Women still have a hard time in World of Warcraft. If they stand by their gender, they often face immediate backlash – or disgusting remarks.
In World of Warcraft, you can be whoever you want. Orc, Human, Elf – and you can also choose your gender. However, while many men tend to play female characters, there are still some guys who apparently see gaming as their “territory” – and as soon as it becomes clear that a woman is playing in the group, absurd consequences follow.
What happened? A post in the WoW subreddit shows a case that received a lot of attention. The Dracthyr player Emi is immediately kicked from her group. Why? Because she accidentally admitted to being a woman.
How did the conversation go? After Emi simply introduced herself with a “Hi” upon joining the group, the mage started:
“It’s weird when you see someone in-game with your mother’s name.”
The demon hunter quickly added: “That’s also the name of a slut. So that’s probably the reason [for the character’s name].”
Clearly unimpressed, Emi replied: “That’s my real name, but thanks.”
The demon hunter responded: “Wtf are you a woman?”
Before Emi could even say anything and only the mage wrote something else, the demon hunter continued: “Sorry, we don’t play with those.”
This was followed by an immediate kick from the group.
This is just one post among many in the World of Warcraft subreddit that illustrate how some women are treated by their fellow players in Blizzard’s MMORPG as soon as it becomes clear they are female.
Many women share their stories, almost all are disgusting
The post received a lot of support. More than 4,700 upvotes, over 90% approval, and plenty of comments recounting similar experiences or expressing shame for their male counterparts. The fact that women still tend to hide their true gender is evident from the accounts they share in the Reddit post:
“As a woman, I always try my best to keep anyone outside the guild from knowing that I am a woman. Most of the time it goes quite okay, but sometimes it’s either this or perverse remarks.” – QueenDramatica
“When I was in Ventrilo for the first time as a 17-year-old girl for a raid, the guild officer, somewhere between 30 and 40, asked me if I would give him a lap dance as part of my ‘initiation.’ He was married and his wife was raiding with us, heard it, and said nothing. Even if that was some sort of insider joke… disgusting.” – flowermilktea
Such experiences happen more frequently. Many examples are mentioned, some of which become even more explicit and reprehensible:
“I still remember my first guild in 2016, when they found out I was a girl (I stupidly joined their Discord for M+ and dared to speak in my real voice), they freaked out. I said ‘Don’t get too excited, I’m just 16’ and one of them said: ‘That just makes me more excited.’ I left the guild after the run and since then I don’t tell anyone in the game that I am female.” – rinbee
“When I started playing in 2005, my mother had already warned me to better hide that I am female, because I was a child and neckbeards aren’t exactly great people.
Then one of my guildmates found out that I was a 15-year-old girl, got the email address of my guild leader who organized the calendar, and then sent me pictures of his penis.”
Have you had similar experiences in World of Warcraft or other MMORPGs?
Sexism has also been a topic at Blizzard itself in recent years. A payment of 54 million dollars is supposed to settle the dispute now.
