The Blizzard Orc Statue and compass points of wisdom
by Kevin Kelly 
Jun 29th 2009 at 9:00AM
These will be featured in a story over on Joystiq at some point today, but in the meantime here's a sneak preview just for WoW.com readers. You may already know about Blizzard's massive courtyard Orc statue that's in the process of being installed in the front of the main building, but you might not know about the tenets engraved on each of the eight compass points that tout Blizzard's mottos. There's a peek at all of 'em in the gallery below, and they're also listed just beyond the break.
Read on for more, check out the statue and points gallery below, and stay tuned today for the drool-worth tour photos.
Each one of the Blizzard employees got to take home a scaled-down version of this sucker, with some even appearing on eBay, but none of them feature the massive compass that's being installed around the statue. Although the statue was supposedly ready back in February, Blizzard had contractors on-hand last week tearing up the concrete and putting new lights in ... or maybe that Orc just secretly comes to life at night and tears everything up. Who knows.
Anyhow, they were working on things while we were there, and upon closer inspection we noticed the compass points were surrounded by runes. The eight different points say (in English, who knows what those runes mean):
- Think Globally
- Lead Responsibly
- Play Nice, Play Fair
- Every Voice Matters
- Gameplay First
- Commit To Quality
- Learn & Grow
Although "Think Globally" reminds me a bit of Pinky and the Brain trying to take over the world, this is some pretty cool stuff. Now I'm starting to wonder what I'd be qualified to do at Blizzard ... maybe they need someone to photo-document all of their campus-improvement projects obsessively.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mornhadine Jun 29th 2009 9:13AM
the statue looks amazing. Just 1 question. What part of it did my $15/month pay for?
Yeng Jun 29th 2009 9:35AM
A very small fraction. I'm sure it was quite expensive. ;)
Samantha Smith Jun 29th 2009 10:24AM
what else can you do for hours and hours for just $15 a month? You probably spend more than that on toilet paper, and even if you really try you cant spend as much time pooping as you do playing WoW. Ive tried.
mibluvr13 Jun 29th 2009 11:41AM
I can't imagine what kind of overhead they have. Fifty cents a day for almost unlimited playtime isn't much.
Andrew Jun 29th 2009 9:16AM
I seriously think you're on to something with the whole Think Globally world domination thing.
Simon Jun 29th 2009 9:28AM
The most hilarious motto by Blizz: "Every Voice Matters"... -> Warlocks? *dead silence*
Lios Jun 29th 2009 9:33AM
It's their internal business philosophy. The voices in this case are their personnel, not their customers.
Deathgodryuk Jun 29th 2009 1:01PM
Because out of all of the companies that run MMOs Blizzard has a problem listening to its customers.
/sarcasm
Play FFXI, then you might learn what it means for a company to ignore its player base. Blizzard has been one of the most responsive companies I've dealt with in any business venue, let alone in the field of MMOs. Y'all just like to whine.
Frank Jun 29th 2009 9:41AM
seeing the word "geek" cast in bronze makes me ridiculously smiley for some reason. which direction gets the honor of being the "geeky" one?
VrakeBrae Jun 29th 2009 11:40AM
Judging by the shadows, the time my comp says the photo was taken, and the fact that it has a larger point, I'd have to say East.
*hopes he's right*
Bosswally Jun 29th 2009 10:14AM
i actually expected one to be "Soon(TM)"
Myria Jun 29th 2009 10:17AM
Aside from the Geek one (And what does that even mean? Dress Badly? Don't reproduce? Hope your mother has a basement? What?), these are all standard "Mission Statement" fodder. It's too bad there wasn't room for "Work smart, not harder!".
I'm guessing the runes are probably an ancient spell calling on demons to come and devour EA, or some such. That, or they say "All your game are belong to us".
MusedMoose Jun 29th 2009 8:11PM
Embracing your inner geek means not hiding or feeling awkward or ashamed about expressing your love for things that are considered geeky. It means putting the Horde sticker on your car, it means having discussions with friends about what you'd do if you were a Jedi, it means explaining real life in D&D terms, it means going to geek-based events and not only wearing a costume but feeling damn proud of your work when other geeks are impressed by your costume. These are general examples, not meant to be exclusive or inclusive, but you get the idea.
In other words, it means enjoying the hell out of all that being a geek of one flavor or another entails, and not caring what others think about it. Judging from your demeaning and stereotypical comments on geeks, I'd say you either are ashamed of your inner geek or don't have one. :P
Raging Epistaxis Jun 29th 2009 8:28PM
What were the mottos at the cardinal direction points?
It looks like the arrows are not all the same size, suggesting difference in emphasis.
Aldaxan Jun 29th 2009 10:27AM
I was tempted to sell mine on eBay, but it's just too awesome. :)
Asterius Jun 29th 2009 10:35AM
I see a major design flaw........ Blizzard hates the horde the proof is in the game itself.... they should of built a gnome statue holding bags of money poopin on the horde crest, that's how blizzard rolls =P
but the statue is awesome....
Eraserhead Jun 29th 2009 11:22AM
Blizz is pulling in $180 Million/month thats 1.2 BILLION /yr on WoW subscriptions. They need to spend more on the game and less on statues. What r they paying Ghostcrawler 35k/yr? Sure seems like it these days. Come'n Blizz......
splodesondeath Jun 29th 2009 11:44AM
This statue has been at Blizz since before Greg Street (aka Ghostcrawler) was employed. It just got moved to the other campus. You can't throw more money at people and expect them to fix more problems anyway. That's not how it works. GC is a community manager anyway, lol.
Also,
Hurray for the Canadian flag! :D
Mattimus Jun 29th 2009 7:39PM
/sigh
Not all players pay $15 a month, and not all of that money goes into Warcraft, or even Blizzard. Activision gets some of that, too, as do other companies.
Sakarabu Jun 29th 2009 11:56AM
Try Lead System Designer :P
http://www.wowwiki.com/Greg_Street
It's not his job to do anything at all with the forums, he just does it cause he wants to. Also he is probably getting paid alooooooooooot more than 35k/year. maybe 60-80k or maybe more.. ;)