By day, Scott Hamshere, 24, is a la-bourer from Bromley. By night, he transforms himself into a night elf warrior, journeying the lands of Azeroth, battling demons and completing quests in the World of Warcraft.

He should have been the first person in Britain to get a copy of the latest instalment of Warcraft, the world’s most popular online computer game. He had queued for over 40 hours outside HMV in Oxford Street for the honour. But as the barriers were lifted at midnight on Wednesday it was all too much, and the night elf warrior collapsed from exhaustion.

“I think the tiredness and hunger, anticipation and adrenalin all got the better of me,” he said yesterday. “Braving the cold for that many hours has an effect on your body. It was a bit of a silly thing to do.”

Scott’s level of dedication for the game was easily understood by the thousand or so people who had joined the queue behind him. They are among the 11 million people who play the online game, paying a monthly subscription of about £9.

To the passer-by, this crowd of eager gamers in Oxford Street may have looked human. In their own minds, however, they were a mob of mythical heroes, among them dwarfs, blood elfs and orcs.

For these gamers, the doors to the record store had become the gates to Northrend, the new continent that Warcraft players will be able to explore in the expanded game. The fans were an invading army and after they had counted down the final seconds before the tills opened, they let out an almighty roar.

As the excitement peaked at the front of the line, Chris Hughes, 40, an IT worker, joined the back of the queue, where the mood was more sombre.

“I think we underestimated how many people would be here,” he said. “We can always go to Tesco tomorrow and get a copy if they run out.”

The latest expansion of the game, Wrath of the Lich King, is one of the most eagerly anticipated computer game releases in a month full of new blockbuster games. Last weekend Gears of War 2, on the Microsoft Xbox 360 console, sold over two million copies in the days after its release. For the launch of Lich King, 15,000 stores around the world were opening at midnight to satisfy demand.

Players ofWarcraftspend hours going on quests and doing battle with one another, building up their character – “levelling up” in the game’s jargon – to gain the powers and abilities of a small god.

Far from the stereotypical image of the sad teenager playing the game alone, however, the vast majority of the crowd in Central London had turned up with the friends or family with whom they compete.

Emma Hintze, 21, had travelled with her boyfriend from Canterbury to join the queue. “Playing Warcraft is like watching a really great film,” she said. “But you’re immersed in it, and changing it constantly.”

She admitted that she had no hope of getting back home in the early hours to play the game, and would have to wait until the trains started running again in the morning.

“I knew I wouldn’t get to play tonight, but I just wanted to be here with other people who were also into it. It’s a social game, and this is a social experience.”

The game’s success is thanks to a dedicated audience who can’t get enough of the ever-evolving virtual world that Blizzard, the game-makers, have created. “The content we have with Lich King is the best we’ve ever created,” said Paul Sams, a Blizzard executive.

Mr Sams was treated more like a celebrity than a board member of a multimillion-dollar company, with fans lining up for hours to get his signature. “Events like these are humbling,” he said. “We’re just as excited about playing the game as them.”

As for Mr Hamshere, Blizzard gave him a collector’s edition free after hearing of his collapse. He said he would put off playing it for a day because he needed time to recover.