18 Crazy World of Warcraft Facts That Will Impress Your Guildies
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker played World of Warcraft together.
You probably know that Vin Diesel and Paul Walker were best bros onscreen and in real life. But they were tight in Azeroth too -- the duo used to play the game together.
Diesel has posted to Facebook footage of him and Walker playing WoW in 2010.
Image credit: Universal
You can visit a Warcraft theme park.
Want to spend a real-world holiday in Azeroth? Hop the next plane to ... China?
Located in Changzhou, World Joyland is an (unlicensed) theme park inspired by Warcraft and Starcraft.
Image credit: Davidjellis via YouTube
WoW has been blamed for some deaths.
Plenty of people have become addicted to playing Warcraft. But some gamers take the game too far, playing non-stop until they ... just ... die.
For example...
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
There was serious WoW trouble in Shanghai.
In 2015, The Daily Mail reported that a Shanghai man died after playing the game for 19 hours straight, continuing even as he was coughing up blood. And that's not even the saddest World of Warcraft death story out there.
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Mila Kunis had a serious WoW addiction.
In 2010, Kunis told MTV News that she had to quit the game because she got addicted.
"I took it off the computer ... I still have my little twinks running around, but I had to take it off," she said. "I feel like a drug addict talking about a drug."
Image credit: Tinseltown/Shutterstock
Mila Kunis also has her own in-game NPC.
Blizzard developers paid tribute to Kunis by adding her to the new Legion expansion.
You can visit her NPC in Lunarfall.
Image credit: Shutterstock/Blizzard/Composite by Fox Van Allen
Blizzard made a dying child's wish come true.
Blizzard has really come through for Make-A-Wish Foundation patients. In the best-known example, brain cancer patient Ezra Chatterton was allowed to design his own NPC, Tauren Ahab Wheathoof.
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Ezra also received the most-lusted-after mount in all of Azeroth ...
Ezra was also the first player to be given the stunningly beautiful (and still ultra-rare) Ashes of Al'ar flying phoenix mount.
Ezra passed away in 2008.
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Copyright infringement? What's that?
Here's another photo from World Joyland. The tower at the left has clearly been inspired by Orgrimmar architecture.
You can explore more of the park in this YouTube video from texcoaster.
Image credit: texcoaster via YouTube
Gnomes are too short for this ride :(
Apparently, the raid on Icecrown Citadel translates pretty well into a dope log flume. You know, once everything is all melted.
Say hi to Arthas on the way down!
Image credit: James Timbers via YouTube
Robin Williams loved the game so much he has an in-game memorial.
Robin Williams was a notorious gamer -- he named his daughter Zelda, after all. Williams also loved Warcraft. Rumor has it he enjoyed trolling the Horde-side trade chat on the Mannoroth server.
To visit Robin in-game, head to the island off the south coast of Talador and rub the Ever-Burning Lamp.
Image credit: Composite by Fox Van Allen
Hodor is a shaman healer IRL.
Kristian Nairn, Game of Thrones' Hodor, told Engadget he plays a shaman healer and mage on the Kil'jaeden PvP server.
We presume he'll have a lot of time to focus on his characters for Legion. (Too soon?)
Image credit: HBO
Skeletons are too unhealthy for China's censors.
Worried that the skeletons in the game failed to "promote a healthy and harmonious online environment" as required by the China Ministry of Culture, Blizzard delayed the Chinse launch of its Wrath of the Lich King expansion until they could literally add some meat to their bones.
Image credit: Composite by Fox Van Allen
WoW exists because Chuck Norris allows it to.
Chuck Norris jokes have long been a part of World of Warcraft culture, especially in trade chat. In 2011, Blizzard hired the martial artist to star in a commercial alongside his in-game hunter avatar.
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
A virtual plague killed everyone. By accident.
The Corrupted Blood incident has gone down in history as the biggest World of Warcraft glitch of all time.
Corrupted Blood was a powerful disease debuff that worked similar to a real-world virus -- it was transmitted by contact with others, even NPCs. It didn't take long for the disease to spread across Azeroth (thanks to some griefers), killing every low-level character unlucky enough to get it.
But that was actually a good thing, because ...
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Corrupted Blood led to beneficial real-world disease research.
Physician Ran Balicer published an article about the incident in the journal Epidemiology, suggesting games could help researchers model the spread of SARS and bird flu.
Image credit: Looker_studio/Shutterstock
Be nice to gold farmers. They might be Chinese prisoners.
These days, gold-starved players can buy in-game currency straight from Blizzard. But in the old days, third-party gold selling was so profitable that Chinese prisoners were forced to become gold farmers.
"Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labor," a former Jixi labor camp prisoner told The Guardian.
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
World of Warcraft has been hot-button political issue.
Should Warcraft disqualify you from public office? In 2012, the Maine Republican Party mailed out this ad attacking Democratic State Senate candidate Colleen Lachowicz for having a"disturbing alter-ego."
Lachowicz ultimately won the race.
Image credit: Maine Republican Party
Mr. T is a big WoW fan, too.
Not only is the '80s superstar in commercials for the game, but as part of Warcraft's 5th anniversary, Blizzard gave players a limited-time, Mr. T-themed item, the Night Elf Mohawk Grenade.
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
WoW was once flooded with Mr. T lookalikes.
The Night Elf Mohawk Grenade item had the power to turn any character into Mr. T. Like any limited-time item, it was mercilessly abused. (Gold chains not included.)
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
This is the most expensive mount. Ever.
Want to prove you're a WoW high roller? You need this ultra-rare Swift Spectral Tiger. It's the most expensive mount you can buy in-game.
Prices vary, but you'll need to drop roughly 750,000 gold. That's equal to $300 at the current exchange rate. And it can't even fly!
Image credit: Screenshot by Fox Van Allen