Leeroy Jenkins - by Lars Blakstvedt

Leeroy Jenkins meme

by Lars Christensen Blakstvedt

Leeroy Jenkins is a video from the MMORPG World of Warcraft(WoW), where a character named Leeroy Jenkins is away form his keyboard(AFK) because he is warming up a plate of chicken. He then comes back, and without warning runs into a group of enemies while screaming his characters name and ruins his allies carefully laid plans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU

I think some of the reasons this video became so popular is that WoW was and still is a very popular online game, and that people find it amusing how a game can bring out emotions in the people involved. There was an explosion of new videos of people reacting emotionally from  events in WoW after the Leeroy Jenkins video became popular. So I guess its more entertaining to hear or see human reactions from factors in a online game than a video from the game itself.

Examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PmyYZqoGIw (guy freaks out after account is deleted) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GJ7eueZ1wY (red shirt guy)

The character Leeroy Jenkins is played by Ben Schulz, who’s become well known in the World of Warcraft community.

There has been questions if the Leeroy Jenkins video is staged, Ben Schulz answered following: I like people to decide for themselves, it is more fun that way”.

The video was first uploaded to Warcraft Movies on May 11, 2005 by the guild PalsForLife. The guild posted the video and asked for constructive criticism on their tactics. The first YouTube video was uploaded on November 19, 2005. The most viewed youtube video has now over       29 000 000 views. The name Leeroy Jenkins has even been used in a Jeopardy question.