World of Warcraft To Introduce Twitter Integration

Lok’tweet Ogar!

blizzard.com

The ever popular World of Warcraft (WoW) is planning to introduce in game twitter integration in an upcoming patch. The huge MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role playing game. How’s that for a mouthful?) Is one of the first to take the stop into the social media realm.

Ah, Warcraft. It’s either revered by some as the most ground-breaking online game of all time, or by others as something only ever touched by people who have a distinct smell of cheese snacks surrounding them.

Me? I think it's great and have spent many a day in the past exploring Azeroth. I don't smell of cheese snacks either. Though never play it during your A-Levels. Trust me, you will fail.

Like it or loathe it, there is absolutely no denying that Blizzard’s World of Warcraft (WoW) is the most successful and influential online game to date. WoW has just recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary and it still commands an impressive 10 million player base. Though the subscriber base has dropped from its all-time high of 12 million, it’s slowly clawing its way back up following on from the launch of its latest expansion: Warlords of Draenor.

Now, Blizzard has announced in their 6.1 Patch Notes that they’ll be rolling out a fully integrated Twitter function which can be used directly in the game. Orcs and Dwarves alike will be able to type /twitter and then post directly to Twitter using an in game interface. Players will be able to share pictures, achievements, defeated monsters and acquired treasures on the social media site. Though I’m sure Blood Elves will lead the charge with selfies.

The implementation first began circulating when a small little bird was found in players Garrison’s which would sit on your head for an hour once you’d clicked on it. Pepe, the bird was very popular and inspired many comics and videos. I mean look at him, he’s so cute.

buffed.de

Now in the 6.1 patch notes, Blizzard confirmed the inclusion of Twitter into the WoW interface. Bashiok, a Blizzard poster replied to comments about the integration on the Warcraft forums.

‘The implementation is really slick and out of the way. If you're using Twitter it helps you share things with an in-game UI you can choose to bring up. If you don't use Twitter just don't attach a Twitter account and I don't think you'll see anything related to it. The goal isn't to start socializing everything, it's really just to make it more convenient for people that already are sharing their gameplay. If you know anything about our UI and philosophy on simplicity I think you'll have a good idea of how subdued the implementation is, but it could get fun as Addons hook in and interact with it.’

There are currently no images of the Twitter interface, but I’ll update this article as soon as we get a hold of some images so that we can take a look.

The integration of Twitter into WoW has been met with some harsh criticism as many players fear that WoW will end up going the route of ‘Freemium’ games where sharing to social media becomes mandatory to progress in the game.

The player Daunted took to forums to express their worries: ‘Blizzard, seriously. This may give you a way to market your game for free but YOU DONT NEED TO MARKET IT IF ITS A GOOD GAME. If you have a solid product then you don't need all these gimmicky ways to get people interested in the game.’

Social media is becoming more involved than ever in gaming. For example, for most online games such as WoW and League of Legends, the first place to stop for any new information or server statuses will be the game’s respective twitter pages.

Let’s see how well WoW’s community takes to twitter being integrated into the game. If it’s received well, it could help edge in the new gaming world that is set to take centre stage over the next five years. Just take a look at the League Of Legends 2014 world finals, it was watched by nearly 12 million people.

The gaming age is coming.

Better tweet about it.

Oh, and For The Horde! Always.

Tom Welby

Tom has just graduated from University of East London in Creative and Professional Writing. He loves writing and is currently interning as a content writer hoping to go further. His other loves include Arnold Schwarzenegger films and his dog. Follow him @TomAtSMF

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