The concerns of WoW players are coming true. Blizzard is turning women into men – but maybe that’s actually better now?
Since the sexism and discrimination scandal at Blizzard has come to the forefront, several changes are in store for World of Warcraft. In the latest version of the PTR of Patch 9.1.5, the upcoming update, dataminers from wowhead have noticed new changes. Blizzard is simply turning some women into men.
What was found? In the original Karazhan raid, there is a somewhat special wing of Medivh’s home. In “The Guest Rooms”, where the boss “The Virtuous Maid” resides, players have always been able to find a number of rather unusual enemies. Lightly dressed ladies who were apparently there to entertain the other guests and earn a few coins.
Blizzard has now made changes here. Some of the women have been replaced by men and therefore now also have male names.
What kind of NPCs are they? They are mobs like the “Wanton Hostess”, “Night Mistress” and “Concubine”.
The NPCs in the corresponding wing of Karazhan are relatively obviously prostitutes – or at least they were during their lifetimes. Because now they are just the ghosts of the past. This is not only evident from their names, such as “Night Mistress” or “Wanton Hostess”, but also from the sentences they sometimes utter. They have clear double entendres that allude to sexual actions, such as:
- “Just five seconds! I’m serious!”
- “And then he asked if the gnome could join – can you imagine that? Honestly, it wasn’t that bad …”
- “So I said: ‘Yes, but that will cost you extra.'”
- “<sigh> It’s always over so quickly …”
- “They always fall asleep afterwards. I already during …”
So, these ladies were not exactly “normal undead”, as some of them transform into succubi in battle. The new male counterparts now take on the form of a satyr.
What are the mobs called now? In addition to the introduction of the male variants of these enemies, the names have also been slightly adjusted. Again, the term “Concubine” has been removed and replaced with something else.
- Concubines will now be “Zealous Paramour” in the female variant and “Zealous Consort” in the male version.
- The “Night Lady” remains unchanged, but some of them are now male and are called “Night Lord”.
- The “Wanton Hostess” will now become a “Wanton Host” and will no longer transform into a (clearly female) banshee upon death, but into a neutral wraith.
The exact English translations are still missing; so far, only the English variants have been changed – but this is quite common on the PTR, where the translation usually comes shortly before the patch release.
Is this good or bad? Basically, this change seems to be received a bit better by players than the others. When Blizzard replaced an image of a woman with fruit, there was a huge outcry. Many felt that instead of completely banning any form of sexuality and nudity, they should just add an image of a lightly dressed man.
In Karazhan, Blizzard seems to have exactly implemented this, turning some ladies of the night into a few gentlemen.
What do you think of this adjustment? A better solution for the images? Or is it still silly and should not be changed at all?
