Breakfast Topic: What game sound has snuck into your daily life?
You know those pesky ganarg up in Netherstorm? The ones that make the weird, "ee-OOH" Scooby-Doo sound when you kill them? I make that sound occasionally in real life, for no apparent reason at all. I never spent an inordinate amount of time leveling characters in Netherstorm, and I hold no particular fondness or enmity for the ganarg. (Although the dudes with the rotating blades? Yeah, those dudes and me are on the outs.) I really have no idea what provokes me to pipe up with this odd sound effect. I mean, come on, The Burning Crusade was forever ago! Maybe you can explain the relationship between ganarg engineers and stepping out of the shower. I know I certainly can't.
In fact, death sounds of all sorts are particularly fertile territory in a gaming family like mine. EverQuest human male death sounds still get a lot of traction when we collapse on the couch at the end of the day. Moving on, I guess there aren't too many weeks that go by without at least a handful of murloc calls. For WoW players, isn't that pretty much a given? But even regular dialog goes a long way. Orcish has proven useful in general family life: "zug-zug" when reminded to do your chores or "Lok'tar! The dishwasher is loaded!" when the feat is complete.
I can't say that anything from Mists has infiltrated my consciousness like the infernal Scooby-ganarg -- not yet, anyway. But I've found most players develop an affinity for some in-game sound. WoW Twitterati @elepheagle reports liking the sound effect of tilling untilled soil. He says he finds it soothing. Maybe that's what I need: more tilling, less Scooby.
What about you? What sounds, new or old, from World of Warcraft have snuck into your everyday consciousness? Is there a phrase or line of dialog you just can't shake? Do you hear the death rattles of long-ago bosses in your dreams?
