The popular cartoon series “South Park” has produced countless iconic moments and characters. One of the most iconic characters is probably the stereotypical MMORPG nerd from the legendary WoW episode. Did you know that he is said to have been inspired by a real person?
What was that episode about? “Make Love, Not Warcraft” is the 6th episode of the 10th season of South Park. The episode premiered in the USA on October 4, 2006, with the German premiere following on March 28, 2007, on MTV.
In the episode Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny play World of Warcraft, but a griefer constantly kills their characters, preventing them from playing. The griefer bears the historic name Leeroy Jenkins and is depicted as an overweight middle-aged MMORPG nerd whose apparent purpose in life is to ruin the fun of others in WoW.
The episode is considered one of the funniest “South Park” episodes ever and holds the second-highest rating of all episodes on IMDb with a 9.5.
The depicted caricature of an MMORPG nerd became a meme. For many fans, the now-deceased cosplayer Jarod “NWBZPWNR” Nandin, who meticulously recreated the character, is perhaps the epitome of the “South Park Guy,” but in fact, the character is said to be based on a real person.
In the video, we reveal another secret to you: The origins of the iconic Murloc gargling:
A Blizzard employee is said to have been the inspiration
Who is the WoW nerd from South Park? The inspiration for the character is said to be the then-Blizzard employee Joeyray Hall. He worked there for 23 years on games such as Overwatch, Diablo, and of course World of Warcraft. Most recently, he was the Senior Project Manager for Cinematics.
The information about the identity of the WoW nerd was shared by his son, Jason Hall, in a stream two years ago. However, the revelation gained renewed attention through a clip shared on his TikTok account in November 2023. Hall Junior himself worked for Blizzard until 2016 and is now an indie developer. On Twitch, he talks about his experiences in the gaming industry.
Here you see the corresponding excerpt from the stream, including photos of the original WoW nerd.
The original WoW nerd probably knew nothing of his appearance
How did the appearance come about? For “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” the “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone worked closely with Blizzard Entertainment. In the commentary for the episode, they revealed how surprised they were by the company’s willingness to support them.
Thus, Blizzard provided their own character models, computers, and the alpha server of the expansion “The Burning Crusade” to create the in-game scenes for the episode. It is quite possible that those responsible also collaborated with Joeyray Hall.
As his son reveals on Twitch, Hall supposedly knew nothing about his appearance in advance. The creators only informed him of this “honor” after they had already included him in the episode. They were apparently concerned that he might react angrily, but Hall took it with humor, according to his son.
For his sportsmanship, Hall is said to have received the framed original script of the episode from the “South Park” creators and proudly hung it up in his apartment.
Visually, there is indeed an undeniable resemblance between Joeyray Hall and the MMORPG player – once you know it, the long ponytail of the “South Park” character is hard to miss.
A shot that shows Jason Hall in the clip also reveals how the character was originally supposed to look, side by side with the original. However, the “South Park” creators apparently thought that was not enough, as they exaggerated and made the character “gross,” according to Hall.
But not only the character was modeled after Hall; the background of the apartment he lived in at the time also seems to match – down to the lamp visible on the left in the picture.
WoW: The legendary “South Park” sword finally returns
What is the original WoW nerd doing today? Joeyray Hall left Blizzard and WoW in 2014 and now lives in England. He has been working for Jagex on the legendary MMORPG Runescape since 2020.
World of Warcraft has produced countless memes throughout its long history. You can learn more about another iconic figure here: A hunter became a legend in WoW because he taunted at the right moment – What happened to Usso and the top guild Paragon?
