WoW Guild Leader Snags Epic Oscar

There were quite a few golden statuettes handed out at Sunday night's Academy Awards, and at least one of them went to a gamer - specifically, a hardcore World of Warcraft guild leader, no less.

Steven Preeg is a visual effects artist who has worked on prestigious films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and not-so-prestigious films like the Will Smith re-imagining of I, Robot. Sunday night, Preeg and his team took home the coveted Oscar statuette for their visual effects work on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - quite an honor.

Preeg, however, is no stranger to phat lewt. In our mundane world of mere flesh, he might be an award-winning visual effects artist ... in Azeroth, though, Steven Preeg is a level 80 Combat Rogue with maxed-out Enchanting and Inscription - and a successful guild leader to boot. Preeg and his guildmates have cleared almost all the content available in Wrath of the Lich King thus far: All that remains for them is to tackle the wicked black dragon Sartharion while leaving all three of his bodyguards alive (aka Sarth 3D for those of you familiar with the lingo).

Unfortunately there's no "Honored by the Academy" in-game title yet. Preeg will just have to live with his "Champion of the Frozen Wastes" for now.

Who says that WoW players never accomplish anything?

(WoW Insider, Via MTV Multiplayer)