A few days ago, I posted an article about a grammar error found in our Mafia Wars game (1).
Once again, a coward who loves to criticize but not sign their name felt compelled to tell me what I should and shouldn't write about on my blog. For the record, this is my blog and I can write about anything I want. I'm not forcing anybody to read it. If someone doesn't like my content, they can go elsewhere for all their Mafia Wars information. I have many great sites listed on the home page.
Dear Anonymous, yes this ordinary and unsophisticated bug is of interest to many people. Mistakes in computer games are like television and movie bloopers. An example of how things like this are of interest to people is the term Pwned. If you aren't familiar with this term, keep reading. According to the legend, whenever you get your ass kicked in the game Warcraft, you get a message that says "You Just Got Owned!". Due to the close proximity of the O and the P on a common computer keyboard, the O was accidentally replaced by the P and the message read "You Just Got Pwned!". Soon the phrase and word Pwned took off like wildfire. It's not only a common term used in computer and video game jargon but has crossed into sports and television game shows as well. Here are a few examples of things the word Pwned has had influence.
Mafia Wars
The Official Mafia Wars Blog posted an article that played on the word Pwned. They didn't get it quite right and it would have made more sense if they spelled it post-pwning rather than post-poning.
Baseball
Basketball
Soccer
Wrestling
Jeopardy
It would be kind of cool if they incorporated the word Pwned into our fight screen.
You get the idea. Just to annoy my reader who doesn't like me to point out Zynga spelling or grammar errors, here is one that might interest some people. The next time you get PWNED in a tournament fight (which should be the next time you fight in one!), check out why you lost. The sentence that I circled doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. If Zynga would like to pay me back, they are welcome to search my blog for spelling and grammar errors. They will find many. I would just laugh and fix them. I'm sure they feel the same way. Someday they may make a famous mistake and soon everybody will know about the game Mafia Wars!
| Article written by Jennifer Patterson, Creator of the MW Loot Lady Blog, The Mafia Wars Loot Lady Facebook Fan Page and Co-Host of The Informant Podcast. |
Keep it up ;) and spread the LOVE.
ReplyDelete+5
-Godspel
LOL way to stick it to um keep up the great work LOOTLADY FTW :p
ReplyDeleteYes we all love a blooper & one more reason to laugh at Zynga! They're a company making LOTS of money & I have seen some pretty lame mistakes come out of them! Like spelling receive, recIEve... ummm Zynga have you heard of spell check? lol!! Your blog is great & you don't get paid for it, anyone that doesn't like the info, should make their own blog & see how much work it is! There's certainly no one forcing them to read yours! We love ya Jenn, Kep up the great work!
ReplyDelete" According to the legend, whenever you get your ass kicked in the game World of Warcraft, you get a message that says "You Just Got Owned!". "
ReplyDeleteI played for almost 4 years and I don't recall this message in the game...
Either I was really good (unlikely) or it was just something you said to people.
From pwn, came pwned, or pwnt (past tense) and my favorite pwnerbladez. Other l337 (leet) speak included w00t, n00b, pron, FTW (from landon above). Check out the wikipedia article on "Leet" if you are still a lolnub at leet speak.
To the anonymous poster above who wants to criticize Zynga on spelling, in a post about grammar, you do not need to capitalize the K after a comma. Also, it's keep, not "Kep"
ReplyDeleteI leave you with my favorite grammar post closer:
"Your retarded!"
@James, the game was Warcraft which I assumed was World of Warcraft and it was a very long time ago. I guess I'll edit it to just Warcraft if that is in fact a different game.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous #2, I hate to point out that your closer of "Your retarded" also contains a grammar error. It should be "You're retarded" or "You are retarded".
I'd most likely be pwned in a fight against your stats. My personal att. and def. are pretty low. Though i thought your mafia strength would be higher. Have you not yet maxed the VHEL?
ReplyDeleteWoof
@ MW LootLady, Pwn has nothing to do with Warcraft, though it has circulated in it, as well as many other games. :) And as for anon#2's post, I think that the "Your" is purposefully misspelled there, I've seen T-shirts spelled the same way.
ReplyDeleteSeriously you want to criticize someone for a typo, when writing a comment in a blog? "Your retarded!" for sure & an a##hole. BIG difference in my small error vs Zyngas. Zynga is a COMPANY making millions of dollars, you would think they would have someone check for mistakes like that. Besides,I never claimed to be an English Professor with perfect grammar, but if I was running a company & something with that basic of a mistake was released to the public, there'd be heads rolling!
ReplyDelete@James, you seem to know a lot about where PWN doesn't come from but you have yet to tell me where the true origin of the word stemmed. I spent a lot of time researching it and the Warcraft explanation made the most sense. This is why I chose to say "According to the Legend" as I couldn't find a definitive answer. Many sites will argue with what you stated. Do a search and see for yourself. And bottom line, the point of this article wasn't to prove where PWN actually came from, it was to show what misspellings and grammar errors can lead to.
ReplyDelete@Woof, I haven't had time to farm or trade VHEL so my stats are pretty low. I guess I should start working on it :)
Please add me to your fb and mafia. I sent you a req.
ReplyDeleteI'll send you 50 arcs, thugs, amphibs, and db's to help you out.
Can't have the Loot Lady with insufficient (had to spell check that) loot.
woof