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by Michael Gray 
Jan 7th 2011 at 7:00PM
There's this quest in Loch Modan. To make a long story short, the gnolls and murlocs seem to be making a peace treaty. In the very least, they're making some kind of deal to lay down some awfulness on the Alliance. They are the Axis of Awful, after all.
When things get to this point, there's nothing else for an adventurer to do but dress up like a shrub, take a bottle of scent pheromones, and sneak out to sabotage the meeting. But that's not the exciting part. The exciting part is what the Mosshide gnoll screams when you lay the whammy on him.
"AAAAAAGH!" the gnoll yells. "CURSE YOUR SUDDEN YET INEVITABLE BETRAYAL!"
Rumors have it that in beta, the murloc responded, "Mine is an evil mrglglglglglglglglglg. Now DIE!"
Of course, this is a reference to the old Firefly series, which has many devoted followers among all kinds of geeks and gamers. On one hand, I totally love the reference. My wife and I giggled and laughed and loved the shout-out to one of our favorite television series.
On the other side of the coin, I can see the argument that pop culture references like this can take a player "out of the game." It disrupts immersion and adds silliness to an escapist hobby that some people take very, very seriously.
What about you? Where do you fall in that argument?
Filed under: Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
Kay Jan 7th 2011 7:19PM
My main(and as a result alts) is named after a Firefly character, so can't have enough quotes from it. Sure, sometimes the references get too much and remove the immersion, but hey, it's a big game, some silly fun is good to break things up.
Alchemistmerlin Jan 7th 2011 7:20PM
Part of the attraction to WoW, and part of its success, is that it has always had quite a lot of humor in it.
It isn't meant to be taken seriously. Slaying internet dragons is not srsbsns,
Mazca Jan 8th 2011 1:28AM
The vast majority of these pop-culture references are sufficiently subtle that you don't actually notice them unless you're familiar with the source material. They're the best of both worlds - a Firefly fan would immediately recognise the line, someone else would simply treat it as a goofy murloc sentence.
MusedMoose Jan 7th 2011 8:16PM
Seconded. Pop-culture references are only a problem if getting the joke is required for something that's important in-game. Little things like this, or character with referential names, are no big deal. Azeroth is a strange place to begin with, why worry about something making it just a little more silly?
For example, if the only way to avoid starting a particularly nasty boss's fire effect was to hit various bizarre and apparently unrelated targets in an order that corresponded with the lyrics to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire", that would be a problem. ^_^
paul Jan 7th 2011 7:21PM
Blizz handles the balance exceptionally well. There's nothing completely out of place on an RP server, but at the same time most references are obvious enough if you know the source material.
Wellsee Jan 7th 2011 7:21PM
Firmly in the "enjoy pop culture references" camp. Just wish I was witty enough to make one in my comment.
Darasen Jan 7th 2011 7:22PM
WoW, to me anyway, isn't especially immersive thus I have no issue. Look at the screen shot you are in a plane covered with weeds. To be a "good" player you are expected to spend as much time reading about the game as playing it and worrying about math and what order you press the buttons in more than enjoyment. I personally like it when the game makes humorous references like that.
I find helicopters, motorcycles, and pretty much everything Goblin or Gnome related far more distancing.
Terrë Jan 7th 2011 7:23PM
I love the little references scattered around the game - and I love it even more when I actually 'get' them.
I found a page once that listed pretty much every single reference in the game and I read every single one, then, even went around finding a few and just laughing at them.
I really like that Blizz have put in parts of our pop culture and it certainly doesn't distract me from the game - after all, WOW has its own immersive lore which I also love to delve into.
Deathknighty Jan 7th 2011 7:24PM
This is funneh.
Funneh is good.
icepyro Jan 7th 2011 7:25PM
It depends on the reference...
I killed Za'brox and Beeble'phod today and giggled at the reference.
I watch Worgen females do a Lady Gaga dance and I die a little inside.
The difference? One is a witty inclusion where not only someone familiar with the name or reference gets it, but it STILL WORKS without knowing it is a reference. I often wonder how many references I miss as I happily go along.
The dance just looks stupid and was so short lived that at this point only people willing to play a female Worgen (which still look terribad) and type /dance are the only ones still doing it. At least the goblin dance looks like something a goblin would do. I can still think of some more popular dances that were a longer lasting fad or meme that would have been better choices for all that kind of thing.
Ronin Jan 7th 2011 8:10PM
The Lady Gaga dance was a horrible idea from about 5 seconds after they came up with it. What the heck does she have to do with Worgen? Is it because she calls here followers her "monsters"? That's really stretching it.
I can't help but feel they just jumped on the bandwagon with that one; unfortunately for the female Worgen, it was a bandwagon that had barely left the station and never gained any real momentum. Lady Gag-a is doomed to be a joke before much longer, and having that dance in the game ages it horribly before its time.
In fact, I'd say both that and the male Worgen dances are examples of how _not_ to do pop-culture references. The Justin Timberlake reference is even more obscure and never even had the brief window of popular (or recognizability, to be more accurate) that Gag-a's did. It's also an example of how _not_ to do an elegant, Vitorian-ish vibe. It doesn't look elegant or courtly, and succeeds only in looking fruity.
Probably the one race that players type /dance the least for.
Drakkenfyre Jan 7th 2011 8:40PM
"Probably the one race that players type /dance the least for"
The female Undead dance would like to have a word with you.
Cyno01 Jan 7th 2011 9:29PM
And the dance from Napoleon Dynamite or a Brintey Spears video is any better?
Birk Jan 7th 2011 9:46PM
@Ronin
Lady Gag-a? Cmoooon dude, that was weeeeak!
In all fairness, I can totally see what you're saying about the dance. A little bit lame, I'm completely agreed.
But Lady Gaga is actually a rather talented musician. Take that with a grain of salt if you must, and I was certainly against her pop antics in a field saturated with carbon copy garbage bullshit music so I can see where you're coming from. But the girl actually has legitimate talent.
-Birk
Ronin Jan 7th 2011 9:50PM
Drakk, re-read that: I said as a _race_ they probably get /danced less. However unpopular Female Undead /dance may be, Male Undead /dance more than outweighs that.
Cyno01, again, the "Napoleon Dynamite or a Brintey Spears video " dances are pretty darned popular.
icepyro Jan 8th 2011 12:06AM
I think for once I agree with Ronin. Let's see, a few other thoughts...
The belf male dance is as ridiculous as the belf male is, therefore it is a good pick.
The belf female dance is as.... trailer trash... as the belf females are, therefore it is a good pick.
I actually like both of the Undead dances and /dance often. Granted, more often with the male, but then, his name is related to the dance. The female dance actually feels about as lively as the undead female, which is to say, not so much.
And honestly, Gaga's antics were needed for her to be popular where every female must be of a certain style/look to fit in, and while her talent may have merit, it is her dancing and antics that has made its mark on the game, and that is my issue.
The male worgen dance may be a more obscure reference, but just as the goblin male, I think there is a certain quality about it fitting to the race. I would have still like to have seen some jazz/swing/big band age moves on either gender than what they got, but c'est la vie.
Honestly I think Blizz should create a one year fad policy. If there is any following left, if the reference will still be enjoyed, and it is older than a year or two, then it could be considered. Being popular during the development is not a very good measuring stick.
trefpoid Jan 8th 2011 12:17AM
how can you not like the male Belf dance? it's hilarious! I really enjoy /dancing with my mage, specially on alliance corpses :D it must be so annoying to have someone dance that on your head!!
GTMusashi Jan 7th 2011 7:28PM
In terms of the Warcraft universe and Blizzard games at large, pop culture references are absolutely the norm, and have been for a long time. I tend to like them, ever since I first entered "every little thing she does" back in whichever warcraft that was for.
That said, I do feel like it's become too much. They've developed such a wonderfully rich lore for this world that it's depressing when zone storylines become more about emulating CSI than making you feel like you're affecting the history and politics of this world (Wrathgate comes to mind). Northrend to me exemplified this epic scale of things, and Hyjal is a good example from Cata.
It's all about balance and so far it's been pretty decent. You may have CSI in Westfall but the end is a real treat for people who are fans of the lore. There is danger in getting too carried away. Quest names are a good example. It seems like no quest has a straightforward name these days, or even one that takes itself seriously. Of course I exaggerate but it is a bit distracting when you're giving your quest giver "crabs"....
Even so, I say keep 'em coming, they still overwhelmingly make me chuckle and enjoy the game more rather than detract from my enjoyment.
Drakkenfyre Jan 7th 2011 7:32PM
It depends on how much.
Occasional references I don't mind. Even references repeatedly. But if a long quest chain were nothing but a long string of unrelated references, I might get annoyed.
The Draenei starter zone has you doing quests that reference Star Wars, Star Trek often back-to-back. You might be looking for a surveying party wearing all red shirts (and all dead) one moment, and the next you are doing the "Kessel Run".
That's funny. If I had a long quest chain with references to music, movies, TV shows, products, in a row, with absolutely no relation to one another or anything else, I would get annoyed.
As a side note, I thought with the header image, it might reference "unrealistic" things like hiding in a plant where anyone normal would see you a mile away. I was going to mention the traitor quest in the Draenei starting zone. You hide in a tree to witness a meeting with a traitor. Don't mind the giggling tree here, just go about your buiness, and have your meeting exposing yourself.
Oh, and the name of the quest? Tree's Company. A reference in itself.
Ata Jan 7th 2011 8:32PM
I agree with this. I'm for them, but take Redridge for example....it previously had a storyline of orcs threatening the village and some evil magic shenagins going on with the gnolls...now? The -entire- zone is a Rambo reference. It's old enough that a lot of the people playing these days wont get it, but for those of us who do, it's a little...it's 'cute', in the say a baby throwing their food around the first time you give them cake is cute. When they keep doing it and you're finding cake in your good china while hosting a fancy dinner party, it stops being funny.
WoW is kind of at the 'dinner party with friends' point...it's familiar, and in jokes are being exchanged, but you're still eating on the fancy china, and sometimes you don't appreciate the off color joke while you're eating.
I've looked forward to Uldum since five and a half years ago when I found the big gate with the hole in it and the giants wandering around in front of it. I wanted -so badly- to go through that hole and explore. I only do the Rammakan half of the story. And I like Indy movies. I just dont want that much in the game. I think they're skating the line a little close, when they have their own beautiful lore in place, I'm sure they could find and make their own jokes these days. At least maybe make them community in jokes, if nothing else.