The Daily Grind: Celebrating real holidays virtually

by Lesley Smith Jul 3rd 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, The Daily Grind

My American sources tell me this is a long weekend for you folks across the pond. Something about independence from Blighty a few hundred years ago. Essentially an excuse to let off fireworks, have BBQs, enjoy the fine weather and skive off work. Good on you. It seems like lots of MMOs are using it as an excuse to take the real celebrations in-game. For example, World of Warcraft has the Midsummer Fire Festival which concludes tomorrow with a bunch of snoozing goblin guards and a whopping fireworks display. Likewise, Lord of the Rings Online has one festival with four different names.

Given the fact the games are created by humans, it's no surprise the in-game festivals of all our favourite MMOs share a little in common with actual celebrations in real life. However they can also be handy for people too far away to meet up this 4th of July, most often troops on active duty or family members and friends separated by thousands of miles or even continents. So are any of you out there planning to eschew real celebrations in favour of meeting up with your guildies in-game? Are you going to travel around to see the fireworks or, if you play, WoW raid an enemy city. Do you prefer celebrating such events in-game? Do you mark them on your calendar and anticipate them as much as their real world counterparts? Do you wish the developers would expand world festivals to take account of more important holidays?

Tags: fireworks, fourth-of-july, in-game-event, in-game-events, lord-of-the-rings, lord-of-the-rings-online, midsummer-fire-festi..., midsummer-fire-festival, summerfest, world-events, world-of-warcraft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

mko said on 9:51AM 7-03-2009

No I personally hate real world or real world relevant festivals in games.
They not only disrupt games' atmosphere but also don't reflect worldwide view.

I mean no offense but I don't care about Christmas related event or say Children's Week (based on Children's Day), Pirates' Day (based on Talk like a pirate day) etc..

Seth said on 10:01AM 7-03-2009

Good thing you are the only one playing these games then, right?

mko said on 10:04AM 7-03-2009

There is always an excuse to complain for me :)

CCon99 said on 10:40AM 7-03-2009

I always loved when a company went an extra step to help celebrate the holidays. Sure some fantasy type games the holiday might not fit with the games background, but it's nice to keep in the spirit of things.

My favorite has to be the City of Heroes Christmas/New Years event they have each year. I always loved how people actually hung out in the Ski Chalet dressed in winter clothing.

Jeremy S. said on 9:23PM 7-03-2009

Do all these games World Lore go out of there way to explain why there isn't a children's day? I'd assume regardless of World, there are children?

Maybe a Japan day is out of place in a world that has no Japan, but how far down the specific-line do you go before deciding to cut it out?

Christmas? Why couldn't many of the current MMORPG world's celebrate a day where they give gifts to each other. Maybe it's too contraversial to oust the "savior" and make it simply a day of gift giving so it can fit in the world lore?

Easter? All Easter was, was a the Christians taking the celebration of the goddes Estre(that people gave colored gourds to in her honor), and changed it around a litte to make an amalgam of the two religions.

Or is it simply the players perceptions. Does it destroy the "imaginary" world in their minds by introducing a real world holiday?

I guess personally I love it and want more. My reasoning is out of loneliness rather than anything else. I don't get to celebrate in real life due to work or distance from family and friends. So it's really nice to be able to celebrate it in-game, for me.