In MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, there are quite a few women – at least more than in many other games. There are reasons for this, as a YouTuber explains.
There are no women on the internet: This is a rule that is as old as the internet itself – and, like much else on the internet, it is, of course, completely wrong. Especially in World of Warcraft – or in other fantasy MMORPGs like Final Fantasy – you seem to encounter quite a few women. But what is the reason for that? A YouTuber and streamer attempts to explain what makes these games attractive and why one encounters more women there than in other games.
Who is saying what? The YouTuber Angelikatosh talks a lot about World of Warcraft on her channel and how it has influenced her life. Recently, she explained why she and many others consider WoW more as a solo game that can even have therapeutic effects. In her latest video, she discusses why WoW has such a strong fascination for women – more than many other games.
Why do so many women play WoW? According to Angelikatosh, there are many reasons that all come together in World of Warcraft, offering a perfect blend that allows women to feel comfortable there:
Women like World of Warcraft, not because it’s a game made specifically for women or specifically for men. It’s a game made for all people. There isn’t a specific group for which this game was made. I truly believe that there’s something in World of Warcraft for everyone. And I say this because I have never met anyone who had a half-hearted opinion about WoW. Either you try it, don’t like it, and disappear, or you play it, are completely captivated, want to absorb every bit of the world, and sell your soul to Blizzard to ensure the supply never stops.
Later, she addresses why the game appeals to women more than many other games of that time (and today). One major advantage of WoW was that you had the free choice of your character – you could play as a woman if you wanted to. However, the appearance of female characters is a clear plus point for Angelikatosh:
When you compare the [female] models with the male ones, it’s quite obvious that neither version is exaggerated to appeal more to one group or the other.
As a good example, she mentions the Night Elves.
If we look at the female Night Elves, they are also quite tall, have a slender body, but you can see that they have muscular arms defined by muscles. They are strong and yet very feminine and beautiful. In a way, this feels true to their people and makes you believe in their existence.
The same applies to other races, such as Orcs. They are a bit rougher, have more of a “wild creature” look, but both male and female Orcs are unique and feel like they fit well within that race.
Another important point is that the world feels natural and yet diverges from the “traditional” roles of reality. Men and women in World of Warcraft are equal, with some minor exceptions for specific races – such as the matriarchal society of the Night Elves.
However, much more important than gender is class and thus the role in society – both of the game world and the community.
Furthermore, she highlights the women of the Night Elves, namely the sentinels. In most places in WoW, the major cities are defended by guards of all genders, but in Darnassus, they were exclusively female Night Elves.
They didn’t just make these female warriors the primary protectors of nature and the Night Elves to get a laugh out of it. These women weren’t placed there just so that there would be women somewhere, in the sense of “Oh, yeah. Girl power.” There are deep story and cultural reasons why the [Night Elf] society is like this. It’s so deeply embedded in the culture that you would never question the place [of the sentinels] in society.
Another point is the professions and the various “side” activities. Especially the professions, collecting pets, or filling up the wardrobe of one’s transmog templates can (not only) be a good starting point for many women to get into the game. All these activities contribute to making WoW often feel like a game with a multidimensional focus – unlike a lobby shooter or a real-time strategy game – but rather like a much more complex world where there’s more than just “getting stronger to take down bigger mobs.” There is that, too – but not only.
In conclusion, Angelikatosh emphasizes once again that the aspects she mentioned are of course not exclusive or necessarily applicable to all women. Many men also enjoy transmogging, pet battling, or the professions, or are enchanted by the often fairy-tale world.
However, the percentage of women in World of Warcraft is surprisingly high, precisely because the world is so diverse and provides numerous entry points – even for women who, due to old role models, perhaps did not have easy access to video games during their childhood, as is often the case for boys.
There is a lot of support on YouTube: Particularly in the comments on YouTube, many women agree with her. Many comments from women confirm that when they started playing World of Warcraft, they began with a class related to animals in some way – mostly a druid or a hunter. A few examples:
- “I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one here who wanted to explore their druidic tendencies. You know, picking flowers and then transforming into a wild animal to get lost in a forest.” – festivalkyrie
- “A woman here who also grew up with gamer parents. It was wonderful to have that as part of life that they shared with me and my siblings. My first WoW character was a Night Elf Druid (on someone else’s account) and later I switched to a Night Elf Priest and stuck with it. I think the fact that you can dress up characters so well and role-play has a huge appeal for many people. At least for my generation, it was super popular in the early 2000s to read and write fantasy novels.” – NymphaeaDreams
Therefore, the question to the women: How did you find your way to World of Warcraft? Which aspect of the game particularly appealed to you at the time, so that you were captivated by Azeroth and could not let go?
Given all this, it’s not surprising that WoW is among the MMORPGs with the most players of all time.
