![fuckyeswow:
labreatory:
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.
They may be virtual avatars in a virtual world but they are controlled by real people and these real people, women if we’re only using the data from the included pie charts, are choosing more often than not to play a character that conforms to an idealized version of what beautiful is in America: white, skinny, blonde.
And it’s great that you feel like things like gender and race don’t matter, but to plenty of people those differences do matter. The rest of the world can’t just pretend everything is rainbows and kittens because you’ve convinced yourself it’s not a problem.
And I really don’t give a shit if hyper-sexualisation of females in video games doesn’t bother you because it bothers me and I’m not going to stop talking about it. It doesn’t bother a lot of people and that’s the problem. I want my daughters to grow up playing games that inspire them to be tough and smart and successful and confident. I don’t want them growing up thinking they have to show off their tits and flat, white stomach to be a successful warrior.
This is what I don’t get: If someone spoke out about how much they hated that everyone was choosing dark haired, dark skinned,chubby avatars, the Internet mob would be all over them like stink on shit, crying racism and sexism and god knows what else. Why is it consistently okay to beat up on one section of the population and not another? Just because someone is the majority means they deserve to be looked down on for their appearance?
I’m not sure why gender and race matter. It’s 2012. The world is falling apart financially and socially. It’s time to realize that we have bigger problems than what sex or color the person is next to you, or who they choose to sleep with at night.
…and I don’t give a shit if it bothers you. I don’t want to get into fighting words, but it puzzles me why it does. If you raise your children right, they will grow up believing your ideals and not the ones put forth by the media and video games. It’s the same as when people blame video games for violence. If your child is getting their morals and self-esteem from a video game, you are failing at parenting.
With plenty of female role models in politics, business, and entertainment, there are plenty of positive female forces in the world to admire who AREN’T BLOOD ELVES.
“Constantly beat up on”? Excuse me? I noticed this earlier in the conversation - you seem to be under the impression that someone is oppressing you (or these players) for making this choice, and that’s NOT what’s happening.What’s happening is that someone is calling out what they see - that for some reason almost a million players think that their ideal fantasy form (either to play or to stare at from the back) is an impossible physical ideal.
“Just because someone is the majority means they deserve to be looked down on for their appearance?”
Um.. what? Where is ANYONE looking down on anyone else in this, for their appearance? Also? Since when is the “contemporary white American standard of beauty” [e.g. “athletic builds, fair skin, green eyes, blond hair”] the MAJORITY?
I think someone needs to sit down and check their privilege.
I’m a short fat white girl, and nowhere can I get a gaming avatar that looks like me. What about the millions of other gamers who can’t find avatars that represent THEM?
No one is “bashing” people who look like a Blood Elf nor those who choose to play BElfs. What we’re calling for is more diversity, and a deviation from the impossible ideal - which does, in fact, harm people’s psyches and imprint on children, young adults, and even adults.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lygpmn1B901qmemoxo1_1280.png)
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.
They may be virtual avatars in a virtual world but they are controlled by real people and these real people, women if we’re only using the data from the included pie charts, are choosing more often than not to play a character that conforms to an idealized version of what beautiful is in America: white, skinny, blonde.
And it’s great that you feel like things like gender and race don’t matter, but to plenty of people those differences do matter. The rest of the world can’t just pretend everything is rainbows and kittens because you’ve convinced yourself it’s not a problem.
And I really don’t give a shit if hyper-sexualisation of females in video games doesn’t bother you because it bothers me and I’m not going to stop talking about it. It doesn’t bother a lot of people and that’s the problem. I want my daughters to grow up playing games that inspire them to be tough and smart and successful and confident. I don’t want them growing up thinking they have to show off their tits and flat, white stomach to be a successful warrior.
This is what I don’t get: If someone spoke out about how much they hated that everyone was choosing dark haired, dark skinned,chubby avatars, the Internet mob would be all over them like stink on shit, crying racism and sexism and god knows what else. Why is it consistently okay to beat up on one section of the population and not another? Just because someone is the majority means they deserve to be looked down on for their appearance?
I’m not sure why gender and race matter. It’s 2012. The world is falling apart financially and socially. It’s time to realize that we have bigger problems than what sex or color the person is next to you, or who they choose to sleep with at night.
…and I don’t give a shit if it bothers you. I don’t want to get into fighting words, but it puzzles me why it does. If you raise your children right, they will grow up believing your ideals and not the ones put forth by the media and video games. It’s the same as when people blame video games for violence. If your child is getting their morals and self-esteem from a video game, you are failing at parenting.
With plenty of female role models in politics, business, and entertainment, there are plenty of positive female forces in the world to admire who AREN’T BLOOD ELVES.
“Constantly beat up on”? Excuse me? I noticed this earlier in the conversation - you seem to be under the impression that someone is oppressing you (or these players) for making this choice, and that’s NOT what’s happening.
What’s happening is that someone is calling out what they see - that for some reason almost a million players think that their ideal fantasy form (either to play or to stare at from the back) is an impossible physical ideal.
“Just because someone is the majority means they deserve to be looked down on for their appearance?”
Um.. what? Where is ANYONE looking down on anyone else in this, for their appearance? Also? Since when is the “contemporary white American standard of beauty” [e.g. “athletic builds, fair skin, green eyes, blond hair”] the MAJORITY?
I think someone needs to sit down and check their privilege.
I’m a short fat white girl, and nowhere can I get a gaming avatar that looks like me. What about the millions of other gamers who can’t find avatars that represent THEM?
No one is “bashing” people who look like a Blood Elf nor those who choose to play BElfs. What we’re calling for is more diversity, and a deviation from the impossible ideal - which does, in fact, harm people’s psyches and imprint on children, young adults, and even adults.
(Source: thru-the-angels-eyes, via fuckyeawow)
