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How we learn the jargon
We get a lot of requests here on the site from researchers trying to study you World of Warcraft players. Everybody with a research grant, apparently, wants to study you -- your psychology, your interaction, and the relationship you have with your avatar. We get so many requests, actually, that we usually have to pass -- we're not smart enough to choose which ones are legit and which ones aren't, and if we posted them all, we'd do nothing but post requests for survey answers all day. But I like the way alckly has done her research over on WoW Ladies LJ: she posted a question about WoW jargon, and you can see everyone's answers right away. We definitely have lots of jargon to go around, from LFG to twinks to PuGs and a lot more. But what's most interesting about all of these answers, to me, is the way it spreads. There's a little bit of Googling and research going on, but really it's a very social thing -- you see "wtb" in the trade channel, and then you ask someone you know what it means (rather than looking it up somewhere else). Thus, definitions of the terms are very organic: "pst" could mean "pssst, here's a whisper" or "please send tell," and yet because they both mean the same thing, both meanings propagate. Likewise, usage tends to be a very social thing -- the person who types "LFG strat need heals" won't type "would u like 2 go to strat?"
Things are only going to get worse
Kisirani, who no doubt is laughing with maniacal glee right now, says that if you're worried that the zombies might not overtake the world, don't -- things are going to get worse. When a player complains that the buff is easily dispellable, the world event designer jokes that "it sure does seem containable, doesn't it?"It kind of does... for now. But keep in mind that we haven't actually seen Arthas yet (and technically, we don't even know this is him -- it might just be, you know, a mistake in shipping or somethitng like that). Clearly, the Argent Dawn can handle this little "event," and none of us need to worry.Sure. Just keep thinking that. Meanwhile, more zombies have started appearing all over the world. Mind if I chew on your skull for a bit?%Gallery-35140%
