{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T14:26:48Z","timestamp":1777645608005,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2006,10,1]],"date-time":"2006-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1159660800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Games and Culture"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>One of the pleasures of playing in the \u201cWorld\u201d of Warcraft is becoming part of its pervasive mythology. This article argues that to understand the game\u2019s formal, aesthetic, and structural specificity, its pleasures and potential meanings, it is essential to investigate how the mythic functions. The author shows that the mythic plays a primary role in making a consistent fantasy world in terms of game play, morality, culture, time, and environment. It provides a rationale for players\u2019 actions, as well as the logic that under- pins the stylistic profile of the game, its objects, tasks, and characters. In terms of the \u201ccultural\u201d environments of the game, the presence of a coherent and extensive myth scheme is core to the way differences and conflicts between races are organized. And, as a form of intertextual resonance, its mythology furnishes the game with a \u201cthickness\u201d of meaning that promotes, for players, a sense of mythological being as well as encouraging an in-depth textual engagement.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1555412006292618","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2006,9,12]],"date-time":"2006-09-12T19:19:43Z","timestamp":1158088783000},"page":"383-396","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":47,"title":["Blood Scythes, Festivals, Quests, and Backstories"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"1","author":[{"given":"Tanya","family":"Krzywinska","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Brunel University"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2006,10,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","volume-title":"The origin of German tragic drama","author":"Benjamin, W.","year":"2003"},{"key":"atypb2","volume-title":"Remediation: Understanding new media","author":"Bolter, J. D.","year":"2000"},{"key":"atypb3","volume-title":"The Gallic wars","author":"Caesar, J.","year":"1996"},{"key":"atypb4","volume-title":"The hero with a thousand faces","author":"Campbell, J.","year":"1969","edition":"2"},{"key":"atypb5","volume-title":"Markku Eskelinen's response","author":"Eskelinen, M.","year":"2004"},{"key":"atypb6","volume-title":"The golden bough: Abridged","author":"Frazer, J. G.","year":"1994"},{"key":"atypb7","volume-title":"The Wicker Man","author":"Hardy, R.","year":"1973"},{"key":"atypb8","volume-title":"FromAlientoThe Matrix","author":"Kaveney, R.","year":"2005"},{"key":"atypb9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5040\/9780755695546"},{"key":"atypb10","volume-title":"Videogame\/player\/text","author":"Krzywinska, T."},{"key":"atypb11","volume-title":"A theory of fun for game design","author":"Koster, R.","year":"2005"},{"key":"atypb12","first-page":"1","volume-title":"Meditations on Middle-Earth","author":"Martin, G. R. R.","year":"2001"},{"key":"atypb13","volume-title":"In quest of the hero","author":"Rank, O.","year":"1990"},{"key":"atypb14","first-page":"257","volume-title":"Computer games and digital cultures: Conference proceedings","author":"Stern, E.","year":"2002"},{"key":"atypb15","volume-title":"DiGRA conference Changing Views: Worlds in Play","author":"Thomas, D."}],"container-title":["Games and Culture"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1555412006292618","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1555412006292618","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T06:32:43Z","timestamp":1777444363000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1555412006292618"}},"subtitle":["World Creation and Rhetorics of Myth in World of Warcraft"],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2006,10]]},"references-count":15,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,10]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/1555412006292618"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1555412006292618","relation":{},"ISSN":["1555-4120","1555-4139"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1555-4120","type":"print"},{"value":"1555-4139","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2006,10]]}}}