Leeroy: The man behind the chicken
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 13th 2007 at 1:27PM
Reader DrDiesel of Blade's Edge (thanks!) pointed us to this Denver Westword article about none other than the star of UBRS and Jeopardy, Leeroy Jenkins. Sure, the reporter is a few years late on the phenomenon of Leeroy and this wacky "emerging form" of Machinima, and yes, the article suffers from the same naive cluelessness it seems all mainstream reporters suffer from when they're writing about WoW ("I typed a message into the 'chat window,' a window for chat, and was astounded when a real person typed 'STFU noob' back!"), but on the plus side, there's some interesting stuff in there about Ben Schulz and what it's like to be Leeroy ingame.Schulz (that's him in a professional looking photo on the right) is the son of a theatrical director and a set designer who works at an industrial lighting company, and who's gotten famous for playing a videogame character for 30 seconds for free (the article doesn't mention if Blizzard ever paid him for putting his likeness in the card game, or if any of those t-shirt companies ever offered him anything for his name). He takes a pass at setting allegations to rest on whether the video was staged or not (who cares, at this point), and he generally seems-- surprise-- like a guy who just likes to play WoW. Who'd have known.
There is a rumor in there, however, that the World of Warcraft movie people were thinking about putting him in the flick as a cameo, and have since blown him off. Blizzard, Legendary Pictures, whoever's listening, I think I speak for the WoW community when I say: this must be done. You've got to get him in that movie. We want Leeroy!
Filed under: Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Steven Mar 13th 2007 1:34PM
I would imagine that since WoW technically owns everything about your game character, that they don't need to pay him for using his character name or likeness. Yea, it'd be cool if they hooked him up with something like a lifetime subscription, but I doubt they're eager to give out money where they don't have to.
Scott Mar 13th 2007 1:37PM
Though I don't know this guy, he lives basically around the corner from me, and a pal of mine has been friends with him for years. And naturally, my pal is a complete WoW addict as well. :D
Chris Mar 13th 2007 4:14PM
I always wondered if anyone got upset about the pseudo-racist aspects of this. "Role-playing" a black guy, being perceived as "stupid as hell", eating chicken... Most people saw it as comedy, but I always wondered if someone out there got offended.
Matt Mar 13th 2007 1:56PM
So you might say, you're 'pals for life'?
hee hee
Scott Mar 13th 2007 2:01PM
Well maybe my friend and Ben are... :P
TwhiT Mar 13th 2007 2:03PM
haha what a stupid journalist ^_^
/emote Twhit shoots you the finger, /emote Twhit shoots you the finger, /emote Twhit shoots you the finger....hahaha...i found my new favorite macro :)
White Rabbit Mar 13th 2007 2:05PM
Wow... slow news day?
Roguerhunter Mar 13th 2007 2:39PM
Even though Blizzard owns the game you part-take in the stock by purchasing the rights of that character created thats why when you use your credit account its fraud for Blizzard to charge ya just because;meaning you have rights and so does Leeroys player till her terminates that contract and then perhaps Blizzard could save that toon for personal preference...
Zuuler Mar 13th 2007 3:02PM
Digital information such as the character models, sounds, class and race names, abilities, weapons, gear, and anything else associated with the player is intellectual property of Blizzard. They create it, they own it.
Your characters name however was not created by blizzard (unless you click randomize for the character name when you created him), but was created by whoever created the character. So Blizzard does not have intellectual property rites to the name unless Blizzard created the name.
Blizzard could argue, however, that the name Leeroy Jenkins only became as popular as it has through a movie created using their software, entitling them to royalties for the use of Leeroy Jenkins should the name be used to generate revenue of some sort.
Wow, I actually remembered something from my college ethics class.
Prauche Mar 13th 2007 3:49PM
If, by 'his likeness' you mean his actual, non-toon real-life personage (face, etc), then yes, Blizz could technically be sued for using it without his permission. His toon, well, he's pretty well screwed on that one.
Lex Mar 13th 2007 4:52PM
Sorry to outnerd anyone here, but since I'm actually headed to my copyright law class right now: the Leeroy Jenkins video is what you'd call a derivative work, one based in large part on a pre-existing work. To the extent that the video offers creative, original authorship separate from the pre-existing work, it is copyrightable. But the right to create derivative works is itself a copyright protection, so Blizz is likely to play this trump card if challenged on its use of anything Leeroy related.
As for the name Leeroy Jenkins, short phrases are not copyrightable (and before you disagree, be sure you're not thinking of a trademark, which offers a more limited set of protections).
As for the right to use characters, take a good hard look at the EULA on the next patch day. I've never read the thing but I'll bet dollars to donuts Blizz specifically disclaims giving any property rights at all.
And if you're wondering why a lawyer wouldn't read every contract that passes in front of him, these are the reasons why I don't and you shouldn't either:
1) Unless you live in California, it's not clear that click-wrap contracts are enforceable (though they probably are)
2) Anything you'd strongly dislike in the contract is probably unenforceable anyway
3) What are you gonna do if you do find something you don't like? Not play? No? So why waste your time?
These thoughts courtesy of my civil procedure teacher, who also taught me to say the following whenever talking casually about the law:
I am not your lawyer, and none of the foregoing should be construed as legal advice.
G Mar 13th 2007 7:16PM
@Roguerhunter - LOL! Legal advice from one who cannot even form a sentence, yet somehow manages to throw a semicolon in for good measure. You made me laugh today, and for that, I salute you.
Bradley Nash Mar 14th 2007 5:20AM
There's a WoW movie?
Ristic Mar 14th 2007 11:14AM
I'm pretty sure his last line is "At least I AIN'T chicken"
It makes 1000% more sense than "At least I have chicken"
wouldn't you say
Strongmark on Arthas Mar 14th 2007 5:19PM
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803096/