proceed to try to defeat bosses for better loots.


This all may sound really dumb and dull, but human beings naturally have the drive to attain more...remember, the more you raid, the better gear you can accumulate. Also, raiding is a fun environment--raid members would usually joke around and horseplay (while trying to seriously defeat the bosses)




These are some excerpts from my raid outings...and the wordings aren't exact, but you get the gist
warning: contains crude language


Sidenote: Our raid leader, whose WoW name is Jimjones (nicknamed JJ...Raid leaders are usually guild leaders who organize raiding events) is currently still stuck with an inferior cloak called "Cloak of the Inciter" found here.

Member 1: Cloak of the inciter? More like C*** of the inciter...
Member 2: Yeah...you seriously need to get a better cloak JJ...that C***'s been hanging behind your back for too long...it's pretty homosexual
Member 3: C***blocked!!
JJ: :(


Member 1: HAVE YOU BEEN NAUGHTY TODAY!?
Member 1: ...crap, mistell (message sent to wrong chatbox)
Various members in raid: WTF...o_o;;

Member 1: *starts playing Spongebob Squarepants theme music on audio chat program*

Sadly I don't remember some of the funnier moments but you get the gist

Wow raiding environment popular enough such that players sometimes produce videos (which are anywhere from 200MB to 700MB), showcasing their achievements (most popular WoW video hosting site being this one)...there are other funny WoW related videos...here are some of them

Credit to animpinabox



"Mario theme in World of Warcraft"
Credit to Lososak


Movie "300" parody
Credit to ondskab100


And the infamous LEEROY JENKINS video that so many WoW players know....
basically, the premise of the movie is...a guild is in some raid dungeon...there's a player named Leeroy who was AFK (Away from Keyboard) while guild leader was explaining what to do in an upcoming room, full of baby dragons...and...well...things go wrong
Warning: Minor cursing found in the video, but nothing really excessive


Basically there's a HUGE variety of wow-themed videos out there...you just have to look at the right places...


Even South Park had a crack at parodying WoW
Credit to Randumbjunk
Warning: if you're not fan of South Park and its crude humor, don't watch
Video found here


Soo...basically to sum it up...raiding is a social experience for gamers



Many guilds actually like to show off their accomplishments via websites...my guild is no exception
Guild website
We also have forum set up such that guild members can talk about anything, from real life events to game related issues to raid scheduling...I guess because of this, I prefer forum social system rather than...say...facebook

I didn't really have chance to discuss PvP environment of the game, so I'll probably discuss that next time...