Potoooooooo
Contributor
http://theappendix.net/issues/2014/...ronesian-concept-became-a-video-game-mechanic
On January 17, 2007 the dimensional ship Exodar crash-landed on Azuremyst Isle, just off the northwest coast of Kalimdor. Amidst the suffering and wreckage, the survivors took stock of the new world they had found: a land which was, like them, part of the online video game World of Warcraft. They were draenei, an uncorrupted race of Eredar that had been added to the game as part of its Burning Crusade expansion pack. I decided to play one, mostly because I was getting tired of playing dwarves and elves. I named him Izzycohen and taught him how to make jewelry.
Two years later Izzycohen had become a mighty shaman, a healer who aided his allies in battle by casting healing rays of light that the guys I played online with called ‘Jesus Beams.’ The Naga Warlord Naj’entus kept killing us, however, and so I spent about two hours adjusting my armor to make my healing spell a tenth of a second faster (because, trust me, one tenth of a second is a long time in World of Warcraft). When I say ‘my armor,’ what I really mean is a spreadsheet I used to analyze every piece of armor my character wore. Each piece of gear—the helmet, the chest piece, the chainmail legs—altered my character’s powers. My goal was to increase the amount of ‘Haste’ he had without giving up too much mana.
Spellcasters rely on mana. In World of Warcraft, mana is a magical energy possessed by druids, mages, paladins, priests, shamans, and warlocks, which is measured in points. Different spells cost different amounts of points. Much of the game mechanic revolves around managing and using mana wisely: casting spells often enough to achieve your goal, but not so often that you run out of mana early. Characters that go ‘oom’ (‘out of mana’) can no longer help their friends, and are helpless if attacked. Characters can replenish their mana by eating mana strudel and mana biscuits. Mana oil can be applied to weapons to increase the rate that their bearers regenerate it. Mana looms are required to weave enchanted cloth. Magical beasts such as mana leeches and mana serpents roam the land, ready to prey on spellcasters.
4
But mana, unlike ‘draenei,’ is not something that the designers of WoW invented whole cloth. Like ‘tattoo,’ ‘taboo’ and ‘tiki,’ ‘mana’ is a word from the Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. In twenty-seven of these languages, the word mana means something like ‘supernatural power.’ Pacific Island cultures are the origin of the concept of mana, and yet more people in the world have learned about the concept from WoW or other fantasy games. At its height, there were more players of World of Warcraft than Pacific Islanders: there were ten million players worldwide in North America, Europe, Latin America, and China (among others). At this time there were only about 6.7 million people in the combined population of Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, New Zealand (including Pakeha, or white, Kiwis), and all the Pacific Islanders in the US. And Warcraft is really just the start. The concept is a staple of the global culture of fantasy novels and video games, many of which feature a blue bar of magical energy called ‘mana.’
5
But how did this happen? How did a concept from Pago Pago become part of global gaming culture? How did an Austronesian spiritual force come on board the Exodar, and become part of the life of my draenei shaman? To answer this question we have to return to the Pacific, and to the Austronesians themselves.
On January 17, 2007 the dimensional ship Exodar crash-landed on Azuremyst Isle, just off the northwest coast of Kalimdor. Amidst the suffering and wreckage, the survivors took stock of the new world they had found: a land which was, like them, part of the online video game World of Warcraft. They were draenei, an uncorrupted race of Eredar that had been added to the game as part of its Burning Crusade expansion pack. I decided to play one, mostly because I was getting tired of playing dwarves and elves. I named him Izzycohen and taught him how to make jewelry.
Two years later Izzycohen had become a mighty shaman, a healer who aided his allies in battle by casting healing rays of light that the guys I played online with called ‘Jesus Beams.’ The Naga Warlord Naj’entus kept killing us, however, and so I spent about two hours adjusting my armor to make my healing spell a tenth of a second faster (because, trust me, one tenth of a second is a long time in World of Warcraft). When I say ‘my armor,’ what I really mean is a spreadsheet I used to analyze every piece of armor my character wore. Each piece of gear—the helmet, the chest piece, the chainmail legs—altered my character’s powers. My goal was to increase the amount of ‘Haste’ he had without giving up too much mana.
Spellcasters rely on mana. In World of Warcraft, mana is a magical energy possessed by druids, mages, paladins, priests, shamans, and warlocks, which is measured in points. Different spells cost different amounts of points. Much of the game mechanic revolves around managing and using mana wisely: casting spells often enough to achieve your goal, but not so often that you run out of mana early. Characters that go ‘oom’ (‘out of mana’) can no longer help their friends, and are helpless if attacked. Characters can replenish their mana by eating mana strudel and mana biscuits. Mana oil can be applied to weapons to increase the rate that their bearers regenerate it. Mana looms are required to weave enchanted cloth. Magical beasts such as mana leeches and mana serpents roam the land, ready to prey on spellcasters.
4
But mana, unlike ‘draenei,’ is not something that the designers of WoW invented whole cloth. Like ‘tattoo,’ ‘taboo’ and ‘tiki,’ ‘mana’ is a word from the Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. In twenty-seven of these languages, the word mana means something like ‘supernatural power.’ Pacific Island cultures are the origin of the concept of mana, and yet more people in the world have learned about the concept from WoW or other fantasy games. At its height, there were more players of World of Warcraft than Pacific Islanders: there were ten million players worldwide in North America, Europe, Latin America, and China (among others). At this time there were only about 6.7 million people in the combined population of Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, New Zealand (including Pakeha, or white, Kiwis), and all the Pacific Islanders in the US. And Warcraft is really just the start. The concept is a staple of the global culture of fantasy novels and video games, many of which feature a blue bar of magical energy called ‘mana.’
5
But how did this happen? How did a concept from Pago Pago become part of global gaming culture? How did an Austronesian spiritual force come on board the Exodar, and become part of the life of my draenei shaman? To answer this question we have to return to the Pacific, and to the Austronesians themselves.
