Robin Williams to Be Honoured As A Character In 'World Of Warcraft: Warlords Of Draenor'

Hollywood's famous actor Robin Williams, who died on 11 August due to asphyxia, will be immortalized in the virtual world of Azeroth.

Thousands of fans have petitioned two of the largest and famous gaming companies in the world to honour the late actor Robin Williams.

Williams was such a great fan of the "Legend of Zelda" that he named his daughter after the character Zelda. A petition, with the signature of a 100,000 gamers, was presented to Nintendo to include the legendary comedian in the new "Zelda" game." Nintendo issued a statement that it had received such a petition and will be considering it, but the company did not make any promises.

However, fans were able to convince Blizzard Entertainment to memorialize Williams in the hugely popular role-playing online game "World of Warcarft," which is played all over the world by 6.8 million people. A petition, signed by 10,000 fans, requested the developers to include Wiliams' name or character in the game, also reminding Blizzard that the actor was a devoted player and had many gamer fans. Immediately on Thursday, Blizzard Entertainment responded positively to the petition and promised a "World of Warcraft" tribute for Williams.

"We haven't decided, but it will most likely be a character inspired by him or some of his favourite roles of the past," said lead game designer Ion Hazzikostas on Thursday, during the unveiling of the game's fifth expansion, "World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor," in an event held in downtown LA.

Since its launch in 2004, "Warcraft" designers have commemorated players who have passed away. Tributes have been dedicated to these people in the virtual game with virtual monuments, non-playable characters and other kinds of tributes.

"All of us are massive Robin Williams fans," said Hazzikostas. "We love and appreciate his work. We grew up watching his movies and stand-up. We knew he was an avid 'WoW' player, which was awesome. We have a number of pop culture references and things that reflect great figures of our time here and there. We're just thinking about the appropriate and right way to do it."

"World of Warcraft" will celebrate its tenth anniversary in December this year. The fifth edition of the immensely popular game will take place in the home land of Azeroth's orcs. The new game will also feature several new additions, including the ability to build a personal garrison and invade new dungeons.

"World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor" will be released on November 13.