If we’re being honest here, those who say they don’t want to be bothered by “real life politics” when talking about LGBT characters are just homophobes trying to word their sentences in such a way that their bigotry isn’t blatantly obvious and can’t result in a ban.
Interesting take, thanks for sharing. Which country do you live in?
you are taking the words “escape from real life” too literally.
‘Escape’ means escapism in the sense of getting out of the routine and stupid stuff in real life and immerse yourself in a different world without that.
I think it depends. It seems you’re drawing parallels where they aren’t needed…
Of course politics will be in a game like WoW, as we have Warchiefs, Kings, etc. but that is not equal to, also wanting to put in jobs in the game that are mandatory for your character to progress.
I do not play WoW to escape real life, but what I understand from that sentence, is people have from the start an “equal” playground, when you start your lvl 1 character, you are as strong, as tall, as whatever as the other guy just starting.
I read in the thread someone mentioning school and bullying, imagine now you would have Thrall go “All Orcs must pass this SAT test to qualify” suddenly we may start to see people being bullied / held out of social things in game, based on real life.
Some people are not able to run in real life, suddenly wanting to impose a “We should add our Strava running time to determine the pace at what our characters run” would suck.
People want to “escape” into a world, where whatever they are dealing with in real life, isn’t the problem, its a “pause” on everything else. Thats at least what i get out of their escapism arguments.
I just play WoW to try and get a semi-decent story and for numbers. I really don’t care about anything else and this outlook really does seem to offend the playerbase and I have no idea why.
Make it less about you personally and more about you, the player.
I don’t care what you do or who you are - if your crap at your class and holding me back, then your getting removed and replaced. It has nothing to do with you as a person, but everything to do with you as a player. Just be good and know your stuff. Simple and easy.
That’s how I play WoW - numbers, M+ and hope for a decent-ish story.
You’re correct. Speaking as a gay guy myself, I want to highlight that these individuals also do not actually speak for the group as a whole but they sure do love pretending to be the ‘majority’ despite the fact that many LGB individuals have legitimate and credible concerns regarding the direction certain movements have taken over time.
There are many of us who do not want to be placed atop a pedestal simply for existing and we certainly do not want to have ‘representation’ absolutely everywhere, all of the time. I value consistent world-building in my escapism far more than performative pandering.
It’s all a grift, ultimately. The emotionally volatile seek to try and silence or guilt trip anyone who puts their foot down and recognises the soulless pandering for exactly what it is. Then there are those who financially benefit from it by playing the part of the perpetual victim - such as the various individuals and groups involved in the ESG/DEI web of deceit.
Most people are perfectly fine with this stuff in moderation and when handled tastefully - but as always, there are those who take it too far and have pushed too much to the point where the appetite for it is rapidly diminishing even amongst those of us whoa re part of these groups in the first place.
I tell you something - you have such a great transmog set…I wish my fiancé would get more transmogs for his Void Elf Priest, but he’s literally just sticking to TBC Season 3, because Lady Malande used it in Black Temple.
But it does bother me at times, when companies shove their “new political view” down my throat on repeat so they appear “inclusive”.
I am a very firm believer in that everyone should be able to practice w/e religion, or w/e political view they might have. But no one should have someone else view forced on them.
That’s a funny take. Firstly because you’re talking about it fitting someone else’ needs while the “status quo” of not having anything gender or relationship related outside of a strict binary is adhering to your own needs in this regard.
Secondly, because it really is quite telling about the actual politics of people who get this uptight about minor storylines and small gameplay changes. Whether you like it or not then you’re bringing your own politics and viewpoints to the game but have no issue with this.
Lastly, every story-based game is political in its own right. This is reflected in the plotlines present and even the landscape and cultures of the world’s inhabitants. Of course the game being “political” only becomes an issue once it starts being inclusive because:
I do.
Videogames are an escape hatch for me to wind down after work, to recharge my batteries and enjoy time with my friends, and even family if we play the same games online.
I play them because I want to be able to detach from the sources of stress in RL.
Which is the main reason why I only engage in content that I like, or can control.
Because if I wanted more stress, I’d just deal with IRL.