For three days, they gathered by the hundreds for a chance to mingle and compete. By just glancing into the main exhibit hall at the Ramada Orlando-Celebration Resort, an outsider might think the participants were playing a large bingo game. There were long rows of tables and chairs with competitors on each side. But if you looked closely at each of the player’s intense facial gestures, you knew this was more than a bingo game.
They came from all over the country to participate in Darkmoon Faire, a traveling mini-convention for devotees of the trading card game World of Warcraft. Since its release in 2004, World of Warcraft has become one of the most popular role-playing games in history. It currently holds the Guinness World Record for having the most online subscribers of any game in the genre.
The free event was open to anyone. Beginners could challenge those with more experience for a chance to win hundreds of dollars in prizes, including a new iPad.
Tim Rivera traveled from Las Vegas where he works as a financial analyst for a major company. Since the Darkmoon Faire conventions started in 2006, Rivera has been at each one. Considering there’s a big tournament every month, that’s a lot of time away from home.
“My wife is not always happy because I play so much. But she supports me 100-percent.”
Rivera, who has been playing card games since he was 15, is the current World of Warcraft national champion and has won three national tournaments. He estimated that he’s taken home more than $11,000 in cash and prizes and called the winnings “a nice supplement” to his regular income.
The larger goal for Rivera, and many other participants at the Orlando convention, is to make it to the WOW world championship, being held this November in Amsterdam.
The Darkmoon Faire events are a creation of Cryptozoic Entertainment based in Irvine, California. Company spokesman William Brinkman said many of the nation’s best players continually practice in local hobby stores for a chance to compete in regional and national tournaments. By the conclusion of the Orlando event on Sunday, the top eight players had received an invitation to the November world championship. Whoever comes out on top in that competition will win more than $250,000 in cash and prizes.
Brinkman was quick to point out that it’s not all about the money for most of the Darkmoon Faire participants. He said that with nearly 300,000 English-speaking members of the WOW community worldwide, the faires are a great chance for gamers to meet fellow players and to make new friends.
And the community is continuing to grow. There are a number of websites that cater to non-English speaking players around the globe. Brinkman said World of Warcraft is very popular in France and Germany and is currently gaining a foothold in China, where live television coverage of tournaments is common.
