Chris Holmes Online

If you watched the NFL this weekend it was hard to miss the new Toyota ad that incorporated the World of Warcraft. The ad isn’t terribly awesome by itself, but there were two things about it that did stick out, especially to those of us who play MMORPG’s.

First, it signals the first time (that I can think of) that an MMORPG has been used in mainstream advertising on television. I know MMORPG’s have been advertised at movie theaters and on cable TV stations, but to my knowledge no MMORPG has ever been incorporated into an advertisement for another company. And to be shown during NFL games no less. We’re talking about NFL football on Sunday afternoon – the juggernaut of sports in America – the time when every male under the age of 50 is watching. I thought it was a significant leap for World of Warcraft and MMORPG’s in general to be referenced so prominently it a commercial. It showed me that they have finally hit the mainstream in America and that’s pretty damn cool.

The second thing that was neat about the video is that it instantly hearkens to the most famous WoW video of all time: the Leroy Jenkins movie. Even if you’re not a World of Warcraft player or fan, this is one of the funniest videos you’ll ever see. There’s a summary of the event written here:

For those of you who might be unaware of the legend of Leeroy, I’ll lay it out for you, though you’d be best served to watch the video for yourself at www.leeroyjenkins.com. The story goes, Leeroy was away from his keyboard while his teammates waited and strategized about how to defeat the next encounter in the dungeon they were in, which is known as Blackrock Spire. In the midst of the elaborate planning, Leeroy returned and yelled, “Alright, time’s up! Let’s do this! Leeeerooooooy Jeeeeennkins!” And then he charged into the next room. The result was the hilarious death of Leeroy and all his friends. While the video was clearly staged, it was so well done and so classic that it instantly became a phenomenon in the WoW community.

Sometimes I think back to when I started playing roleplaying games – the first time some college friends introduced me to pencil and paper Dungeons and Dragons; the first time I scampered around a MUD with nothing more than a command prompt and my own imagination to fill in the gaps; the first time I experienced a virtual 3D world when I logged into Everquest – and I think about how far this form of entertainment has come. It’s gone from being demonized and misunderstood to mainstream. The Lord of the Rings trilogy showed that Hollywood could take fantasy seriously and still make millions of dollars, and now we have World of Warcraft as a backdrop for Toyota ads. If you’re a fantasy fan, you have to think this is pretty cool.