Representation is important because by showing a diverse cast of traits in the media in a positive light, it helps those traits become normalised. It makes acceptance that little bit closer to being obtainable if we’re coming out of the ‘Keep it in the bedroom’ phase - and don’t get me wrong, obviously I’m not advocating for the media to suddenly become Gay Adult Funtime Land, but holding hands and kissing is accepted in public for straight couples and we’d quite like the same. This doesn’t just apply to LGBT either - imagine an impressionable young black girl raised on Disney princesses - white after white, which is fine, but now imagine how happy she is going to be seeing Tiana. For the first time, there’s the message. Girls who look like you can be Princesses too.
I think the above part explains this.
WoW is an MMO, which means it is a game focused on community and playing with others. Knowing that you are represented in the game shows that the community, in general, are supportive of you and the trait you have which makes you a minority. If nothing else, you know to /gquit real heckin quick if you see guild chat full of complaints about the representation.
My guild, personally, was already diverse in terms of age, ethinicity, etc, so what I would describe as ‘my community’ hasn’t been impacted particularly much, however…
It just makes me happy, y’know? I enjoy seeing same-sex couples just being a thing and getting on with their lives, if only because I know that a few years back it would have been impossible to get to see something like that in the media, and nearly as hard to be in a same-sex couple and just getting on with your life in real life as well.
I’m lucky to live in an area which is rather accepting of LGBT people and have friends to are LGBT or accepting of. I once had issues with my mother not being as okay with it, but that’s sorted now. I’d say the biggest problem is my boyfriend’s mother (I am a bisexual woman) is rampantly against LGBT, but she’s also crazy and as soon as he can move out, he is going to fully cut her off forever, so she never needs to know. In short - I’m personally not heavily impacted. But that’s because I’m lucky. Other people are not so.
As someone who plays for the lore, rather than the actual game, the seeing of LGBT characters in game is so fun for me. I love playing WoW because I love the idea of being this character who is so central to the story of Azeroth and it makes me happier knowing that if that character wanted to be with someone of the same gender, that would be okay. I’ve never met anyone from the forums, but if I did meet someone who was rather homophobic, I’d simply ignore them and move on. As I already said, my guild is accepting enough and that’s all I care about.
I feel it’s not a question of enough or not enough. Would I be pleased with more? Absolutely. Do I think what we have for now is a good start, and therefore consider it ‘enough for now’? Yes.
From the community itself - not much. There are those accepting and those that are not. The only thing that happens here is threads devolve into petty fights that end up going nowhere. What I would like from the WoW Devs, however, is for them to ignore the outcries of the homophobes and to keep adding more LGBT characters.
for your thread.