The Evolution of Creative Content in World of Warcraft

[Empower]

The game as it was during its most beloved, popular, and rapid climb to success doesn't represent who we are as a company today.

kek. unintentionally (?) extremely based.

I started playing older games from the 90s and early 20s more and more. It is more fun then I've had with almost any modern game but it's a bit striking to see just what we lost.

Gaming becoming main stream was the worst thing to happen to it.

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I wish our mmo accounts were tied to our wow accounts. That way, every time I see some toxic, narcissistic 45-year-old teenager whine about simple changes like this, I could block him in-game as well as on here.

I'd rather wait a little longer for a dungeon group rather than spend time with someone who throws a temper-tantrum over video game changes.

We wish you could as well.

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I mean, female dreadlords are already a thing. I wouldn't mind seeing more gendered demon variations. Female felguards and doomguards? Male shivarra? I'm cool with that, honestly

Honestly I wish they wouldn't...demons are supposed to be alien in the fiction not reflections of human vices. Humanizing them makes them bland.

[neik]

Keep your twitter mob virtue signaling to yourself, Blizzard. You are selling a fantasy at the end of the day. Custommers are your boss, not the other way around.

[rhorle]

So they're choosing to retcon story in a fictional universe (incubi) to fit an all-inclusive narrative in the real world?.

Blizzard already hinted that incubi exist though. It isn't a retcon if they never explicitly stated they do not exist. It is about the 11th question or just search for incubi. https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Ask_CDev

Do incubi exist?
There are several different rumors concerning the male counterparts to the demonic succubus race, and it's clear that the succubi are responsible for all of them. A few of the more common rumors are:

Yes, there are incubi, but the spell to summon them has been conveniently forgotten by mortal practitioners and Burning Legion agents.
Incubi are kept as slaves on their home planet, having been rendered incapable of escape or independent movement.
The succubi consumed the males of their race when they were brought into the Burning Legion. (Alternatively, the act of devouring the males is what caught the attention of the Burning Legion.)

[xdunpealx]

I remember playing Duke Nukem, thank goodness I know the difference of this bullshit they are doing and when games were fun. BALLS OF STEEL! Anyone agreeing with blizzard, BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS. thin skins.

[Empower]

the only thing all hope with all this bullshit is that blizzard finaly make a female ogre model, or i can start saying they are misogynist for not making then or making the race playable

There has been female orges in the game since warcraft 1. Being a alien species and not human they simply have no diffences in the sexes beyond genitals. Just think all those topless female orcs and you never even knew.

[meheez]

omg boobies, omg

[neik]

I know very progressive companies, absolute LGBT and all, but they still manages to bite their tongue, and delivers proper content to their audiences, instead of trying to turn everyone into dickless sparkling spongebob.

[tromage2]

Go woke go broke.

What trash they spend their dev time on.
Nobody ask for these things other then the crazy people out there but go ahead fuck up your game and company.

These woke crappy people need to watch South Park season 1 episode 9, when you want to create something nobody feels offended then nothing will remain.

[tomten]

This and stuff like this is what will finally kill wow for real. Just you watch. And bookmark this post for future reference

[Chilela]

These updates are a relatively small part of a comprehensive, company-wide effort to improve the WoW team and Blizzard as a whole

If anything, these changes do the exact opposite.

The player feedback influenced many gameplay improvements we’re working on for patch 9.1.5, and our internal feedback identified some in-game content that is inconsistent with our goal of building an inclusive and welcoming game world.

I'll take this as an inadvertent admittance that while the playerbase is actually giving proper feedback that results in meaningful (if not late) improvements to the game itself, the internal side of things is actively hindering it. The former changes will likely only last for this expansion, while the latter will most likely be permanent.

Nonetheless, we believe these changes are worthwhile.

I feel like the overwhelming majority of even the current playerbase would strongly disagree. While there would be a fair bit of agreement in the removal of Afrasiabi references (a position I can't say I necessarily agree with in large part because it leads to where we're going), more trivial things like changing "My Sack is Gigantique" or the targeted /pizza emote are absolutely absurd. Most people outside of dedicated ideologues are starting to push into the "This is getting ridiculous" camp, from personal experience.

As a team, we want the world they see to stand as an expression of our talents and principles.

So as a testament to your ideology, gotcha.

Goofy jokes and occasional mature innuendos are part of WoW, and probably always will be.

Again, how is something like "My Sack is Gigantique" anything BUT a goofy joke? Some of the creative decisions made tell me innuendos will likely not "always be" a part of WoW, at this rate.

In short, we want our jokes to be inclusive and not punch down.

Ah, yes, the "Only certain targets are acceptable" mantra. Gotcha.

It’s important to us that we ensure Azeroth is the best place it can be for everyone

Well, I'm sure they'll quickly figure out that everything is offensive to someone. So good luck with this philosophy.

You’re going to see more of it soon in 9.1.5, and in updates to come

Cool, so this isn't gonna stop. Good to know.

and where applicable, in WoW Classic as well.

AKA Official servers are gonna end up being the least Blizzlike "Replication" servers down the road.

An example of a post-9.1.5 improvement is the creation of an incubus demon, which we can add to places where succubus models currently appear.

And finally, the one thing I actually like in this post. Adding things is a good thing. Most of my issue comes with alteration or removal. This is a most welcome change. If Blizz stuck to that mindset, I'd be much more okay with it, but I'm not expecting it.

[Bladesyphon]

It truly is amazing how many people can post about wanting Blizzard to address and rectify their mistreatment of and objectification of women in one breath, and then immediately on the following breath, cry foul about Blizzard also taking steps to rectify the same kind of objectification of women in a video game with a large male demographic.

It's always easy to demand change, until that change is affecting something you participate in, and makes you realize that you are, in fact, part of the problem. One honestly only needs to look at the knee-jerk reaction people have had over Alloy in the Horizon sequel to get a really solid grasp on how the majority of male gamers look at women, and frankly it's disgusting and incredibly disturbing.

Yes, we should all be continuing to hammer Blizzard to ensure those changes they promised in the work place follow through, but the idea isn't to just fix what happened in Blizzard, it's to also help prevent that from happening again by taking away outlets of objectification of women in video games, media, and otherwise. And I know someone's going to come in with the "Well that's empowering to women!", and yes, in some cases it is, but not all. By making a blanket statement of saying "Seeing women with big breasts in tiny metal bikinis and thongs is empowering" without understanding that there are, in fact, women and men out in the world that aren't comfortable by that, and then telling those people to grow a thicker skin puts you in the same category of harassers as you had in Blizzard. It's also incredibly hypocritical that people bemoaning these changes are telling others to grow a thicker skin, when they themselves could just as easily follow their own advice, and get over a few non-consequential cosmetic changes.

There is *nothing* wrong about adding more inclusivity to a video game, especially when it doesn't completely turn the lore on it's head. Incubi have existed in WoW's lore for some time, people have been begging Blizzard for Incubi models for years (as far as back as when cosmetic glyphs became a thing), and now we're finally getting them. That's awesome! It sucks it took a sexual harassment case for this to finally make Blizzard start listening to people both in, and out, of the office, but it's still great it's happening. The removal of the (poorly drawn) portraits and replacing them with still lifes, or of paintings with a regal woman wearing something that regal woman would actually wear, isn't necessarily pandering to the twitter mobs. In fact, considering no such twitter mobs even existed, odds are this change came from within Blizzard, where some of their art team members probably asked "Hey, can we do something about these paintings", and lo and behold, things were changed. I mean, how many of you even NOTICED those paintings until they were changed? I've been playing the game since launch, and I don't think I've ever stopped to look at any of those paintings, So, then, why are we acting as if this is the straw that broke the camel's back?

The reality is - you can't just fire the people that were behind the sexual harassment and mistreatment of women in the work place, pat yourselves on the back, and call it a day. Sexism and gender mistreatment in the work place, ESPECIALLY in game development, is incredibly deep-seeded, and it all starts from somewhere, and that somewhere is us, sitting at home, playing video games or watching movies, and people who are unable to differentiate reality from fiction seeing objectification of women (or men too), and thinking that's perfectly okay and acceptable, and carrying that on into their adult lives. People don't just become like Asfrasiabi, it's something they grow into. The only way to curb that, and help make sure that things like the cubicle crawls, or what happened to the Treyarch employee, is to ensure that we take steps to preventing it in the first place.

And yes, that means that you might have to say goodbye to some digital boobies here and there in games that aren't rated M. But honestly, is that really THAT big of a price to pay, especially if the changes are as minor as a painting change or a title rename, if it means more people can feel welcome at the work place, and not have to worry if their coworkers are undressing them with their eyes?

[tomten]

I wish our mmo accounts were tied to our wow accounts. That way, every time I see some toxic, narcissistic 45-year-old teenager whine about simple changes like this, I could block him in-game as well as on here.

I'd rather wait a little longer for a dungeon group rather than spend time with someone who throws a temper-tantrum over video game changes.

Amazing idea actually, would make it easier to avoid people like yourself. Win win for everyone

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And yes, that means that you might have to say goodbye to some digital boobies here and there in games that aren't rated M. But honestly, is that really THAT big of a price to pay, especially if the changes are as minor as a painting change or a title rename, if it means more people can feel welcome at the work place, and not have to worry if their coworkers are undressing them with their eyes?

Short answer? Yes, it is.
Long answer. Yes, it still is.

Their (anyone's) coworkers will always be undressing (with their eyes...) whomever they feel is attractive, what imaginary world do you really live in? Honestly?

[kamuimac]

Go woke go broke.

What trash they spend their dev time on.
Nobody ask for these things other then the crazy people out there but go ahead fuck up your game and company.

These woke crappy people need to watch South Park season 1 episode 9, when you want to create something nobody feels offended then nothing will remain.

as a reminder - New Wolrd launched

they already reached almost 700k subs.

and blizzard is putting woke propaganda

it will end up in disaster :/

its so sad watching game you love die so horribly :/

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Their (anyone's) coworkers will always be undressing (with their eyes...) whomever they feel is attractive, what imaginary world do you really live in? Honestly?

well he most likely lives in the world where majority of people in work live

aka they are not seen as attractive enough to be viewed in sexual way

anyone handsome/pretty enough knows perfecly well how easy is to get laid in work .

problems come always later - after break ups or when other side realises it was only sex

this leads to most of accusations about molesting etc .

[Sagenod]

"Punch down" is questionable verbage but other than that this is pretty benign I'd say.

[Jshadowhunter]

In short, we want our jokes to be inclusive and not punch down.

Oh just faf off, snowflakes.

[panda040]

This is cringe, the fantasy world should stay true to what it was and is, not be warped to fit devs personal beliefs. Sad

[rhorle]

This is cringe, the fantasy world should stay true to what it was and is, not be warped to fit devs personal beliefs. Sad

Do you know what influenced the fantasy world in the past? The devs personal beliefs. The game is being true to what it was and is.

[tomten]

This is cringe, the fantasy world should stay true to what it was and is, not be warped to fit devs personal beliefs. Sad

I wish more creators in general had Tarantino's mentality. His response to that Kill bill is a violent movie...
“Yes, Kill Bill’s a violent movie. But it’s a Tarantino movie. You don’t go to see Metallica and ask the fuckers to turn the music down."

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I wish more creators in general had Tarantino's mentality. His response to that Kill bill is a violent movie...
“Yes, Kill Bill’s a violent movie. But it’s a Tarantino movie. You don’t go to see Metallica and ask the fuckers to turn the music down."
Can we have a wow be wow and the snowflakes and fuck off somewhere else?

you know this analogy doesn't work like at all right? your just like you shouldn't complain that a tarantino movie is violent you shouldn't complain about any changes blizzard wants to make because it's a blizzard game and they can do what ever they want with it.

[rhorle]

I wish more creators in general had Tarantino's mentality. His response to that Kill bill is a violent movie...
“Yes, Kill Bill’s a violent movie. But it’s a Tarantino movie. You don’t go to see Metallica and ask the fuckers to turn the music down."

Isn't that what Blizzard is doing though? Blizzard doesn't want their game to be about those things so they are changing it. Why is it that people can tell Blizzard what their media should be?