Also, every prominent lore character is gay.

[pauraque_bk]

While I am working on that, chew upon this.

Little background, the WoW server I play on is one where a large number of GLBT players have congregated, basically because it was where the first gay-friendly guild was created, and then groups branched off of that, and so on. There are six or seven well-known GLBT-friendly guilds on the server. So on the server forums when a guild advertises that they are recruiting and that they are gay-friendly, it doesn't really cause a stir.

The latest had this reply:

Why do you even need GLBT guilds? Movie stars, actors, professional sports players play this game and they don't go flaunting who they are so why would anyone? j/w

I play with a few gay and %@%@**# people and they play just like normal people only really ignore one of them after he repeatedly called me "babe" which was just uncomfortable and distrurbing. But other than that they are just people and the only thing i really care about is if they suck at the game or they don't :).

The censored word is presumably "lesbian". Leaving aside why the WoW forums censor "lesbian" but not "gay", let's take a moment to reflect upon this post.

- Apparently, teh gheyz play just like NORMAL PEOPLE. OMIGOSH. It's almost like you can't tell the normal people from the freaks these days!

- It's okay to play with gay people as long as they don't say anything that might conceivably remind you of their sexuality, like calling you a cutesy name. Cutesy names are profoundly disturbing and force you to contemplate buttsex.

- Why oh why must people flaunt who they are? Why can't they just assimilate so completely into the dominant group that their identity becomes thoroughly whitewashed and neutralized, and thus nonthreatening to me? GOD WHY.

- Gay people are just like movie stars and professional sports players somehow.

The more you know!

Comments

[lucksong.livejournal.com]

WOW drives me nuts. I love it and I hate it. Always.

Been clean for about 6 months though...

[bardsmaid.livejournal.com]

People who haven't ever been in any sort of minority position simply don't get it. Reminds me of a piece of commentary I once came across by a young super-Republican white guy who went on about why African Americans must self-identify as such. "I never think about being white," he said.

To which my immediate reply upon reading it was, "Go take a walk through South Central L.A. and see if you don't think about how white you are!"

[pauraque]

This also reminds me of an episode in one of Tim Wise's books where he asks a discussion group what they like about their racial identity. He tells how many of the people of color in the group could readily point to specific things they liked about their heritage and culture, while the white folks seemed bewildered by the question. He argues that it can be seen as a sad loss for many white Americans who have lost their immigrant heritage, that they do not have the experience of taking healthy pride in who they are and where they came from. What's so great about "never thinking about" your own identity, that everyone else should aspire to it as well?

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

*shakes head*

I'm following a conversation on a British discussion forum about the "too politically correct" use of the term Happy Holidays instead of "Merry Christmas" and how people are "arrogant" and "irrational" and "need help" if that usage bothers them, even if they aren't Christians and...

Mind you, nobody's mentioned teh gheyz yet.

I guess they all celebrate Christmas. Just like the "normal" people.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I love that. Because people honestly seem to believe that it's arrogant to prefer a generic term that includes your own holiday to a greeting for someone else's holiday. And yet at the same time, if you greet them with a generic term that includes their holiday, you're oppressing them by not using the name of their exact holiday specifically.

[pauraque]

Privilege in action is sad to watch.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Why do you even need GLBT guilds? Movie stars, actors, professional sports players play this game and they don't go flaunting who they are so why would anyone? j/w

I suppose the answer "Why do you even think having an GLBT giuld is "flaunting" who we are?" is too obvious?

[pauraque]

I'm still trying to figure out the movie star comment, which is pretty opaque to me. Maybe he meant that if a famous person were playing, they would not tell anyone who they were, because it would cause a big stir and inhibit their ability to play with everyone else. Which is like the obligation of gay people to keep their identity under wraps so as not to make this guy uncomfortable... I think...

[kaptainsnot.livejournal.com]

he repeatedly called me "babe" which was just uncomfortable and distrurbing.

That really bothers me. As if he has something to fear.
I bet whoever wrote that tried really hard to not offend, too, and finds their perspective the height of open mindedness.

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

I have to say, if someone in warcraft was calling me "babe" or anything similar, it would make me uncomfortable completely regardless of what sex either of us was. It's not a level of familiarity I'm comfortable with in random warcraft players.

[pauraque]

Yet the OP chose to relate it to the person's sexuality, rather than simply not wanting to be called that by anyone. He's saying it bothered him because a gay person said it.

[pauraque]

I bet whoever wrote that tried really hard to not offend, too, and finds their perspective the height of open mindedness.

I know, that's why it's so great. At least if you've got somebody calling people fags, THEY know where they stand and aren't deluding themselves. This person clearly thinks highly of himself for being so tolerant of gay players (except that uppity one, couldn't abide him), and has no clue how ridiculous he sounds.

[wolfie-thu.livejournal.com]

WoW forums censor "lesbian" but not "gay"

Do they really? That's...somewhat depressing.

[pauraque]

The word filter they're using is pretty arbitrary and primitive. I saw someone trying to make a comment about Dick Cheney today, and they couldn't get "dick" past the filter.

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

Gay people are just like movie stars and professional sports players somehow.

I read at first as "WoW players are just like movie stars and professional sport players," which is also an awesome thought. "If it's good enough for Tom Cruise, it's good enough for me! babe"

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Aha! Gay people are like movie stars and athletes because they both call people "babe" a lot! That must be it.

[pauraque]

Sports stars pat each other on the butt sometimes. So there's that.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

And actors sometimes have to play gay people, which is icky because then the gay rubs off on them.

[pauraque]

Oh, I see. Like movie stars and sports players, WoW players should stay closeted for the good of the nation.

IT ALL MAKEZ SENSE

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

The fact that a word had been filtered out by WoW on that thread totally went past me... I must have assumed that he was trying to do some kind of "shorthand" for the rest of the LBTetc. RIDICULOUS.

Actually, I think he was most fail-y on the whole thing about the actors and professional sports players analogy. Unless there are recruitment posts for "Actor and Professional Sports Player-friendly guilds."

But yeah, the vast amount of Not Getting It can be annoying. Then again, you know how I feel about people calling me "sweetie honey darling pie." :P

[pauraque]

But again... does it bother you because you just dislike it, or because you feel someone is forcing their sexual preferences on you?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

I feel like it's forcing something onto me, but certainly not sexual preferences.