plemmot babber am jemmy

27 Jan 2012
Comments

96 notes

fuckyeswow:

labreatory:

fuckyeswow:

teachthecontroversy:

This morning, I was playing around on this website. It collects information about all the characters in World of Warcraft, and puts it all in easy to read pie-charts. You can specify race, gender, type of server, class, etc.
While playing around, I noticed that the most played female race is blood elf.
901,553 players.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with WoW, the female Blood Elves look like this:

The website from which I got this picture, described the Blood Elves as follows:
“The Blood Elf avatars perfectly conform to contemporary white American standards of beauty: athletic builds, fair skin, green eyes, blond hair.”
Even in an online fantasy world, where you can be human, dwarf, gnome, orc, and undead among others, the most played race is the stereotypical perfect female, which looks more prepared to enter therapy for an eating disorder, than a battle.

ay-yi-yi. First - the website mentioned, RealmPop, is very interesting and I recommend you guys pop over there and check it out.
Second - can we stop attacking the way avatars look? I almost vomited reading the description on this website. I’m sure white, American, blonde, green-eyed girls appreciate being categorized like they’re something to abhor. I think people forget that this might describe an actual person, and that it might hurt that person to hear that the way they look (which they cannot help) offends some people. White, black, green, purple, blonde, black-haired, naturally thin, chubby - EVERYONE is beautiful.
And guess what - the hyper-sexualization of women in video games isn’t going anywhere, and World of Warcraft is hardly one of the worst offenders (I’m looking at you, fighting games - Tekken in particular). I won’t deny that the reason people play these characters is because they are attractive, and that is because the majority of the players are male. And you know what? It’s a fantasy world, and they can do what they want. That’s the whole point of the game.
I might add as well that there are ways to make the Blood Elves with darker hair and skin, so please put that race card back in the deck.

You’re missing the point. It doesn’t matter if darker hair and skin options are available, the majority of users aren’t choosing them. This is a commentary about WoW players, not the game itself. The hyper-sexualization of women in WoW would require a whole different set of pie charts. And, while we’re on the topic, just because said sexualization is “not going anywhere soon”, that doesn’t mean we should stop talking about it or stop fighting it.

The point is, we shouldn’t be this concerned about what people are choosing when they create virtual avatars in a virtual world. There are plenty of real-life problems with race, gender, and sex that require our attention far more than whether a 15-year-old boy wants to drool over an elf.
If we keep looking at our differences, then that’s all we’ll ever see. People forget that we are all in this together, as humans, not as male/female, black/white, old/young, gay/straight. None of those details matter, we are all people.
Frankly, hyper sexualization of women in video games does not bother me. It’s a fantasy, not meant to be realistic or taken as some kind of ideal. If you meet someone who thinks that Cammy or Chun Li or some Belf chick is the ideal, then why are you bothering with that person to begin with? I think you’ll find that males who seriously expect their women to look like a Belf are in the minority.

> It doesn’t matter if darker hair and skin options are available, the majority of users aren’t choosing them.
O rly? I must have missed the graph that shows skin color
Oh no wait here it is

labreatory:

fuckyeswow:

teachthecontroversy:

This morning, I was playing around on this website. It collects information about all the characters in World of Warcraft, and puts it all in easy to read pie-charts. You can specify race, gender, type of server, class, etc.

While playing around, I noticed that the most played female race is blood elf.

901,553 players.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with WoW, the female Blood Elves look like this:

The website from which I got this picture, described the Blood Elves as follows:

“The Blood Elf avatars perfectly conform to contemporary white American standards of beauty: athletic builds, fair skin, green eyes, blond hair.”

Even in an online fantasy world, where you can be human, dwarf, gnome, orc, and undead among others, the most played race is the stereotypical perfect female, which looks more prepared to enter therapy for an eating disorder, than a battle.

ay-yi-yi. First - the website mentioned, RealmPop, is very interesting and I recommend you guys pop over there and check it out.

Second - can we stop attacking the way avatars look? I almost vomited reading the description on this website. I’m sure white, American, blonde, green-eyed girls appreciate being categorized like they’re something to abhor. I think people forget that this might describe an actual person, and that it might hurt that person to hear that the way they look (which they cannot help) offends some people. White, black, green, purple, blonde, black-haired, naturally thin, chubby - EVERYONE is beautiful.

And guess what - the hyper-sexualization of women in video games isn’t going anywhere, and World of Warcraft is hardly one of the worst offenders (I’m looking at you, fighting games - Tekken in particular). I won’t deny that the reason people play these characters is because they are attractive, and that is because the majority of the players are male. And you know what? It’s a fantasy world, and they can do what they want. That’s the whole point of the game.

I might add as well that there are ways to make the Blood Elves with darker hair and skin, so please put that race card back in the deck.

You’re missing the point. It doesn’t matter if darker hair and skin options are available, the majority of users aren’t choosing them. This is a commentary about WoW players, not the game itself. The hyper-sexualization of women in WoW would require a whole different set of pie charts. And, while we’re on the topic, just because said sexualization is “not going anywhere soon”, that doesn’t mean we should stop talking about it or stop fighting it.

The point is, we shouldn’t be this concerned about what people are choosing when they create virtual avatars in a virtual world. There are plenty of real-life problems with race, gender, and sex that require our attention far more than whether a 15-year-old boy wants to drool over an elf.

If we keep looking at our differences, then that’s all we’ll ever see. People forget that we are all in this together, as humans, not as male/female, black/white, old/young, gay/straight. None of those details matter, we are all people.

Frankly, hyper sexualization of women in video games does not bother me. It’s a fantasy, not meant to be realistic or taken as some kind of ideal. If you meet someone who thinks that Cammy or Chun Li or some Belf chick is the ideal, then why are you bothering with that person to begin with? I think you’ll find that males who seriously expect their women to look like a Belf are in the minority.