The Brit Josh Strife Hayes is considered a smart MMORPG expert on YouTube. He now speaks out about the Twitch guild “OnlyFangs” in WoW and why he doesn’t participate there. He also criticizes the Twitch streamers for playing the MMORPG World of Warcraft from Blizzard after everyone had expressed outrage towards Blizzard years ago and called for a boycott.
This is the situation: In WoW Classic, there is a “Hardcore mode”: If you die in WoW, your character is lost.
Under the leadership of US streamer Sodapoppin, around 150 Twitch streamers and creators have gathered on a Hardcore server and established a joint guild in WoW Classic: OnlyFangs.
This guild is a “content machine”: Through the interaction of players and the pressure that dying means the end of the character, much drama unfolds in the guild, increasing viewership and thereby boosting the careers of the streamers. Just this weekend, OnlyFangs was a major topic again because the guild leader, Tyler1 lost his character during a raid in Molten Core and subsequently left OnlyFangs.
One person who is indeed an expert in MMORPGs but has nothing to do with WoW is Josh Strife Hayes. He has been urged by his community to comment on or even join OnlyFangs. However, he is completely against it.
Hayes compares OnlyFangs to trash TV formats
What he says about OnlyFangs: Josh Strife Hayes described OnlyFangs as Jersey Shore for online people in the final stage
. The docu-soap “Jersey Shore” is roughly equivalent to our trash TV formats on RTL2 like “Love Island”.
Hayes explains that such drama as in OnlyFangs is stressful for the people who are actually involved and comes at the cost of their mental health – even if it is just acted out.
Everyone loves internet drama – so does he. But for one’s own health, it’s best to say: I simply don’t care.
Moreover, the mechanisms and dynamics of OnlyFangs are well known through corresponding formats in trash TV:
This is drama that arises at the expense of interpersonal relationships. Who could have seen this coming? Who could have guessed: When you put a bunch of people who are used to the limelight together in a guild, they compete for who gets the most attention. No one could have seen that coming!
Even though he is critical of it, Hayes hints that he knows what is happening in OnlyFangs. So he slyly asks: What do people expect from him? He has no mana to change anything in the situation.
This is a reference to Pirate Software, who fled from a fight, let members of his group die and claimed he had too little mana to intervene effectively in the battle.
Strife Hayes criticizes the mob mentality
towards Blizzard
What bothers him: Josh Strife Hayes is particularly annoyed that in October 2019 everyone expressed outrage towards Blizzard and swore to boycott Blizzard and never play a game from them again until “things get better.”
In reality, however, nothing has gotten better; instead, people have grown bored, turned to the next outrage topic, and started playing Blizzard games again. This culture on the internet annoys him.
He has now been asked to throw his principles overboard and join OnlyFangs, but he has no interest in WoW and is not part of this subculture.
Others may have had to turn away from Blizzard and WoW because of the outrage – he has never turned to the game or the company.
Hayes comments on the repeated calls to boycott Blizzard
What does he mean by the boycott of Blizzard? In October 2019, the so-called “Blitzchung affair” occurred: An e-sports pro from Hong Kong, Blitzchung, had called out as the winner of a tournament in Hearthstone during an official Blizzard stream: “Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our time.”
As a result, Blizzard’s Chinese partner, NetEase, revoked his prize money on behalf of Blizzard and banned him from Grandmaster tournaments for a year. Additionally, the contracts of the casters were terminated. They had hidden under their table during Blitzchung’s statement.
NetEase’s action on behalf of Blizzard sparked calls for a boycott against Blizzard in the West.
Even in later years, Blizzard has repeatedly come under criticism: Among other things due to the releases of Diablo Immortal and Warcraft 3 Reforged. During the sexual harassment allegations against Blizzard in 2021 there were again calls for boycotts.
Josh Strife Hayes says:
Back then, everyone was angry about how the company did this and that. And they will just boycott Blizzard until things change now. But then things didn’t change. The boycott simply bored people, and they started playing Blizzard games again.
He says: In such a “mob mentality,” it’s not about being for the right cause, but just about being part of the mob that is against the topic that everyone is currently against. When the current outrage topic changes, it suddenly becomes “weird” to still be against the old topic.
The MMORPG expert who doesn’t like the biggest MMORPG
What’s behind it: The interesting thing is:
- Even people who have nothing to do with MMORPGs, like Tyler1, play WoW through OnlyFangs and benefit immensely from it
- The top expert for MMORPGs consciously distances himself from Blizzard and WoW and has been doing so for a long time
It is certainly partly a decision based on principles because Josh Strife Hayes has a real problem with Blizzard, but it is probably also a strategic decision. By deliberately positioning himself against WoW, Hayes does not compete with the content creators who cover the dominant WoW, but goes his own way. He has been doing well with this in recent years.
Hayes repeatedly emphasizes that he could earn a lot of money by playing Blizzard games, but he refuses: MMORPG expert explains why he gives up a lot of money from Blizzard and does not promote WoW
