Derived from good old latin, the word inspiration goes back on the verb inspirare which means “to breathe / blow into” or “infuse”. So if a person is being inspired, he is actually that: being “breathed into”, being animated by some greater spirit, idea or being (whatever you prefer to call it) to do certain things. It’s a beautiful allegory on man’s creativity. Using thousands of words every day, or a million in my case, we often don’t realize the deeper meaning and origin of the words we use.
Of all the games I’ve played in my life, I’ve never encountered any that has inspired so many people around the globe so greatly to all sorts of works of their own, like World of Warcraft has. WoW does obviously have a far greater player base than any other online game, but the impact it’s having in the creative field is quite remarkable and a testimony to the coherence of the fantastic world Blizzard created. The results of WoW’s inspirational potential are nothing short of baffling at times.
The most well-known examples are obviously the masses of people out there writing about WoW, the fanfiction and fanart created, the stunning machinima, the fun community events and regular contests run by Blizzard on their official page; I wonder if there’s going to be more WoW Halloween Pumpkins again this year.
As this is a perfect Frivolous Friday topic, I do want to share the following 3 remarkable examples of fired imagination with the rest of you. I’ve only recently come across them myself – what do you know! The inspiration people can get from WoW knows no limits!
If you’re desperately bored of the game at the moment, it’s time to check this page out. It’s basically Origami for WoW and some of the paper models are just baffling! There’s also a lot of plans available for download, so grab your scissors and glue and get started!
I love cooking and browsing food blogs – well, here’s your dedicated WoW cooking site! The folks over at Nourish got plenty of Azerothian recipes ready for you to test your culinary skills on, nomnom!
It’s no big secret that I love the shinies and I’ve always wondered a little about the lack of WoW merchandise, especially in this particular bracket – after all, which self-respecting WoW priest wouldn’t love to have a silver Benediction necklace dangling from their neck?
In any case, there’s some remarkable craftsmanship to be found on that page, so whether you’re into jewelry or not, it’s worth checking out!
So many ideas, so little time – enjoy your weekend everybody and stay inspired!
Also, if you feel particularly loaded on ideas, head over to Deuwowlity and help Gronthe out with suggestions, because he’s planning a WoW musical!
reminds me on how close your greedy little shineyfingers were to that art sword. 😀 😀
theB
Frostmourne! <3
Papercraft != Origami.
…but it’s still cool. 🙂
Oh, did I draw a particularly wrong parallel there? Am happy to be educated, hehe!
Never tried either so far, but some of the great models there do indeed tempt to give things a go. I fear I’m a bit of a klutz when it comes to delicate handiwork though! 😉
Papercraft is more about cutting and pasting painted bits and bobs of paper into cool stuff.
Origami is almost entirely done with paper that’s colored or pattern-printed on one side and white on the other, starting with a square and *folding* everything. Cutting, pasting and multiple pieces are taboos in classic Origami. (Literally “paper folding”.)
Both wind up being very fun and producing some cool stuff, but Origami is far more disciplined and geometric, since organic shapes (and coloration patterns!) need to come from the original square and its folds. There’s a ton of intricacy in making the more esoteric shapes with Origami, where in papercraft, you’d just cut it out.
…yes, I’m an old time Origami geek. But I love papercraft, too. 🙂
Ah yes I see. so basically papercraft is a bit more beginner-friendly, or you could say “Origami for the hopeless” maybe, hehe! 😉
Obviously it has a very long tradition in Japan and indeed, it appears to be a lot more involved, with an almost “meditative” quality to it, I believe.
Thanks for pointing it out!
love the emblem!
theB