ABSTRACT
At the second Blizzard Entertainment conference in 2007, the Lead Content Designer of World of Warcraft (WoW), Jeff Kaplan, described recently added player versus player (PvP) rewards as “welfare epics,” which set off a fi restorm of controversy about the reward structure of WoW.1 Kaplan, better known by his screen name Tigole, was a prominent member of one of the most notable raiding2 guilds in EverQuest, Legacy of Steel, before joining Blizzard.3 At Blizzcon, Tigole argued that, in the new PvP and arena system, players received epic loot regardless of whether or not they won or lost the competitions in which they engaged. Instead of needing other players help to defeat monsters, the introduction of the new system rewarded all players without a prerequisite of success or cooperation. Although the comment appeared to be made in jest, the label stuck and redefi ned the discourse surrounding WoW’s reward system. Because most players who play WoW do not raid, the changes to the PvP incentive structure were highly anticipated, magnifying the reaction to Tigole’s comments. Although the response was made in jest, using wordplay indicates how Tigole may have voiced an unusually clear perspective about how Blizzard changed WoW’s reward structure in an eff ort to retain subscribers.
