Dimly lit basement bedrooms may get a bit brighter since a surprise announcement at the 2010 Game Developer’s Conference. Blizzard Entertainment announced the formation of the Warcraft Tournament Federation (WTF), a league that would sanction competition between World of Warcraft players for cash prizes, in-game currency, and credits towards the new Dew-to-Desks service whereby Mountain Dew delivers drinks directly to gamers busy fighting M’uru.
“We are very excited about this latest development for World of Warcraft players,” stated Blizzard officials, who asked not to be named to avoid thousands of emails from enthusiastic users, “The popularity of Starcraft in South Korea has made us realize that there is a large untapped audience who has yet to experience the excitement of a raid for a rare dropped item.”
Unlike Korean Starcraft competition, initial WTF showings will be confined to a special Internet stream, which will be accessible in-game for a monthly fee of $4.99. This was done out of a desire to have an “unfiltered World of Warcraft experience” for the viewers, stated Blizzard.
Blizzard also announced that free exclusive items would be distributed to channel subscribers which would enhance their own World of Warcraft experience. While many of the shown items were ornamental in nature, they nevertheless resulted in wide applause. A fan rose from his seat, hardly able to control his excitement, yelling “Finally, my armor set can completely match!”
Reactions at Tech among World of Warcraft players were mixed.
“This is clearly a money grab by Blizzard. How else can I be competitive if I am unable to get the exclusive armor and mounts?” lamented one student, farming for leathers in an isolated plain during a Computer Science lecture. Nevertheless, the student admitted he would be purchasing the channel.