One hundred million people have played World of Warcraft in the 12 years since its inception. Those people did more than play; they worked, they fought, they triumphed, they held entire game servers hostage, they even married each other in real life. They developed new identities, swapping their workaday selves for warriors, mages, assassins, and healers. Blood Plagues and Endless Raids explores a wild, incredibly complex culture partly through the author’s engaging personal story but also through the stories of other players and developers. It represents the definitive (and only) account of one of the world’s biggest pop culture phenomena.

“From the Mulgore plain to Draenor, Tony Palumbi and his avatar, a tauren shaman named Ghando, journey for years through the heroscape of World of Warcraft. Into these depths we plunge, too: Horde and Alliance, raiding and grinding, PvP battles and chat channels, guilds and ganking, leveling up, clearing dungeons, and making friends and enemies along the way. Writing a potent blend of cultural criticism and memoir, Palumbi—our Virgil-like guide through a Dantesque digital underworld—describes these travails with verve, wit, and wisdom. WoW the game may not be ‘real,’ but what happens there is. Blood Plagues and Endless Raids shows us why we should care.” —Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks

“[a] fascinating peek inside one of the Internet’s most popular online communities.” —Booklist