… /sigh
Wellp… Begins sharpening the scalpels.
Here we go:
The issue is, in my opinion, more nuanced than anyone is really addressing to any satisfaction.
Is there a problem with adding customizable gender terminology in of itself?
No, of course not. It is an aesthetic choice, and one that does not affect other players in aggregate. There are some ideologues who will come out of the woodwork to express their religious convictions on the subject, but they also do that about Harry Potter, and those sorts of opinions do not belong in the discourse of a fantasy discussion, and should be limited to the spaces specifically for ideological discourse.
Why, then, do these changes rub people the wrong way or make them roll their eyes?
Because of current political culture and the pervasiveness of signaling ones virtue, even from a corporate platform, essentially.
I think the blindspot that “progressives” have, and that is masterfully demonstrated in this thread, is that they are manufacturing their own opposition, and then act all surprised pikachu about it…
What I see from my vantage point is as follows:
Blizzard is in the midst of a public flogging for past abusive actions towards their employees. The political dominion of “safeguarding” the group rights of protected classes is overwhelmingly held by the political left wing.
We then see something of a concerted effort by Blizz to snuggle up to this liberal political establishment in such a way that they can say, “Hey! We’re very progressive, too! We’re on your side, share, and fight for your values, so we should really just be supporting each other, right? No need to investigate us further, we are very progressive, and we are only on the right side of history.”
Meanwhile, the company is run by a meglomaniac, robber baron-esque, cutthroat ulta-capitalist in Kotick…
So what we have ended up with is a scenario where the playerbase feels that Blizz are doing these things to posture for the political left exclusively. It’s not because players asked for them(dispite what the EXTREMELY vocal minority would have you believe), it’s not because of compassion, empathy, or ethics, it very much seems that this is being done for optics, given their current legal situation.
This, however, is completely ignored by the segment of the playerbase who are also consumed by this political dogma, who throw their hands up in the air and cheer for Bobby’s token, behind-covering “support”.
Subsequently, two forces are mobilized: the people that see through the charade for what it is and are appropriately irritated that Blizz would allow such an intrusion into our fantasy world purely for the sake of saving face because of their own damn mistakes, and also the ideological/religious opposition to “progressiveism”, but who believe that this posturing from blizzard is actually a real representation of their internal politics, and desired direction for the company, and are simply politically opposed.
From here, you can see for yourself in this very thread the effect of all of these causes. The “progressive” playerbase, who will support “woke changes” no matter what, and in spite of the greater context, will decry any difference in opinion as a morally corrupt, and assign them labels(usually ending with “-ist” or “phobe”), then act aloof to further engagement, and hold their morally superior nose in the air. The politically opposed will then rattle of their own dogmatic reasons why such changes are morally bankrupt and backwards, but neither side is ultimately willing to listen to each other.
… Which leaves those that are able to see through the veil of posturing, dogma, and grandstanding.
Unfortunately, these folks are the real losers here. Folks that just want to play a game, made by a proud company who takes care of their employees, who loves their culture, their craft, and their product, and leaves politics, religion, dogma, and customer manipulation at the door every day that they walk into the office.
TL;DR: Blizz are just trying to distract, obfuscate, and pander their way to safer waters, considering their current legal woes.
Wokesters cheer and clap for these as it supports their personal ideology, and label anyone who disagrees some form of deplorable.
Righties rage, then ineffectively spout their own ideologies as reasons against the base-level woke-ism.
The two sides then yell at each other for no reason, and the people that actually see what’s going on are left with a RL political dimension, and palpable virtue signaling in game, all the while their gameplay and story concerns are met with crickets.
Pretty sad, TBH.