Wouldnt it be sexist to make an exception to the rule, just for the females? That would be like saying “Ok, we like our game to be vibrant and over the top, but we cant do this to the female models, because someone might complain.” That sounds just wrong.

Besides… the human, dwarf or gnome female avatars dont strike me to be too sexy, they look rather plain (and i would like to not even talk about the tauren and undead here. To just assume they would be model material is really really weird). Just put them next to a belf and see. So there definitely is variety, even though everything is a hyperbole in this gameworld.

“Where are the panels on gender or disability representation in WoW, or roleplaying different races? Where are the theorycrafting nuts talking about how they approach the task of modelling new mechanics? Where are the panels about blogging, about organising raid guilds, about crafting and items? Where are the panels about the economy? Where are the panels on raids and instances? Where are the panels that talk about MMOs in general?”

This is an excellent question. From my brief scan of the Blizzcon schedule, the opportunities for interesting talks or any sort of discussion seemed very thin. That was honestly a huge surprise to me. I regularly attend a homebuilt aircraft convention every year and at those there are usually more opportunities to learn and discuss than you could ever hope to attend. People go to learn more about airfoil design, fuel mixture, the hazards of bad weather, and so on. Others present talks on what they have learned. I think having opportunities to share expertise is one of the big things that attracts people to conventions of this sort and it is something missing from Blizzcon. The topics listed above would be very interesting, I think, and would make excellent topics for face-to-face discussion (unlike, say, “how to set up macros”).

On the other hand, when a female player’s plate outfit often has a midriff top, or her character’s best option for a certain level range is a couple of pasties, panties, and thigh-high stockings, it becomes obvious that her character was not designed for her. Her avatar, the thing that represents her in the game, was made for male players too, and the female heroes were not made for her to identify with, but to be attractive to straight men. It’s fine by Blizzard that she wants to play the boys’ game, made for boys (and give them her money), but there are few if any places where she can point out something that was made for her, and that reflects the fact that women have fantasies of heroism and supercompetence and great deeds just like men and aren’t solely concerned with collecting cute little pets.

That’s why dismissive responses like the one mentioned hurt badly, even if they weren’t meant to. It’s like being told that we’re not real, valued community members, we’re just playing in the boys’ sandbox because they let us, and if we don’t like it, they don’t care if we leave.

He’s wearing leather pants apparently made from pieces of other leather pants, a giant belt and a pair of spiky tusks he stole from a war memorial.

Anything else and we’re dealing with naked Garrosh. And frankly, waving around Gorehowl will probably have an effect on the game rating.

I remembered thinking how moronic some thinking was behind how they design their models. Nice to see nothing much has changed.

Even assuming that most people want to look at fit models, there’s scope for some variation.

As far as sexier guys go, how many times do our (male) characters get to go shirtless or have most of their chest showing? What WoW really needs is more orc chests – I could even get behind Garrosh if he stripped off more often …

Isn’t there one of them who spends most of the movie with his shirt off?