Why I Wrote This Blog: A Little More Detail

This blog has a main topic, however from time to time it may veer off course and into different topics, whether assignments unrelated to gaming, or just something I found funny or worth writing about. Overall, there is a general topic that I would like to post on as much as possible.

I decided to choose a topic that I am familiar with: being a gamer and a female. In order to make the topic matter a bit more focused, I decided to focus mostly on being a gamer in World of Warcraft.I've played World of Warcraft for about a year and a half, and I think it is a lot of fun. However, there are still gender issues concerning females in WoW, whether it be in real life or in Azeroth itself (Azeroth is the realm that you explore in World of Warcraft).

Women are the minority in the world of gaming in general, but it is quite pronounced in World of Warcraft. Although on the surface it may seem like there are many female characters, chances are that the female character is being played by a male gamer behind that screen.

The game in and of itself is on the surface seemingly made for males, as the majority of the females of the races, even the ones that seemingly wouldn’t be sexy (such as the Tauren, a half cow/half human minotaur-esque creature), still has large breasts and a smaller waist, typical of the mainstream idealized female figure. Faces of the female characters are usually tending towards the softer and less aggressive features as well. I will discuss the visual features of the female characters and the female “half” of the races in upcoming entries.

Another reason why I decided to write this is because generally when the gaming world is critiqued as to the portrayal of gender, and gender issues in general, it is usually by someone who is not part of the gaming world, a world which can be hard to understand from the outside looking in. It’s a sub-culture, with many groups within that group itself (e.g. console gamers, Dungeons and Dragons players and fantasy RPGers). All of these smaller groups interact in different ways, and the intricacies of the gaming world can be hard to understand unless you game yourself. I intend to try to correct this oversight and provide a critique of gender in World of Warcraft from the perspective of both a participant and an observer.

See you in Azeroth!

~liz~