Social Site for World of Warcraft (L33tLink.com)

As promised, I'd like to introduce you to a "new" website that I found using Twitter. The site is L33tLink.com. To quote their website, "L33TLINK.com is a start-up company based in Montreal, founded by a guild of MMORPG gamers that wanted to have an easy way to organize and stay in-touch."

 

I know what you're thinking; "MMORPG gamers that want to stay in-touch in RL? No way!" I have one thing to say to that: WAY. I looked at their site, signed up, and I was hooked. I asked the folks there at L33tLink if I could blog about their site and they graciously agreed. I hope I do them right.

 

So what is L33tLink really? It's like FaceBook for gamers. That's the best way I can describe it. Once you sign up for your account, you start importing your toons into L33tLink. That's when the fun begins. You are automagically included in groups for your realm (server), your battlegroup, and your guild if you're in one. If you're the Guild Master you become the admin for your guild group on the site. Cool. I found one problem with importing my toons into the site, but I'm guessing most people won't have this problem (unless you're in my guild). Most of us are altaholics, so we have many toons in the guild. In fact, I have 10 (the max) toons on Rexxar, all in my guild (Lolli Pop). I had to keep bouncing back and forth between L33tLink and the Armory to get my toons in. But like I said, you probably won't have this problem unless you're like me.

[<stand at podium> "Hi, I'm Phil, and I'm an Altaholic" <crowd> "Hi, Phil!"]

So, what I really wanted to do was more than just a review of the site, but also to tie in some of the geekiness that is me with the actual planning and development of the site. I sent the team at L33tLink 10 questions to answer for me, and they did just that. I also had a "secret shopper" join the site (thanks Erin!) and send me some thoughts. First the geekiness.

 

Every great venture has an evil genius behind it. L33tLink's evil geniuses are Jordan Greenberg and David Heuff. They saw a problem and tried to fix it in a unique way. They wanted to be able to interact with their WoW friends even when they weren't playing. Odd, I know. Why would you want to not be playing WoW? Anyway, their guild Echoes is testing the site and providing lots of feedback. What I find interesting is the fact that most of the guild is geographically situated around Montreal, but there are a few stragglers in Arizona. I guess they couldn't handle the cold. Anyway, they started the site with the guild and a few developers. And it's moving forward in a big way.

 

I found L33tLink on Twitter like I said before. L33tLink now has over 250 followers on Twitter, and that's without advertising. There'll be more.

 

The guildies all play (of course) and five of them already have level 80's (a feat I have not yet achieved because I got side-tracked into playing my new Death Knight, at least that's my excuse). I'm not alone in being an altaholic, Echoes has one of their very own with 30 alts. I think that even beats me.

 

I asked Jordan how the development schedule was holding up, and I got the answer any good program manager would give: we were behind schedule, but we're all caught up now! ;-) Within the next few weeks they should be sending out an official press release announcing the launch of the BETA. They are also planning to release a WoW-themed video filmed a few months ago. Jordan says "the video does a great job of bridging the gap between the game and real life, which ultimately is the true purpose of the site". I'm looking forward to seeing it and hope it gets pushed on WoW Insider and other blogs bigger than mine.

 

I can't say enough about this being a cool site. This is a cool site! Right now, they're focusing specifically on World of Warcraft, but if any other MMOs get even close to being as big (<cough, cough> Warhammer Online <cough, cough>) they have plans to expand and support them, too.

 

So, what's the "Out of Box Experience" like on L33tLink? I had a secret shopper set up an account and let me know what she thought. One word of warning, she's an altaholic like her dad (yeah, that's what I said. I play WoW with my kids. Get over it. They're adults.).

 

Quote with editorial changes and comments:

I started the process of signing up at 10:12. It's 10:23 and I've registered all my Rexxar characters up on the site. The interface is really cute, nice color scheme and the layout is nice, too. I like it, but definitely have all your characters names written down before you start though. I can't remember my Ysera characters' names, so I can't get them on there. I think it's pretty cool that you can see the armor that I have equipped, and what I have used my talent points for (she's never used the Armory before). It's really easy to find people, especially if they are in your guild! I found you in like 2 seconds, all I did was look at my groups. There you were in Lolli Pop. It really seems like it's a MySpace for WoW.

 

Well, there you have it. I highly recommend signing up for an account on L33tLink. It's a great site, great way of organizing the information and keeping in touch with folks in RL. And you can organize your raiding schedule on the site, keep track of folks (I haven't seen Killer in a while, I wonder where he's at?).

 

Great site, two thumbs up, and 5 stars! Great job Echoes, keep it up!