The guys at Blizzard Entertainment are really really good!

Analytic and reflective little warriorette that I am, I took a few minutes to take a few giant steps back from the Lich King's domain and its immanent menaces. I need to thaw out. While I thawed and restored circulation in my frostbitten little nose, I worked my own superpowers of analysis on the Blizzard Entertainment guys' new wonderwork, subjecting them to "rigorous inquisition," as the poet William Wordsworth called a careful critical inquiry. Did I mention that these guys are really good at their craft? I'm not talking simply about the Warcraft which drives the game's interactive and infinitely variable plot, but all the elements of folklore and storytelling that inform the game, and all the shamanistic computer wizardry that empowers this kind of brilliant creation.

Trust me: I'm a tough judge. I went to an ivy league school, so I understand just exactly how "C" means average and ordinary. Therefore, if I award an "A," the guy on the receiving end knows he has accomplished something meaningful and valuable. Imagine what it took for these guys to earn their "A-plus"! Let me break it down for you, dropping in the ivy league theory and nomenclature as needed, because that's the world where I naturally reign as heroine-shaman supreme?

? Exquisite elements of story telling: The Blizzard Entertainment guys understand and command the essential elements of powerful narrative. They clearly have done their homework among Greek and Latin epic narrators, and they have studied?and cleverly imitated--authors of medieval quest romances. We can measure the quality of their work by the quality of their villains. In the tradition and more literally in French, the word "villain" means low-life scum. No matter how exalted a villain's political position, he must remain unmistakably a low-life scum. Arthras measures-up against the toughest standards?in words, and especially in images. Arthras terrifies, humiliates, arrogates, and abuses just like every good villain should, inviting us to despise him in every good way a hero should.
Examined from a completely different angle, "Wrath of the Lich King" cashes-in on what psychoanalyst Bruno Bettleheim describes as "the uses of enchantment." Bettleheim claims, and the Blizzard guys prove, we turn to literature?especially to epic and quest romance?to liberate the hidden heroines in ourselves. To the extent that we identify with literature's heroines, we find the latent heroism in ourselves. The Blizzard Entertainment guys have taken that "psycho-dynamic" to a whole new level, because we no longer have to identify with our heroines. We become them.

? Aesthetics: In antique reproductions, we call the look "distressed"?the crafty result of making a brand new piece look weathered and ancient. Samuel Taylor Coleridge made his "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" look distressed by his use of archaic language and his inclusion of "glosses" in the margins?as if some ancient editor had reviewed the poem and made a lot of mistakes. The Blizzard Entertainment guys have raised the standards for skilled "distressing," too. Thumbing through the resources on the web pages promoting "Wrath of the Lith King," you find lavishly illustrated old-looking maps, tables, charts, and all the other folkloric relics of a battle allegedly fought and won long-long ago.
Even more importantly, their work appears seamless. The graphics, sounds, music and languages harmonize, triggering players' synaesthesia, making them feel enveloped in the game's hostile environment, and inspiring them to master it. In the early part of the Victorian era, art critics treasured all things "sublime"?simultaneously overwhelming and awe-inspiring. Our abuse of the word "awesome" comes from this traditional esteem for the sublime. In the presence of the sublime, we're supposed to feel how tiny we are, and we're also supposed to feel how powerfully graced we are that we have dominion over the environment and all its threatening forces and creatures. The Blizzard guys transport us right to the heart of the sublime.

? Engagement: For all its daunting dazzle, the game and its landscape are amazingly friendly. The game engages players at their own levels and helps them evolve to higher and higher ranks and standings. I could navigate through the hostile terrain almost instantly, and all the tips immediately freed me from the quandaries into which I worked myself. Although the hostile creatures pose significant risks, and although they challenged me to develop new skills and talents, they never had the power to destroy me. There's a lot of comfort in that kind of resilience. But I especially appreciate the game's liberal allowance for different values and temperaments. I want to belong among the warriors, but I do not want to be renowned for my ferocity. The game allows me to choose missions and quests that suit my natural temperament while I fire-up my feral streak. Far more significant for veteran gamers, though, the landscape, the weapons, and the adversaries evolve in perfect synch with your character's emerging skills. That synch takes "user friendly" to a whole new level.

Of course, we all understand that authors never recognize the power and subtlety of their own work; that's why critics can keep their jobs. If they are truly as good as their products, the Blizzard Entertainment guys will admit that they never consciously considered this theoretical stuff as they got entangled in the codes and intricacies of their game. They probably never even intended many of the effects and affects they achieve. They get credit for all that good stuff anyway. It's just in the nature of the storyteller's enterprise.

Did I mention that the Blizzard guys are really really good?

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