'For the Horde and the Nation?'

The virtual worlds of MMORPG’s have been frequently described as inherently transnational, providing a platform through which thousands of people from all over the world interact with each other on a daily basis. However, in assuming that much of these transnational interactions are welcomed by the inhabitants of virtual worlds, contemporary research on the study of virtual worlds has neglected the importance of nationality and national identity in the way(s) in which one interacts with and within the transnational environment of MMORPG’s. Providing an exploratory qualitative study of nationalism in the World of Warcraft, this research aims to problematise this assumption. The analysis shows that a considerable amount of conflict arises between European members about nationalism in Azeroth – either located in the ‘real-world’ or in the virtual lore of WoW. As people engage in ‘national play’ in Azeroth, people demarcate themselves from other nationalities through explicitly highlighting their national identity in game, playing in national guilds and/or on distinctively national servers. At the ‘virtual’ end of the spectrum, we find the ‘virtual nationalists’ which follow a nationalistic interpretation of the lore of Warcraft, aimed at establishing a separation of virtual races in Azeroth and to strengthen a virtual national identity. Indicative of demarcating and fragmenting the World of Warcraft on the basis of an ‘imagined’ national identity, this research shows that the inherent transnational nature of the game by no means implies the formation of an “open”, cosmopolitan disposition amongst its players.