Like a viral video, the successful online show dedicated to World of Warcraft is a kind of Holy Grail of new media.
The massively multiplayer online game produced by Blizzard Entertainment and pimped by Mr. T and Bill Shatner is part of a $41.9 billion global industry and boasts 10 million active users (which is more than the populations of at least 119 countries), each with enough disposable income to cover the cost of a decent computer and the $14.99/month fee, and most of whom spend hours a day in-game with addiction levels ranging from passive to problematic.
Gamers make for an incredibly attractive audience, but no one’s been able to create a WoW-centric show that speaks their language. ON Networks tried unsuccessfully with ON Warcraft. Next New Networks failed with Total MMO. But DECA may have chosen wisely with Project Lore.
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The digital entertainment company responsible for Boing Boing TV, Bush League, and Cool Mom is behind the new site that’s “all about putting the best multimedia MMORPG game guides in one place.” It comes complete with “a daily video show and blog about all things WoW” and Alex Albrecht – one-half of Diggnation and one-third of The Totally Rad Show – as a front man.
Like Albrecht’s other shows, Project Lore is built on a foundation of casual geek with dudes waxing inebriated insight on a subject with which they’re intimately familiar. In this incarnation, Alex sits with friends Joshua Brentano, Jerry Trainor, and Zand Broumand, playing and talking World of Warcraft while beating on bad guys.
The show’s not for me (I prefer text-based MMOs), and unless you know your way around Azeroth, it’s not for you either. It’s for whatever percentage of those 10 million WoW users identify as hardcore gamers and enjoy the game enough to watch other people play.
That’s an enticing, targeted market, though difficult to engage. If Albrecht wasn’t involved, I’d say Project Lore would go to the way of its predecessors. But with an accessible allure and everyday, normal guy appeal, Albrecht’s able to attract one helluva following.
He’s great with geeks. Getting an audience of gamers shouldn’t be a problem.
