Wharton professor Kevin Werbach has been appointed as a member of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team. Werbach's job will be to advise the new Administration on Internet and telecommunication issues as they take over from the Bush Administration. The reason I'm posting this here? He's a World of Warcraft player.

In many cases, that's not necessarily saying much. But Livejournaler Waltermonkey has done some digging.

So how far has [Werbach] gotten? Well, he's definitely not "hardcore". A hardcore raider would have beaten the game, which means defeating the demon Kil'jaeden, and no one in his guild has even set foot in the final raid "dungeon" where old Killy J lives. Nor have they beaten Lady Vashj, three raids before that - they haven't even beaten Zul'jin, which is only a 10-man job! I'VE done that! (Granted, that was after the 30% Hit Point reduction dropped a few weeks ago.)

However, [the members of Werbach's guild] are no slackers - they're ranked #36 on their realm - and neither is Werbach. He's got the head, chest, gloves and belt from Karazhan (the entry-level 10-man raid), the shoulders and trinket from Gruul's (the entry-level 25-man raid), and the dagger and shield from player-vs.-player battlegrounds. There's also a good mix of badge gear in there. What all that means is that he has indeed spent dozens and dozens of hours in each of these different environments - you always have to run a place quite a few times before YOUR gear drops.

Mr. Monkey notes, however, that Werback's commitment to WoW seems to have fallen by the wayside. The transition team appointee hasn't been playing the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

Thanks Boing Boing!