Prejudice, Racism and Discrimination

[Techno-Druid]

One thing I haven't really seen all that widely in RP which I feel is generally something portrayed in-game is prejudice and discrimination or even bias in general. Not that I particularly mind, but it always sort of feels a bit weird lorewise to see warlocks, demon hunters and death knights walking around as if they're basically 'normal civilians'. Even with the new allied races, it feels a bit when you have something like Lightforged Draenei gleefully conversing wirh void elves.

Not that there should be lynch mobs roaming Stormwind or anything but it just feels a little OOC. I guess people can take things like IC interactions personally or whatever but if that's the case, then why even RP in the first place?

[Spiffums]

Tolerance of others. Then again everyone hates Trolls in Warcraft. Notice it's just 1 tribe that was allowed in the horde till this expansion.

[Techno-Druid]

Tolerance of others. Then again everyone hates Trolls in Warcraft. Notice it's just 1 tribe that was allowed in the horde till this expansion.

Technically there are three tribes in the Horde: Darkspear, Shatterspear and Revantusk.

[Dethxx]

This is very simple...If roleplay decided every decision this game would be dust in the wind by now.

[huth]

It's a compromise between lore and gameplay. There's a reason the Warlock trainers in Alliance towns tend to be hidden away, and Death Knights are openly discriminated against in their introductory quest.

[Techno-Druid]

This is very simple...If roleplay decided every decision this game would be dust in the wind by now.

I'm not talking about gameplay, I'm talking about people who create characters who mostly follow lore but completely disregard, let's say, a disdain towards warlocks by night elves in lore, not even addressing it or even the opposite where they actively expect you to tolerate {class/race/profession}.

[Kharli]

uh..you were not on Argent Dawn EU then.. like..seriously, there was a bloody witch hunt on the void elves, Alliance side.

Speaking as a roleplayer, it depends on the character I play, most of my Alliance characters hates the horde, for..various amount of reasons, my horde characters dislikes other horde races. (my blood elf hates forsaken for simply being..smelly or rather..all the horde races, including those pesky pacificsts of suramar.) and my orc dislikes the forsaken because..well they have absoutely no honor in her eyes and she also dislikes.. the blood elves, cause elfs.

[Techno-Druid]

uh..you were not on Argent Dawn EU then.. like..seriously, there was a bloody witch hunt on the void elves, Alliance side.

No, I'm on US servers: Moon Guard for Alliance and Wyrmrest Accord for Horde.

[Aucald]

I have always viewed PC classes or races that would otherwise be thematically or philosophically opposed (such as Lightforged and Void Elves) to be in a state of teeth-clenched teamwork - you might get some lighthearted disparagement here and there, but not outright intolerance or bigotry between group members, guildmates, and the like. The existing narrative of WoW shows plenty of prejudices across the strata of races and classes to pick up on in an RP fashion.

Of course, it may not be an area many wish to dabble in given the real-world implications of prejudice, racism, and bigotry. People generally indulge in fantasy to escape those conditions in life.

[seleri]

I think it comes down to public vs private RP.

A lot of people that just hang out for random walk ups aren't interested in starting a fight or getting into an argument right away, they're looking to make friends. That said, I still see plenty of people give void elves and death knights the cold shoulder. With warlocks, there's really no quick way to tell they're a warlock unless they have their demon out or have something like "radiating fel energy" in their profile.

At events, especially guild events (depending on the guild), I think more people are willing to show that distrust, or outright disgust, because they know the other people there and what they're expecting/comfortable with.

Edit: For me personally, if I'm just hanging out in a city, I generally try to have my characters be "nice" within reason and the scope of their personality. One of my paladins isn't going to be super friendly to a random death knight but I'm not going to have her outright insult them or walk away unless the death knight gives them a good reason. I recognize that it's ultimately a game and maybe someone is RPing to escape their shitty day and me not adding to that is more important than staying strictly 100% IC.

[OIS]

My death knight was once confronted by 2 people because I got on my death horse in Cathedral Square. It was weird, but I was amused. Like, you can't actually make me go away. I think that also could be one of the reasons why people don't hound these characters too persistently.

[Rozz]

For some it may be a feeling of just not wanting to come off rude or possibly offend/start a fight with more sensitive players. I know when I first made a character, I made an ex-Scarlet Crusader. I didn't want to walk up to people and be an ass, esp bc I know people complained about that in the past with Crusader rpers. But when I play as her I'd rather let others interact with me willingly, than to "force" them into interactions they may not want. I also let people know if I'm IC or OOC playing, so they're aware if I'm in the mood for walk ups or not.

Tbh it can be fun to be the douchebag or the hated race/class, but some people take things too far.

[Wewlad]

There's a way to play such characters without just being an ass all the time.

Simultaneously there are select people who literally think that if you RP a prejudiced character then you yourself are also prejudiced because they have no sense of IC/OOC separation.

[Koryn123]

I still have a Vanilla WoW guidebook from BradyGames, and for each class existing at the time, it has a little story at the beginning of the section. A mage story is about a Forsaken mage with her warlock partner about to do a blizzard and rain of fire together on a ton of Alliance soldiers, and a warlock story is about a human mage walking into an inn, Goldshire I think, and people look up, but quickly go back to their business, thinking they were a mage, and they go to the basement to sneakily learn from their class trainer. They hear a noise from upstairs and both pull out their wands, I'm guessing to kill whoever came down to discover what they were up to, but it turned out to just be some noise and they put their wands away and got to work.

From an RP perspective, it's weird for them to be in-character-ily walking brazenly around Stormwind like a regular person, but sometimes you need to make compromises for the sake of friends you want to play with. I made a human priest and wanted to dress them up like Scarlet Crusade, but all my friends were playing Night Elves, so I had to be a more tolerant Scarlet Crusade priest from the priest order hall.

Sometimes, people pick their characters before their friends and so when they want to hang out with those friends, they need to compromise their character's believability a bit. Personally, I'm not a fan of being IC all the time. I'm OOC most of the time when I'm playing on MG, except when I actually intentionally participate in an event.

Lorewise, it's probably dumb to walk around Stormwind or the Exodar with your Felguard out and about, and best just to ignore people doing that as either OOC or not smart RPers.

Also, I like a little racism and prejudice in WoW. It's lame to walk around as a Blood Elf and not be a little haughty. Same with NE's. The sage, tolerant, wise NE's are so boring. Malfurion's lame. The proud, strong, stalwart, pragmatic NE's are the cool ones, like Maiev and the ones that are dying and turning into Forsaken NE's in Darkshore. Shame Blizz can't make any and keep them alive to be cool NE characters.

[Techno-Druid]

I still have a Vanilla WoW guidebook from BradyGames, and for each class existing at the time, it has a little story at the beginning of the section. A mage story is about a Forsaken mage with her warlock partner about to do a blizzard and rain of fire together on a ton of Alliance soldiers, and a warlock story is about a human mage walking into an inn, Goldshire I think, and people look up, but quickly go back to their business, thinking they were a mage, and they go to the basement to sneakily learn from their class trainer. They hear a noise from upstairs and both pull out their wands, I'm guessing to kill whoever came down to discover what they were up to, but it turned out to just be some noise and they put their wands away and got to work.

From an RP perspective, it's weird for them to be in-character-ily walking brazenly around Stormwind like a regular person, but sometimes you need to make compromises for the sake of friends you want to play with. I made a human priest and wanted to dress them up like Scarlet Crusade, but all my friends were playing Night Elves, so I had to be a more tolerant Scarlet Crusade priest from the priest order hall.

Sometimes, people pick their characters before their friends and so when they want to hang out with those friends, they need to compromise their character's believability a bit. Personally, I'm not a fan of being IC all the time. I'm OOC most of the time when I'm playing on MG, except when I actually intentionally participate in an event.

Lorewise, it's probably dumb to walk around Stormwind or the Exodar with your Felguard out and about, and best just to ignore people doing that as either OOC or not smart RPers.

Also, I like a little racism and prejudice in WoW. It's lame to walk around as a Blood Elf and not be a little haughty. Same with NE's. The sage, tolerant, wise NE's are so boring. Malfurion's lame. The proud, strong, stalwart, pragmatic NE's are the cool ones, like Maiev and the ones that are dying and turning into Forsaken NE's in Darkshore. Shame Blizz can't make any and keep them alive to be cool NE characters.

Yeah, I remember the guards in Stormwind will have more cryptic dialogue if you ask where the warlock trainer is located. I like warlocks working as more cryptic.

[Koryn123]

Yeah, I remember the guards in Stormwind will have more cryptic dialogue if you ask where the warlock trainer is located. I like warlocks working as more cryptic.

Yup, I like the idea of warlocks being these underground types who have to practice their craft in secret and they're not really in it for the Horde or Alliance, just power for themselves.

[Lochton]

uh..you were not on Argent Dawn EU then.. like..seriously, there was a bloody witch hunt on the void elves, Alliance side.

Speaking as a roleplayer, it depends on the character I play, most of my Alliance characters hates the horde, for..various amount of reasons, my horde characters dislikes other horde races. (my blood elf hates forsaken for simply being..smelly or rather..all the horde races, including those pesky pacificsts of suramar.) and my orc dislikes the forsaken because..well they have absoutely no honor in her eyes and she also dislikes.. the blood elves, cause elfs.

Hah! I know. Was a little overkill in the end when they started talking about executions in the cathedral..

- - - Updated - - -

Though, honestly, you would experience and should experience being opposed depending on your race, allegiance or class. We are so many crossing wires in this little basket that sparks should fly - only normal.

[Super Kami Dende]

The few times I did RP in WoW as a Paladin, I had an incredible disdain for Undead, Warlocks, DK's, Forsaken and basically anything else unholy/Demonic. I at times was even sympathetic to Scarlet Crusade RP'ers and expressed disgust at Undead in the Argent Dawn/Crusade.

[Techno-Druid]

Hah! I know. Was a little overkill in the end when they started talking about executions in the cathedral..

That sounds like a pretty fun event honestly. I wish I could go fully Imperium of Man with my LF draenei.

[Lochton]

That sounds like a pretty fun event honestly. I wish I could go fully Imperium of Man with my LF draenei.

Well, not something that should be going on in the cathedral. You take that to the docks/green area.