Blizzard Is Changing the Names of the Twin Consorts and the Love Rocket

[Toppy]

No one outside of a relatively few forum folk gives a shit about any of these changes. As I said earlier, it's simply a useful dog whistle that they can use to demonstrate that they are trying to make a change.

Even my friends who generally dont care about this sort of WoW news and just play the game were a mix of annoyed or outright angry about this.

One in particular this was kinda the last bit. They love the inneundo and sexy stuff. She had a dozen alts each year working on the love rocket (Which they finnally got last year). The fruit thing mostly annoyed her and left her insulted, but the latest round had her quit; partly because they understand that from here on the game will have even less "sexy" things in it. They felt outright insulted by it.

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It "ends" when the game has become Sharia-compliant and removed all scantily-clad females, because their sinful skin will only drive all of the toxic males into a lustful frenzy, so it's the woman's fault for not covering up! No room for edgy humor, either, that might offend some pansy in Los Angeles who gets "triggered" by any showing of masculinity, as all men are rapists.

1. You're being too easily offended yourself, quit with the tribalism
2. The "masculine" stuff so far has been staying and unchanged. Blizzard loves that shit.

[DarkAmbient]

A little bit but humor gets dated and Blizzard misses with the in-game jokes that are cultural references (and yes, even mild sexual innuendo is a cultural reference that can easily go sour as we have seen) than they hit. That whole CSI: Miami bit in Westfall and that painfully bad Indiana/Harrison Jones thing in Uldum would have better been tabled. It's aged out badly.

Yes, public taste changes over time. Scenes in shows I watched in the 80s would probably be considered 'problematic' by some now (I've grown to hate that word) and older cultural references miss the mark, something that happens with depressing regularity as you get older.

It's difficult to express exasperation with this needless sanitisation of entertainment without some bore coming along and trying to equate that exasperation with the kind of offence that Blizzard seem to want to avoid (not referring to you btw). I consider it part of a wider cultural shift that sees itself as progressive but is actually quite conservative and puritanical.

[Lochton]

What are you talking about? The Hodir quest names were all deliberate.

Yes, because it is a quest with the main objective to blow an actual horn to send off the dead. Nothing questionable in it except how you read the title.

No. And even if, it doesn't matter. Because then there is nothing, that isn't seen as a problem by someone. Someone sees it as a problem, that Dalaran is flying. Who cares.

Eh, now you are going off the rails. Unless you mean a flying city is worse than pleasure chambers? People might complain about that too but there are still reviews of complaints.

[mbit]

The problems were started by the opposite people of SJW's (is the opposite of idiots also idiots in this case?). I mean, we literally have this issue because HR thought of the company and not the employees, their chief of legal and the team thought of the company and not the employee's cases, and the big/famous employees thought of themselves, and not other human beings.

"sjw" is largely just nepotism in new dress. And that kind of nepotism also prefers to hide all misdeeds because good appearance is everything. Look at neogaf and other examples. Its no different to priests diddling altar boys. Loudest about virtue are first with skeletons in the closet. This means in reverse when you hire the most virtue appealing you're inviting trouble.

[Love Rocket]

Yes, because it is a quest with the main objective to blow an actual horn to send off the dead. Nothing questionable in it except how you read the title.

All of the Hodir Quests are intentionally designed to make you think of sexual things. That was the whole point behind the names.

[Al Gorefiend]

They change the Love Rocket to Heartbreaker, and the Twin Consorts to the Twin Empyreans. Apparently riding someone's Love Rocket is too lewd, the icon kind of looks like a dick, and the word consort maybe makes it sound like they are just the objects of lust for some male mogu.

This on top of all the name changes, like Mac'Aree to Eredath, the removal of NPCs, or the changing of the "lewd" paintings.

Does this look like the Streisand effect could apply here?

Has anyone even thought of the Twin Consorts in the last decade? Was anyone offended by the name?

Looks like Blizzard is washing their hands of what some people now allege they've been guilty of.

If they want to clean up the game of all the sexual content, they gotta dig deeper than that, though. Think about Mother Shahraz and her sexual comments. Think about the steamy romance novels, where the sexual encounters of a Stormwind soldier with Pandaren and Gnome women are described. Or the sexual innuendos in the Hodir quests, such as "Thrusting the Spear", "Polishing the Helmet" and "Blowing Hodir's Horn".

Blizzard can't stop now. They've got work to do.

They'll have to remove many of the male goblins /silly and /flirt

[Lochton]

Who the hell are these changes being made for? Women seem to be offended by them more often than not and men definitely don't care.

I believe these changes are made as a side-effect of the current legal cases. Blizzard can't tell us the process of it, so trying to show people outraged about such nature that they have listened, and are now panicking. I do not believe it is the right way but it is other than, or a simple comment of "We know things have been shit, but we're cleaning up".

MMO-C, where people can't go a day without bitching about something.

Blizzard could give everyone $10,000 and people on here would bitch about it.

Well. Technically, I would love 10.000 dollars but I would also complain about it due to being a waste of money. Haha.

[Proskill]

imagine, just imagine all this work, all this effort actually went into some valuable, replayable content for the players. huh

[sunxsera]

Don't give them any ideas.

They don't care about alliance anyways. ¯\_(ツ) _/¯

[Lochton]

"sjw" is largely just nepotism in new dress. And that kind of nepotism also prefers to hide all misdeeds because good appearance is everything. Look at neogaf and other examples. Its no different to priests diddling altar boys. Loudest about virtue are first with skeletons in the closet. This means in reverse when you hire the most virtue appealing you're inviting trouble.

Except, in this, Blizzard already had skeletons in their closet before any form of SJW, and someone actually managed to bring proof of failing staff and big/famous employees believing they are better than others.

We're seeing the aftermath when bullshit behavior is finally being handled, but we're also seeing it being handled harder than really need be, because of the need to please fans and investors.

[mbit]

Except, in this, Blizzard already had skeletons in their closet before any form of SJW, and someone actually managed to bring proof of failing staff and big/famous employees believing they are better than others.

We're seeing the aftermath when bullshit behavior is finally being handled, but we're also seeing it being handled harder than really need be, because of the need to please fans and investors.

Maybe we define it differently but everyone involved is virtue signaling on twitter 24/7 which to me looks like the poster example of the problem i was talking about.

[Lochton]

imagine, just imagine all this work, all this effort actually went into some valuable, replayable content for the players. huh

Blame the Blizzard veterans, the "Old guard" as some call them. They might've had fun during the time but when it comes to actually man up, and fix what you have broken, they abandon ship and let others handle the problems. "I have my money, sorry I was a dick. Good luck running the company!".

[Darth Vowrawn]

Yes, public taste changes over time. Scenes in shows I watched in the 80s would probably be considered 'problematic' by some now (I've grown to hate that word) and older cultural references miss the mark, something that happens with depressing regularity as you get older.

It's difficult to express exasperation with this needless sanitisation of entertainment without some bore coming along and trying to equate that exasperation with the kind of offence that Blizzard seem to want to avoid (not referring to you btw). I consider it part of a wider cultural shift that sees itself as progressive but is actually quite conservative and puritanical.

They are called the "regressive left" for a reason. They are the children of Marx, Marcuse, Hegel, and Rousseau, the rotten fruit of a utopian ideal that keeps ruining the lives and fun of normal people. They promote racism, while claiming to be against it, they promote sexism, while claiming to be against it, and so on, because they believe that the only way to "perfect" society is to expose it to evil ideas (like racism and sexism), so they can come to the "true" ideal, the "synthesis" of their beliefs. All very mystical, and entirely wrong about human nature.

[Lochton]

Maybe we define it differently but everyone involved is virtue signaling on twitter 24/7 which to me looks like the poster example of the problem i was talking about.

They are, because someone ignited the fire. All the actions now done by Blizzard, is ignited by veterans of Blizzard who couldn't act like a decent person - heck, you could be the grumpy idiot and still handle your job without the bullshit some of these names have done - other other names have failed to do.

[DarkAmbient]

1. You're being too easily offended yourself, quit with the tribalism

Company does a dumb thing
Person 1: Wow, look at the dumb thing they did
Person 2: lol stop being offended

I don't understand why people think they are saying anything relevant with that response. Do they think all kinds of negative reaction count as offence?

[mbit]

They are, because someone ignited the fire. All the actions now done by Blizzard, is ignited by veterans of Blizzard who couldn't act like a decent person - heck, you could be the grumpy idiot and still handle your job without the bullshit some of these names have done - other other names have failed to do.

I meant before this came out. They have been doing it for years not just now which shows the type of person they are. This is why also mentioned the other examples. You got high-standing members of the community who preach virtue for years and suddenly they get raided by cops and vanish into prison. Same process every time.

[Al Gorefiend]

I still am bothered that sexual innuendos are less appropriate for global audiences than murdering, racial genocides, terrorism, quests where you straight up just be an asshole and whip slaves with a disguise on.

"Oh my heavens.. that icon kinda looks like a penis though!"

[Aucald]

This thread is all over the place. Let's focus on the actual topic of the thread and drop the real-world political discussion that's derailing things.

[Lochton]

I meant before this came out. They have been doing it for years not just now which shows the type of person they are. This is why also mentioned the other examples. You got high-standing members of the community who preach virtue for years and suddenly they get raided by cops and vanish into prison. Same process every time.

Well, yeah. That is the main problem. People high up shine so bright that other issues are not seen. Apparently, a lot of complaints were filed to HR, and HR shoved them away. Papers were brought to the Legal team, and Legal shoved them away because money, company, and the bright lights were better than the small people who get burnt in the process. I am scared to think of how long some group of poor employees have had to smuggle files and needed evidence out of the company before the DFEH actually wanted to react on it, for they were at it for 2 years before anything even was announced, so sounds like they've had trouble finding enough because Legal, HR and big names had no issue shoving it aside.

[Vasilisa]

I think that what they're doing is easy, nearly free and something to point to if they need it. So you're on to something there. It doesn't mean a lot. But it's not nothing either. It's a public dog whistle that indicates "OK. We get it."

They are going to be a bit more thoughtful about inserting sexual references like "Love Rocket" into the game going forward. That's an artifact of the corporate culture they want (and need) to erase. They're not wrong in pursuing that change. Having things in their game that could come from a bad Flesh Gordon remake isn't helping them. Their content choices will be watched forever starting now. I think they're aware of that and will lay back on pandering to their male customers.

I don't quite agree with you. I fully understand that they're trying to show that they care in order to cover their backs. The point is that (at least to my knowledge) sexual innuendo was never a big problem in Wow (I've played with many women), the big problem was Blizzard leaders being sexual offenders and the corporate discrimination towards women. Now, after the lawsuit they are trying to remove any evidence of the existence of sex from the game.

In my language is the proverb that somebody is more saint then the Pope himself, meaning that they are showing how pure and righteous they are and when nobody is watching they are doing the opposite. I would love if they actually changed their work culture, paid for women rights organizations, etc.

The problem is that these names, icons, etc changes are pure marketing decisions and are done only because they got caught. Currently a lot of people don't consider anything sexual-related funny so I would understand if such a change was done because of it. If that was the case I wouldn't have problem with that.