The Onion takes on Raiding
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jul 11th 2009 at 10:00PM
The Onion, the well-known and consistently hilarious parody news site, has turned its eyes toward World of Warcraft once again. In the past, they have introduced us to geek love in WoW and the World of World of Warcraft, and this time, they introduce us to the world of Raiding via nerd columnist Larry Groznic, who has previously written on his mastery of Quotes from Monty Python's Holy Grail and the merits of Weird Al Yankovic's Wikipedia entry.Larry's rant to an under performing guild member, while somewhat anachronistic (it focuses on a Zul'Aman raid) manages to poke fun at classic raid leader nerd rage, hilariously nonsensical guild names, perennial altoholics, and quite a few other WoW foibles. It may even hit too close to home for some of the people who might recognize some of themselves or others in Larry or his chosen victim. But hey, if we can't laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at? The Onion's done it again, and it's worth a read.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Magresda Jul 11th 2009 10:29PM
Pretty funny, though as huge nerd I'd appreciate it more if he had used more actual game terms (i.e Talents instead of "attribute spread")
Ironic, I know.
danawhitaker Jul 11th 2009 11:07PM
I totally agree with you. The blatantly out of date things (like old raids) or things that are just wrong ruined the tone of the entire piece for me. If you're going to do it, do it right. Make it relevant to WoW as it currently stands in the end game. I have enough horror stories from raids and five mans to fill a book with.
agnoster Jul 12th 2009 3:00AM
Guys, guys, guys.
Guys.
When you rage on the Onion for getting facts wrong, does it ever occur to you that it's quite easy to find out what raids are current, but "Did you put all your talent points into Beast Mastery in hopes that the zoo in Stratholme will reopen, or because that's the tab that's showing when you open the window and you haven't figured out that there are two other talent trees?" is something you can likely only write if you've actually played the game? The "mistakes" read too much to me like the Onion doing it on purpose, in the full knowledge that thousands of pimpled nerds are going to rage on the minor inaccuracies. Especially considering that the entire joke is about someone who takes the game way too seriously, it's amusing to me you don't see the punchline is... you.
Well done, Onion. Well done.
Ymber Jul 12th 2009 3:31AM
I read the article in question before seeing it linked here. I chuckled at the idea of the paper creating article in response where some WoW-playing reader picks apart all the things wrong with the original, but that someone would actually write such a letter struck me as less realistic than anything in the articles itself. I suppose we all make mistakes.
Yes, he talks about things from different patches as if they were all concurrent. Yes, he uses odd terms like "attribute spread." Yes, he describes a few things that just didn't make sense, like getting straight gold rewards just for raiding. And yet, one would expect readers of The Onion to be able to appreciate the joke anyway.
If they wrote, say, a front page article in the voice of an actual newspaper and completely messed up the form, that might be worth a raised eyebrow, but criticizing a spoof for getting a few facts wrong only adds to the satire.
(Of course, I am fully aware of how very meta of me it is to nerd rage at people nerd raging the fake nerd rage, so no need to point that out.)
Eisengel Jul 12th 2009 6:34AM
This was my first reading of an Onion article... and I have to say, taken out of context some of the stuff was rather funny (esp that 'zoo' line), however in context it seems entirely too caustic... as if he was going out of his way to be as ridiculously annoying as possible... almost as if he was trying invoke the feeling of that MTV show 'Jackass' through writing. Perhaps that is the intended humor, but I fail to see meanness as humor. Since it was not factually accurate the article had to stand on its own as a commentary about WoW rather than as a parody. I've laughed at the Leeeroy video (even before I played WoW), and various other articles and movies of and about unfortunate events in WoW... but this one seemed almost like he was mocking the entire genre of WoW mockeries (i.e. himself) in writing as falsely venomous a spat of nerdrage as he could. As a thinkpiece on the wicked, destructive self-loathing inherent in schadenfreude, I think it works. As humor though, I just don't see it. Yes people play WoW and take it too seriously... but is anyone surprised that people can take video games (especially RPGs, where it is pretty much the point to invest yourself in your character) too seriously? Yes, it happens. Sometimes it is as funny as it is disheartening. Invented jerk rant though?
zacharymacdonald94 Jul 12th 2009 10:21AM
By "Attribute spread" I took it to mean the increments of one or two stats you get every time you level up, even though they're fixed.
jjcoola998 Jul 12th 2009 2:36PM
Anything relating to the onion is amazing.
Also the world of world of warcraft video is helarious.
And the nerd rage reaction to the nerd rage article is priceless.
Gessilea Jul 11th 2009 10:31PM
Ehhh... I laughed in a couple of places, but too many errors that made it sound like he spent an afternoon reading WoWWiki rather than actually ever playing the game. And before someone nerdrages all over me, yes, I get that it's humor. However jokes, like fiction, only work if the reader is convinced you know what you're talking about, and too many mistakes ruin the joke. Sorry Onion, better luck next time.
epicboyz Jul 11th 2009 10:40PM
wow... i know this person (or someone way too much like him) IRL... gets to lvl 25 and moves to an alt.... has gear that is 15 lvls below him just cuz its a "blue"... and then leeroys in SFK... that bastard owes me 200G... that i will NEVER see... >_
lesigh Jul 11th 2009 11:10PM
@sqrly
before you fill up a comments section with your ridiculous and unrelated opinions, please learn to spell. you're and your are two differernt words, friend.
Dasein Jul 12th 2009 12:10AM
@ lesigh
fail.
Dasein Jul 12th 2009 12:12AM
@ le sigh
correction:
irony fail.
Charlie Jul 11th 2009 11:14PM
I agree, if it was written by a real player it would have been great.
"Did you put all your talent points into Beast Mastery in hopes that the zoo in Stratholme will reopen, or because that's the tab that's showing when you open the window and you haven't figured out that there are two other talent trees?"
That line is absolutely classic though.
Crash Jul 11th 2009 11:17PM
What do you mean there are two other talent trees?! :O
epicboyz Jul 11th 2009 11:22PM
well for a hunter, there is only one TRUE tree and thats BM!
Chromebus Jul 12th 2009 12:25PM
This is actually an older article hence the ZA reference. From time to time the Onion reuses older articles, to fill space i guess. I also agree with some of the other posters, it would have been nice if some of the references were more contemporary yes?
Rotclaw Jul 12th 2009 12:06AM
I'm a huge fan of The Onion, but agree that they missed the mark on this one. I was initially excited that they were lampooning WOW, but then after reading about half the article I was "Meh." Totally inaccurate and mostly just duds, unusual for The Onion. Would have been SO much funnier if it had been written by an actual WOW player who also happened to be one of the great writers over there. Oh well, maybe they'll revisit it sometime.
Suppressor Jul 12th 2009 1:00AM
Not really funny. Kinda read like a Mad Lib.
Philbertgrape Jul 12th 2009 2:19AM
I'm not one to nitpick, but I have to agree that this article is really well below The Onion's usual standard of excellence. I mean, how are they talking about Mountain Dew Game Fuel when that just came out, meanwhile Zul'Aman is 2 years old? Come on Onion, for serious. Here's a tip. Hire an intern, pay him dick, and have him fact check this stuff. Satire works better when you actually understand what it is you're satirizing. You're welcome.
Spriesty Jul 12th 2009 3:47AM
LOL I agree with you. I know it's supposed to be over the top funny but some references don't really make sense. If he can't get past level 30 he's not likely in a Zul'Aman run now is he? Either make it ridiculously silly like the ring of calm thing...or make it right & current. The in between doesn't really work...at least not for real players of which whom are the only people that would appreciate the article to begin with.