The TRUE unspoken reason for the Panda hate in MoP

[D_K_night]

If you look at all the races and enemies in the game, they are all a variation of animal-like beings. So why are Pandas suddenly an issue, in a world of Cow People, Wolf People, Rat People, Goat people, Walrus people etc? I'll tell you why. Because they don't look Asian, unlike the Pandas.

No one complained about the Egyptian theme in Cata - that's because the whole Egyptian thing is still thought of as mysterious, the whole Indiana Jones thing(remember, it's a white hero exploring the dark depths of a "unknown", evil, foreign culture). The charismatic white hero versus the evil, mysterious foreigners makes for a great story, and one that's easy for Western, largely white audiences to relate to and enjoy. The Egyptians are the bad guys, and we're the good guys liberating their treasures for the good of our historical needs.

Caucasian vs foreigner - easy to understand, digest, and accepted as the norm.

The Panda as well as the entire Mists of Pandaria expansion hinges on a theme - the Asian theme. Now the players are suddenly able to choose the foreign race - and that's not cool. Look at the Pandarien. They have that Asian look. People who play WoW don't identify with Asian looking things - even if they are animal beings. The Panda itself hails from Asia. Things would be totally different if the Pandarien were not a playable race, but a just an NPC race, and a race which you battle against in raids and dungeons. The whole Asian theme with all those chinese-looking buildings and landscape...it just isn't anything that brings any real appeal to the everyday Caucasian. It's just not mysterious, and doesn't draw the player in. All that clapping at Blizzcon were just token claps for "job well done with artwork" but it didn't reflect the feelings from the players.

We're living in a world where inter-racial marriages and relationships are start to strain the boundaries, but it's still not totally accepted. It's exotic to see your white buddy marry a chinese girl and definitely eyebrow-raising, but it's still seen as an anomaly. The stereotypes will persist(the handsome, smart, well-off white man marrying the exotic Chinese girl). And as long as it remains an anomaly and just a "sometimes" thing - we're fine with it. But more to the point -

I hate to say this, but World of Warcraft is a Western game, made for Western people. There are reasons why Asian characters are never the central character in a Western movie - unless they conform to Asian stereotypes(bad english, always knows kung fu, etc). We all know how Jackie Chan underwent plastic surgery so he doesn't look "too asian" - even though he's the co-lead for all those Rush Hour movies. And even then there has to be the character foil(Chris Tucker, an obnoxious black man - again playing to stereotypes). Bottom line it's just not fully accepted in Western culture. The monk class addition is totally fine(how many of us will think David Carradine when rolling a blood elf monk?)

Personally speaking - I like what Blizzard is trying to do with MoP - but they are doing it too aggressively, for an audience that still associates "Asian" with "gold farmer" and all those WoW clones from Asia, which are already saturated with Pandas or panda-like things. It's best to tone down the whole Asian theme back a bit, remove the ability to be Pandarien, and just leave the Pandariens similar to the quest givers in Uldum. But bringing the Asian theme to the forefront, is completely a mistake. We're just not ready for that.

[Bane Falcon]

You're completely right. As a white American who plays video games for most of the day, I can't think of a single person who I've ever encountered online who enjoys samurai, anime, or anything more asian than shooting Charlie out of his tree. Your rant is completely accurate and not the least bit fueled by personal bias whatsoever.

[Brettshock]

There's a huge amount of people who eat, sleep, and breath anime, and let's face it, some of those people don't understand the difference between Japanese and Chinese art. I feel as a people we the west are COMPLETELY ready for an Asian/Chinese themed expansion. In fact, most of my friends who are against it don't even live in the West.

TL;DR Not everyone from the west is racist and afraid of the east.

[gamingmuscle]

Yeah...I would disagree with that.

[Calzaeth]

You're completely right. As a white American who plays video games for most of the day, I can't think of a single person who I've ever encountered online who enjoys samurai, anime, or anything more asian than shooting Charlie out of his tree. Your rant is completely accurate and not the least bit fueled by personal bias whatsoever.

I think you just broke my SarcasMeter

Honestly? I believe the majority of complainers are people who should have quit playing a long time ago, but continues anyway. And they have all decided to launch a crusade to convert all us happy WoW players to whatever they end up playing when they finally find out how to unsub.

[gamingmuscle]

...Except this quarter, the quarter in which MoP was announced, had a large Asian based drop. In fact, there's a huge amount of people who eat, sleep, and breath anime, and let's face it, some of those people don't understand the difference between Japanese and Chinese art. I feel as a people we the west are COMPLETELY ready for an Asian/Chinese themed expansion. In fact, most of my friends who are against it don't even live in the West.

TL;DR Not everyone from the west is racist and afraid of the east.

LAST quarter had a large drop. Numbers for this quarter haven't been released as far as I have seen.

[Professor Oak]

If you look at all the races and enemies in the game, they are all a variation of animal-like beings. So why are Pandas suddenly an issue, in a world of Cow People, Wolf People, Rat People, Goat people, Walrus people etc? I'll tell you why. Because they don't look Asian, unlike the Pandas.

No one complained about the Egyptian theme in Cata - that's because the whole Egyptian thing is still thought of as mysterious, the whole Indiana Jones thing(remember, it's a white hero exploring the dark depths of a "unknown", evil, foreign culture). The charismatic white hero versus the evil, mysterious foreigners makes for a great story, and one that's easy for Western, largely white audiences to relate to and enjoy. The Egyptians are the bad guys, and we're the good guys liberating their treasures for the good of our historical needs.

Caucasian vs foreigner - easy to understand, digest, and accepted as the norm.

The Panda as well as the entire Mists of Pandaria expansion hinges on a theme - the Asian theme. Now the players are suddenly able to choose the foreign race - and that's not cool. Look at the Pandarien. They have that Asian look. People who play WoW don't identify with Asian looking things - even if they are animal beings. The Panda itself hails from Asia. Things would be totally different if the Pandarien were not a playable race, but a just an NPC race, and a race which you battle against in raids and dungeons. The whole Asian theme with all those chinese-looking buildings and landscape...it just isn't anything that brings any real appeal to the everyday Caucasian. It's just not mysterious, and doesn't draw the player in. All that clapping at Blizzcon were just token claps for "job well done with artwork" but it didn't reflect the feelings from the players.

We're living in a world where inter-racial marriages and relationships are start to strain the boundaries, but it's still not totally accepted. It's exotic to see your white buddy marry a chinese girl and definitely eyebrow-raising, but it's still seen as an anomaly. The stereotypes will persist(the handsome, smart, well-off white man marrying the exotic Chinese girl). And as long as it remains an anomaly and just a "sometimes" thing - we're fine with it. But more to the point -

I hate to say this, but World of Warcraft is a Western game, made for Western people. There are reasons why Asian characters are never the central character in a Western movie - unless they conform to Asian stereotypes(bad english, always knows kung fu, etc). We all know how Jackie Chan underwent plastic surgery so he doesn't look "too asian" - even though he's the co-lead for all those Rush Hour movies. And even then there has to be the character foil(Chris Tucker, an obnoxious black man - again playing to stereotypes). Bottom line it's just not fully accepted in Western culture. The monk class addition is totally fine(how many of us will think David Carradine when rolling a blood elf monk?)

Personally speaking - I like what Blizzard is trying to do with MoP - but they are doing it too aggressively, for an audience that still associates "Asian" with "gold farmer" and all those WoW clones from Asia, which are already saturated with Pandas or panda-like things. It's best to tone down the whole Asian theme back a bit, remove the ability to be Pandarien, and just leave the Pandariens similar to the quest givers in Uldum. But bringing the Asian theme to the forefront, is completely a mistake. We're just not ready for that.

You say WoW is a western game, yet all you bring up is Caucasians. You guys are NOT the only Western race that plays this game..
The more I read into this post, the more I get a sense that this is a racism-themed post.

[Galbrei]

May I present you to night elves who are basically ancient Japanese people with long years.

[Brettshock]

LAST quarter had a large drop. Numbers for this quarter haven't been released as far as I have seen.

Didn't Blizzcon happen during Third Quarter? If not, then I have no idea how Blizzard does quarters, and I feel stupid. If that's true, ignore that first sentence <3

[Miley]

Taurens aside, every playable race is a human-like race that is in any tolkienesque game. Draenei are closer to aliens and worgen (werewolves) are already accepted as human-like characters. Pandareian race actually is little panda animals which has no place in this game.

[D_K_night]

You say WoW is a western game, yet all you bring up is Caucasians. You guys are NOT the only Western race that plays this game..
The more I read into this post, the more I get a sense that this is a racism-themed post.

That's not true. I am trying to explain all the hatred behind the MoP concept, the one thing that people just aren't saying. This has nothing to do with the sub drop in Asia. The hate of the MoP theme occurred far before the Asian sub drop.

Once again - why the hate towards Pandas, when other animal-beings were totally fine? There is something afoot here, that people are not wanting to say, but it's there all the same.

[floramon]

Activision Blizzard latest earning call revealed that World of Warcraft lost another 800,000 subscribers last quarter, following the loss of 300k subscribers announced last quarter and 600k loss from the quarter before that. This brings us to 1.7 million subscribers lost in the last 3 quarters. Some things they made note of on the call:

Most of the subscriptions were lost in China.

Since they lost many China players, they try to attract them back to WoW, that's why MoP has strong Asian theme. They assumed China (Asia) players liked Pokemon and Panda.

I agree with OP, Bliz did it too fast and too aggressive. Now Bliz is forcing those who don't like Asian theme (and Pokemon) to either accept it or leave the game.

I hope Bliz could introduce Asian theme slowly and little by little, not in this way. For example, they can make Panda a NPC, let players explore their land and enjoy the Asian culture, then make Panda a playable character in next expansion.

WoW is a Western game, Asian theme does not fit it.

[Brettshock]

You say WoW is a western game, yet all you bring up is Caucasians. You guys are NOT the only Western race that plays this game..
The more I read into this post, the more I get a sense that this is a racism-themed post.

And that's why I reported it :3

Racism on the internet always leads to bad things o_o

[Mirishka]

Yay for people who think they speak for the majority, when in fact they're only speaking for themselves.

[D_K_night]

Taurens aside, every playable race is a human-like race that is in any tolkienesque game. Draenei are closer to aliens and worgen (werewolves) are already accepted as human-like characters. Pandareian race actually is little panda animals which has no place in this game.

Are you actually meaning to say, Panda have no place in this game because they are asian? Taurens reflect native indians. I note that you said "taurens aside" here. Think about that for a second.

[Bane Falcon]

I think you just broke my SarcasMeter

Honestly? I believe the majority of complainers are people who should have quit playing a long time ago, but continues anyway. And they have all decided to launch a crusade to convert all us happy WoW players to whatever they end up playing when they finally find out how to unsub.

Why, I'm not sarcastic at all!! I truly believe that the OP is completely logical in his comments, and has thoroughly researched his point of view in order to bring a well-informed stance to the attention of the kind and caring people on MMO-champ!! After all, only a true prophet like D_K_night could solve all of our problems by informing us of the reason people hate Mists of Pandaria. It clearly isn't about mechanics. It isn't because some people feel that Pandarens were simply a prank. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the focus has been on Pandaren and Monks with little else to show. And, most importantly, it isn't incorrect in the least bit because people are actually looking forward to MoP and Pandaren, since Pandaren was the most requested thing to add to WoW... No, no. Clearly, the issue is that no one likes MoP or Pandaren simply because they're Asian, and the white gamer is clearly not ready for any sort of incorporation of the Asian society into our own. For that matter, we should take this to the next level. We should boycott Thunderbluff because we already eradicated the Native Americans, due to not approving of their culture. That's perfectly reasonable, right? I mean, otherwise, it would be offensive to our White Western heritage.

-__-

[Brettshock]

That's not true. I am trying to explain all the hatred behind the MoP concept, the one thing that people just aren't saying. This has nothing to do with the sub drop in Asia. The hate of the MoP theme occurred far before the Asian sub drop.

Once again - why the hate towards Pandas, when other animal-beings were totally fine? There is something afoot here, that people are not wanting to say, but it's there all the same.

So what you're saying is that you're basing your conclusion on nothing but your own opinion and senses, and bashing westerners because of it? I feel as though you have a tin-foil hat on your head right now.

[Silentwrath]

I think people probably feel that pandas are a bit too cute to participate in warfare

[Jeina]

Didn't Blizzcon happen during Third Quarter? If not, then I have no idea how Blizzard does quarters, and I feel stupid. If that's true, ignore that first sentence <3

From what I understand, Activision-Blizzard operates their fiscal year from January to December. Blizzcon was in Oct. which was the start of Q4. The numbers announced yesterday were for Q3.

[ProphetFlume]

It's exotic to see your white buddy marry a chinese girl and definitely eyebrow-raising, but it's still seen as an anomaly.

Not even a little.