Better Living Thru Blogging!

WoW

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a gamer, but some of my friends and co-workers are, and World of Warcraft is what occupies most of their leisure time. So whenever I see news about “WoW” it piques my interest. Of note: how about a Google Map of the World Of Warcraft? And a headline about GLBT “guilds” and whether such topics have a place in WoW is interesting, as evidenced by this MetaFilter discussion.
Here’s my two cents: first of all — and I say this as a complete non-gamer — what on earth does sexual orientation have to do with playing an online role-playing game? Is sex between the virtual characters permitted? Are there bars in which elves can hit on dwarves, and such? I doubt it - but could be wrong. Assuming then that WoW is akin to the old Dungeons & Dragons-type game, I guess I just don’t understand how sex would be relevant at all to the playing of the game. On the other hand — why on earth would anyone be upset or offended by GLBT “cliques” in WoW? Apparently there are guilds (clubs) for many other types of players, so why shouldn’t GLBT folks enjoy the same sense of camaraderie? The entire thing is make-believe — not real — and played for fun, so why can’t Blizzard (the “owners” of WoW) and the players just live & let live?