Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Sexism In WoW

This is something that has been around for awhile and has seemed to blow up recently. For those that are unfamiliar with the issue I will lay it out here. The feminist groups have been all over Blizzard that there is not enough influential female characters in the game compared to that of men. The other issue is the clothing worn by female characters that it always seems to be for lack of a better word slutty. So time to argue this with the typical Gauss approach and really show that these people know absolutely nothing and fail to look at the whole picture.

On the issue of influential female characters I call complete and utter bullshit on this one. Yes there may not be a a split 50% ratio but to say there is a lack of influential female characters is a complete joke. If you look at faction leaders we have Sylvannas and Tyrande. Sylvannas probably being one of the most influential characters in the game. Sylvannas is the former Ranger General of Silvermoon, brought the Blood Elves to the horde, took part in the retaking of Undercity, was directly involved in the assault of Icecrown Citadel, leader in the assault of Gilneas etc etc. Tyrande is the leader of the night elves and former leader of the Sentinels an all female night elf army. That is correct males are not aloud to be part of the Sentinels. Speaking of the commander of the Sentinels it is Shandris Feathermoon who is listed as the commander of the Sentinels and the protector as the Night Elves. Moving on we have Jaina Proudmore the leader of Kul'Tiras, member of the Council of Tirisfal, and a member of the "Six". Responsible for a Human alliance with the Orcs and Night Elves during the third war, which defeated the Burning Legion. Now I could go on to explain in depth more influential female characters but I will just give a brief description as to not make this a wall of test.

Alexstraza: Queen of the Dragons and Aspect of Life. Basically the dragons of dragons
Ysera: Aspect of the Dream. It should be noted that "good" aspects outnumber the bad at least 2-1 as female.
Vereesa Windrunner: Bodyguard to Rhonin, Protector of Dalaran, and leader of the Silver Covenant.
Alleria Windrunner: Brought the High Elves into the Alliance in the Second War. When she is "found" and we have a Windrunner reunion this will be one of the biggest events in WoW history.
Garona Halforcen: First Diplomat between Orcs and Humans, First mixed breed, Assassin of King Llane, and so on.
Greatmother Geyah: Last remaining "oldschool" shaman. She is known to be the wisest and most respected shaman alive.
Moira Bronzebeard: I didn't include her in the faction leaders, but she is the leader of the Dark Irons and part of the Dwarf Council. She is part of the reason that the 3 dwarf races have been brought together.
Aegwynn: Last appointed Guardian of Tirisfal mother to Medvih, slayer of the avatar of Sargeras, and creator of the New Council of Tirisfal.
Anveena Teague: Essence of the Sunwell. Reason Kil'Jaden couldn't manifest on Azeroth.
Valeera Sanguinar: Enforcer of the Council of Tirisfal. In other words she is the muscle behind the casters.
Magatha Grimtotem: Former Leader of the Grimtotems, responsible for Carine's death, now a high ranking member of the Twilight's Hammer.

Now I could keep going but I think you get the point. Yes I realize that the balance isn't 1-1 but keep this in mind. Some countries have laws that force companies to have at least 50% females in certain committees. It mostly leads to females getting jobs just because they are female and the quota needs to be fulfilled. It's gender inequality turned upsidedown. I would rather see strong lore characters be well developed and put in positions rather than just making them arbitrary male or female to fill a quota.

Now on to the subject of dress. Maybe the feminists refuse to see that the males all have bulging muscles and are perfectly defined. The point is, of course, they haven't. Does that bother me? No really it doesn't. If the game offered the option to make our characters overweight unproportioned would we do it? I would say no. The fact that it isn't an option I guess is the issue. Why offer something and spend the time to do so when a minimal amount of people would actually use it? It would be like the previous version of Lightwell. It was there, but no one used it.

So there is my rant, and honestly would like to hear what you all think.

5 comments:

  1. Completely agree some people need to think before they speak.

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  2. Taking on a topic that is sure to cause drama just shows you aren't scared to talk about anything.

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  3. Moira...

    When you finally come to IF, I'm not defending her at all.

    I think, from my random observations, quest givers seem to be evenly split in gender. The same is true for vendors.

    Sometimes, I look at a piece of armor and think, "Yeah, guys designed this". But I'm more apt to say that when I encounter a pooping quest or a quest requiring a body part be returned, usually someone's head.

    It's a stylized world and some things are stylized. They could do away with the human female undergarments. After seeing that a lot, you don't even notice a toon running around in the thong and bra.

    There are worse gender issues than whether a video game is unequal.

    --Gimmlette

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  4. http://www.orcisharmyknife.com/2011/01/therazane-and-other-strong-women-of.html

    Orcish Army Knife had a great post on this, too. It's not so much that there is an unbalance of gender representation (which is a bit of a given, considering user demographic and history of the genre), it's more of who they are, and why.

    Take a read, he says it far better than I could have.

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  5. I would agree Therazane, Elune, the Earth Mother, Zaela, and Agrah all deserve a mention as well.

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