Make Love, Not Warcraft: Difference between revisions
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{{cquote|We were excited to hear that the creators of 'South Park' were interested in featuring World of Warcraft in the opening of their new season, and we really enjoyed collaborating with them to make this happen. We're looking forward to sharing the experience with our employees and our players as well when the season debuts this week.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blizzard.com/press/061002.shtml|title=South Park celebrates 10 groundbraking seasons!!!|work=blizzard.com|accessdate=2006-11-04}}</ref>}} |
{{cquote|We were excited to hear that the creators of 'South Park' were interested in featuring World of Warcraft in the opening of their new season, and we really enjoyed collaborating with them to make this happen. We're looking forward to sharing the experience with our employees and our players as well when the season debuts this week.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blizzard.com/press/061002.shtml|title=South Park celebrates 10 groundbraking seasons!!!|work=blizzard.com|accessdate=2006-11-04}}</ref>}} |
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However, the animation in the episode is modified from the gameplay of ''World of Warcraft'',<ref>{{cite video game|title=[[World of Warcraft]]|developer=[[Blizzard Entertainment]]|publisher=[[Vivendi Universal]]}}</ref> and contains elements that do not exist in the game: talking animations, controlled [[non-playable character|NPCs]], human hunters, and increased goriness. |
However, the animation in the episode is modified from the gameplay of ''World of Warcraft'',<ref>{{cite video game|title=[[World of Warcraft]]|developer=[[Blizzard Entertainment]]|publisher=[[Vivendi Universal]]}}</ref> and contains elements that do not exist in the game: talking animations, controlled [[non-playable character|NPCs]], human hunters (though it could have been a warrior/rouge whom learned the bow ability) , and increased goriness. |
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===Production time=== |
===Production time=== |
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Revision as of 14:47, 10 July 2007
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"Make Love, Not Warcraft" is episode 147 of Comedy Central's animated series South Park which was aired on October 4, 2006. This episode is a parody of the popularity of the massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft, or rather, gamers themselves, and was announced by Comedy Central on September 30, 2006. It was advertised as the tenth season second half premiere.[1]
The episode uses machinima in many of its scenes to create a better emulation of the game.[2] It was originally scheduled to air as episode #145, but was later delayed because of difficulties in creating the machinima.[3]
Since the airing of the episode, it was planned that the fictitious Sword of a Thousand Truths used in the episode would be added as a part of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, although it would not have the same capabilities as in the show.
Plot
A rogue griefer named Jenkins[I] repeatedly kills the South Park boys' characters in World of Warcraft. The griefer, a highly dedicated player, is said to have been playing each day for a year and a half and has advanced through many levels, allowing him to disobey Blizzard Entertainment's rules and kill players as well as GMs (Game Masters) at random. Randy, Stan's dad, becomes interested in the game, and does not survive long before being killed by the rogue.
Cartman gathers all the boys of South Park to collaborate in an attack on him. They conspire to log in simultaneously and attack him. However, the griefer summons scorpions and easily dispatches the boys' characters. Afterwards, everyone gives up and finds other interests. Cartman convinces Stan, Kyle and Kenny to keep playing. "You can stand here and toss a ball around... or you can sit at your computer, and do something that matters." For several weeks, they play the game for twenty one hours a day, killing boars in the game's forests (to gain experience points) and hiding from the rogue.[II] In the process, the boys become grossly overweight (except for Cartman who was already overweight, he becomes morbidly obese), acne-ridden, lazy and develop large Internet vocabularies, using terms such as "Über" and "pwned" in daily conversation. The boys' characters grow so quickly that the Blizzard executives take notice, realizing that the boys have no personal lives at all.
Determined to help the boys slay the evil one, the executives decide to give the boys the Sword of a Thousand Truths, a weapon so powerful that it was removed from the game and stored on a 1 GB flash drive. However, "Salzman from Accounting" predicted that it would eventually be put to use. Unaware of the plan, however, the boys have already begun a seventeen-hour crusade against the rogue griefer, which the executives predict to be unsuccessful. The executives arrive at Stan's house with the flash drive, unaware that the boys are actually at Cartman's house. Randy agrees to take the sword and give it to the boys, eventually logging onto a Warcraft demo at Best Buy. Randy gives Stan the weapon, although he is mortally wounded by the griefer in the process. Angered Stan attacks the griefer with the sword completely draining his mana leaving him unable to use his shields. Taking advantage Kenny shoots him with his bow followed by Kyle hitting him with a fire spell. the rogue falls to the ground and Cartman bashes his head in, moments before Randy's character finally dies.
As the World of Warcraft players celebrate his demise, Cartman notes that the boys can now begin playing the game again.
Production details
Collaboration
The South Park creators collaborated with Blizzard Entertainment, the company that created the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises, to craft the machinima used in the episode. The machinima scenes were created using shots of the in-game footage, and re-creation of the characters in Maya, with Blizzard Entertainment providing their own character models and computers to test with.[3] Blizzard also gave the producers permission to use the alpha server of the expansion pack World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade to shoot the scenes on.[3] Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, issued a statement over the collaboration:
We were excited to hear that the creators of 'South Park' were interested in featuring World of Warcraft in the opening of their new season, and we really enjoyed collaborating with them to make this happen. We're looking forward to sharing the experience with our employees and our players as well when the season debuts this week.[4]
However, the animation in the episode is modified from the gameplay of World of Warcraft,[5] and contains elements that do not exist in the game: talking animations, controlled NPCs, human hunters (though it could have been a warrior/rouge whom learned the bow ability) , and increased goriness.
Production time
Although the planning of the episode and data-collecting began on September 1, 2006, the actual production of the machinima was done in five "shooting" days, the first being September 20, 2006, which lasted about 3-5 hours, and the last being October 3, 2006.[3] The regular South Park animation was created simultaneously, with all the other non-machinima episodes of the series routinely finishing within 12 hours of their airing as well.[3]
Reception
The episode received generally high review ratings. IGN, a multimedia news and reviews website, reviewed the episode and gave it an overall rating of 9.3, labeling it as "one of the funniest episodes ever produced".[6] The episode also shows a user average score of 9.4 at TV.com,[7] a 9.1 average at IMDb,[8] and a reader average of 9.6 at IGN.[6]
The original television airing of the episode drew 3.4 million viewers, most between the ages of 18 and 49.[9] This popularity made the episode Comedy Central's highest-rated midseason premiere since the year 2000.[9] However, the highest ratings for the tenth season belong to the season's premiere, "The Return of Chef", which drew more than 3.5 million viewers.[10]
In the April 2007 UK poll Paramount Comedy's Top 10 Episodes, this episode was ranked number 1.
Notes
- I^ Although never named within the episode, the official FAQ of the show states that the renegade is named Jenkins, probably after Leeroy Jenkins, an Internet phenomenon character from the game.[11]
- II^ During this scene Live to Win, the title track from Kiss vocalist Paul Stanley's solo album, is played in the background.[12] This episode, however, was aired over two weeks before the release of the album.
References
- ^ Ross Miller (2006-10-2). "South Park: make love, not Warcraft (update 1)". Joystiq. Retrieved 2006-11-12.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Dave Spohn (2006-10-1). "World of Warcraft Meets "South Park"". internetgames.about.com. Retrieved 2006-11-12.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c d e ""Make Love, Not Warcraft" interview". machinima.com. 2006-11-15. Retrieved 2006-11-19.
- ^ "South Park celebrates 10 groundbraking seasons!!!". blizzard.com. Retrieved 2006-11-04.
- ^ Blizzard Entertainment. World of Warcraft. Vivendi Universal.
- ^ a b Dan Iverson (2006-10-05). "South Park: "Make Love, Not Warcraft" review". tv.ign.com. Retrieved 2006-11-13.
- ^ "Make Love, Not Warcraft". tv.com. Retrieved 2006-11-13.
- ^ ""South Park" Make Love, Not Warcraft (2006)". imdb.com. Retrieved 2006-11-13.
- ^ a b TV/Radio notes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 12, 2006
- ^ Reuters (2006-03-24). "Chef's grisly exit is a South Park hit". smh.com.au. Retrieved 2006-11-14.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ "South Park official FAQ". southparkstudios.com. Retrieved 2006-11-12.
- ^ "South Park: Make Love, Not Warcraft recap". tv.com. Retrieved 2006-11-12.
External links
