Make Love, Not Warcraft

"Make Love, Not Warcraft" is the eighth episode of the tenth season of South Park.

This episode features the heavy use of machinima for the scenes that show characters playing the game World of Warcraft

The episode also won the Creative Arts Emmy Award in September, 2007.

Synopsis
Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny must save the World of Warcraft from a mad gamer.

Plot
Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny are playing World of Warcraft (but are briefly interrupted by Randy telling Stan to socialize, but is told he is by playing the game). Returning to the game, Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny are soon killed by a someone who is a much higher level than them, despite the boys having not agreed to a duel. The other player is in fact a stereotypical nerd.

Next day, the boys decide to phone the World of Warcraft support line at Blizzard Entertainment. The lady at the other end explains that the boys would have had to agree to a duel before fighting, but Stan informs her that the player kills them anyway. The lady says the problem will be fixed, but informs a co-worker that more people are complaining over their characters getting killed, and that they should tell the guys upstairs.

In their main office, the administrators and Game Masters discuss the problem at hand, that if peoples characters keep getting killed like this then they'll get frustrated and quit the game. They state that the player who is not playing by the rules has been playing World of Warcraft non-stop for the past year and a half. They state he has no life, and question how they kill that which has no life.

At work, Randy is playing World of Warcraft, and brags to his work colleague Nelson about how he is a brave adventurer in the game. From behind, the same person that killed his son's character, kills him.

In his basement, Cartman summons all his male classmates (Butters, Tweek, Jimmy, Timmy, Token, Clyde, Craig etc.) and explains how they shall all team up and kill the rogue player. Everyone agrees (along with a reluctant Clyde who Cartman compares to the French in World War II). Butters states he does not play World of Warcraft, but has been on his computer so long because he has in fact been playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Cartman tells him to buy World of Warcraft before everyone murders him.

On the game, the boys prepare to attack the rogue player, but ultimately fail (no thanks to Clyde who has stopped playing to read his Playboy magazine and Butters since he made his character look like Cartman). Everyone apart from Cartman gives up and explains they're quitting.

In the basketball court, Cartman interrupts Stan, Kyle and Kenny's game explaining how they should play World of Warcraft, and do something that matters. Cartman says they can try and get up to a really high level by killing boars in the woods (where player vs. player combat does not work), but boars give low experience points so the boys begin their mission to kill millions of them. As time progresses they begin to gain weight until they are all the size of Cartman, yet Cartman is still fatter because he has doubled in weight.

Three weeks later, the staff at Blizzard Entertainment explain that four players (the boys) have increased their levels incredibly quickly and that they could be the people who save World of Warcraft. One of the staff state that these players could be the ones that legend said would be able to wield the 'Sword of a Thousand Truths'. An other staff member quickly informs the other that they are not to speak of the sword. The group then go to get the sword's USB stick and decide that these players could use the sword to stop the rogue player.

In Cartman's basement, the boys prepare for the battle. They target their enemy and begin to fight. Liane is supplying the boys with everything they need (including a bowl for Cartman to defecate in). Kyle gets a severe case of carpal tunnel, and Cartman has to give him cream to rub on his hand.

At Stan's house, Randy opens the door to two members of staff from Blizzard Entertainment, who state that they need to give Stan the sword, or his character will die. Unfortunately, Stan is not in his bedroom, and Sharon informs Randy that Stan has took his computer to Cartman's house. The Blizzard staff explain that it's too late now, and they don't have accounts which they can use to give Stan the sword. Randy explains he has one, but it is a noob. The Blizzard staff say they can't give the sword to a n00b, but Randy explains they don't have a choice.

Randy manages to hijack a car and he and the Blizzard staff rush to an electronics shop. They rush to the World of Warcraft demo, shoving a geeky kid out the way. Randy signs in and manages to give Stan the sword (after being shown how to pass things from one player to another). Randy is then hit, but Stan lifts the sword, telling the player that he killed his father, and blasts the sword into him. The rogue's defenses are lowered dramatically, and the boys shoot him with firebolts, an arrow and finally, Cartman (after uttering the immortal line "Looks like you're about to get pwned!") pwns him with a large hammer to his head.

The nerd looks in disbelief as his character has been killed.

The boys celebrate their victory (as do Randy and the Blizzard staff along with the other World of Warcraft players). The boys see themselves as heroes, and Stan questions what they should do now. Cartman explains they can finally play the game now, which they do.

Quotes

 * Cartman: There are lots of computer generated boars in Warcraft that die with just one blow.
 * Kyle: Dude! Boars are only worth two experience points a piece. Do you know how many we'd have to kill to get up thirty levels?!
 * Cartman: Yes. [He pulls out a slip of paper.] Sixty-five million, three hundred forty thousand, two hundred eighty-five. Which should take us seven weeks, five days, thirteen hours, and twenty minutes. Giving ourselves three hours a night for sleep. What do you say guys? You can just... you can just hang outside in the sun all day tossing a ball around, or you can sit at your computer and do something that matters.


 * Blizzard worker: Gentlemen, we are dealing with someone who has absolutely no life.
 *  # 2 Blizzard worker: How do you kill that which has no life?


 * Cartman: All right, major Stone Shield potions should be... oh god, I'm gonna have diarrhea again. Ohhh... shit.
 * Kyle: You can't go to the bathroom, you're stacking sunder armor!
 * Cartman: It's okay.  [ over intercom ]  Mom, Bathroom!
 * Liane: What hon?
 * Cartman: Bathroom! Bathroom!
 * Cartman: There were a lot of people who just "stopped playing" when Hitler rose to power, you know who they were, the French. Are you French Clyde? Voulez-vous coucher avec moi Clyde" (French for "will you sleep with me")
 * Butters: Hey fellas! Boy this is neato, huh?
 * Cartman: Butters, what the hell are you doing?
 * Butters: I got World of Warcraft like you said.
 * Cartman: You can't be the dwarf character, Butters. I'm the dwarf.
 * Butters: But there are only like 4 races to choose from!
 * Cartman: SO PICK ANOTHER ONE! I'm the dwarf, you stupid asshole! Log out, make another character and log back in.
 * Butters: [muttering] I like Hello Kitty Island Adventure more than this stuff.
 * Cartman: SO PICK ANOTHER ONE! I'm the dwarf, you stupid asshole! Log out, make another character and log back in.
 * Butters: [muttering] I like Hello Kitty Island Adventure more than this stuff.

Trivia

 * This episode features a new remix of the theme tune, the backing music has been replaced by the track "Whamola", by Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade. All the lyrics (apart from Kenny's) remain the same, as does the title sequence (apart from the clips being updated).
 * This episode was originally meant to air as episode 145, but due to a delay in the machinima animation, it was shifted to episode 147, and episode 145 was replaced with "Manbearpig". episode 146 was "Tsst"
 * The basketball court was last seen in "Manbearpig".
 * The characters use many different words from the gaming world, such as 'R-tard', 'uber', 'pwn' and 'n00b'.
 * This is the first time ever that Stan, Kyle and Kenny have been shown to gain weight. Cartman previously gained more weight in "Weight Gain 4000".
 * After comparing Clyde to the French, Cartman says to him "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, Clyde?" This properly translates into English as "Do you want to sleep with me, Clyde?" and is taken from the Patty Labelle song, "Lady Marmalade."
 * Posters of other games made of Blizzard were also shown in Go God Go.
 * In the Blizzard office, an object resembling a gold record is seen hanging on the wall and it has the Forsaken emblem on it.
 * Randy's character in the World of Warcraft is a human hunter, which was a character not possible to play as. Trey Parker and Matt Stone did this to poke fun at the game. (This combination will be available on World of Warcraft: Cataclysm). His character is also wearing a shield, which hunters can not use.
 * Northrend is missing from the map of Azeroth hanging in Cartman's basement although when the episode was being made Northrend was not yet mapped.
 * The area all the boys fight Jenkins in for the first time is a level 30-40 zone, the Arathi Highlands.
 * All the boys play Alliance, which fulfills a common stereotype where most Alliance players are younger children or teenagers.
 * The boys would only have been able to train on boars for a short amount of time due to the fact that after a certain level they would no longer give experience, so Cartman's plan would never work.
 * Since the airing of the episode, the fictitious Sword of a Thousand Truths was featured in the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade beta test as a reward to the games arena system, although it did not have the same capabilities as in the show. The in-game caption read "Finely crafted to Salzman's specification". The sword was renamed to Gladiator's Slicer and the in-game graphic changed prior to the launch of the Burning Crusade. The visual used for the Sword of a Thousand Truths in the episode was the same as the already existing in-game sword The Hungering Cold. More recently, the sword has reappeared in the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion as the Slayer of the Lifeless, an entry-level raid drop that possesses the flavor text "Foretold by Salzman".
 * An in-game achievement has been added to World of Warcraft called "Make Love, not Warcraft". In order to obtain it, a player must kill another player and emote love for the deceased before he has the chance to free his spirit.
 * Stan's character in the earlier part of the episode's name is "StanIsCool" seen above the health bar. But later when the guys wanted to deliver the Sword of a Thousand Truths to Stan, they knocked at the door, and ask for the name 'LovesToSpooge'. This user name is a euphemism for loving to masturbate (spooge.)
 * In the episode, there are many incongruities to the actual game. For example, when Butters creates a character, his avatar is wearing plate armor, just like Cartman's. However in the actual game, plate armor is not avalible for characters to wear until level 40.
 * In the episode, Cartman says that half of all WoW players are Korean. This is probably a reference to the growing popularity of Starcraft, another Blizzard game, in Korea.
 * This episode was created with the direct help of Blizzard, who offered Warcraft Alpha: Burning Crusade servers to create some parts of the episode. Blizzard member Joeyray Hall later admitted that working for Trey and Matt was fun, but intimidating because "it was kind of like 'Oh wow, it’s Matt and Trey - you know, South Park, yay!'" Joeyray continued on by saying that it was fun to do because Blizzard member had to create the South Park kids' WoW characters. For the full interview click here and scroll down a lot to find where Joeyray Hall begins to comment on the creation process of the episode.
 * This is one of the few episodes that Cartman isn't ripping on Kyle for being Jewish. This may have simply happened because of the quest to kill the nerd's character and Cartman needed every boy he could get, which may explain Butters being in the assembled strike force to attack the nerd even though Cartman rips on Butters constantly next to Kyle.
 * When all the boys are in Cartman's basement about to battle Jenkins, Cartman's mother's Antonio Banders love doll and Clyde Frog (in a box) can be seen in the background.
 * The only characters who would benefit from Kyle's Arcane Brilliance would be him and Kenny because Stan and Cartman are both Warriors and do not have mana. (During the episode Cartman is actually a rogue. See Goofs.)
 * The music that plays the first time all the boys fight Jenkins is the Orgrimmar theme.
 * Paul Stanley's Song Live to Win plays during the leveling montage, this was the songs world premiere.
 * This could be techically one of the many times the boys have saved the "world".
 * Not a single human female was seen involved in the game. The only female character was being played by Kyle.

Goofs

 * After Randy's character dies, Stan's shield disappears for a short period of time, and reappears after he says "You killed my father." It also switches from his left hand to his right hand.


 * In many episodes it has been revealed that Cartman is terrible at math (or any other school subject) but he was able to calculate how many boars it would take to rise up in levels and experience points. This could simply be because Cartman was extremely addicted to the game in this episode.
 * The boys' love of Warcraft is never mentioned again despite their addiction to the game.
 * After the episode, in the next episode, the boys are back to their original body sizes, instead of being morbidly obese and pimple filled.
 * When the camera first focues on them in the Computer Lab, from the back Cartman is heavily obese despite the fact they have yet to become so.
 * If you look closer in the episode when they are killing boars, the camera is from Cartman's view, if you look at his action bar he has rogue abilities, and under his health bar he has energy.