'Project Lore' Plays WoW So You Don't Have To

To be honest, I was a little bit baffled when I stumbled across Project Lore. After all, one would think that if you’re not the kind of person who likes to play World of Warcraft, you’re probably not the kind of person who would want to watch somebody else play World of Warcraft, and if you do like playing World of Warcraft, then you’d probably rather play it yourself instead of watch. As it turns out, I was surprised by Project Lore, which manages to appeal to my gaming geek sensibilities despite my avoidance of all things WoW.

The Project Lore team consists of five WoW-holics: the leader, Alex Albrecht, co-host of Diggnation and formerly of The Screen Savers, is the creator/host of the show (and the party Rogue). Albrecht launched the series back in June of last year, backed up by Hunter-playing Zand “Dorkins” Broumand, Joshua Brentano, who tanks for the team when he’s not Executive Producer of G4’s Attack of the Show, Healer Jerry Trainor of iCarly, and Managing Editor/Team Asskicker Brandon Sato. Together these Fantastic Five quest through everything Azeroth has to offer in search of phat loot and experience points.

Most of the show involves watching them sitting around in a circle playing WoW, talking strategy when they’re serious (and bantering endlessly when they’re not), kind of like The McLaughlin Group meets a bunch of MMO-addicted twentysomething guys. It’s actually kind of a trip to watch people play WoW, as it turns out – during play segments, we’re treated to four simultaneous camera shots, one for each of the four present players (Sato appears only via voice chat). Recently, the Lore team has been working on the “Nexus” dungeon instance, which is new to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack, and has decided to treat the viewers to a week of playing for the Horde for the first time in the show’s six-month Alliance-centric history. In addition, they’ll be continuing their “Achievementology” mini-series which focuses on maximizing bragging rights by getting all the newly-released Achievements. If you’re interested in upping your game, or simply curious about high-level WoW play, go on and check out Project Lore.