Every year, Blizzard holds a contest to see who can dance the most like one of the World of Warcraft races. This year's Undead male dancer learned that real life bones aren't quite as sturdy as video game bones.
Last night's dance contest was full of impressive performances, some of which we'll be showcasing later in the day, but none had the passion of the Undead male dancer. The Undead male dance is a mad metal thrashing, with tons of vigorous jumping and a little head banging thrown in for good measure.
We were sitting in the third row, but the third row of the press section at BlizzCon means you're facing the wall of guys standing directly in front of the stage. Luckily Blizzard's live feed was there, capturing all of the bone-crunching action.
The dance started well enough, and the crowd was going wild (it was a very Horde crowd - it always is). A few minutes into the dance the performer fell on his ass, and we laughed, blaming over exuberance.
A few seconds later he fell and didn't get up.
Host Jay Mohr took things in stride, trying to help the contestant up, to no avail. Soon the Blizzard support staff rushed out onto the stage, carrying the injured performer out of harm's way.
From where we were sitting there was no loud crack, and the dancer didn't make a sound; he just went down and stayed down.
About 10 minutes later paramedics stormed the front row to reach the injured dancer. One of those guys crowding the front of the stage with his camera was pushed away with a rough hand to the face by one of the emergency workers. That made me smile, just a little.
Remember kids, World of Warcraft dancing is a serious business, and if you're not prepared to sacrifice yourself for your art, then you should just hang up your dancing shoes.
We wish the injured Undead male a speedy recovery.