Leeroy Jenkins

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Ben Schulz at BlizzCon 2007

Leeroy Jenkins is a player character from Ben Schulz in the MMORPG World of Warcraft . He became famous for a video published in 2005 in which he, shouting his name, runs into a dungeon to destroy the strategy previously worked out by his teammates and thus cause his team to lose. The video became an internet phenomenon and was picked up in media outside the internet as well. Critics accuse the video of using racist stereotypes.

Video

The video was released in a post on a World of Warcraft forum on May 10, 2005 . It's about three minutes long and shows a game scene from World of Warcraft recorded by the PALS FOR LIFE guild . The players are in front of the rookery at the Upper Blackrock Spire and discuss their strategy for the next raid . One of the characters, the paladin Leeroy Jenkins, sits on the floor and is labeled AFK , i.e. away from keyboard . After about a minute and a half, Leeroy jumps up, his player shouts “Alright, time's up, let's do this.” (“All right, time is up, let's do it.”), Followed by a long scream of his name. Meanwhile, he and his character run into the crow's nest. After a short surprise, the other players follow him, whereby the planned strategy has been nullified and they are all killed by the dragons that appear there. Leeroy denies that it was his fault and ends the video with the statement "At least I have chicken." ("At least I have chicken."), An indication that he had prepared food while he was away.

In 2017, the makers of the video announced that it had been staged and released a video that is supposed to show the first attempt at recording. Many had previously suspected that the video was posted.

reception

World of Warcraft

The great success of the video ensured that Blizzard Entertainment , the developer of World of Warcraft , integrated the character into various of its products. So she was included in the card game World of Warcraft Trading Card Game and the online card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft . A character with his name also appeared. In addition, Leeroy Jenkins was also integrated into the game World of Warcraft . On the one hand, there is an award in the game with his last name. On the other hand, in the Warlords of Draenor expansion, there is the option of having him appear as a non-player character in the Upper Black Rock Peak .

Movie and TV

The video and character Leeroy Jenkins have been picked up and parodied in various films and television series, including Scrubs , How I Met Your Mother, and Family Guy . In addition, Leeroy Jenkins was already part of an answer at Jeopardy in November 2005 ! for which the question “What is World of Warcraft ?” was searched. The video also parodied a deleted scene from the film Year One , which later appeared on the DVD version.

military

The video about Leeroy Jenkins has been featured in several publications by US military personnel, including articles in the Armed Forces Journal and Military Review and on the Task & Purpose website .

criticism

Critics accuse the video of racist tendencies. The character Leeroy Jenkins is a stereotypical black character due to his first name, the disguised voice of his player and his preference for chickens, who has references to the figure Zip Coon from Minstrel shows . Just like this figure portrayed by whites through blackfacing , the comedy of Leeroy Jenkins is based on the failed attempt to integrate into a group of whites, but screwing everything up and thereby proving his stupidity.

The portrayal of Leeroy Jenkins as a white character in the World of Warcraft card game is criticized as a form of whitewashing . As a possible reason for this decision, Tanner Higgen sees not only the intended mass suitability of the product, but also the attempt to refute the accusation of racism in the video. She is also an example of the very low number of black characters in fantasy role-playing games and the prevailing opinion that blacks cannot be heroes.

literature

  • Daniel Bernardi, Julian Hoxter: Off the Page. Screenwriting in the Era of Media Convergence . University of California Press, Oakland 2017, ISBN 9780520285644 , pp. 182–186 ( digitized from Google Books, English).
  • Nicolas LaLone: Leeroy Jenkins . In: Jaime Banks, Robert Meja, Aubrie Adams (Eds.): 100 Greatest Video Game Characters . Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham / Boulder / New York / London 2017, ISBN 9781442278127 , pp. 111–112 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Purchese: WOW: Leeroy Jenkins happened 10 years ago. A video that became a meme that became legend. In: Eurogamer . May 12, 2015, accessed November 22, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Guddy Hoffmann-Schoenborn: WoW: What became of Leeroy Jenkins? In: Mein-MMO.de. May 18, 2018. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Jason Schreier: The Makers Of 'Leeroy Jenkins' Didn't Think Anyone Would Believe It Was Real. In: Kotaku . December 25, 2017, accessed November 18, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Daniel Bernardi, Julian Hoxter: Off the Page. Screenwriting in the Era of Media Convergence . 2017, p. 184.
  5. ↑ Samantha Cole: Wanna Feel Old? 'LEEEEEEEROOOOOYYYYYYYY JENKINSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!!' Is 13. In: motherboard . May 11, 2018, accessed November 18, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Benedict Grothaus: The WoW parody by Family Guy fails with many fans. In: Mein-MMO.de. April 2, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Mike Tunison: LEEEEROY JENKINS! 12 facts about Warcraft's rallying cry. In: The Daily Dot. November 12, 2017, accessed November 18, 2018 .
  8. ^ Robert M. Chamberlain: Let's do this! Leeroy Jenkins and the American way of advising. In: Armed Forces Journal. June 1, 2009, accessed November 22, 2018 .
  9. ^ Robert R. Phillipson: Leeroy Jenkins and Mission Command. In: Military Review. May 16, 2017, accessed November 22, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Jamie Schwandt: Let's Do This: What Military Leaders Can Learn From 'Leeroy Jenkins!' In: Task & Purpose. November 19, 2018, accessed November 22, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Jessie Daniels, Nick LaLone: Racism in Video Gaming. Connecting Extremist and Mainstream Expressions of White Supremacy . In: David G. Embrick, J. Talmadge Wright, András Lukács (Eds.): Social Exclusion, Power, and Video Game Play. New Research in Digital Media and Technology . Lexington Books, Plymouth 2012, ISBN 978-0-7391-3862-5 , pp. 85–100 (English, academia.edu - online on page 18).
  12. ↑ a b Tanner Higgin: Blackless Fantasy. The Disappearance of Race in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. In: Games and Culture , Volume 4, Number 1, 2009, pp. 3–26, here: 6–7 ( PDF ; English).
  13. ↑ Nicolas LaLone: Leeroy Jenkins. In: Jaime Banks, Robert Meja, Aubrie Adams (Eds.): 100 Greatest Video Game Characters. 2017, p. 112.