Tournament Of Ages Draws Thousands To 'World of Warcraft' Role-Playing

Today wraps up one of the largest community events in World of Warcraft, a gathering that has drawn thousands of people together over the past four years and will raise more than a thousand dollars for charity this year.
                                             

The Tournament of Ages runs on Warcraft’s Moon Guard role-playing server, providing gamers there with a week of events ranging from booth sales to arena battles to fireworks and performances.

During the closing ceremony today, players will pack the stands of the Tournament grounds in such numbers that no seats will be available, forcing some to hover or to perch on the roof. They will watch the fireworks before gathering for the Wonderlight Ball.

The dance gives participants the chance to show off their characters’ best collected finery and virtually dance the night away, ending the weeklong series of dozens of events.

Earlier happenings included a dueling tournament for different in-game classes, sparring, Hearthstone digital card game play, racing, stage performances, rhyme battles, date auctions, mechanical pet battles, drinking contests, jousting, marmotball and pet battles.

“Sometimes the best parts are the simplest,” said Judith Pedersen of Ontario, one of the Tournament participants. “Just people gathering en masse to have fun for a week, to forget any stress their characters may have or they might have in real life.”

The Tournament is popular; so much so that at one point this week, three of the top four threads in the World of Warcraft subreddit related to it.

Moon Guard is widely known for its R-rated role-playing areas. To be fair, once that reputation was established, it has frequently been perpetuated by other players coming in from off-server to make new characters in those areas and see what the fuss is about.

Elsewhere in the game world, the role-playing is of the more traditional variety, with players creating back stories for their characters and interacting with other players individually and in groups.