[RESEARCH] The Gender Issues in World of Warcraft?

World of Warcraft is a very great MMO that many gamers and non-gamers alike have played over the passing years. With a staggering 9 to 10 million players still playing the game since 2004. There is no wonder that it is still one of the biggest MMO’s out in the big wide world of crucial gaming. But, is there still some gender issues, even with the glorious expansion Mists of Pandaria released just months ago?

With a world as big as any other, World of Warcraft has so much to offer to players who recently started or have been playing for many, many years before the new expansions time. High rulers, both male and female, look down at their land and feel proud of how far that they have become, even through the current war between Alliance and Horde. May these high rulers be Alexstrasza the Queen of Dragons, Sylvanas Windrunner the Queen of the Forsaken, Vereesa Windrunner the Leader of the Silver Covenant, I don’t feel there is an imbalance in sexuality, as these women have quite a lot to offer in terms of story, as well as fighting abilities (Male rulers consist of Garrosh Hellscream the Leader of the Horde, Varian Wrynn the King of the Alliance, and Farseer Nobundo the Leader of the Alliance Broken of Azeroth. These leaders bring backstory also, giving their own piece of ‘warcraft’ to the game with their different backgrounds and traits which really make these games a very special experience for all lore lovers.) Yet, if you compare both male and female ruler clothing, you can certainly tell that there is some imbalance. High cut armor and very revealing clothing for the female characters, and for the males, whom may have ‘revealing’ clothing, but they are shown in power, with muscles and weapons that are considered really intimidating.

The advertisement for the new race, Blood Elf, in Burning Crusade

But, if you compare the ‘nakedness’ of the women to the ‘impurity’ of the women, you would then have to think of story. Story (or Lore) is also crucial to really sink your claws into, if you really want to know a character. The Horde are full of corrupt beasts, which pretty much makes up their own faction, with many of the races giving themselves away to magical lust or the need for power and land, it a very messy faction, full of impurities and disillusion which draws them out as the Horde. The name Horde can also be compared by the term ‘hoard’. The name in itself has a slight impact on what exactly these creatures are: they are hoarders of the world, they take from everything and fight for what they believe in to get what they desire.
So, what does this have to do with their feminine outfit? Character design can go from making some one ‘sexy’ to just ‘corrupt’ in the matter of tweaks and changes to the way the character is presented to the player/viewer. Lets take Sylvanas Windrunner (one of the Horde) and compare her to her dear sister, Vereesa Windrunner (one of the Alliance). Sylvanas doesn’t have as much clothing as her sister, yet Sylvanas isn’t really treated the same Vereesa. Her own sister, being a High Elf, has to look professional in a way, as that is what the Alliance is all about. The Alliance is full of characters which are built to be powerful, built to not be changed by the addictions which they could find themselves taking aboard. Veressa has lost so much, and has come to the point that she cannot trust any one but the people who are close to her, who are as collective as her. Sylvanas, however, has died, brought to life again and was then corrupted by another to do an others bidding. Her own feelings had been changed for the worse, the thoughts which went through her own head were not her own, making Vereesa not trust Sylvanas at all. Sylvanas is agile, she fights her own wars and doesn’t sit back and wait. As she rules the Undead race, she will also be at the front lines, protecting what she feels is right to stay in power. Being agile and always engaged, but also corrupted and uncollective, makes it feel like the outfit chosen for her is really the best. Seductive, yet fitting for the personality and character, intentionally I don’t think it was meant to appeal as being one of the Horde, corruption and indecency is pretty much the norm. Vereesa, collective and content, her outfit matches her personality and position in the Alliance quarter.

Sylvanas Windrunner on the left and her sister, Vereesa Windrunner on the right.

Being a High Elf (basically the original elven species that evolved from Night Elves), an Elf which has not given into the magic lust that the Blood Elves have unfortunately fallen into, she is not dressed in a corruptive manner. Neither is she surrounded by the deep darkness that the Horde thrive in, as the species around her are pure humanoids that haven’t given in, as stated before. Yet, there are many times in which Vereesa could have become a Blood Elf, because of the loss of her whole entire family, she has tried desperately to not turn into what she believes is a ‘disgusting’ race. She is experienced, she has made a truce with herself that she won’t become some one that no one can trust, and therefore, her chosen outfit makes her seem powerful and beautiful, just like the Elf wearing it.

Pulling away from the high rulers in World of Warcraft, there is also many other races which really don’t fit the appeal of a ‘sexual’ appearance.

Some examples: Tauren, Pandaran, Worgen, and Undead Races

Possibly because some are anthropomorphic then regular characters which are ‘Human’ looking species, but even if there is a low cut top, or high cut trousers which are used for armor, the game doesn’t stop you using it for the male characters. Armor isn’t cut specifically for a certain gender, so you will get different types of people wearing different types of gear that could have been built for either male or female. Having that multiple choice is always nice, especially if you want to make a great character (whom is female) that has exceptional armor that is just mind blowing.
Then you think of advertisement. Advertisement is there to get a consumer caught on something you want to sell, and WoW really does have quite a variety of different advertisements. However, each video which is brought out, each advert which has been seen by the public, have only animated male characters fighting and the female characters playing their own part in beauty and exotic acts, coyly looking away from the viewer and commencing the things that they are currently doing. Then there was the commercials that contained very well known male actors and musicians, showing how manly, how glorious their male characters are, and how ‘YOU’ should start playing to become one like them. Comparing the feminine acts to that brutish male battling really doesn’t help the balance at all, making it impossible to not see the difference in the two sides. So, there is arguments, there is ways in which you can feel that World of Warcraft is still a mans game, and warcraft being a mans sport, but when you take in mind the stories in which it beholds, then you start to realise that it isn’t all a male dominated world after all.

[RESEARCH] Relationships and Sexuality in Video Gaming

(Relationships Powerpoint Document)

In the same group as we were in the Text Adventure task we were set, we were also set a research task on a topic which really struck your interest. We decided to set our mind on Relationships and Sexuality and how it is portrayed in video games today.

★ List of characters and topics that the group had chosen:
This is my own research and ideas on these Characters.

Relationships
Nathan Drake and Elaina Fisher (Uncharted Series) – We chose these two characters because they have a sort of short ‘bond’ between each other. This slightly represents how couples deal with relationships and problems which occur every day in them.

John and Abigail (Red Dead Redemption) – John, the common man who has lost his woman to the thugs of the game. However he is continually trying to fight off a woman named Bonnie MacFarlene who is quite interested in John. Despite her attempts, John says he is not interested and carries on with life and duty. This shows how strong males can be and the idea of a perfect marriage.

Dominic Santiago and Maria Santiago (Gears of War Series) – Looking for his missing wife, Dominic ‘Dom’ Santiago spends years trying to find where his wife was. He finally finds her, but because of a fatal virus she passes away in Dom’s arms. Loosing everything by the end of his travels, Dom commits suicide to be with his family once more. This really shows how Doms intentions in life was to protect his family, as a father and a lover, but did not fulfil his duty and dies to save others.

Mario and Peach (Mario/Super Mario Series) – The most famous relationship known to this day is none other then Mario and Peach. Normally at the start of a Mario story, poor Princess Peach gets stolen away by evil Bowser and it’s Mario’s job to get his ‘girl’ back safe and sound. This is a stereotypically enhanced story, suggesting women cannot save themselves from danger without a man in their life.

Homosexuality
Kanji Tatsumi (Persona 4) – Kanji is a very strict and powerful young man who adores authority and power over everyone else. It is unsure whether Kanji wants to do this to hide is Homosexuality from people, or to show that he is perfectly capable of looking after himself. This shows how it can be quite hard to be a Homosexual like Kanji because of peoples lack of understanding.

Leonardo Da Vinci (Assassins Creed 2 Series) – Not a lot is known about Leonardo’s sexuality, but there has been records of Leonardo being arrested for sodomy. Even if this is true, this would mean that being a homosexual was clearly not aloud back in the Renaissance period, and being out spoken about it meant time in jail even if no actions were made. During the game, Leonardo comes to confess the protagonist Ezio that he is ‘gay’ and Ezio deserves to know about it.

Kaiden Alenko and Steve Cortez (Mass Effect 3) – They may not be a Homosexual couple, but both Kaiden and Steve are portrayed in a way that it is not even remotely noticed whether you are homosexual, lesbian or straight, because it doesn’t matter (you are treated as an equal, which is how it should be in ‘life’). The developers of Mass Effect wanted to have a Homosexual relationship with Kaiden in the first game but was turned down.

Anders and Zevran (Dragon Age) – Unlike Mass Effect, Dragon Age was quite open with relationships and you could choose who ever you wanted, as long as you met with the right requirements. However, I feel this is quite a change from regular ‘homosexuality’ in real life because of the species of people (such as elf and dwarf) doesn’t exactly appeal to many players. The availability of having a relationship with the same gender, it seems, it is just part of the ‘funny aspect’ of the game and isn’t really taken seriously (Anders and Zevran are part of this laugh factor).

Gender Confusion
Naoto Shirogane (Persona 4) – Naoto is a sweet girl who really wanted to be in a male dominated occupation (detective). The dialogue of Naoto really explains that it’s hard being a woman in Japan because of jobs being so male dominated. Because of this, Naoto decides to have a sex change from female to male so that she will be accepted and appreciated in the department. However, she is very unsure to whether she would like to be a male or no because she finds both sides have their happiness points and down falls. This is extremely unfair but Naoto sees no other alternative because of who she wants to be.

Birdo (Mario/Super Mario Series) – Birdo, one of the first ever gender confused characters, is quite a lovely example of how some one can mistake a male for a female. Because of the colour, the clothing, and the style of Birdo people originally believed Birdo to be a female as the stereotypical examples are all around him. Even though Birdo was made to make people believe that he was female, the developers decided it was a ‘mistranslation’ and Birdo is in fact a girl, despite Birdo still having a low tone voice.

Erica (Catherine) – Erica is a waitress, with beautiful curves and a perfect face. After ogling her through the entire game, you are then told by the end that she was indeed a male. If you were told at the beginning that she was a ‘male’ at one point, people would have sighed away and believe it was wrong to be attracted. It all goes to show that you can be what ever you want to be if you really want to because you deserve freedom female or male.

★ Why, as a Group, we wanted to approach these matters:
We thought it was quite important that we touch on these issues and realise that games do express their own opinions of Relationships or Sexuality, but developers are just too scared that it may shock the player and make them feel uncomfortable or uninterested. This could be true, but I think it’s very silly to shy away from being true and face the facts that making a different kind of game that includes relationships and sexuality is going to be a bit iffy and people won’t like it at first, but it sure beats having to play the same sort of game over and over again. It also gives tension in a story, which is what some gamers really strive for. That ‘edge of the seat’ story when something bad is going to happen to your favourite character, or couple even. Just as long as it is done right, you can achieve anything with these concepts in them, because the examples above have done it greatly.