One last, third example that makes me really angry the more I think about it.
This one comes from the female blood elves: “Actually, I only ride epic mounts, but … let’s talk about it.”
You can probably guess, that line will also be history with patch 9.1.5. It was primarily one thing: funny. It combined an in-game flirt (from the character’s perspective) with a fact from the player’s perspective (“epic mount”). An elf who casually deals with her own sexuality. Perhaps not particularly poetic, but still a successful line.
A great solution for a concise, humorous flirt line – which is now disappearing.
One of the many, incredibly wrong signals that Blizzard is sending with this is: Women, hold back with your sexuality and don’t deal with it openly or confidently.
Even if it’s not the developers’ intention, that’s exactly the message that is being conveyed when female characters are stripped of flirt lines in which they deal casually with their own sexuality.
What makes the whole thing even more absurd: Flirt lines and jokes have only been able to be heard by characters in the same group for years anyway. And those are usually people I know at least a bit or to whom I at least extend a minimal level of trust.
Anyone not in the emote user’s group cannot even hear the accompanying sound anymore. You really can’t make such lines any “safer”.
The community’s support is missing
That Blizzard is shooting far, far over the target with these changes has become clear to many and should have reached the developers by now. The feedback is mostly negative everywhere.
In the World of Warcraft Subreddit, on wowhead and in the official forums, there are repeatedly posts that essentially say: “I’m a woman, and you’re not doing me any favors with the changes. We’re regressing back to a time when women weren’t allowed to say or show anything about sexuality.”
Sure, there’s also understanding and some agreement with certain changes. For instance, the removal of the Afrasiabi NPCs has been accepted by most.
But now the prevailing thought is that Blizzard, in a frenzy of overcorrection, is simply removing all sexual innuendos from Azeroth, leaving behind a monotonous, boring, and sterile world.
The lightheartedness, the frivolous sayings, and the little, sometimes very silly puns – these have made Warcraft great.
I can still almost recite all the lines from Warcraft III that play when you click a unit repeatedly. Among those are also a few cheeky things.
The sometimes silly humor is one of the cornerstones of Warcraft – at least for me. These are funny details that I love, which have breathed more life into the characters and the world.
Writing about Blizzard is just torment
I’ve been writing for MeinMMO about Blizzard and World of Warcraft for about 8 years now – and it has never been as little fun as it is now. When I search for exciting topics for news and articles at night or in the morning, it’s usually a colorful mix I’m looking for.
Even though many still think that authors always look for scandals because they generate a lot of clicks – that’s not true. Apart from the fact that negative headlines don’t automatically generate a lot of clicks:
Most here write extremely happily about positive things. Little hero stories, particularly beautiful moments of interaction among players, impressive achievements, or funny incidents to laugh about.
But at Blizzard and World of Warcraft, the “nice” stories are currently very rare. It’s simply not fun.
Spending half the day dealing only with negative things, such as sexism, player dissatisfaction, complaints, and conflicts, just wears you down. Especially since Blizzard is also a company that has meant a lot to me in the last 15 years and has given me so much through its games, it gnaws at me. I consider myself quite reflective and able to assess changes from the perspective of others – but right now, I lack understanding for so many things.
Anyone who has read MeinMMO for a long time may remember my article “Reporting on Blizzard today hurts my soul” from 2018.
Back then I thought that Blizzard had reached a definite low point. The big outrages were the announcements of Diablo: Immortal, questionable offers in the WoW shop, and the dismissal of many employees.
Now I wish we were back in the state of 2018 – because it was more pleasant to have “my Blizzard” and report on it.
Yet I love World of Warcraft. I have spent more time in no other game. I even like a large part of the current content and find many aspects of Shadowlands – completely sincerely – better than many in the community see it. I don’t log in just “out of habit”, but because I still have fun.
It’s just the whole “drama” that’s annoying. The community’s dissatisfaction, the seemingly headless approach of the developers, the scandal at Blizzard. It’s irritating. It’s good that things like the scandal are being exposed. But the fact that it even exists – that’s annoying.
Currently, I’m really glad to be able to write about Minecraft, Back 4 Blood, or Dead by Daylight. Writing about Blizzard just isn’t fun anymore. Not because the games would be fundamentally bad, but because everything is currently spiraling into negativity. Whether it’s about the players, the developers, or the company as a whole.
I long for the times when the biggest scandal was that Rextroy found a bug again with which he could one-shot 40 players or the worst possible change in WoW was to give Sylvanas a belly armor.
Honestly, I’m not even sure where I actually want to go with this article. I think I just wanted to write down my views and opinions to get it off my chest.
Maybe it entertained you.
The reporting on Blizzard and World of Warcraft is exhausting. Cortyn from MeinMMO explains what is currently going seriously wrong.
It’s time to talk a bit about Blizzard again. Yes, I know. Basically, we’ve all been doing this for weeks and months. And almost every day there’s a new annoyance to report. Women in World of Warcraft are turned into fruit, story and names are changed, or old, harmless jokes are removed from the game. Long-time employees leave the company, and looming over everything is a disgusting sexism and discrimination scandal.
There are several topics I want to address here.
About the author:
Cortyn has been writing for MeinMMO since 2013 with a particular focus on World of Warcraft and other Blizzard games.
In the game, Cortyn’s focus is on pretty much everything that has nothing to do with PvP: Mythic dungeons, raids, role-playing, pet battles, collecting achievements, and the ever-growing transmog collection.
Blizzard – More than just work for me
Even though it’s part of my job to write about Blizzard and their games, Blizzard is actually much more to me.
I still remember quite well that Warcraft III was a reason for me to become more interested in video games – not just in playing, but also in development. After defeating Archimonde, I became more and more interested in video game development.
I started spending a lot of time on the “RPG Maker 2000”, wanting to create a game myself. I must have worked on it for several thousand hours. In the process, I also began writing dialogues – after all, a game needs a lot of text. This in turn sparked my desire to write better dialogues, which is why I read more books.
It’s not surprising then, that my profession ended up having something to do with writing. Even if dialogues are now quite rare.
I ended up here at MeinMMO because I like to write and have a high interest in Blizzard games. I owe both indirectly to Blizzard.
But I also owe a lot to Blizzard privately. I have people in my current WoW guild whom I’ve known for 15 years, some of whom have become very good friends. A large part of my circle of friends now consists of acquaintances I made in WoW.
Sure, over the years not everyone plays WoW anymore, but the friendship remains and has expanded into other games, movie nights, or pen & paper sessions.
Or to put it briefly: Blizzard as a whole is dear to my heart. Some of the most beautiful memories of my life are based on events that only happened because I connected with other people through Blizzard and their games who are important to me.
That’s why I’m so upset about what’s happening at Blizzard and World of Warcraft now. Excessive activism that goes in the wrong direction and achieves the exact opposite of what the developers actually want to create: A world where everyone feels at home.
Meaningful changes against harassment are good
I’m not fundamentally at war with all the changes. I can understand the reasoning that some emotes can be used in an unfriendly and hostile way.
In my over 15 years in World of Warcraft, mostly on RP realms, I’ve simply come across a few strange people. By that, I don’t mean the typical PvP rogue who knocks you down in the wild and then spits on you because he thinks he’s the greatest hero of the jungle. Especially among role-players, you often find – from my own experience – cyber-stalkers or trolls who create second accounts to spy on people, stalk them, and spam emotes.
Sure, you can put them on your ignore list and mentally block them out. But not everyone can do that. I get an in-game letter every few weeks on one of my characters from someone who has to tell me again in the game how bad my articles are and that I have no idea about anything. I can deal with that by now and rather find it amusing. But others may not handle it so well.
You can’t expect your own “thick skin” as the standard for everyone else.
I’ve experienced more than just a handful of people in those 15 years who simply didn’t want to log into WoW anymore because they feared harassment from other players. They didn’t feel like there were enough ways in the game to defend themselves against it. And I’m not even talking about the absurd RP mud fights, where people talk behind each other’s backs about someone who doesn’t interpret some made-up RP rule exactly the way they do.
What I mean to say is: I absolutely understand if the developers of World of Warcraft want to ensure that the game is more inclusive, inviting, and less toxic in the social interactions enabled by the game.
It’s okay if World of Warcraft no longer offers the emote “/spit” or “/groan” as standard. It’s incredibly important and right that in the future a whole account is put on the ignore list if you block just one character from that account.
These are things I welcome, although I can at least understand why some players are against the removal of the emotes. Probably because they themselves have not yet been victims of being spammed with it for hours or days until they feel really bad about themselves.
Blizzard removes too much and the wrong things
When Blizzard finally provided an explanation for all the changes in World of Warcraft a few days ago, I was glad. I thought this could be the turning point. Finally having a clear statement and understanding under which principles and guidelines Blizzard changes things should have been a good thing.
But it wasn’t.
Because shortly afterwards, it became apparent that Blizzard is removing numerous jokes and flirts from the English version of the game.
It’s not just about one or two lines. A total of 74 flirts and jokes from the English version fall victim to the changes and are being removed without replacement.
Even if I try hard to put myself in the shoes of a triggered, stereotypical Twitter user who wants to be triggered at all costs, I only find 4 or 5 of these lines really problematic.
Let’s take one of the male pandaren flirt lines: “Hey, hot stuff. Want to try breeding in captivity?”
One could simply chuckle and acknowledge that it’s apparently an allusion to the fact that real-world zoos have problems encouraging pandas to breed because they simply don’t like to mate in captivity.
Or one could twist the phrase in their thoughts until they see the basis for a “rape joke”, because what else could “breeding in captivity” mean?
That’s one of the few examples where I think: Okay, if you make a conscious effort to find something problematic, then it’s possible. You’d have to be really bored and take a big sip from the “TRIGGERED” bottle – but it’s possible.
But with other lines, it’s just not like that – or I can’t do it.
Let’s take the flirt line of the troll women: “When enraged, and in heat, a female troll can mate over 80 times in one night. Be you prepared?”
This line will also be removed.
This is a statement made by a female character about herself. In the cosmos of the game, there is no sexism from the outside. The troll woman sexualizes herself and highlights that – that’s the essence of flirting. It’s making it clear to the other person in a playfully suggestive way: I think you’re great, something could happen between us.
It’s similar with the blood elf line of the women: “Is that a mana wyrm in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”
This line exists in several variants among other races – goblins and nightborne also have it.
Soon not anymore, as all 3 versions will be removed. And I have no idea why. Sure, the line is quite explicit – but that’s exactly what justifies its existence. A light-hearted, cheeky saying. A little suggestive. Because that’s a core aspect of flirting, sometimes with more, sometimes with less nuance.
One last, third example that makes me really angry the more I think about it.
This one comes from the female blood elves: “Actually, I only ride epic mounts, but … let’s talk about it.”
You can probably guess, that line will also be history with patch 9.1.5. It was primarily one thing: funny. It combined an in-game flirt (from the character’s perspective) with a fact from the player’s perspective (“epic mount”). An elf who casually deals with her own sexuality. Perhaps not particularly poetic, but still a successful line.
A great solution for a concise, humorous flirt line – which is now disappearing.
One of the many, incredibly wrong signals that Blizzard is sending with this is: Women, hold back with your sexuality and don’t deal with it openly or confidently.
Even if it’s not the developers’ intention, that’s exactly the message that is being conveyed when female characters are stripped of flirt lines in which they deal casually with their own sexuality.
What makes the whole thing even more absurd: Flirt lines and jokes have only been able to be heard by characters in the same group for years anyway. And those are usually people I know at least a bit or to whom I at least extend a minimal level of trust.
Anyone not in the emote user’s group cannot even hear the accompanying sound anymore. You really can’t make such lines any “safer”.
The community’s support is missing
That Blizzard is shooting far, far over the target with these changes has become clear to many and should have reached the developers by now. The feedback is mostly negative everywhere.
In the World of Warcraft Subreddit, on wowhead and in the official forums, there are repeatedly posts that essentially say: “I’m a woman, and you’re not doing me any favors with the changes. We’re regressing back to a time when women weren’t allowed to say or show anything about sexuality.”
Sure, there’s also understanding and some agreement with certain changes. For instance, the removal of the Afrasiabi NPCs has been accepted by most.
But now the prevailing thought is that Blizzard, in a frenzy of overcorrection, is simply removing all sexual innuendos from Azeroth, leaving behind a monotonous, boring, and sterile world.
The lightheartedness, the frivolous sayings, and the little, sometimes very silly puns – these have made Warcraft great.
I can still almost recite all the lines from Warcraft III that play when you click a unit repeatedly. Among those are also a few cheeky things.
The sometimes silly humor is one of the cornerstones of Warcraft – at least for me. These are funny details that I love, which have breathed more life into the characters and the world.
Writing about Blizzard is just torment
I’ve been writing for MeinMMO about Blizzard and World of Warcraft for about 8 years now – and it has never been as little fun as it is now. When I search for exciting topics for news and articles at night or in the morning, it’s usually a colorful mix I’m looking for.
Even though many still think that authors always look for scandals because they generate a lot of clicks – that’s not true. Apart from the fact that negative headlines don’t automatically generate a lot of clicks:
Most here write extremely happily about positive things. Little hero stories, particularly beautiful moments of interaction among players, impressive achievements, or funny incidents to laugh about.
But at Blizzard and World of Warcraft, the “nice” stories are currently very rare. It’s simply not fun.
Spending half the day dealing only with negative things, such as sexism, player dissatisfaction, complaints, and conflicts, just wears you down. Especially since Blizzard is also a company that has meant a lot to me in the last 15 years and has given me so much through its games, it gnaws at me. I consider myself quite reflective and able to assess changes from the perspective of others – but right now, I lack understanding for so many things.
Anyone who has read MeinMMO for a long time may remember my article “Reporting on Blizzard today hurts my soul” from 2018.
Back then I thought that Blizzard had reached a definite low point. The big outrages were the announcements of Diablo: Immortal, questionable offers in the WoW shop, and the dismissal of many employees.
Now I wish we were back in the state of 2018 – because it was more pleasant to have “my Blizzard” and report on it.
Yet I love World of Warcraft. I have spent more time in no other game. I even like a large part of the current content and find many aspects of Shadowlands – completely sincerely – better than many in the community see it. I don’t log in just “out of habit”, but because I still have fun.
It’s just the whole “drama” that’s annoying. The community’s dissatisfaction, the seemingly headless approach of the developers, the scandal at Blizzard. It’s irritating. It’s good that things like the scandal are being exposed. But the fact that it even exists – that’s annoying.
Currently, I’m really glad to be able to write about Minecraft, Back 4 Blood, or Dead by Daylight. Writing about Blizzard just isn’t fun anymore. Not because the games would be fundamentally bad, but because everything is currently spiraling into negativity. Whether it’s about the players, the developers, or the company as a whole.
I long for the times when the biggest scandal was that Rextroy found a bug again with which he could one-shot 40 players or the worst possible change in WoW was to give Sylvanas a belly armor.
Honestly, I’m not even sure where I actually want to go with this article. I think I just wanted to write down my views and opinions to get it off my chest.
Maybe it entertained you.
