World of Warcraft Exposed: A Moviemaking Culture

[’World of Warcraft Exposed’ is a weekly column by Michael Zenke about the culture and experience of the globe’s biggest online game phenomenon, the ten million subscriber-strong World of Warcraft. This week’s column looks at the artform of machinima as it relates to the game and player culture.]
The stereotype of the online gamer is one of antisocial maladjustment. That gamers in general still bear some degree of negative stigma should be instructive on that stereotype’s accuracy. In fact, online game players – especially MMO players – are highly social creatures. Societal norms, language, and even art forms all evolve from the interaction of so many creative individuals in one ‘space.’ World of Warcraft is no exception to this rule, and in fact the artistic culture surrounding WoW may be the most deep and varied of any online society.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the wildly successful ‘machinima’ scene […]

Original post by editors@gamesetwatch.com (mzenke) and software by Elliott Back