Breakfast Topic: Football and WoW
by Jennie Lees 
Jun 19th 2006 at 10:55AM
For me, venturing into Azeroth is a form of escapism. The real life intersects with WoW in many ways, from various in-game pop culture references to events like Noblegarden and Winter Veil. However, sometimes there are parts of the real life you don't want to see in your virtual world of choice.With the recent World Cup fever, England has gone football (or soccer, to some) crazy. I'm not a fan of the game; let's skip the anti-football rant for now. I foolishly thought WoW might remain a football-free zone, but logging on to the European servers these days gets a fair few /yells, spam in General ("Come on ENGLAAAAAAAAAAAAAND") and even talk in various other chat channels. It's impossible to ignore everyone talking about the game, and yet I wish I could. Not only does it break the immersion, it's tiresome.
Are the American servers succumbing to World Cup fever? Or are they truly football-free? If the latter, I may have to dust off an alt or two. Or should I suffer the spam in order to conduct an extensive investigation into the declining number of PuGs when a match is on?
Filed under: Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt Jun 19th 2006 11:06AM
Football fever? ...Apparently you have never been to the States. We don't get that until September and it involves helmets and shoulder pads. The World Cup goes by relatively unnoticed here, especially in WoW.
Dr. Woo Jun 19th 2006 11:19AM
I used to hate soccer, but I find that I'm really getting into it with this World Cup. I suppose part of that is from my 2+ years spent in Germany.
The American servers are mostly free of World Cup-fanaticism. At least I know mine is. Barrens chat is Barrens chat.
Cameron Jun 19th 2006 11:31AM
I don't know...my guild has been talking about the World Cup a fair amount, and I'm on a U.S. realm. I imagine it's not half as bad as the hype on the U.K. servers, though.
Berto Jun 19th 2006 11:46AM
I've not seen too much talk of "futbol", however the NBA finals do get discussed a great deal--however I -do- happen to live in Miami and play this game with a veritable gaggle of Heat-o-philes.
Dwyane Wade ftw.
Brian Arnold Jun 19th 2006 12:26PM
So far, it's not been too bad on Cenarion Circle, a US server.
Also, it reminds me of this great strip from The Noob, a funny MMO-parody strip.
http://www.thenoobcomic.com/daily/strip191.html
dj Jun 19th 2006 11:01PM
I am on Khaz'Goroth and when Australia played Japan and Australia scored, there were a few people who got excited when the Socceroos scored, scored again, and then scored again all within ten or so minutes.
boneyard Jun 20th 2006 3:18AM
when ever there is a large real life event some of it will spill over to computer games, live with it.
Chork Jun 20th 2006 7:23AM
No offence intended.. but go to an RPG server if your after imersion! Im English and don't really follow the football until a world cup, but I did do a /yell EEENNNGLAAAND after our first game =p
Relmstein Jun 20th 2006 10:40AM
So far I haven't heard any reference to the World Cup on Shadowmoon yet. America doesn't get that excited about the World Cup mainly because soccer or futbol isn't as popular as Football, Basketball, Baseball, Hockey, Boxing, or hell even Nascar racing.