It’s an argument I often see brought up when people suggest discussing real life matters in game, such as having climate change in Azeroth, gender identities, or adding new races inspired by real life cultures, civilizations or religions.
“I don’t want IRL stuff in my video game, I play WoW to escape all of that stuff”
I’ve always found this an odd thing to say.
Not only are 90% of all things in this game inspired by real life stuff, this argument seems to claim that real life is depressing garbage that must be forgotten at all cost.
I for one enjoy life and the real world out there, and I don’t mind seeing bits of it online as well.
What about you? Do you want “real life” to “stay out of Azeroth” as well?
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I want real world politics to stay away from Azeroth yes.
And I want my paintings back!
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The problem with Irl stuff is that they are a result of logical thinking/illogical human greed so it would be realistic to expect humans, atleast the one race, to act very similar to the ones we are.
This is literally impossible, both from a non intervening standpoint and a logical stand point for multiple reasons. I didn’t even know that was a topic to be discussed, I imagine that would be over after someone mentions what a druid is and the fact that we dont have an ozone layer.
Well video games are peoples vision/art so they have to be inspired by something.
This is unfortunately a really hard topic as it can heavily vary depending on who you ask, during my really young years (cant just say young im only 19 
) I did have some school problems like bullying and feeling alone, during those times wow and video games in general were a tool for me to escape, even if momentarily.
As time progresses so do people and so do passions, wants and feelings. I no longer need it as a retreat but I’d be lying if I said it doesnt comfort me like a warm hug on some bad days to see the some warcraft stuff yknow?
But it’s heavily dependant and for me it no longer is one but if you’re going through a rough patch it’s important to have a place that makes you feel comfortable and safe, if that happens to be azeroth for some I can totally understand why.
I do as well now, but I still think that the “real life” like politics and gender talk and what have ye can be tiring after constant exposure which atleast to my experience is the unofrtunate reality for my age group (atleast the ones I speak to) as we are put in the spotligt and forced to deal with it, so I think it’s important to have a place to relax and not have to deal with it if you so choose, which is what wow is for me atleast, a place to relax.
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we do need fantasy politics and spirituality in the game, to make it more immersive.
The problem that we have is that players take everything so seriously that we may never see a genocide attack ever again.
this game is sadly a Marvel Avengers saga and I think hardcore lore masters of old will have to find another game that fits our needs.
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Because things that happen in California are irrelevant in Azeroth, i.e. players not living there. We dont need to be confronted with their nonsense.
Then again, its not like youre seriously wondering about any of this 
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Logic has been thrown out of the window a while ago in this game.
Besides, climate change in Azeroth could very well have magical reasons for happening. Cataclysmic events are easy to create in fantasy settings.
There wouldn’t need to be real life lessons about it.
It could just be “oh no, some Old God escaped its prison and that triggered volcano explosions around the globe, resulting in a volcanic winter” thingy.
But things happening in Asia are relevant, and deserve an entire expansion dedicated to them somehow?
Asia = Good, California = Bad?
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Not even remotely related to eachother. But nice try.
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You seem unable to explain why one is fine and the other is not.
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Do you play World of Warcraft to “escape real life”?
The short answer is No.
The slightly longer answer is this is a hobby, it’s what I do for fun. It’s no different to reading the kind of literature I enjoy, the things I watch on TV via Netflix etc, they are generally things that I choose on the basis that I like them.
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but they are also incerdibly easy to counteract, like mages,shamans and druids would directly counteract that easily, like druid with regenerating more plants for the earth to be healed, mages and shamans could directly control the natural elements and balance them again, for the same reasons that the “big bad” could do something, we could just counteract it after killing said “big bad”, the only reason that players arent heavily aware of the healing powers that we have access to in terms of nature is because for some reason since cata all places we’ve been healing havent been updated, but in reality, update it oncce to current year and all cataclysm damages would be fixed by now and yeah some long last crakcs would last like scars, but as far as exosystems go we’d be fine.
Mists? You gonna tell me taking inspiration from a culture is adapting their political issues? I don’t see pandas rioting against each other to remain in the jade forest and not be called valley of the five winds, bit of a stretch my guy.
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I agree. That’s how it is for me as well.
And are you bothered when you see things inspired by real life in WoW?
Taran Zhu is pretty much an anti-immigration advocate who claims that foreigners only bring violence and destruction to his continent.
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If i wanted an escape, id probably just play animal crossing.
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When I start seeing ads for the Tory party I’ll be upset about real life in wow. I couldn’t care less about sexual preferences or gender in the game. It’s no different to what hair colour an NPC has.
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The thing is, in pandaria if youare unfamilier to the nature and biomes and how to treat them, the biomes and nature will fight and murder you, however in real life I can fly to china, yell at a waiter and not be mauled to death by my own emotions take manifest, might be shanked in an ally for being rude beyond believe but that’s not the world that’s a knife and a guy with eyes for revenge.
So, Taran Zhu has legit reasons as to why it’s a bad idea to let the foreigners with no idea that they are endangering themselves with their own emotions come in, especially when they are in the middle of a war that leads to even more negative emotions that will kill them. He isn’t against them, he’s trying to help them from basically comiting the liven’t on themselves cause they yelled in a mirror.
Anti-immigration advocates in real life also claim to have good reasons for not letting foreigners in.
Whether it’s “justified” or not, it’s political all the same.
Yes politics are a thing, but it isn’t chinas politics, it’s fantasy politics in a fantasy game.
Politics doesn’t mean it’s real life, politics are neccesary for it to be understandable but doesn’t mean they are connected to real life. It’s a word connected to a logical action that thinking creatures would have, a hierarchy will most certainly establish itself, and how the highest power got there is irrelevant, still politics, if my tribe chose the strongest warrior to lead and I gave a guy a compliment like “nice gains dude”, it’s eluding the the idea of strength in the societal hierarchy so it’s politics, but doesn’t mean it’s “real life”.
I’m genuinely happy real life isn’t depressing for you, I don’t know many people that have that.
It has always been so for me but that is likely due to feeling like an alien and having depression as long as I can remember - it seems it is here to stay no matter what I try. Sometimes it isn’t so bad but the world news certainly never helps.
So, yes, WoW and other games are an escape for me. I don’t find diversity political and I am glad for other people. DF has been a little huggy but tbh after covid and SL I think we needed a hug.
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I find this approach completely, mind-bogglingly stupid, primarily for one reason. I also play WoW to escape IRL stuff. As a woman and an LGBT+ person I play to escape homophobia, sexism, bigotry.
What those clowns call “political,” for me is a welcome respite from the crapshow that is my life in a conservative country. I deserve an escape too.
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