Sanitizing Expression In Virtual Worlds

1up has a piece looking back at the GLBT guild mixup that happened earlier this year in World of Warcraft. From the article: "'... last summer a friend introduced me to WOW, and I really liked it, though I didn't care for remarks many of the players made, like the fact that everything is apparently so gay when it's bad. So I decided to create my own guild, which would be GLBT friendly.' Sometimes singing, other times slogging her way through WOW's exacting echelons to a formidable level 60, Andrews had big endgame plans for her developing guild--until January 12, 2006, that is, when a note from publisher Blizzard blinkered everything."

Comments

Maybe People Just Want to Play

[Illbay]

Maybe they would like to forget about all the political crap-ola with which we are inundated constantly in our activist-infested world for a change, and just go somewhere where they don't have to think about it.

You don't always have the right to intrude your "message" into everyone else's consciousness.

Re:Maybe People Just Want to Play

[Illbay]

If the population at WOW is reflective of the population generally--which is by no means assured--then the LGBT-whatever represent about 1 to 2% of the population.

That fact is that in most cases, the majority rules.

That's why so many homosexual men move to San Francisco.

In Short...

[geekoid]

Person is mad because Blizzard discrimanted againts them discriminating.

Re:This story is so gay

[PitaBred]

And if someone calls something "cool", they're anti-hot? Perhaps it's just a colloquial saying anymore. I don't think of homosexuals when someone says something is "gay" any more than I think of ice when someone says something is "cool". I think it's just people manufacturing a perceived controversy because they see things one way, and everyone else doesn't give two shits.

Re:Honestly, people...

[geekoid]

Because:
A) the rules say no talk about sexual orientation.
B) Saying GBLT Friendly is discrimination against people who aren't GBLT friendly.
C) It's stoopid and doesn't matter.
D) The person (who was NOT discriminated against) is trying to make her violation of the rules into a cause. Which is annoying as hell.

I think it is interesting that people thinking "That is so gay" is negative. If someone is gay, and there first thought is that saying something is gay is negative, what does that say about how they view their lifestyle?

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

[DoctorDyna]

Post didn't seem to make it last time, so here goes again. This might come off as rude to some, so let me be frank.

Nobody in an MMORPG really, honestly cares wether or not you like to stick your dick in another man's ass at night when the lights are out. Nobody really, honestly cares if you like to don a rubber phallus and have a go at another woman. See, the fact that you do / don't do those things have absolute fuck all to do with the game at hand.

Making a GLBT "friendly" guild is fucking dumb. Mind-numbingly idiotic. You are supposed to be in a game making guilds about game-ish things. Once they add the ability to suck another man's cock into WOW, only THEN would a gay guild be justified. Failing that, it's simply a fasion / personal statement.

Again, keep your choices about flesh and sex out of the god damn game. If sombody uses the word "gay" and it offends you, then we're all terribly sorry that a word that describes your sexual orientation has also come to be synonymous with something bad. Maybe you should see a phsychiatrist about that and leave players alone.

What's next, you show sombody a weapon, and they like it, so they say "Oh! thats phat!" then next day you see a dozen guilds pop up like "BBW Big Beautiful Warcraft" or any other made-to-glorify-fat-hog-syndrome-caused-by-your-mc -diet bullshit.