The collision of Hogwarts and Azeroth
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 25th 2007 at 4:30PM
(There are no spoilers in this post-- see note below.)We've been trying to stay away from covering the specifics of this, but I'm pretty sure that by now, everyone who wanted to read Harry Potter's last book spoiler-free has done so (I finished it last Saturday night after a marathon reading session, and really enjoyed it). So perhaps now's the time to, as Terra Nova does, examine these strange relationships between virtual worlds.
Why would the WoW forums (or any MMORPG forums, as TN mentions FFXI) be a hotbed of spoiler posting, and not, say, a note posted on the door of a bookstore (or any other place that is likely to hit more Harry Potter fans than the forums)? What is it that attracts the WoW playership to be both inclined to post spoilers, and inclined to be bothered by them?
The answer, I think, lies in the fact that WoW really has two audiences-- there are gamers, like myself, who also play Halo and Counterstrike. They play games to get the highest level and the best gear and most Arena points, and they think the Harry Potter books are nothing more than kids' books about a stupid wizard school. These are the people who think it's funny to post spoilers on a forum, and who take pleasure in ruining someone else's appreciation of something they have no appreciation for. But there's a second group that also plays WoW, and they are very different.
*Note: Before you go any further, I should mention that if you haven't read the Harry Potter books yet, you may want to stay away from the comments on this post. Spoilers will be deleted from our comments, but we can only act so fast, and any post about spoilers is bound to attract some itself.
This second group (also like me, strangely enough), plays WoW for the fantasy and roleplaying setting. They're interested in the social aspects of the game, the deep lore, and not just what their characters are wearing, but also why they're wearing it. These are the people who enjoy Harry Potter, and who don't want it spoiled.
Because both groups play this game (and yes, those are generalizations-- like me, I'm sure there are lots of players who play action games and also don't want Harry Potter spoiled), the two cultures meet in the forums, or on WoW Insider posts, or in Barrens chat. At least one of our WoW Insider staff actually made the decision to stay away from the Internet until the book had been read, and I can't blame them-- I wasn't quite so careful, but I did run with both feet away from anything that smelled like a spoiler, at least until I finished the book.
Terra Nova does point out the most interesting part of this-- in this Internet age, it seems like we're all working for as much interconnectedness as possible. Information of any kind spreads quickly, and games like WoW bring people together in ways they've never dreamed before. But when virtual worlds collide like this, that connectedness becomes a negative rather than a positive, and people crave an escape from that contact. In this case, they choose one world to belong to-- the world of Hogwarts rather than Azeroth.
Really, really interesting stuff. Were you able to avoid the spoilers or did you get burned?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Odds and ends
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kat Jul 25th 2007 4:37PM
I read a post on the WoWLadies LJ and had TWO really big plot points spoiled for me >
Kat Jul 25th 2007 4:39PM
Bah, half of my comment was eaten.
The rest was supposed to say:
I thought I'd be safe there seeing as how the post was a gripe about people posting HP spoilers in WoW. But the author felt the need to include the spoilers she read and spoil it for the rest of us. /sigh
I guess I should have just stayed away from the intarwebs...
Erica Olson Jul 25th 2007 4:41PM
I said it before and I'll say it again, why post Harry Potter (or any) spoilers on any forum that's not related to it. If people post things that are off-topic then those posts should be deleted, be they spoilers or not.
If you want to "spoil" Harry Potter then go to the Potter forums.
I haven't read the books and don't intend to because the excerpts I did read didn't impress me at all, I did watch the first movie (in fast forward) and found that she "borrowed" quite a bit from other and (IMHO) better classic books.
Greta Jul 25th 2007 4:45PM
In paranoia, I simply stayed off of the internet (WoW included) until I had finished the book. This wasn't hard to do though, since I would rather read the book than most other things. After I finished though, I purposefully attempted to find spoilers just see where they were and I was either unsuccessful or found only false spoilers.
sirotrax Jul 25th 2007 4:51PM
I know that I got home from getting the book and refused to go to my computer until I was done. I find it's not actually that hard to disconnect yourself... just don't turn on the computer. Problem solved.
Valenvaryon Jul 25th 2007 4:56PM
I consciously stayed away from the WoW forums and trade channel until I had it read because I knew there would probably be people who were spoiling it in both places.
I'm a gamer and a fantasy fan - I loved the lore that was built up in WC and WC2, so I liked the idea of coming back to that world (though it had changed a bit) and playing in it, too.
James Jul 25th 2007 4:56PM
There is a third group, besides the gamers and fantasy/RP crowd: Jackasses, and they are independent of either the gamer or fantasy crowd. These are the people who, really, are already in the WoW forums causing trouble for as many people as possible, and the chance to post Harry Potter spoilers is simply another tool at their disposal. Harry Potter today, something else tomorrow.
Erica, it doesn't make any sense for someone to post Harry Potter spoilers in the WoW forums, however, from the poster's point of view, they are desperate for attention and the chance to ruin someone's day--anyone's day, if they can. So, yes, it would be more logical to do this in actual Harry Potter forums. They reason out though that if they can sneak the spoilers in, probably 95% of the people who read their post won't care...but they are after the 5%, and they want to ruin things for them just because they can. Sure, the whole premise lacks logic and smacks of childish stupidity, but those are the trademarks of being a forum troll on the Warcraft boards.
epsilon343 Jul 25th 2007 5:00PM
Well I'm a Halo loving, frag fest kinda person and I know that I didn't want to have the ending spoiled for me. Luckily, I was in Ohio for a Le Mans race and picked it up at a grocery store the morning of the race and was able to read to chapter 20 before going back to our hotel, finishing the rest the next day at the race and on the way home, so I was completely insulated from spoilers, especially when there were at least 5 other people sitting around reading the book, that I could see.
Finnicks Daerkhiv Jul 25th 2007 5:01PM
Unfortunately, my copy of Deathly Hallows was preordered for me by a friend, who had it shipped to her house. After I got off work that Saturday, I hoofed it over to her house to pick it up. The minute I walked in the door, her younger (and very immature) (and also on my list of people I'm not talking to for a very long time) brothers decided, when they heard I was coming over to get the book, that it would be absolutely HILARIOUS to read lists of who died and what happens on the internet and start screaming it at me the second I walked through the door.
So unfortunately for me, I knew about half of who died, as well as the identity of all the Horcruxes (yes, ALL of them, for those who've read the book and know what I'm talking about).
Needless to say, I'm extremely pissed at those childish berks (British slang FTW!) and I have no tolerance for anyone who takes pleasure in ruining another person's enjoyment of something. That's called SADISM, and it's DISGUSTING.
My two cents.
Danikar Jul 25th 2007 5:05PM
I am an avid Harry Potter fan, and not a pussy role player. I R TEH HARDCORE RAIDER! Represent!
amasen Jul 25th 2007 5:10PM
I personally stayed away from all things that would ruin the book for me. I did this because this happened in the last harry potter book, where some special person decided it would be real nice to post the end of the book in caps on an R&D thread in the wow forums.
On a side but similar note, after reading Harry Potter I was so excited about the story and the purpose of it all that when I logged into WoW, I found the game extremely empty and meaningless (note, I still enjoy my friends that I play with, even if we have nothing important to do)...
It seems that unless you've been reading the books, and playing the Warcraft series from start and then continuing to raid through to the Black Temple, that this game offers nothing more to the story than rep grinds, farming materials for craftables, and doing the occasional rare quest that is exciting and interesting.
Looking to buy more story and more lore please... that I can actually participate in...
amasen Jul 25th 2007 5:12PM
#7
I agree with you that there is a third group of people, and those are the lowly scum who take pleasure in ruining other peoples day.
James Jul 25th 2007 5:18PM
@9
How old are those kids? If they are sufficiently younger, you can always make your own list of spoilers for everything from The Sixth Sense to The Matrix, then swing back by and ruin everything you can. Of course, that would be childish and petty and getting down on their level, but then again, maybe that is just what they need. If they are really young, tell them Barney got killed by rabid wolverines or something.
Sarah Jul 25th 2007 6:15PM
Totally disconnected myself from every form of information I could, even the news, until I had finished the book. I even ran away from a group of kids in Target standing near the Harry Potter books yesterday morning because I didn't finish it till last night, just in case they had finished it and mentioned something among themselves.
@amasen: I know what you mean about WoW seeming empty and less interesting now, my mind is still in the book, which is a much more fleshed out world IMHO.
Pingmeister Jul 25th 2007 6:34PM
#7 is absolutely right. 99% of the folks posting spoilers are people who enjoy the anonymity of the internet to screw with other people. Trolls, if you will.
They will always be around. You will not be able to reason with them because the more they upset you, the more they enjoy it.
katyanna Jul 26th 2007 8:34AM
I had the 6th one ruined for me on a blog. I stayed away from WoW and as many forums and blogs that I could.
dekulink Jul 25th 2007 7:56PM
I stayed away from everything while I was reading it. It wasn't hard, because I was reading non-stop until I finished.
Dean Jul 25th 2007 8:12PM
The blog post, as interesting as it is, I think is over-analysing things. The internet offers a venue for people to upset and annoy other people annonymously, and people take advantage of this. Because unless they're kids (like those in comment 9), they can't actually do so in real life without risking getting seven shades kicked out of them.
And the Potter fans get extremely frustrated as at the end of the day, the books arn't very good. No-one reads Potter for JKR's scintillating prose or brilliant literary devices. They read it to find out what happens. The sole point of a Potter book is the story, the plot itself. So if you get spoiled, it really does ruin the book. Whereas if someone tells me the ending of an Iain M Banks novel, sure it might make it a bit less good, but it'll still be a damn good and enjoyable read regardless.
Jp Jul 25th 2007 8:39PM
WoW doesn't have two audiences. It has nine:
Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior.
Baluki Jul 25th 2007 8:50PM
I just finished it about 10 minutes ago. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have read this thread.
I too decided to just ignore the internet. I stayed away from just about every site that COULD have spoilers (basically anything with a lot of user-generated content).
Now I can post as many spoilers as I like:
Vader is Luke's father.
Oh wait, I think I'm thinking of something else. I'll get back to you.