World of Warcraft‘s 9.1.5 update makes a number of changes to the game, in order to remove controversial content. The update follows allegations of sexism, racism and a “frat boy culture” at Activision Blizzard. The World of Warcraft development team released a blog post last month discussing some of the efforts made to make the game more inclusive, and now fans can see for themselves what’s been changed. According to the website Wowhead, a number of these changes involve innuendo in the game, from quest titles, to items. Several references to former staffers have also been removed.
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Looking through the list from Wowhead, it’s surprising just how much innuendo appeared in the game! A quest named “Opening the Backdoor” is now “Cell Block Tango.” Blizzard kept the animal puns and dropped the innuendo by changing “Going Bearback” to “Bearly Hanging On” and “Camel Tow” to “Camelraderie.” Items like “Diana’s Pearl Necklace” have been changed to “Nacreous Shell Necklace,” while “Wirt’s Third Leg” is now “Southsea Lamp.” Several names with “McCree” in them have been altered, such as Jenny McCree, who now goes by “Yasmina Nerossa.” For obvious reasons, “Master Baitor” has been given the new name “Jiang Ziya,” after a Chinese noble.
This is just a sampling of the character, item, and quest names that are being changed in the game! Additionally, several mob types have been given gender neutral names, with male types being added. This can specifically be seen in Black Temple’s Den of Mortal Delights. Readers can find more information about changes to the game at Wowhead’s site right here.
In the blog post last month, World of Warcraft‘s development team stated that “goofy jokes and occasional mature innuendos are part of WoW, and probably always will be.” From what we’ve seen so far, however, it seems like the game’s developers are working to distance themselves from this type of content. Making World of Warcraft more inclusive is just one step on the path to make gamers more comfortable being part of the fan community. Hopefully the publisher will continue to work towards that goal!
What do you think of the changes Activison Blizzard is making to World of Warcraft? Is there something you’d like to see updated in the game? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
