The World of Warcraft community is jubilant after brazenly tricking an AI-generated games news website into publishing an article covering a fictitious upcoming feature, known simply as ‘Glorbo’.
The spread of AI-generated news has been a subject of controversy and debate in recent years, and has seen certain websites dispatch bots to scrape information from the underbelly of the internet and use it to mould simplistic articles.
Having seen similar tactics used to extract info from the World of Warcraft community, Reddit user kaefer_kriegerin created a post entitled ‘I’m so excited they finally introduced Glorbo!!!’ in which they gave an impassioned account of a fictitious feature coming to the game.
The vigilante’s goal was to entice bots into taking notice of the post, and to subsequently trigger the creation of an article detailing the nonsense therein. To put it another way, kaefer_kriegerin’s post was something of a Trojan horse, but in lieu of Greek soldiers, the digital construct was filled with malicious tomfoolery.
Feels soooooo good to be able to talk about Glorbo finally, I remember my first day at Blizzard we were just starting to work on implementation, and that was almost 15 years ago!
Excellent reporting to track this down👍 pic.twitter.com/Wh1hm0gikM
— Zorbrix 💙 (@Zorbrix) July 20, 2023
“Honestly, this new feature makes me so happy! I just really want some major bot operated news websites to publish an article about this,” wrote kaefer_kriegerin, as spotted by PC Gamer. “I have to say, since they started hinting at it in Hearthstone in 1994, it was obvious that they would introduce Glorbo to World of Warcraft sooner or later. I feel like Dragonflight has been win after win so far, like when they brought back Chen Stormstout as the end boss of the new Karazhan? Absolutely amazing!”
Those words, in that order, are nonsense, and always will be. However, that didn’t stop bots in the employ of the website Zleague.com from scooping up the word salad and regurgitating it into an over formatted news blast. How do we know the article was written by a bot? Well, the author of the Zleague article had penned over 50 articles in a 24 hour period. If they aren’t digital in nature, then someone needs to ask if they’re OK.
“World of Warcraft (WoW) players have been buzzing with excitement ever since the announcement of Glorbo’s introduction,” read the Zleague post, which has since been taken down. “The highly anticipated new feature has sparked a wave of positive sentiment among players, who are eagerly awaiting its impact on the game.”
👀 They found out about Glorbo https://t.co/KcODRw3gXP
— Lulu Cheng Meservey (@lulumeservey) July 21, 2023
The article also picked up on the comments made by fellow Reddit users, who piled on with a mixture of joy and apprehension regarding the ‘Kliclac’ item that would be coming to WoW with the Glorbo update, and that, again, does not exist.
“One aspect of Glorbo’s introduction that has sparked differing opinions among players is the mandatory item Klikclac, explained the Zleague article. “Reddit user Mezmodian expresses excitement about the item, claiming that it will significantly increase the power of certain classes.
“However, kaefer_kriegerin disagrees, stating, ‘Making Klikclac a mandatory item is a huge punch in the gut for casual players. I don’t have the time to farm Zoop for that!’ This debate highlights the divide between players who appreciate the power boost Klikclac offers and those who feel it unfairly disadvantages casual players.”
Naturally, kaefer_kriegerin and other members of the WoW community were delighted with their victory. Activision Blizzard employees further stoked the flames, with CCO and EVP of corporate affairs LuLu Cheng Meservey simply tweeting “they found out about Glorbo”. Kyle Hartline, a senior game producer on WoW also weighed in, posting it “feels soooooo good to be able to talk about Glorbo finally, I remember my first day at Blizzard we were just starting to work on implementation, and that was almost 15 years ago!”
Feels soooooo good to be able to talk about Glorbo finally, I remember my first day at Blizzard we were just starting to work on implementation, and that was almost 15 years ago!
Excellent reporting to track this down👍 pic.twitter.com/Wh1hm0gikM
— Zorbrix 💙 (@Zorbrix) July 20, 2023
World of Warcraft is almost 20 years old at this point, yet its ability to create news, AI-generated and otherwise, remains as potent as ever.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
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