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  1. #1

    WoW cracks down on “greenskin” racism

    Blizzard Entertainment is apparently cracking down on fantasy racism in World of Warcraft. An update to the popular online game has nixed the insult “greenskin,” once used by a human character to insult an orc.

    In the universe of World of Warcraft, the Battle for Stromgarde pitted Danath Trollbane’s human warriors against a band of orcs led by Eitrigg. Before both sides knocked lumps out of each other, Trollbane taunted his opponent with the racially charged (at least in this fantasy world) insult “greenskin.”
    https://www.rt.com/usa/534105-warcra...oke-greenskin/

    Was someone srsly offended by that? I’m just speechless.

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Mahcake View Post
    https://www.rt.com/usa/534105-warcra...oke-greenskin/

    Was someone srsly offended by that? I’m just speechless.
    You seem to be offended...

  3. #3
    Wonder if they have someone who is specifically hired to just go through and "clean" up.
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  4. #4
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    This is what happens when society runs out of real problems

  5. #5
    RT.com, the internet's leading source for unbiased reporting... 7 out of 5 Russians agree.

  6. #6
    The Insane Syegfryed's Avatar
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    Varians and other humans, prob other races as well, constantly call orcs green skinned pigs if i remember well. And other races have called humans pink-skin too.

    Racism is/was something deep rooted in wow races, they hate each other for a number of reasons, but i do agree that skin color slurs, or any slurs, are rly necessary for the races to hate each other

  7. #7
    *Surprised zug zug face*

  8. #8
    Not terribly surprised at this point. God forbid they offend the fictional fantasy race portion of their audience

    Update: When's this guy getting a name change then, hm?

    Last edited by Skirdus; 2021-09-07 at 10:30 PM.


  9. #9
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    Humans: *to Orcs* Die, greenskin!
    Orcs: *to Humans* Die, pinkskin!

    They both do it. I don't see the problem?

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kiwijello View Post
    You seem to be offended...
    Confused, is the word you're looking for. To take umbrage/offense for a non existent entity solely on the basis of parallels to IRL is moot in a universe of genocide, murder, forced mating (I think they called it?), and treachery. Skin color? Too close to home I guess. I can't wait till we send strongly worded letters to the void lords, so long as we use punctuation, and emojis.

    Meh.
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  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Kumorii View Post
    Wonder if they have someone who is specifically hired to just go through and "clean" up.
    Given some of the twitter stuff of the dev team in the past.. let's just say I wouldn't put it past a couple of them already having compiled lists with things they've taken offense to. Now is probably just the perfect time to speak up and throw it onto the white-wash pile.
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  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Kiwijello View Post
    You seem to be offended...
    I think he's offended at the notion that Blizzard thinks he's so dumb he'll be pleased by this meaningless change and forget that they've done nothing to improve company culture.

  13. #13
    Racism in a universe where race as a PC defines your political faction, no fucking way.
    The developers who take offense to this should not work on a franchise where war is at its center.

    Also:
    https://classic.wowhead.com/npc=647/captain-greenskin
    Quote Originally Posted by Relapses View Post
    RT.com, the internet's leading source for unbiased reporting... 7 out of 5 Russians agree.
    You can complain about the source, but it's legit.

    https://twitter.com/keyboardturn/sta...11805541089280
    Last edited by Kralljin; 2021-09-07 at 10:37 PM.

  14. #14
    Changes nothing of importance in the lore, removes a word with potential bad connotations that alludes to racism. I see no problem here.

    It is funny though, how the language used by Russia Today is the same as the one used by all these American rednecks. Time to wake the fuck up and realize who else is on your team But no, that would actually require some thinking. Then again, I wouldn't accuse someone being outraged about removal of racism from a game to know what RT is.
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  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Derpules View Post
    Confused, is the word you're looking for. To take umbrage/offense for a non existent entity solely on the basis of parallels to IRL is moot in a universe of genocide, murder, forced mating (I think they called it?), and treachery. Skin color? Too close to home I guess. I can't wait till we send strongly worded letters to the void lords, so long as we use punctuation, and emojis.

    Meh.
    If orcs referenced dark skinned humans by the colour of their skin would it still be acceptable as fantasy?

    I think it ought to be, but in reality designating the basis of an insult from having a particular trait never comes off as clever writing. Seeing someone revert to a racial slur or in this case skin colour reference just tells me the character is behind the times minded and blizz wanted us to catch that undoubtedly.

    Vandar in av calls frostwolves dogs.

    Trollbane calls orcs greenskinned.

    Maybe trollbane just realized he sounded like an idiot for lumping his enemy into a category.

  16. #16
    Way back during the SoO content drought, I had my charge ability macroed to /yell "Death to the Blackbloods!" (Orcs) when I played my Alliance Warrior during those huge server organized RP-PvP events on Moon Guard. Guess I'd be banned for racism nowadays for RPing according to the world Blizzard had established. Then again, Moon Guard RP died several years ago. Last I heard there is some RP still going on Wyrmrest's Accord but I have no idea if they do huge server events that involved hundreds of people like MG did multiple times a week.

  17. #17
    Blizzard have zero regards for victims of murder and genocide. I'm calling for the complete removal of killing people, and by extension, animals in the game!

  18. #18
    "cracks down" AKA removes a word. big deal.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Athorha View Post
    If orcs referenced dark skinned humans by the colour of their skin would it still be acceptable as fantasy?
    Yes. There's nothing wrong with fictional racism because it doesn't condone the concept of racism itself.

    Fictional characters can be racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. because that's how some people are in real life, and unless you're trying to portray some utopian society where this sort of prejudice doesn't exist in the slightest, forgoing it altogether for the sake of not offending anyone actually makes your fictional world seem less realistic as a result


  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Mahcake View Post
    Was someone srsly offended by that? I’m just speechless.
    You're speechless because you don't understand why they removed it. It's not because 'someone was offended', but because they would rather not perpetuate the use of racial slurs - even fictional ones - in their fictional setting.

    And sure, it seems weird to crack down on racism but allow for mechanically enshrined murder and mayhem - but the reality is that it's much easier to draw the distinction of fiction when it comes to such obviously outrageous acts (like e.g. killing) than it is with subtler dynamics of normalized aggression like slurs, marginalization, etc. That's why those can actually be a bigger deal in fiction than acts that on the face of it and in direct comparison would of course be considered much worse (murder etc.).

    At the end of the day, it barely takes anything positive away from the game; but it does at least help a little in fighting against the normalization of slurs. Video games are cultural artifacts, and they do help to constitute and perpetuate culture - so being careful with what you say and do there (and how) is not an outrageous thing to be doing for a developer.

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