Warcraft fans' fury over server closure

A petition to allow gamers to run their own servers for the original World of Warcraft (WoW) game has attracted almost 100,000 signatures online. Games studio Blizzard Entertainment no longer operates servers for the original WoW, which was first released in 2004, so some fans run their own. On 10 April, a popular fan server known as Nostalrius, with 150,000 active members, was closed after the threat of legal action by Blizzard Entertainment. World of Warcraft is an online multi-player game in which players explore a vast landscape, complete quests and interact with other gamers. The original game from 2004 has since been updated with new instalments that some players say have materially changed the experience of the game, so some fans have set up their own servers to play the original, "vanilla" WoW.