BlizzCon,BlizzCon,BlizzCon!That is pretty much what August was all about -- well,that and patch 3.2.Because this month was mostly crammed full of pure,unadulterated news about the upcoming convention and Cataclysm,there were not quite as many one-off features this time around.

All the Worlds a Stage:Reflections on the passing of a roleplayers mom:This is not a very easy article to summarize.All I can say is -- please read it.One of David Bowers most elegant and introspective pieces:WoW is not an escape from life,it is a reflection of it.

Patch 3.2 Guide and content for the day: Patch 3.2 went live on August 4th and was (oddly enough) one of the top stories for the year.In hindsight,it probably was not that surprising -- it had been a while since Ulduar had gone live,and the Argent Tournament patch heralded the introduction of a slew of new pets,mounts,titles,and new druid forms.Huzzah!

Playing WoW for charity: Interview with the WoWathon team: Three college students managed to raise $5,000 for Childs Play with a marathon WoW session coupled with dramatic readings of bad fanfiction.

Researchers study WoW to see how gangs form and fade:A UC-Irvine team has been studying guild and group formation ingame for data on group ecology.As Schramm observed, Listen,guys,all you have to do to break up gangs is ensure there is not enough loot to go around.