Play PC games on your Mac? TUAW tests CrossOver
Posts with tag sex

New TCG wallpaper is putrid, but in a sexy way


Blizzard has released a new wallpaper featuring exquisite artwork from the "Mias the Putrid" card from the WoW TCG. The work is just as fantastic as it was with previous TCG-themed work -- maybe even better. Well, nothing is gonna beat the Stefen Colbear thing, but still. It's fabulous.

I say it's "putrid, but in a sexy way" with tongue in cheek, of course. This evil Mias lady is half-naked. She's in chain-slave-bondage. Oh, and ... I'm not one of those guys who has all the cup sizes memorized, but I'm pretty sure that proportionally this is on the higher end. No, I'm not gushing; I actually have a point! WoW Insider has talked about sexism in WoW before, but usually we've focused on the actions and words of some male players, and not so much on things like the art style of the game or the TCG. I'm not making a judgment here; I'm just pondering.

See, when I saw this new image, I thought of a conversation I had with a friend of mine a couple weeks ago. She long since quit WoW, but she said that as a female gamer it's always a little frustrating when many of the female characters are half-naked elf-slaves with huge breasts. What a standard! But then, doesn't WoW's art style exaggerate the male characters' muscles and such, too? Ah, well. It's food for thought. Type up your two cents if you want. Or just download the wallpaper.

All the World's a Stage: If looks could kill

All the World's a Stage is a column for inquisitive minds, playing with roles every Sunday evening.

The media usually portrays WoW as a "boy's game." That's not to say girls don't play too, of course -- just that the game is basically about qualities such as aggressiveness and violence, and our culture expects males to be interested in that sort of thing.

Whether such a designation is true or not, the "masculine equals violent" stereotype is very pervasive, and it is natural for many male players to begin the game with a powerful and intimidating character in mind. The player may imagine that his avatar is warm and kind-hearted inside, but outwardly, his character looks as though he could rip out your throat with a flick of his pinky finger.

But there are many men out there who don't like such exaggerated manliness in their characters, just as there are many women who don't want their character to look like a dainty barbie doll. Being a person isn't just about just one gender attribute, after all. Indeed, female characters in WoW can achieve a full range of human attributes in their appearance; they can look friendly and intelligent, yet lightning quick and deadly at the same time. However, the appearance of male characters is often so filled to the brim with "strength and honor" that there's not much room left for any other human quality.

Continue reading All the World's a Stage: If looks could kill

All the World's a Stage: It's not just about sexy butts

All the World's a Stage is a weekly column by David Bowers, investigating the explorative performance art of roleplaying in the World of Warcraft.

Roleplaying the opposite sex happens. It is alluring to some, and repulsive to others -- a lot of people do it, while a lot of other people very openly proclaim (as if they know these things) that anyone who does this weird, manipulative, deceitful, and so on.

People also tend to come up with various excuses for why they play a character of the opposite sex, as if they need to justify themselves according to their own gender's traditional expectations. Some men say, "if I'm going to have to stare at a characters butt for hours while I play, I'd rather it be a hot and sexy butt," while some women say, "I get all kinds of unwanted attention if I play a girl, and the only way I can get away from it is to play a boy." All that may be true in some cases, but it's hardly the whole story behind opposite-gender roleplaying.

First of all, let me just say it here and now: you have every right to create whatever character you want, particularly in an actual roleplaying environment, and particularly if you intend to be faithful to the character you're creating.

Continue reading All the World's a Stage: It's not just about sexy butts


RESOURCES

Class Columns
Pimp My Profile (1)
(Druid) Shifting Perspectives (40)
(Hunter) Big Red Kitty (37)
(Hunter) Scattered Shots (13)
(Mage) Arcane Brilliance (38)
(Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It (48)
(Priest) Spiritual Guidance (22)
(Rogue) Encrypted Text (33)
(Shaman) Totem Talk (43)
(Warlock) Blood Pact (26)
(Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors (47)
Gameplay
(Arena PvP) Blood Sport (22)
(BG PvP) The Art of War(craft) (21)
(Casual) WoW, Casually (21)
(Engineering) Hoof and Horn Research and Development (17)
(Guild Leadership) Officers' Quarters (55)
(Professions) Insider Trader (55)
(Raid Healing) Raid Rx (18)
(Raiding) Raiding 101 (3)
(Raiding) Ready Check (19)
(Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage (36)
Hybrid Theory (13)
AddOns and UI
AddOn Spotlight (80)
Macro Anatomy (12)
Reader UI of the Week (26)
Reader WoWspace of the week (29)
The Creamy GUI Center (11)
Lore and Stories
Around Azeroth (471)
Barrens Chat (1)
Know your Lore (57)
Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn (14)
WoW Moviewatch (467)
Features
15 Minutes of Fame (17)
About the Bloggers (23)
Ask WoW Insider (55)
Azeroth Security Advisor (1)
Back In The Day (3)
Breakfast topics (682)
Build Shop (34)
Gamers on the Street (19)
Guildwatch (75)
He Said She Said (4)
It came from the Blog (25)
Phat Loot Phriday (85)
Two Bosses Enter (61)
Well Fed Buff (22)
World of WarCrafts (19)
WoW Insider Show (50)
WoW Rookie (36)
[1.Local] (5)
Classes
Death Knight (51)
Druid (266)
Hunter (258)
Mage (159)
Paladin (266)
Priest (222)
Rogue (166)
Shaman (243)
Warlock (177)
Warrior (179)
News
Account Security (10)
AddOns (237)
Analysis / Opinion (2705)
Blizzard (1479)
BlizzCon (188)
Bugs (215)
Burning Crusade (365)
Contests (205)
Economy (183)
Events (368)
Expansions (566)
Fan stuff (826)
Features (620)
Forums (251)
Guilds (463)
Hardware (23)
Humor (724)
Interviews (134)
Lore (270)
Mounts (131)
News items (1413)
NPCs (186)
Odds and ends (1605)
Patches (1118)
Podcasting (72)
Ranking (51)
Realm News (282)
Realm Status (227)
RP (158)
Rumors (32)
Virtual selves (612)
WoW Insider Business (278)
WoW Social Conventions (137)
WoW TCG (49)
Wrath of the Lich King (259)
Strategy
Alts (86)
Arena (164)
Battlegrounds (108)
Bosses (304)
Buffs (116)
Cheats (69)
Classes (287)
Enchants (29)
Factions (145)
Guides (325)
How-tos (362)
Instances (626)
Items (794)
Leveling (242)
Making money (161)
PvP (698)
Quests (345)
Raiding (673)
Talents (120)
Tips (543)
Tricks (218)
Walkthroughs (75)
Media
Comics (62)
Fan art (33)
Galleries (132)
Machinima (546)
Podcasts (52)
Polls (55)
Screenshots (612)
Races
Alliance (103)
Draenei (62)
Dwarves (15)
Gnomes (39)
Human (14)
Night Elves (42)
Horde (102)
Blood Elves (69)
Orcs (25)
Tauren (41)
Trolls (22)
Undead (21)
Professions
Alchemy (75)
Blacksmithing (55)
Cooking (66)
Enchanting (70)
Engineering (108)
First Aid (16)
Fishing (57)
Herbalism (44)
Inscription (10)
Jewelcrafting (79)
Leatherworking (59)
Mining (42)
Skinning (28)
Tailoring (64)
Retired
Azeroth Interrupted (24)
World Wide WoW (8)
/silly (14)

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Powered by Blogsmith

    Featured Galleries

    Magisters' Terrace walkthrough
    Patch 2.4 Sunwell Isle
    It came from the Blog: Children's Week Gallery
    Children's Week: Stormwind
    Children's Week: Orgrimmar
    M'uru loot
    Children's Week: Dornaa's quests
    Children's Week: Shattrath City -- Horde
    The Darkmoon Faire

     

    Most Commented On (30 days)

    Recent Comments

    Weblogs, Inc. Network

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: