I'm pretty sure most of you, especially those that simply can't let even a day go by without completing some quest or taking part in a raid within Blizzard's famous MMORPG game, “World of Warcraft,” have heard about those famed cases of people actually dying of exhaustion after playing for way too much time. In fact, for some people, WoW has become more than just a computer game, it's some sort of addiction, a place where they can disconnect from the troubles of real life and get immersed in a whole new, manufactured reality.

However, in order to stay alive, people must return to their basic needs, especially that of feeding. For this reason, some architectural artists (Cati Vaucelle & Shada/Jahn) have created the WoW Pod, a living cubicle designed specifically for WoW gamers.

According to MIT (which has even partially funded this project), “The WOW Pod is an immersive architectural solution for the advanced WOW (World of Warcraft) player that provides and anticipates all life needs. Inside, the gamer finds him/herself comfortable seated in front of the computer screen with easy-to-reach water, pre-packaged food, and a toilet conveniently placed underneath his/her custom-built throne.”

The WOW Pod is also constantly connected to Blizzard's servers, even announcing the other gamers when the respective person is taking a brief moment away from the game in order to eat. Plus, apparently, the game can be set as to react to the specific food the user has eaten, which reflects into the character's behavior.

Moreover, the whole architecture of the WOW POD has been specifically designed as to resemble closely the style of the buildings from WOW, including here the more or less pixilated look of the buildings.

Fortunately, at least for the time being, this is only an art project, which was exhibited at the Mixer event in New York, March 6-7, and will continue to be showcased in the MIT Museum from March until September 2009. However, given the features this thing provides, I wouldn't be surprised to see it being produced on mass scale at some point in the future.


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