Continued
I would argue that, up until its release, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft was the most sought after beta program among PC gamers. Blizzard has a perfect track record with PC games, and their announcement of an MMORPG in the Warcraft universe sent shockwaves through the industry. Then came the articles, the screenshots, and literally years of waiting. This friend of mine, let's call him Logan, had some contacts in the gaming business. Using these contacts, Logan was able to get himself into the World of Warcraft beta. He was given one account with one key. Logan had a fiancée, let's call her Jean, who was a devoted fan of all things Blizzard. So naturally, Jean was interested in World of Warcraft, but at the same time had trepidations about joining the turbo-nerd cult of the fantasy online role playing game. Logan was an ex-EverQuest player, so Jean already had a bad impression of the genre. Besides, Jean was a beautiful, career-minded woman and had little time for orcs and fairies.
So Logan happily adventured in Azeroth alone until the day finally came when Jean tapped him on the shoulder and said, "show me." After the initial shock wore off, and several iterations of the phrase, "honey, this isn't Diablo III" were said aloud, Logan demoed the game for Jean. Surprisingly, Jean's interest was piqued, and she soon demanded to have her own character.
Now, if you're unfamiliar with this situation, here is how it works: you can have multiple characters on one account but you cannot play them simultaneously. So when Jean is playing her character, Logan cannot play his. As you can imagine, a conflict was introduced.
Days went by and the competition to see who could get to their computer first and log in was fierce. Both Logan and Jean wanted to play their respective characters a great deal, but more than anything else, they wanted to play together. Having a beta key to World of Warcraft at that time was a privilege, and asking for a second one was just plain greedy. But, as more days went on, Logan realized that he had two choices: procure a second beta key for his fiancée Jean or leave this woman and start dividing up all their worldly possessions.
Logan opted for the former, despite the overwhelming odds stacked against him. Emails were sent, calls were placed, favors were promised, but our hero was met with strong resistance from his gaming biz insiders. It wasn't long before all the avenues were exhausted and Logan began thinking to himself, "do I want to keep the TV or the couch?"
Then, like a bolt of lightning thrown down by God himself, an idea struck him. The problem was simple. Logan was a man. The plan was set in motion. Jean would put on a Blizzard T-shirt and little else. Photographs would be taken (nothing more revealing than Maxim). These photographs would accompany a plea for a WoW beta key. The plea would be sent through the back channels of the gaming biz, and hopefully land on the desk of someone who could make it happen.
