Make Love, Not Warcraft

"Make Love, Not Warcraft" is episode 1008 (#147) of Comedy Central's South Park and aired on October 4, 2006 at 10 PM EST. The episode is a parody of the popularity of the MMORPG video game, World of Warcraft, or rather, gamers themselves, and was announced by Comedy Central on September 30, 2006. It was campaigned as the first episode of season 10, even though season 10 officially began in March. The episode uses machinima, the first time South Park has ever used this genre of animation.

Plot

Template:Spoilers Someone keeps logging onto the World of Warcraft game and killing the South Park characters' in-game avatars, despite the game's rule that a character must accept a duel before fighting. This leads to everybody becoming incredibly frustrated with the game, and wanting to quit the game altogether. Cartman, along with Stan, Kyle and Kenny, gathers the other boys of South Park to combine into a team to defeat this mysterious menace. However, the renegade player nevertheless destroys them all. The makers of the game become concerned that this griefer's mindless destruction will eventually cause people to simply stop playing, effectively destroying the game's membership.

Cartman devises an idea — the four boys will spend all their time playing the game, not going on quests, but killing low level boars in order to safely level up (grinding), preventing them from running into their foe; though boars raise their power level slowly, they begin to get stronger by playing constantly (approximately 20 hours per day, for seven weeks). In the process, they become grossly overweight, acne-ridden, and begin to use large amounts of Internet slang ("uber" and "pwned"). They become so lazy that Cartman speaks to his mother through an intercom, ordering Hot Pockets and a bedpan to pass diarrhea (messily) while they continuously play in his basement. The boys' characters grow so quickly that the Blizzard executives take notice, marvelling that "they must have no lives." Determined to help them slay the enemy (who is portrayed as simply being another fat, pimply geek who wears a wrist brace and eats junk food), Blizzard decides to give the four boys the "Sword of a Thousand Truths" — a weapon that was considered so powerful that it was removed from the game, though a prophecy (from a guy in accounting) says it will one day be used. However, the boys, not privy to the plan, engage the enemy early.

The executives show up at Stan's house, but he is at Cartman's, fighting the enemy. Randy, who is a "noob", and also obsessed with Warcraft, takes the Sword (which is stored on a flash drive) and is determined to sign onto the game to get it to Stan (the Blizzard execs don't have WoW accounts - they sanctimoniously tell Randy that they "have lives"). After running around town, trying to find a suitable computer, they finally find one at a Best Buy, and Randy manages to get the Sword to Stan before being killed (in the game), and Stan then uses it to horribly weaken the foe before Cartman kills him. Stan's character holds Randy's dying character for a moment before he passes on, and the other Warcraft players rejoice. Stan asks what they'll do now that the game is done; Cartman points out that the whole point of their mission was so they could "play the game." They then begin playing.

Kenny's death

Kenny's World of Warcraft character dies after being killed by the renegade character several times like everyone else (though he died first). He doesn't die in real life. But, Kyle and Stan say the lines, "Oh my god, you killed Kenny", and "You Bastards!"

Characters' Warcraft data

• Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny's armor are the same color as their hats/jacket/parka.
• No Horde players are seen in this episode.

Character	Warcraft Name	Gender	Race	Class	Remarks
Cartman	bigboNed3	Male	Dwarf	Warrior	Cartman's character is the main tank and leader of the boys' group. He is always the last killed.
Stan	Luvs2SPWG (or Lovestospooge)	Male	Human	Warrior
Kyle	Unknown	Female	Human	Mage	Kyle's character has an Arcane/Fire spec.
Kenny	Unknown	Male	Human	Hunter	Kenny's character dies twice in game, the first time receiving the usual "Oh my God, they killed Kenny" response from his friends.
Randy	Falcorn	Male	Human	Warrior	He incorrectly suggests that he is a hunter.
Token	Unknown	Male	Human	Rogue	His class is not made explicit, but his leather armor and melee fighting suggests a rogue.
Jimmy	Unknown	Male	Night Elf	Hunter	Jimmy's character is wearing a quiver and leather armor, suggesting a hunter.
Timmy	Unknown	Male	Human	Priest	Timmy's character is wearing the starting equipment for the priest class.
Butters	Unknown	Male	Dwarf	Warrior	Butters has the exact same character as Cartman. After Cartman tells him to change characters, he leaves to change characters. Although it is not mentioned, another human female is with the group afterwards.
Ike	Unknown	Male	Human	Priest	Ike is wearing the Devout set (minus the head), an end-game dungeon set for priests.
Clyde	Unknown	Male	Night Elf	Hunter	Clyde is wielding a crossbow and wearing leather armor.
Tweek	Unknown	Male	Gnome	Warrior	Tweek's character is seen only on fire, but he appears to have a sword and shield. Warriors are the only gnome class who can use shields.
Craig	Unknown	Male	Gnome	Mage	Craig's character is wearing robes and a staff, and Cartman instructs him to use his intellect buff – a spell only mages can cast.

Incongruities with actual World of Warcraft play

Because the in-game portions of the episode were filmed with Blizzard's assistance, the characters are able to push the operational limits of the game by performing the forbidden actions listed below. However, the entire premise of the episode centers around a violation of the game's limits, so this is most likely due not to the inattentiveness of the writers but due to the nature of the plot.

• Cartman's character name, bigboNed3, is not possible. Numbers are not allowed in character names, the first letter is always capitalized, and no letters after the first letter can be capitalized.
• Stan's character name, Luvs2SPWG, would also not be possible not only because of the (possible) number but the inappropriate nature of the name
• In the episode, the Sword of a Thousand Truths does 120.0 DPS, has a mana burn proc, and has a +80 Stamina enchant. However, the most powerful aspect of the sword is that it instantly drains all mana from a player/npc, which would be very unfair.
• The Sword of a Thousand Truths uses the same model as The Hungering Cold, a sword that is dropped by Kel'Thuzad in Naxxarmas. The Hungering Cold binds when picked up so Randy could not have traded the sword over to Stan.
• Cartman states that he will use Mocking Blow on the ganker. This skill is only effective against computer-controlled opponents (so it is not so much an incongruity as an error in judgement).
• Kenny's character is a human hunter, but humans cannot be hunters in the game. His character's armor suggests he is a rogue or warrior, since those two classes are the only human classes that can equip bows.
• Stan's character is wearing a Frostwolf Battle Tabard, which is only available for purchase by Horde players.
• The character that continues to "gank" all the characters throughout Azeroth is a Mage but wears a plate helm. Mages in World of Warcraft can only wear cloth armor.
• Butters says that there are only four races. This is only partially correct; while there are four races on the Alliance side (and presumably he would be forced to pick one of these in order to play with his friends), there are also four races on the Horde side. In fact no orcs, tauren, undead, and troll players were seen in the episode.
• Randy's starting character cannot be a human hunter either. His character is really a warrior rather than a hunter as he suggests; this may not be an incongruity so much as a "noob" mistake on his part.
• Randy's character delivers the Sword of a Thousand Truths to Stan, but in doing so he equips it. Once most weapons are equipped, they are bound to you and cannot be given to other players. In addition, such a powerful sword could most likely not be equipped by a level 2 character.
• Stan throws his old sword on the ground before Randy gives the Sword of a Thousand Truths to him. When items are thrown away, they are destroyed rather than being left on the ground.
• After reaching a certain level difference between you and a computer-controlled enemy, they no longer provide experience. As such, Cartman's plan to kill millions of boars to level up earning 2 experience points each would only work for a short time, after which they would earn no experience regardless of how many boars they killed.
• All of the player characters are seen wearing armor forbidden by their level.
• It is not possible for a character of the same faction to attack another character without consenting to a duel or entering into the free-for-all PvP areas, the Gurubashi and Dire Maul arenas. Also, only in the arenas could a player kill another player from the same faction. It should be noted that this incongruity is intended, as it is repeatedly stated that such a character violates the normal limits put on characters.
• The ganker summons several scorpions to his aid when attacked by all of the South Park kids. Although limited summoning of pets and minions is possible, only hunters can call beasts to their aid, and then only one at a time. Mages cannot control minions without the use of special items, and no summoning items are able to call scorpions. As with the last incongruity, this one is also intended.
• In reality, Blizzard staff have absolute power over all player characters, and no player characters can break the intended character limits regardless of how long they play.
• In the episode, the concept of a maximum level is ignored; it is suggested that with enough gameplay, characters can reach a very high level, higher even than Blizzard administrators. In reality, the maximum level a character could reach at the time of this episode's airing was 60, and such a character could easily have been killed by the multitudes of characters already existent at level 60.
• Because of the massive number of subscribed players, the "World" of Warcraft is divided into over 100 separate servers. With the exception of cross-realm PvP and character transfers, it is impossible to create a character on one server and attack characters on another. This again is due to the episode's premise of a single renegade player destroying the fictional world.

Trivia

• Though he is featured many times in the show, the renegade player does not speak and it does not specify who he is or where he lives (though what appear to be palm trees can be seen through his domicile's window).

• The French phrase Cartman says during his Hitler speech is "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, Clyde?" which means "Do you want to sleep with me, Clyde?"

• The characters in Blizzard's board room closely resemble their corporate executive team, with President Mike Morhaime and Vice President Rob Pardo playing the most active roles.

• Throughout the episode, references made to locations and player activities in World of Warcraft are accurate to their in-game counterparts, including the "plains of Elwynn Forest near Westfall", the Arathi Highlands, the starting quests for human characters and the presence of large numbers of boars near starting zones. Cartman correctly references an actual map from the game to plan the attack on the ganker, and the final battle takes place in the area of Goldshire. This can be explained both by quotes from the press release stating that a large number of the South Park Studios team plays the game, and the collaborative effort between South Park and Blizzard to provide the in-game rendered portions of the episode.

• Cartman's TeamSpeak commands rant parodies the popular Leeroy Jenkins video containing a similar barking of commands. Both this portion of the episode and the original Jenkins video satirize the excessive planning and elitism of so-called "nerd guilds" who specialize in raiding. Though the scene is typical of many endgame raid command rants, the wink to that video occurs most obviously when Kyle mentions not being specced to reduce his cast time and Cartman in an annoyed tone replies with "Christ....". An almost exact circumstance and response from the team leader occurs in the Leeroy Jenkins video.

• The bass guitar that Token played in Cartmans christian rock band Faith +1 can be seen sitting in the corner of his bedroom while playing World Of Warcraft

• It has been suggested that the episode "Best Friends Forever" made a reference to World of Warcraft by setting the fictional PSP game Heaven and Hell's maximum level at 60. Ironically, in an episode centering around World of Warcraft explicitly, the South Park team chose to ignore the true leveling concept of the game.

• The distorted bassline played behind the South Park theme song was Les Claypool's "Whamola" from the Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade album Purple Onion.
• The Antonio Banderas Love Doll from Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery can be seen in Cartman's basement.
• "Live to Win", the title track from KISS vocalist Paul Stanley's upcoming solo album, made its world debut in the episode.
• When the boys are training for the final battle, they are seen drinking Rockstar and Red Bull while eating Hot Pockets and Cup Ramen. Their nerd opponent also drinks Rockstar, and eats Chips-a-Ho! brand cookies.
• Posters of Diablo 2, Warcraft III, and Starcraft can be seen in the background at several points in the episode.
• The Sword of a Thousand Truths is stored on a USB flash drive, and has the same model as The Hungering Cold, a powerful weapon dropped from the end boss of Naxxramas, currently the most difficult dungeon in World of Warcraft. The Sword of a Thousand Truths does 120.0 DPS, has a mana burn proc, and has a +80 Stamina enchant. Such a weapon would be incredibly powerful and unbalanced, as the Blizzard employees suggest; imbalanced weapons and armor do in fact exist within the game that are unattainable by players.
• This episode marks the third remixing of the opening theme.
• The boy playing World of Warcraft at Best Buy is wearing a Chinpokomon cap and shirt.
• Actual World of Warcraft music is played throughout the episode.
• One of the head programmers in the Blizzard boardroom is wearing a shirt that says "Dwarf Needs FOOD!" This is a reference to the videogame Gauntlet. In the game, as a character moves through a level their HP goes down by one point for each second of play. When the player is low on health, a deep voice says "<Insert Character Type> Needs FOOD!"
• A poster displaying the Internet phrase "l337" can be seen in the background of the renegade character's desk. The term (a staple of Leetspeak) can also be seen stamped to a sticker on the player's hard drive.
• After lowering the ganker's health, Cartman crushes his head with his hammer -- an action impossible in World of Warcraft.
• Clyde is seen AFK, looking at a Playboy magazine.

External links

• Official information on the episode
• Watch a sneak peak of the episode (requires Quicktime Player)
• Blizzard press release regarding the episode.
• Teaser
• TV.com