SKIRMISHER

Ezra Chatterton, 10, has a brain tumor and the diagnosis isn’t good. And when the Make-A-Wish foundation of America somehow hooked up with him two weeks ago, all Ezra wanted was simple: visit Blizzard, dip his hands into World of Warcraft, and enjoy some in-game clout.

On Friday, father and son arrived at Blizzard’s Irvine headquarters in a black limo to tour one of the world’s most successful game companies.

Chatterton was whisked immediately to Kaplan’s office to create weapons and characters for the game. Later he would head to the recording studio to do a voice for the new character and meet with an artist to get the character’s look just right. Throughout the day, he got to design a new weapon, add his dog Kyle to the game, create a quest and record his voice for the new character, Ahab Wheathoof, the Old Rancher.

“We definitely want a crossbow,” Chatterton instructed Kaplan. He offered a detailed description of what he wanted: dangerous flames, curved frame and an ability to wreak havoc.

“I want it to shoot a fiery arrow at 300 damage over 10 seconds,” he said.

With a few clicks of his mouse, Kaplan constructed a prototype.

Chatterton’s creations will be added in the game in the next four weeks: the rare, flame-shooting crossbow, a quest from a graying Tauren named Ahab Wheathoof and his frenzied dog, Kyle. And since we’re on the topic of granting the wishes of unfortunately sick people, we’re just wondering: might a dead, stinking toenail qualify us to get the same nice thing from Blizzard? Aw, come on.

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