“Anyone that has seen ‘Lord of the Rings’ is into Whorelore,” Whorelore creator Dez told XBIZ. “It’s the same as if you’ve seen ‘Troy’ or ‘300’ — it’s on the same level as that. It’s really based on fantasy. People have done medieval porn and stuff like that, but they don’t do magic or a really in-depth storyline.”
Dez, who performed in more than 600 adult titles before stepping behind the camera, created the hardcore fantasy world along with his partner, graphic designer Staci (aka Alaura Eden).
The episodic content produced by their company, Top of the Food Chain, Inc., is plot-driven with high production values, low-end special effects and choreographed fight sequences.
Recurring characters are played by seasoned adult performers like Monica Mayhem and Shyla Stylez. Other performers in the series include Jessica Jaymes, Naudia Nice, Mindy Lee, Phyllisa Anne, Taylor Rain, August, Brittney Skye, Bianca Dagger, Ava and Mia Rose, as well as Nick Manning, Steven St. Croix, Barrett Blade and Christian, among others.
Authentic costuming includes everything from pointy ears on elven priestesses to real armor and weaponry, as well as making sure that no one is wearing tube socks or modern underwear. Lots of exterior scenes are shot in the local foothills and various locations, to give it that real Middle Earth feel.
Currently, there are eight episodes from the Whorelore series available on the website. According to Dez, the first six segments will eventually be offered on DVD, as the first “season” of the hardcore saga. Ultimately, he plans on 12 episodes to complete the original storyline, but anticipates that other content will follow.
Customers can download-to-burn each half-hour episode, and there are also photosets from each episode available.
“Everybody that buys one episode buys all of them, so they may just buy episode three, and then all of a sudden, you’ll see them buy episodes 1-7,” Dez said. “So generally, the people are just drawn to them.”
Launched in 2006, the site was originally called Whores of WarCraft, and then just Whorecraft, but had to change its name a third time after being warned off by massive multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft and its parent company Blizzard Entertainment.
However, Dez recognizes that he has a built-in demographic with online gamers and fantasy role-playing enthusiasts. Whorelore has been featured in several mainstream magazines, including gaming publications Online Gaming Monthly and PC Gamer. This year, he said, he may also promote Whorelore at the annual International Comic-Con event held in San Diego, which is the largest fantasy/gaming/comic book fan show in the world.
While Whorelore’s appeal to the more than 10 million World of Warcraft players is obvious, the content is also attractive to tech-savvy infringers that steal the site’s material at an alarming rate.
“The only thing that’s killing us is the bit torrent stuff,” Dez explained. “It’s very individualized stuff, so when they come to the site, then they go to the bit torrent sites. They type in ‘Whorelore,’ and boom. I think we’ve had like 500,000 downloads that we’ve seen from all the bit torrent sites.”
Like most small producers, Dez does not have the resources to combat the armada of copyright infringers. Instead, he watermarks all of his product and tries to look at the file sharing as a form of advertising.
“Until the government or someone else does something about it, it’s really hard to defend against something like that,” Dez said, resignedly. “But on the Internet these days, we’ve tried DRM and all that, and it just doesn’t work. Anything that they can see, they can steal. So, I just give them the download anyway, and they can burn it on their computer or do whatever they want. We watermark everything, so if they are stealing it, they still see the name and that’s what you deal with.”