Shot on Location—in Azeroth

World of Warcraft is home to 9 million adventurers—and one film crew. A team of New York-based programmers, filmmakers and geeks has been shooting a feature-length movie entirely within the online game, a uniquely difficult location shoot. “The crew doesn't usually start running off after their mortal enemy and shooting fireballs when you're filming in Times Square,” said the producer.

Gamer-generated videos, or “machinima,” have been gracing YouTube with increasing frequency, the Washington Post says, but few so ambitious as the 2-hour MMOvie being released online this spring. It’s shot like a real movie: actors log in, take their marks, and perform for the recording software. But there are some differences. PAs, for example, don’t fetch coffee—they kill monsters wandering into the shot. (More World of Warcraft stories.)