DEEP BLUE SEA OF WARCRAFT 3

Yesterday I've got an email from Uwe Martini in which he described Random Team evolution and Warcraft 3 genesis. Amazing theory but above everything, great read. I've put some images to make it look more like a Charles Darwin book because it surely leaves that impression after you read it.

Hi Dinker,

recently I have been playing a lot of Random Team for my personal amusement. Always taking a close look on my allies and opponents, I found astonishing results I did not want to hold back from you:

The Beauty of Life itself

The story of life on Earth has always been and will always be a story of evolution - of survival of the fittest, of eat or being eaten.

Even today this story can still be witnessed. Watch Random Team for example. And what fun Darwin would have had watching it. This circus of extraordinary individuals shows all the beauty of life itself. Looking closely one can easily find all kinds of colors and shades of the evolutionary picture.

Let me go into detail. There are salmons, piranhas and whales, one can see sheep and wolves, can spot meerkats, hyenas and elephants in the distance. Every single one of them is a part in this interplay of species. And there is the great king of the circus animal's kingdom - the mighty lion (long may he reign). 

Salmons, for example, always think they're swimming against the tide. And in fact they are. Morals and ethics of the societal stream float past them. Always thinking to rush in a different direction than everybody else, they try to lower their standards of appropriate behavior constantly. By doing so they never really realize that right and left of their fins other members of their species are doing the very same. You can easily recognize them by paying attention to their communication. Calling their team mates lambs, unhatched birds, insects or plankton while waiting to become the next snack for a bear themselves reveals their true inner selves.

Piranhas on the other hand will always try to take a bite out of you. Once they realize you are not one of their kind they do not even hesitate a second before taking a bite out of you even if you're in their team.

But in the deep blue sea of Warcraft 3 Random team there is another, pretty calm fellow. It's the whale passing by. He's basically seen and been everything and everywhere. He restricts oneself to eat plankton while quavering calming whale songs to other members of his species. He's not a real threat to anyone, yet you can be sure he'll never easily give up. If you want to find him, you have to be lucky. Mostly playing 3on3 RT, having over 3000 games on his record while still being close to the 50% winning percentage mark you can only spot him right before it's too late for you. That's due to the MMS. One will only meet him while being plankton himself.

The biggest part of the Random Team circus is filled with sheep. Always following a ram while staying in a group with other sheep makes them an easy target for predators. Nervously running around in the circus ring it's only a matter of time until one of them gets eaten by a wolf. Since most the sheep suffer from foot-and-mouth disease, the major part of them think they're wolves themselves. Funny, isn't it? They will call other sheep little lambs while not being fully grown themselves. Their bleating is mostly either stopped by a real predator or their ram. Grouping themselves in so called Clans it's the leader that tells them to shut up. And they do follow. Each and every time. If they're excluded from their sheep flock they can not survive on their own and start searching for a new ram to lead them right away.

Wolves are very rare to find. Sometimes disguising themselves as sheep they're striking at a certain point, taking out as many sheep as they can, satisfying their thirst for blood. Once the ram realizes what happened to his flock, he will be taken out as well. The wolf is a smart predator. Most of the time he's not hunting alone, playing Random Team only if he feels like eating. Having a winning percentage of around 80% and higher finding an appropriate meal becomes quite tough for him. In battle.net there are only three Clans of wolves. Blizzard just recently declared them as an endangered species in Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos.

Targets of mean laughter and often looked upon with a grin are meerkats. They do not really want to hurt anybody and live from eating small insects and unhatched birds. One of them is always looking out to warn others. In Random Team you can recognize them through the amount of signals they are using. Blinking everywhere and going on everybody's nerves they are often slapped by a peace-loving whale playing in the same 3on3 Random Team.

The ones laughing most about meerkats are hyenas. Hyenas live from dead meat produced by wolves and other predators. If you want to fight them in an 1on1 they will chicken out while naming you lamb and other mean words. They have a pretty strong bite but as they are not very fast due to their deformed legs you can either easily outrun them, or, if you are a predator, take them out. If you want them quiet, you will have to ignore or kill them. Do not even try to argue with those guys as their grinning lips will always laugh at you, no matter what you say or how strong you hit them.

The biggest animal to walk into the circus ring is the elephant. He has been there from the very start and kids just love him. Due to his size he is the easiest to spot. You can even recognize his entry in the manège with closed eyes as the kids will clap their hands wild and uncontrollably anytime he enters. He's not very dangerous. Not hunting anybody he's an object of admiration only. He does not really contribute a lot to the community but mostly just stands around and suns itself in the pride of past days. The elephants are an endangered species and will have died out soon. Poor elephants.

The most astonishing animal in the Random Team circus is the lion. As the circus is not very big, there can only be one of their kind in the manège at once. Their dreadful roaring makes everybody staring with a glance of fear in their eyes at him. He is the unrivaled king and any challenger will be ripped into pieces by his strong claws. Even thinking of him makes everybody see his life rushing by before his inner eye. The lion hasn't been seen in a long time, some even say he's been dead for years.

In my humble opinion that is nonsense. Latest researches have found lions in every single Random Team match played. 

The survey looked like this:

1. What animal do you think you play with?

2. In your opinion, what animals play in the other team?

3. Your ally is playing with an animal of following species:

 Thanks to Uwe for this nice article.