World of Warcraft

Did you miss WWi08 ? 12 videos inside

2008-07-03T02:50:07Z

Hi Curse Network readers,

I took the opportunity I have living near the WWi08 that happened in Paris and so on getting stables slots to watch and record the live stream. All is uploaded on veoh.com and I have planned to upload so on vimeo as a few peoples requested on mmo-champion, feel free to share your mind about veoh or vimeo.

What is online:

day 1

Tom Chilton answering exclusives WOTLK questions
Blizzard devs answering exclusives Diablo3 questions
Nihilum vs Kil'Jaeden first fight
Nihilum vs Kil'Jaeden second fight
Blizzard devs answering exclusives WoW/WOTLK questions
Costume & Dance contest

day 2

Blizzard devs answering exclusives Diablo3 questions
Starcraft final
Blizzard devs answering exclusives WoW pvp questions
WoW arena final
Contest results
Closing ceremony

Hope you will apreciate this, took me all the weekend to compute this for you (also me for personal records) and special thanks to Marylin who made the awesome show while playing with teammates and public audience, you're a very smart and cool guy, I'd like to find a guild with roxxors like you, keep it up with Nihilum.

Note: Remember, to view the full length video you must use the free veohtv beta tool otherwise it's replaced by a 5min preview showable with a web browser and flash.

D1: Tom Chilton answering exclusives WOTLK questions

D1: Blizzard devs answering exclusives Diablo3 questions

D1: Nihilum vs Kil'Jaeden first fight

D1: Nihilum vs Kil'Jaeden second fight

D1: Blizzard devs answering exclusives WoW & WOTLK questions

D1: Costume & Dance contest

D2: Blizzard devs answering exclusives Diablo3 questions

D2: Starcraft final

D2: Blizzard devs on actual and futur WoW pvp system

D2: WoW Arena final Council of Mages Vs Improved Clicks

D2: Contest results

D2: Closing ceremony

Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008 at Veoh.com

10 New Lich King Screenshots

2008-05-09T14:00:14Z

While we do have quite a bit to present in textual format, as proven by our recent article, we also wanted to give you a text-free look at ten new screenshots from Wrath of the Lich King, directly from our visit to Blizzard's HQ in Irvine, CA. Check them out below, and enjoy!

Curse visits Blizzard HQ to check out Lich King

2008-05-09T13:50:08Z

It's been a while since Blizzard has talked publicly about Wrath of the Lich King; nearly nine months, to be exact. However, recently they invited a select group of fansites to their headquarters in Irvine, California for a day of everything World of Warcraft -- all pertaining to the game's next expansion, where all ten million players have the opportunity to tango with Arthas in some capacity.

That said, we were also given a tour of Blizzard HQ -- which is mighty cool for a game development studio, I might add. But really, what you're most interested in is hearing some new juicy info on the expansion, right? Right.

The day kicked off with what turned out to be one of the most informative presentations I've sat in on for a game or its expansion thus far in my days at Curse; and it was done in style, in Blizzard's state of the art, high-quality theatre (we're talking leather seats with cup holders here, folks).

In on the presentation was both Jeffrey "Tigole" Kaplan and Tom "Kalgan" Chilton -- co-Lead Game Designers -- along with J. Allen Brack, the expansion's Lead Producer.

The march on Northrend

Kaplan started things off by introducing us to the expansion, its key features, and a general overview of how players will actually get there. It depends totally on which zone you'd like to start your trek to level 80 in; you have the choice of visiting either Howling Fjord in the east, or Borean Tundra in the west -- and you can move between the two fairly easily at a nearby Tuskar camp -- one of the new neutral races being introduced in the expansion. Both Horde and Alliance will be able to befriend this faction, raise reputation with them, and do quests -- ultimately receiving some nice rewards in the process.

An event will occur prior to the release of Wrath of the Lich King, which will place the Horde and Alliance in a race against time to move their forces into Northrend and battle Arthas at Icecrown Glacier. Vengeance Landing is the name of the Horde camp in Howling Fjord, and will be the first area that is built using Forsaken architecture, rather than the Human/Scourge hybrids the faction borrowed from previously. Yes, that's an example of the new Forsaken architecture in the screenshot to the right. The Forsaken play an important role in not only Howling Fjord, but also the entire Northrend campaign, with both Sylvanas and Varimathras making themselves known.

Once in Borean Tundra, you'll notice a vast contrast to Howling Fjord's lush, forest area; the Tundra is a very rugged, dangerous place in comparison. Both the Horde and Alliance have starting points here; Valiance Keep for the Alliance -- reached via traveling out of Stormwind. As you can see to the left, Valiance Keep is an impressive, epic introduction to Northrend for Alliance players. On the Horde side is Warsong Hold -- a new-look design which houses the Horde's aggressive leader in their assault on Arthas -- Garosh Hellscream, son of Grom Hellscream. "Horde players will have an epic entrance to the expansion as well," said Kaplan.

There are entry-level dungeons for players in each starting area; Utgarde and The Nexus. Utgarde -- situated in Howling Fjord -- will have both a level 70 version and a level 80 version. Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent in Borean Tundra, players will immediately have access to a level 70 dungeon in The Nexus, as well as a level 80 wing, and finally, at the top players can enter an Onyxia-style raid instance which is very quick to complete, and will pit the players against Malygos, the Blue Dragon Aspect himself.

Kaplan described the first encounter in the instance, which will use the expansion's new vehicle technology. Players will fight an interrogator who has captured many drakes of the various dragon flights. Upon freeing the drakes, players will be able to ride them for the remainder of the instance, and with the new vehicle tech in place, gain access to special abilities while mounted.

The face of raiding changes again

Aside from the Death Knight information, which you can find in the next section, a major announcement during the presentation was the fact that raiding in World of Warcraft is changing again. No, you're not getting 40-person raids back. Instead, each raid instance introduced in the expansion will use Heroic Dungeon technology, allowing both 10- and 25-person versions. This means that if you prefer the smaller-scale 10-person content, you'll still be able to challenge Arthas in Icecrown Citadel -- the most prestigious raid zone of the expansion.

Of course, this isn't the only good news. The content will also be tiered just like a 25-person raid progression -- each with their own separate progressions -- ensuring players take on the content they want, and only that content; not having to do 10-person content to unlock 25-person, and vice-versa. Loot will still be better in 25-person raids, but Kaplan assured us that you'll see a clear progression, with multiple tiers of 10-person content, at the same growth rate as the 25-person content.

Heroic Dungeons are getting some love in the expansion as well, and will be on their own tier of loot progression -- meaning no more blues from Heroics -- it'll be similar to what's seen in Magisters' Terrace, added with the Fury of the Sunwell patch.

A quick recap of the information we know thus far on the changes to raiding and dungeons in the expansion:

Similar to World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, all 5-person dungeons will have a Heroic mode
All raid dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King will have both 25-person and 10-person versions
- 25-person raiding progression is not dependent on 10-person raiding; players will not have to obtain keys or attunements in 10-person raids to participate in 25-person raids
- 10- and 25-person raids both have their own, independent progression paths
Players will receive more, higher level rewards for completing the 25-person raid dungeons over the 10-person version

The Death Knight -- your very own Arthas... well ok, not really, but they're pretty cool

Ah, the illustrious Death Knight. Everyone has been clamoring for information no this since its announcement last year at Blizzcon. Well good news, we have the information you've been waiting for on that front! Players will unlock the Death Knight class as long as they have a level 55 or higher character on their account. From that point forward, you can create one Death Knight per-server; the class starts at level 55, and enters specially created areas where you begin the Death Knight quest chains. Blizzard felt that rather than requiring players to complete a quest to unlock the Hero class, they'd introduce the quest progression after the class is created so that it's not as painful to actually gain access to the class; the journey begins once you create a Death Knight.

The Death Knight uses a dual-resource system: Runes -- which there are a limited number of slots of; I saw six on the Death Knight used for the demonstration -- and Runic Power, a resource that fills up as you fight in combat by using a Rune-based ability that requires an enemy target. Runes are used to power your basic abilities; certain abilities require a certain number of that rune to be slotted before you can use them, and then those runes have a cooldown timer before they can be used on another ability. Runic Power on the other hand, is used to fuel what Chilton described as "finishers."

What kind of spells do Death Knights get? Are they cool? Are they useful? Well, we saw a number of them on the hotbar, and were shown quite a few -- and yes to both questions. The Death Knight looks to be a direct descendant of the Warcraft RTS series; it has a slew of the class' abilities from the games, including Death Coil, Death and Decay, Raise Dead, and a few others.

A quick description of some of the spells:

Death Coil -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing 600 damage to a non-Undead target, or healing 900 damage on a friendly target.
Death Grip -- This is the Death Knight's "taunt" ability. It also pulls the target to the Death Knight, forcing them to attack the Death Knight for a short amount of time. Yes, I said pulls the target; Blizzard is going to allow players to move mobs in the expansion both with Death Grip, and other knockback/pull abilities. This works on players too, so PvP balance ahoy!
Chains of Ice -- Roots the target in place. When the spell fades, it places a snare on the target that reduces in potency as the duration runs out.
Raise Dead -- Raises a nearby corpse to fight for the Death Knight for 2 minutes. If used on a player corpse, the player has the option to play as the ghoul for the duration -- gaining access to the ghoul's abilities.
- The ghoul has the ability to do the following:
  - Leap to the target
  - Rend for decent damage-over-time
  - Stun target, and of course more
Death Pact -- Sacrifices the raised ghouls to heal the Death Knight.
Death and Decay -- Targeted, AoE Damage-over-time which pulses similar to the Paladin spell Consecration. Anyone affected by Death and Decay has a chance to be feared.
Frost Presence -- Increases Armor by 45% and allows the Death Knight to generate 25% more threat. Only one presence can be active at any time.
Unholy Presence -- Increases Attack Speed and Movement speed by 15%. Only one presence can be active at any time. This was described by Tom Chilton as the "PvP" presence.
Anti-magic Shield -- Reduces the damage of the next magical spell cast on the Death Knight by 75%. It also converts the damage reduced into Runic Power.
Strangulate -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing minor damage and silencing the target for up to 5 seconds.
Summon Deathcharger -- Allows the Death Knight to summon a Deathcharger mount. This mount is acquired through quests, similar to the Paladin and Warlock land mounts.

So after taking all that in, and thinking "Holy crap, goodbye game balance," Chilton and Kaplan both assured us that Death Knights aren't the most-loved class of the expansion -- all classes are getting attention and the balance as we know it will change. The class is designed at the base level of the game to be a useful tank or dps class for instances, and at the endgame, to be the spellcaster tank for raids -- and of course offer dps when not tanking via their two-handed-only weapon gameplay. That's right, your Warlocks won't have to tank on the Eredar Twins anymore once you have a Death Knight... or any future encounters similar. As with other classes, the Death Knight will have three talent trees -- Blood, Unholy, and Frost, but the talents were still very much under development still, so sadly we were not shown them.

A quick recap of the information we were told about the Death Knight:

Death knights will be available to all players with level 55 characters
Players can create one death knight per realm, per account
Death knights can be any of the races
Once created, death knights can undertake a series of quests to introduce the player to the new class and its associated lore
Death knights utilize a rune system as their resource mechanic
- Three different rune types are available: Unholy, Frost, and Blood
- These runes allow death knights to cast spells and abilities; spells can cost any combination of these runes
- Spent runes automatically refresh after a set period of time, similar to a rogue’s energy bar
- The death knight will have the ability to customize which array of six runes is currently available
As rune abilities are used, the death knight also generates another resource called Runic Power
- The death knight will have several abilities that cost all available Runic Power, with varying levels of effectiveness based on total Runic Power spent
- Runic Power decays over time if it’s not spent, similar to a warrior’s rage bar
The death knight has three different presences to use: Blood, Frost, and Unholy; each presence grants the death knight a unique buff that will allow him or her to fulfill different roles in combat
The death knight can serve either as a tank or as a melee-based damage-dealing class
Death knights are designed to be highly viable tanking, magic-using characters
Death knights will have the ability to summon undead guardians to fight by their side
Death knights will have the ability to summon a Deathcharger mount

Now that you've been slain by a wall of text the likes of which you'll probably never see again (eh... ok so you will -- the General Forums are littered with them), the good news is this isn't the last article. We'll have another for you tomorrow which covers some of the other zones in the expansion, as well as info on Arthas, Icecrown Glacier, and much more. You can also look forward to an interview a bit later with both Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton. We had a lot of questions, and I'm sure you do too after seeing this new information; hopefully the interview will answer some of them.

2.4 PTR: Kalecgos Preview Video

2008-02-12T01:14:18Z

We have a quick preview of the Kalecgos encounter from 2.4's new raid dungeon, Sunwell Plateau, for you this morning.

Kalecgos is one of the few surviving blue dragons left on Azeroth, and he's decided to take the fight directly to the Burning Legion as they attempt to bring Kil'jaeden into the world via the Sunwell.

Unfortunately for him, he's fallen under the influence of one of the demons of the Legion, and so has now become one of their many minions. To avoid spoiling the encounter, let's just say it's a very unique, but also familiar story -- for those of you that have experienced the Vaelastrasz storyline and encounter.

He can also be found in Human form in Magisters' Terrace. Here he gives the quest Hard to Kill, which provides attunement to the Heroic version of Magisters' Terrace.

Check out the video below for a preview of the encounter in Sunwell Plateau, and don't forget to click through on the video's title to rate it!

Sunwell - Kalecgos

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Spoiler Alert -- Kalecgos encounter abilities!

Kalecgos: Dragon form

Kalecgos' Inner Demon

Wowhead and IGE's Relationship

2007-12-23T00:32:37Z

WoW Insider is running another story about the company Affinity Media, owners of Wowhead, which was purchased by the infamous gold selling company IGE a little while back. After the acquisition, an interview with Affinity's CEO suggested the relationship was no longer existent, and although many doubted his words at the time, no one could prove it. Wowhead has often been advertised as the one database site owned by fans, not gold sellers. However due to recent litigation being brought before IGE, Affinity Media's relationship once again surfaces. What does this mean? This means all three database sites - Thottbot, Allakhazam and Wowhead - are indeed owned by gold sellers.

http://www.igeclassaction.com/?p=24

What's your game?

2007-11-21T04:39:11Z

New videos of World of Warcraft's National Television commercials are available featuring Mr T. and William Shatner (with Verne Troyer coming soon).

You can download them from the WoW website, or check them out below. Me personally? I hope they scrap the Death Knight class and replace it with the Mohawk -- who needs a Hero Class when you can have a Legendary Class?

Mr. T WoW Commercial

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William Shatner WoW Commercial

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Blizzard Insider: Utgarde Keep Preview

2007-11-01T23:05:39Z

Blizzard Insider #25 is now available and includes information on Utgarde Keep - one of the first instances players will enter in Northrend, as well as other great content that the Insider team covers, such as the Zul'Aman patch, StarCraft II updates and more.

Best of all is the Utgarde Keep piece, though, as it reveals some new information about not only this dungeon, but Blizzard's plans for Heroic instances across the board in Wrath of the Lich King. There are also some new screenshots, concept art, and a "from geometry editor to reality" image series.

How exactly do you dream up a dungeon? When we started working on Utgarde Keep, we knew from the start that we wanted some sort of “impenetrable fortress in the side of a mountain.” In considering the continent of Northrend’s history and geography, we pretty quickly found a source of inspiration for Utgarde Keep, and to an extent the entire region of Howling Fjord, in a combination of elements from Norse mythology.

Utgarde Keep's design will be heavily themed toward Northrend - breaking away from the otherworldly designs of many of the dungeons found in Outland; returning to Azeroth, if you will. The major inhabitants of Utgarde Keep are the Vrykul - a viking-like race of giants that are fairly unfriendly to anyone who decides to encroach upon their territory. The quests in Valgarde - the Alliance starting keep in Howling Fjord - will tie heavily into the backstory of Utgarde Keep, and will inevitably lead you into the keep itself to do battle with the sinister Vrykul.

Blizzard learned quite a bit with The Burning Crusade - especially about designing "starter" dungeons for a chunk of content, such as a new expansion. With that in mind, the pacing of Utgarde Keep will be similar to that of places like Hellfire Ramparts - with Utgarde's difficulty being similar to that of its Outland "starter" counterpart as well. Another thing Blizzard learned with Outland's dungeons is that they need to be connected to the player on a level above and beyond simply going there to do the dungeon. Thus, from the moment the player begins adventuring in Northrend, they will be connected to and involved in an overarching storyline for Utgarde Keep, and this will continue through the entirety of the expansion.

So what lessons have Blizzard learned from and built upon with the transition into Northrend? For starters, there are two areas players can begin the expansion in - Howling Fjord or Borean Tundra - with easily accessible transportation between the locales. Heroic difficulty will of course be returning, with better tuning than when The Burning Crusade initially launched, as well as something new for Wrath of the Lich King Heroic dungeons. Heroic versions of some dungeons will contain new bosses and even unlock additional areas within the dungeon, beyond what a player has access to in the normal version.

To check out the entire preview, head over to the Utgarde Keep Preview page on the Wrath of the Lich King website. You can also see all of the Blizzard Insider #25 images in our gallery.

Blizzplanet Interviews WoW Comic Writer

2007-11-01T02:53:39Z

Blizzplanet recently had a chance to interview Walter Simonson - legendary comic book writer - who is now working on the World of Warcraft comic from DC Comics' Wildstorm. For those unfamliar with mr. Simonson, he's worked on comics all across the industry - everything from Wonder Woman to Fantastic Four - over a span of more than 30 years now.

He answers 31 questions in total, and provides some details on the comic, as well as some hints at the characters involved in the Azerothian stories we'll be seeing unleashed in comic form. Walter is part of an award-winning cast of folks working on the comic, including the great Blizzard Art Director Samwise Didier and Jim Lee.

1. Will the Warcraft comic series be a limited or ongoing series? I've heard that there are plans for at least two story arcs, and after those tales are told will the comic series end or continue? -- by Rowan Seven

Walter: This Warcraft comic is going to be a 12-issue story, broken into two 6-issue story arcs.

As far as future Warcraft comics are concerned, that decision is in other hands than mine. Right now, I'm just working to create 12 kickass issues.

2. Is the amnesic main character some hero from the past, or a character that we already know of? Or is he someone entirely new? The ball was pitched during the San Diego Comic Con asking whether he was the missing King of Stormwind, Varian Wrynn. Chris Metzen and Mickey Nielsen somewhat evaded the question. - by Kenzuki

Walter: You know, if Chris and Mick-the kings of Blizzard--'somewhat evaded the question', there's NO way I'm going to step into the line of fire!

To read the interview in its entirety, head over to Blizzplanet.

2.3 Engineering Mount Changes

2007-10-26T01:59:33Z

There have been a couple changes to the Engineering mount models and sounds have also been added. I think the sounds fit perfectly! Couldn't have done a better job. They sound like an old beat-up car. I especially like when it stalls.

Here are some pics showing the changes.

And the flying reindeer for christmas.

New 2.3 Items - Update #18

2007-10-12T09:20:46Z

Here are images of the new 2.3 items - keep checking back; I'll be updating this article each time I add images. We have tons of Heroic loot to sort through, plus lots of other stuff. Badge costs for most of it included!

UPDATE 18: Added a bunch of new crafting recipes, a low level BoP epic, and the rest of the Arena Librams.

Zul'Aman Boss Kills

Zul'Aman Weapons - Graphics and Stats

Blood of Zul'jin

The quest results in 10 badges as the reward.

New Rings

New Arena Idols, Librams and Totems

New Heroic Idols, Librams, Totems and PvP Trinkets

Badge Costs
Relics: 20 Badges of Justice
Trinkets: 75 Badges of Justice

New Heroic Vendor Items in 2.3

Badge Costs
Chest, Pants, Helm: 75 Badges of Justice
Boots, Belt, Gloves, Shoulders, Cloaks w/ Resilience: 60 Badges of Justice
Bracers, Off-Hands, Necklace, Tank Cloak: 35 Badges of Justice
Wand: 25 Badges of Justice

Zul'Aman Consumables

New Recipes

Ritual of Refreshment Item

New Glove Armor Kit

Tier 5 Paladin Healing Set Bonus Changed

New Low Level BoP Epics

Changed Low Level Items

Zul'Aman Bosses

Mounts

Miscellaneous Stuff

NPC screenshots credited to World of Raids.

New CE Flying mount confirmed to be...

2007-10-05T01:19:06Z

Today Bornakk confirmed that the new Cenarion Expedition Flying mount will, in fact, be a...Hippogryph.

Which means that Horde gets to fly on Hippogryphs, if only Allys could ride bats...

Source

Rise of the Lich King Chapter 3 Now Available

2007-08-28T23:30:54Z

The latest chapter of the Rise of the Lich King story - Shattering the Frozen Throne - is now available on the official World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King page.

For those of you that enjoy the lore of the game, or may not know the history of Arthas and the Lich King, this is definitely a story worth checking out.

All of Lordaeron rejoiced at Prince Arthas' triumphant return from Northrend, but their elation was not to last. Not long after Arthas knelt before King Terenas, the former paladin thrust Frostmourne into his father's heart. At the Lich King's command, the fallen prince went on to murder his mentor, Uther the Lightbringer, and claim Kel'Thuzad's remains. When Arthas had finished, Capital City, formerly one of humanity's crown jewels, had been reduced to a silent wasteland of death and despair.

To read more of the story, head over to Shattering the Frozen Throne.

Wrath of the Lich King in Games for Windows

2007-08-28T05:28:39Z

WoWInsider broke news of Wrath of the Lich King info from Games for Windows magazine, including a zone list, which details all of the zones in the next expansion.

The zone list is as follows:

Howling Fjord (68-72)
Borean Tundra (68-72)
The Dragonblight (71-75)
Zul'Drak (73-76)
Grizzly Hills (74-76)
Azjol-Nerub (74-78)
Sholazar Basin (75-78)
The Storm Peaks (77-80)
Icecrown Glacier (77-80)
Lake Wintergrasp (Outdoor PvP)

And some more info on the expansion:

Sunwell involves the Blood Elves(and probably Kael'thas himself) using energy from the Mana Forges in Netherstorm to power the Sunwell, with the ultimate goal being the summoning of Kil'jaeden. The instance will contain 6-8 bosses, including a not-fully-summoned Kil'jaeden - purportedly the reason you'll even be able to kill him. Kody note: This is pretty weak if true, to be completely honest.
Dalaran is going to have at least one, possibly two instanced dungeons similar to Stockades or Ragefire Chasm. It'll have portals(possibly even one to Shattrath), but no Auction House or class trainers.
Death Knights will be getting Death and Decay - the AoE spell players can use in Teron Gorefiend, I am... while controlling none other than the Horde's finest Death Knight, Teron Gorefiend. On top of that, there was info shared on what each rune will do. Blood Runes will be damage-oriented, Frost more toward control-based abilities, and Unholy will be for utility and DoT abilities.
Inscription will allow players to create scrolls that others can buy - regardless of whether the player has the Inscription skill or not. Additionally, Inscription is only going to work on certain core spells. Mind Vision is a no, Freezing Trap is a yes for what can be enhanced, for example.

11 New Wrath of the Lich King Screenshots

2007-08-23T03:40:07Z

At Games Convention this morning, Blizzard released 11 brand new screenshots for World of Wacraft's second expansion pack, currently in development, Wrath of the Lich King.

You can check them out, along with all the other images from GC 2007 in our Leipzig Games Convention Images section, or by clicking on the thumbnails below.

Be sure to keep an eye out in the coming days as we'll be providing even more coverage from Leipzig, including some exclusive interviews!

MMO players not loners

2007-08-17T01:17:28Z

"81 per cent play with friends and family"

A new study by researchers at Nottingham Trent University, published in the US journal CyberPsychology and Behavior, dispels the myth that online gamers are asocial.

“This study has revealed many aspects of MMORPGs that were not known before," said Nottingham Trent University professor Mark Griffiths. "Previous research has suggested that gamers are socially inactive, but MMORPGs are actually extremely social games, with high percentages of gamers making life-long friends and even partners.”

Looking at nearly 1,000 online gamers from around the world, researchers found that three quarters of gamers make good friends with the people they meet online. Almost half have met in real-life situations, and one in ten went on to develop physical relationships.

According to the study, entitled "Social Interactions in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Gamers," gamers played an average of 22.85 hours per week. The most popular MMORPG in the study was World of Warcraft.

The study also determined that more than 30 per cent of gamers found themselves attracted to another player, and that 40 per cent chose to discuss sensitive issues with online friends rather than real-life friends.

“As well as making good friends online, 81 per cent of gamers play with real-life friends and family, suggesting MMORPGs are by no means an asocial activity, nor are the players socially introverted," said Griffiths.

“The virtual world that these games offer, allow players to express themselves in ways they may not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexuality, age, or other factors. They also offer a place where teamwork, encouragement and fun can all be experienced.”