I’ll explain the make-up of the WoW community as a whole and then get into the psychology and personalities that would be drawn to Horde in particular.
Think about what you think your average WoW player looks like in real life, as well as their personality, interest, musical tastes, artistic style, especially if they are super into the game.
I personally worked in the industry for a short time and went to work in an office with hundreds of gamers and employees and I can tell you from first hand, many gamers, not all, fit a profile.
Artistic style: Goth, dark, metal, anime, splashes w some color like they’re Harley Quinn
Music: Metal, Punk, Rock, some other forms of electronic music
Personality: Sensitive, socially awkward, overly serious and detail/fact oriented, basically nerdy
Favorite color: BLACK
Favorite body art: Some tattoo of some Marvel character, piercings in the nose, multiple in ears
Mental health issues: Rampant…depression, sufferers of abuse, excluded, bullied
Societal standing: Outcast, loner, non-athlete or interested in physical activity in general like the gym/fitness) wellness
For a lot of these people, at least in the U.S., they’re the kind of people that found sanctuary and identity in video games and going against the societal norms, being and accepting being “different” and becoming a part of community of essentially outsiders.
Ion, the lead game director for WoW is basically as close as you get to a hybrid in that industry. He’s a mix of having some social aptitude, being communicative without need raging and yet still being intellectual and factual, which is what the personalities playing this game demand most, they just want information.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some cool people, but people in this community are generally stiff and not very loose and charismatic, not exactly the ladies man or social butterfly in society. They’re at least a little awkward, a little socially off balance, care about a lot things other people don’t, are sensitive to humor, easily offended and prone to drama because internally they’re very insecure about themselves so they automatically defend themselves.
So with all that said, after reading all of what I wrote about, would these people choose Alliance?
Alliance represents the things in society that they don’t connect with or have been excluded from?
The Alliance is like social media, society, TikTok and Instagram. It’s pretty, brighter, more happy. It has cities, races that they already know and don’t feel a part of or don’t even want to be because of the relation to their own personal lives.
The “attractive” Female, much like the attractive women in real life that they don’t look like or never had a chance with or teased by.
The “attractive” Male, more handsome and muscular than they are in real life only reminds them of their insecurity as they are very likely not anything like that in real life.
Why not be the faction that represents the Gothic Undead, which already fits their style/personality. Why not be the angry, scary, monster Horde that is strong and not human so they can crush the very humans they despise in their very own world that they cannot?
Why would a group of people, feeling excluded from society, pick the faction that represents everything they are insecure about and not the faction that provides them with an escape from society, much like everything else, their interests and all which are much like a result of their lives and how their personal experiences have shaped them more than they ever consciously chose it, they just simply followed the same path as others like them.
