Why WoW Players Don't Care About The Fluff

Greetings my loyal subjects!

Some time ago, one of the Imperial Slaves posed a question on his Plurk: Do World of Warcraft players care about the fluff?

See, I grew up playing Warcraft. When the first Warcraft game came out back when I was a wee little empress girl, I was instantly hooked. Heroes like Lothar captured my fancy, and I even had a crush on the elven archer's voice when Warcraft 2 came out. In college, I followed Arthas' exploits on Warcraft 3, from his misadventures as a young paladin to his eventual rise as the Lich King.

Warcraft is practically the Star Wars of my generation, and anyone who does not agree with me shall be imperially beheaded by imperial decree. This is why when I first saw Orgrimmar on World of Warcraft, my heart swelled with pride as I thought, "Hey... I helped build this city. I was there by Thrall's side, bullying Rexxar into making sure the pesky thunderlizards and humans do not damage the stronghold's brand new paint job."

So when I first played World of Warcraft, of course I cared about the fluff. I was thrilled to learn that Cairne Bloodhoof was still Grand Chief of the tauren, and my eyes went misty when I visited Grom Hellscream's monument during Harvest Festival.

So when did I stop caring?

It all started when John Void and I were happily slaughtering banshees in the Windrunner Spire when one of them dropped a necklace. I picked it up of course, and on it was an inscription that said, "To Sylvanas. Love always, Alleria."

So I decided to bring it to Sylvanas, who I was happy to learn had become the Queen of the Forsaken  (I remember her getting killed in my Warcraft 3 game LOL) and was currently holding court at the Undercity, a huge labyrinth that was built under the ruins of Lordaeron.

Finding my way to and around the Undercity was an adventure by itself. As I entered Lordaeron, I briefly remembered how Arthas walked through these very gates on the day he slid Frostmourne through King Terenas' throat. Then I had a hard time figuring out which wall was actually the elevator that will lead me down to the city proper (even though it was obviously the patch of wall where two abominations were standing guard). Then I finally enter the Undercity, itself a maze of stairs and elevators and canals. I swear, whoever designed this city is a geek. It took me the better part of an hour just to find my way to the Royal Quarter.

Finally, I was standing in front of Sylvanas Windrunner, and I excitedly handed her necklace to her.

It can't be! After all this time, I thought it was lost forever.

You thought this would amuse me? Do you think I long for a time before I was the queen of the Forsaken? Like you, it means nothing to me, and Alleria Windrunner is a long dead memory!


You may now remove yourself from my presence, warlock.


I went through all that trouble for THAT?

I expressed my rage over guild chat.

Empress: That emo BITCH!!!

The Imperial Brother, ever thoughtful and sensitive to my imperial emotions (and who was just in the next room but couldn't be bothered to leave his computer to comfort me) replied.

Brother: What's wrong?
Empress: Sylvanas went all emo on me!
Brother: I see.
Empress: And I was about to say that Sylvanas > Kerrigan too!
Brother: Okay.

So this, my loyal subjects, is why some WoW players don't care about the fluff. We just do quests without bothering to read what the heck we're questing for. Our egos are just too fragile to risk reading this emo shit.

(Although the Imperial Brother and I still shamelessly research Warcraft lore during server maintenance, and that's all we've been talking about recently over meals.)

...I think I'm gonna go play some more.
KTHXBAI

Signed,
Her Imperial Majesty