WoD: Lack of Female Leads Disappointing

#1 - Nov. 11, 2013, 7:44 p.m.

After watching the Blizzcon panels my wife asked me the following:

"Are we going to get a heroic scenario where we discover the secret location Blizzard has hidden all of their female lead characters so we can liberate them?"

And I have to say that as a 38 year-old, straight white guy, I couldn't agree more.

Why?

As I've gotten older, I've come to hate one-dimensional stories. I've been spoiled by the likes of Joss Whedon (Buffy, Avengers, Firefly/Serenity), Ronald Moore (ST:DS9, Battlestar Galatica), and others who understand that truly great stories need "real" characters from a variety of different vantage points.

I've come to understand that so heavily weighting your stories to an all-male cast isn't just mindlessly sexist, it's downright bad storytelling as well. And it's a surefire way to make your story freaking boring (there are others of course, but this is a big one).

Of course I can appreciate that Blizzard has been hard at work, in secret, to build the WoD story and game. In that crucible of fire and secrecy, a lot of ideas are thrown in that will not pass a more public scrutiny. It is in that vein that I offer this post.

Now that you've opened up the process to the fans, allow me to help give you some perspective. And I'll also give you a little reminder that this is 2013, not 2003, and boring one-dimensional stories aren't going to cut it anymore.

Nethaera

Community Manager

#229 - Nov. 11, 2013, 10:29 p.m.

After watching the Blizzcon panels my wife asked me the following:

"Are we going to get a heroic scenario where we discover the secret location Blizzard has hidden all of their female lead characters so we can liberate them?"

And I have to say that as a 38 year-old, straight white guy, I couldn't agree more.

Why?

As I've gotten older, I've come to hate one-dimensional stories. I've been spoiled by the likes of Joss Whedon (Buffy, Avengers, Firefly/Serenity), Ronald Moore (ST:DS9, Battlestar Galatica), and others who understand that truly great stories need "real" characters from a variety of different vantage points.

Also, they're making a female Draenei Vindicator who is a hero on Draenor, and they showed her fully armoured and looking badass.

Yes this is one of the ones I'm looking forward to seeing. ;)

I've come to understand that so heavily weighting your stories to an all-male cast isn't just mindlessly sexist, it's downright bad storytelling as well. And it's a surefire way to make your story freaking boring (there are others of course, but this is a big one).

Of course I can appreciate that Blizzard has been hard at work, in secret, to build the WoD story and game. In that crucible of fire and secrecy, a lot of ideas are thrown in that will not pass a more public scrutiny. It is in that vein that I offer this post.

Now that you've opened up the process to the fans, allow me to help give you some perspective. And I'll also give you a little reminder that this is 2013, not 2003, and boring one-dimensional stories aren't going to cut it anymore.

I answered you (I believe it was you) in another thread, but I wanted to reiterate. As with any time we announce new expansions, we haven't revealed a lot of the story. Some things are just going to have to be experienced or revealed later if we choose to reveal them. That said, there are female characters that will be showing up to be a part of the adventure. I know of one at least that I'm really looking forward to learning more of.

Personally, I'm really happy to have so many in the community come forward and ask to see these wonderful female characters to get more air time. ;) Hopefully the designers will be able to satisfy a bit of this for you.

Nethaera

Community Manager

#250 - Nov. 11, 2013, 10:40 p.m.

Since this question was answered in another thread, I'm going to close this one since it's gotten a bit toward flame war level. There's a fine line between discussing game play elements and story and getting into real life issues that the game isn't going to answer for you. Please try to avoid this in the future.