People who play a computer game about wizards killing each other were outraged when their "virtual funeral" for a fellow player was attacked by a gang of enemy characters.
The game, World of Warcraft,
is played by more than 6 million people around the world. And much like
the real world, players from one side are required to be the enemy of
players on the other side -- it's part of the game's cruel and
pointless design. (Gamers are connected to the massive virtual world
through the Internet.)
For reasons yet to be explained, a group of players decided to hold a "funeral service" for another player who reportedly died in real life on February 28 ... and they decided to hold it in an open-combat area.
They announced it on a World of Warcraft message board.
A gang of rival players known as "Serenity Now" thought that was a fine way to slaughter a whole lot of enemies with minimal effort.
In a hilarious video
that even makes sense to those who have never entered this "Lord of the
Rings"-style world of wizards and elves and dragons, the Serenity Now
gang raids the solemn lakeside funeral and slaughters dozens and dozens of dimwitted mourners.
But first, an "advance man" goes to the memorial service to check
things out. When his marauding horde is just about to reach the
funeral, he brutally kills the character representing the girl who
reportedly died in real life.
Then the gang makes quick work
of all the mourners. Finally, the advance man returns to the virtual
corpse of the supposed real-world dead girl. He genuflects and says she
liked fishing and snow and playing the combat style of World of
Warcraft.
The raid has led to much hand-wringing about player ethics, with
many people apparently shocked that a game about wizards killing each
other would be used for exactly that purpose.
The funeral raid happened on March 4, and just three days later the brutal video appeared on Google, apparently as a "recruitment video" for the Serenity Now gang.
Even those who found the raid distasteful say it was idiotic for the "funeral' to be held in an open combat zone.
It's not the first time World of Warcraft gamers have taken their
hobby a little too seriously. There was outrage last month when a
transsexual (in real life) started a club for homosexual players that advertised itself as friendly to such persuasions.
The game company said no, and the whole stupid mess led to 1,000 World of Warcraft employees going to "sensitivity training."
The company recently banned more than 5,000 players and suspended another 10,000 accounts for various virtual crimes.
Now,
watch the massacre happen to the most appropriate music placement ever.
