{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T04:24:12Z","timestamp":1782879852150,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2009,12,15]],"date-time":"2009-12-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1260835200000},"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":[[2010,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>After the Lead Content Designer of World of Warcraft (WoW), Tigole, deemed a new set of rewards \u2018\u2018welfare\u2019\u2019 epics, the WoW player community responded in a multitude of fascinating ways. Using rhetorical analysis, gaming studies literature, and a critical analysis of welfare discourse, four rhetorical strategies can be seen in the discourse produced by the playing community. From directly confronting Tigole\u2019s statements to lamenting a loss of avatar capital and analyzing the role the changes have on the multiplayer aspects of the game, the rhetoric of \u2018\u2018welfare\u2019\u2019 epics offers unique insights into the importance of balance and scarcity in the normative structures of WoW, how players accept and perpetuate the belief that rewards in online games should be \u2018\u2018earned,\u2019\u2019 and how WoW\u2019s system of rewards has been fundamentally altered since the game\u2019s launch.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1555412009354729","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2009,12,15]],"date-time":"2009-12-15T22:33:36Z","timestamp":1260916416000},"page":"158-176","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Welfare Epics? 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