Grey Beard

The original "Leeroy Jenkins" video was first uploaded to the WoW fansite Warcraft Movies on this day 21 years ago

@mvpletea Extended version or no deal.

Japanese engineers developed a “Sword Tip Visualization System” for the Fencing World Championships, and it makes fencing look absolutely incredible to watch.

@halenhargreevs Gloria by Laura Brannigan

* MEN & MEN ONLY * Tell me a song by a woman you sing with your whole chest

20 years ago, a man screamed his own name into a microphone and ruined everything. It became one of the most famous moments in internet history.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ A group of players in an online game called World of Warcraft had spent several minutes planning a complicated raid. Timing, positioning, survival odds. One player calculated their chances of success at 32.33 percent, repeating. The whole time, one of their teammates wasn’t listening. He’d stepped away from his computer to reheat some chicken. When he came back, he ignored everything, screamed his character’s name at the top of his lungs, and charged straight into the fight alone. Everyone followed him in. They all died in seconds. “Leeroy, you are just stupid as hell.” “At least I have chicken.” The clip spread across the internet before “going viral” was even a phrase. It was referenced in South Park, How I Met Your Mother, and an article in a military journal. The game’s developer added the character as an official figure inside the game. His name became shorthand for anyone who ruins a plan by doing something reckless. The whole thing was staged. The group admitted years later it was a scripted re-enactment of something that had actually happened. The cameraman said: “We didn’t think anyone would believe it was real. We thought it was so obviously satire.” The player behind Leeroy Jenkins is a guy named Ben Schulz. He repairs industrial lighting for a living.

Dad buys Bitcoin for $100K. It grows to $5M. If he sells, he owes tax on a $4.9M gain. Instead, he puts it in a trust. Borrows against it. Lives tax-free. Dies holding. Kids inherit at a $5M basis. IRS gets $0.

Blizzard has officially confirmed what unlocks during Midnight Early Access and on the March 3rd weekly reset! #Midnight #Warcraft wowhead.com/news/available…

@realimjustkey Not my bag, but this absolutely rules. Keep going.

I turned 36 and decided I wanted to learn how to skateboard. Here’s me landing a shuv-it for the first time.

Sriracha.

@VinnysCorner1 True. Fan since 1986 btw.

True or False: You’ve seen Your favorite NFL team win 3+ Superbowls….

@BowlNe1 Purchased my next team, found GW dice online, and made arrangements for them to be professionally painted in the coming weeks. Cannot wait for them to be in house and our next season to kick off at the local store. I’ll be bringing BOHICA AC on the road to some tournaments too!

So what's everyone been up to this weekend? Any teams finished? Tournaments smashed? League trophies won? Or mad plays made? Let us know.

I am a senior vice president at a $68.7 billion gaming company. Activision-Blizzard. We have a 30-year-old franchise. Warcraft. Millions of players. A subscription model that prints $15 a month per user. A cash shop on top of the subscription. Paid expansions on top of the cash shop. Our former creative director just told the press he wishes we hadn't called it "Warcraft." He said the name sounds intimidating. He helped create the name. We ran focus groups. The focus groups said the brand needed to be "more approachable." We asked the focus groups if they played the game. They did not. We took their advice anyway. Our VP told an interviewer we want players to experience "weddings, raids, and new adventures." She listed weddings first. Before raids. In a game called Warcraft. Nobody in the room flinched. She also said "No one thinks the same about Warhammer." She compared our franchise unfavorably to a competitor. On the record. As a defense of the franchise. The forums are on fire. Twenty-year veterans are writing goodbye posts. One thread is titled "Think I'm done with WoW." Another calls our pre-patch a "player purge." We called our GDKP raiders "delusional." We timed a cash shop bundle to launch during the Trading Post anniversary -- the one event where players earn free cosmetics. We offered 200 discounted items but kept the monthly currency cap at 1,000. The math doesn't work unless you open your wallet. The community noticed. We described their concerns as "feedback we're monitoring." We are always monitoring. We have never once changed course because of monitoring. The players say we're "Disneyfying" the game. Turning gritty into cute. War into weddings. Orcs into mascots. They're not wrong. The data says approachable properties have wider TAM. Total addressable market. That's the metric now. Not "subscribers who love the game." Not "community that built this franchise." TAM. TAM doesn't post on forums. TAM doesn't write goodbye letters. TAM doesn't have 20 years of muscle memory and lore knowledge and raid nights that turned into real friendships. TAM is a number in a slide deck that makes a board feel comfortable. We added player housing. Players have asked for it since 2004. We launched it in 2026. Twenty-two years. We described this as "listening to our community." We are very good at listening. Eventually. When the feature aligns with a monetization roadmap. Here is what I know and cannot say in a meeting: The name was never the problem. The name built this. The name survived server crashes and subscription drops and an activision merger and a harassment scandal and a $68.7 billion acquisition. The name is "Warcraft" and for 30 years nobody was confused about what it meant. The problem is not that new players find the name intimidating. The problem is that old players are starting to find us unrecognizable. And we don't have a focus group for that.

New Year - New #BloodBowl Podcast Jibber/Jabber (60/40 jibz) YouTube: youtu.be/_XVV2Dt7tl4 Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0DqO4m… Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/amo…

@Zlurpcast Hey can I get a discord invite? The link on linktree is expired.

@Zlurpcast Excellent podcast as usual. The 10 Peaks idea & @jp4media’s backstory for his Bret’s team has me working on the fluff of my new team. The Ostland Mastiffs. The team was bought out of hawk by a Dwarven banker. Or was it?! Their star thrower has a noble presence about him.

New Zlurpcast up! Watch: youtu.be/bOjGb6psUR4 Listen: open.spotify.com/episode/5HNw8I… Make you sure get the right one. It's the one with a Z and sort of covers #bloodbowl

@PatsSoxFreedom @BostonCream Me too. Let me help you fix it. twillworks.com/product/namepl…

@BostonCream Been there. From Christmas 2021:

Christmas ruined for yet another kid because grandma saw a sale sticker.

@BostonCream Well. Maybe in the past. But not anymore…. twillworks.com/product/namepl…

I’m going to sub in a Nob Thrower because the model is just too cool. Plus extra flavor is cool. Now to figure out a team name…… Lore videos on YouTube are being watched. #bloodbowl

After coming back to #bloodbowl this year I played Amazons. After this next season at @go4gamesnola I’ll be branching out to a new team under the S3 rules. Settled on OWA. They seem strong, and the LOTR esthetic is right in my wheelhouse.

Listened to the latest ep of @Zlurpcast recently. @XtremeBBer is not happy with the S3 developments with Dwarves. @jp4media tries to talk him off the ledge. Sort of. As usual it’s worth a listen. #whyyoulaugh #bloodbowl open.spotify.com/episode/3hOxGz…