World of Warcraft Axes ‘Suggestive’ Voice Lines
Following the worrying lawsuit enacted against Activision Blizzard for their 'frat boy culture' and grim treatment of women and POC on their staff, the company’s teams have been doing some tidying up.
In the wake of such damning accusations, it has become even more clear that many games under the company’s wing have a history of suggestive content and direct connections to those accused in the lawsuit.
It was announced that Overwatch’s cowboy character would see a name change due to his connections to an accused real-life Blizzard staff member, and elsewhere, some fans noticed changes to some suggestive paintings in World Of Warcraft.
Now, further spring cleaning has come to WoW, with an impact that shows you just how sexually suggestive the series is.
World Of Warcraft Removes Loads Of Suggestive Voice Lines
A new update for World of Warcraft has stripped a lot of voice lines from the game with a suggestive nature, leaving a good amount of characters without a lot to say at all. Some characters have now been left with only two or three lines of dialogue each, as suggested in the WoWhead analysis of all of the update’s changes. Many of the lines make the female characters seem like sexual deviants and the male characters like predators, so perhaps the change is for the best.
A few examples of the lines removed from the game are a Blood Elf Demon Hunter telling you "Are you sure you’re not part-demon? I find myself wanting to stalk you", and a Goblin saying "I’m a free spirit. I don’t like to be tied down. What? You mean literally? Oh no… totally into that." Yikes.
The voice lines extend beyond sexual innuendo and toe the line of sexism, with one female human voice line reading “Why does everyone assume I know tailoring and cooking?" Another uses a "zipper" noise to imply one character is removing their "weapon" from their pants.
The list goes on, and arguably keeps getting worse. World of Warcraft clearly has a pretty… inappropriate past, and it’s a mystery as to why these elements weren’t pulled from the game before the lawsuit put pressure on Activision Blizzard.
What Else Is New In World Of Warcraft?
Click to enlargeThe update has brought about some more changes, including removing one voice line from a central character. King Ymiron, at the end of the questline that takes him to the Halls of Valor, is turned away at the gates, and expresses his disdain in a long, censored list of expletives. This line has now been removed, alongside changes throughout the rest of the game.
It’s a good thing that World of Warcraft has had some tidying up, even if it took a lawsuit to make it happen. After all, the voice lines that have been removed were problematic, to say the least - and even if it doesn’t excuse the accusations made against the company, at least it makes the game a little less… gross.