And therein lies the problem. All too often, and Blizzard’s been guilty of this too, making things in fiction with parallels to real-life groups or events often disregards real-life facts and context to make the story a platform for ax-grinding against something or someone the writer opposes in real-life.
True, I guess at a point the reader kind of just has to accept the obvious…no matter how awkward it is.
I see it in a lot of RP as well sadly.
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I just imagined a Ragnaros with a great flaming hairdo leading a rally of Dark Irons, Flame Druids, and sundry fire elementals, all of whom are wearing red baseball caps that read ‘MAGMA’ on them.
“Fire is the best, greatest element, really, tremendous.”
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Man… crap. You’re right. I guess all the internment camps, the genocides, the colonialism, the racism, the interracial relationships, the homosexual representation, and all of the social commentary that is obviously supposed to be read into in this specific fictional universe should be ignored… because its fiction. We definitely shouldn’t talk about it. We shouldn’t point out the parallels to real life in hopes of better understanding the story, or in hopes of better understanding our world.
Funny as that was 
don’t give them ideas (interestingly, the media industry loved Trump before he declared he was entering politics as a Republican… then they turned on him like a pack of snarling wolves. I wonder if the trigger was the pursuing a political career or doing so as a Republican).
How does seeing these events and elements in a fictional world very different from our own, and often in very different circumstances or context from their real-life inspirations/parallels, help us understand our world?
Usually the point would be to reduce the baggage of the topic so it can be looked at without extraneous issues. Can’t say whether Blizzard does that well.
You’re forgetting that the majority of media in the US is owned by Republicans and pushes more Conservative messages.
The large names are not the only outlets (though even then FOX is still the largest media outlet anyway).
Sci-fi Fantasy has often explored controversial themes as a form of social commentary. Some of the most beloved Sci-fi Fantasy works are known for doing so. One of WoWs hallmarks was its morally grey storytelling, that in its own way, for a time was a social commentary about the nature of war. The Old Soldier Saga was also social commentary about the nature of war. It’s the theme of A Good War and the reason for the title. The author isnt just telling us that WoW wars aren’t honorable. That there is no good death waiting at the end of a good war for those worshippers of valor in the Horde. The author is telling us, through fantasy, what Eisenhower tried to tell us. That there is no good war in any universe. There are good people and good motivations and good actions, but war is messy, and ugly and produces nothing but death and none of those deaths are worth it or good.
imo, Blizzard does not do it well.
Not for the past decade, at least (for one, CNN and MSNBC - now on the same side - combined are larger than FOX).
You have a point. Some have explored controversial themes better than others for social commentary… and I find that WoW is very hit and miss with that kind of morally grey storytelling (more the latter than the former).
Don’t you think it’s hypocritical for a franchise where the draw of the story is war… to then condemn the war it hypes up to the playerbase? It’d like Pokémon criticizing animal fighting when that’s literally what the franchise revolves around and celebrates.
Also, I think there is good reason to wage war on the Scourge/Burning Legion/Emerald Nightmare…
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I always thought it was genius, and at the time, I thought AGW was one of the best examples.
War movies do it all the time. You go for the explosions and the gratuitous violence and if it all works out, the movie provokes a little important thought about why we even went to Vietnam in the first place, and should we really poke our nose into the Ukraine.
And whereas Pokemon celebrates animal fighting, WoW doesnt celebrate war. There is always a zone or two on both sides showing the collateral damage, or the what happens when one of your guys is a bad guy, or the traditional good guys being bad, or what a waste it all was when there are bigger problems to solve.
And, since our tools are always violence, we solve those bigger problems (like the legion or the old gods) with war, but those bigger problems are typically representative of global problems that cant actually be solved with war. Poverty. Disease. Environmental threats. Etc.
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A good point that leaves on question; why glorify what you’re also condemning?
I think it only appears to glorify it on the surface. It provides entertainment and commentary. If your fiction is going to be a commentary on war, then the subject of your entertainment should probably be… well, war.
Then, in the next expansion, we go to Maldraxxus and learn that if you’re really good at and enjoy war in life, in the afterlife you’re rewarded with getting to fight in war forever, with no real consequences since even if you literally get chopped to pieces you can just get stitched back together and fight for glory alongside and against other people with the exact same mindset as you so no hard feelings. WHEE! PLAY FETCH WITH A GIANT THREE HEADED DOGS, WHEE! MIX UP OOZES TO MAKE THEM GO BOOM, WHEE! TAME A FLYING HELLBEAST TO RIDE, WHEE! RUN A MARATHON AROUND THE GIANT ARENA AT THE CENTER OF IT ALL, WHEE!
I believe that it was Benedikt who kept using the phrase ‘Tonal Whiplash’ over and over again in another thread?..
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Yeah… the whole “This expansion was hastily rewritten 6 mos before beta” leak seems really plausible.
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Couldn’t have put it better myself.
You have a point, the things is the tonal whiplash detracts from that message. One minute we’re glibly or righteously slaughtering demons, monsters, constructs and cultists, next minute we’re expected to mull over the moral ramifications of killing an enemy.
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The “six month rewrite leak” explains so many, many things…
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Reminds me of the dog’s breakfast that was Mass Effect 3’s ending before the Extended Cut.
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Dont get me wrong, I do come for the explosions and the gratuitous violence. I think thats fun, and I get enough thinking while working and raising my kids. But, I also like being proviked to thought. I like when my entertainment compels me to orient myself in this confusing world where right and wrong can sometimes be muddied by the messages marketed to us by people with too much to gain from otherwise horrifying things.
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“I went and checked, and all the people I killed went to Revendreth, so they probably deserved to die. That’s a load off my mind.”
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I literally never said this. To be clear, I am saying when the writer uses “internment camps, the genocides, the colonialism, the racism, etc, etc” and tries painting it in a positive (or morally grey) light is when it should be questioned.
My dude, I do not need World of Warcraft to help me better understand our world.