Urban legends and media coverage both paint the stereotypical WoW-player as a pale, socially-stunted, acne-prone guy in his twenties. He might be in college, or live with his parents, or both. If he has graduated, he probably works in a computer-related field. Either way, the closest he’s gotten to female companionship is his level 28 NE-hunter alt and some lipstick on his hand.
Hi, my name is Ariel. You can call me Wynthea. I work in the finance industry, and live in a chic apartment of my own. I like to cook, swing-dance, pump iron, and watch obscure films. I speak three languages. I think that my red hair should serve as a warning to others. I play WoW. Better than you, and better than your boyfriend.
A girl playing Warcraft for her own reasons is unusual – most of us play to spend time with a boyfriend or family member. I’ve been told that we bring a different perspective to the guilds we lead and the raids we run. As is true in every competitive social and professional setting, we face a unique set of interactions and challenges, which has been well-documented elsewhere. I won’t bore you with tales of harassment, discrimination, or disappointment. It suffices to say that I’ve been called worse, questioned more, and respected by better. And I’m still here. Still playing, still progressing, and still learning.
Occasionally, I like to share a bit of what I’ve been taught, but more than that I like to brainstorm with like-minded players. Through a few lucky clicks, I found the World of Matticus, and started commenting. It was an ironic coincidence when eHarmony’s blog-buddy finder matched us up as sworn enemies. We had a good laugh about it, after the pirate gremlins saved me from his death-ray. Mostly, I sit on vent and listen to Matt whine about not having enough reagents, or forgetting where he hot-keyed Stoneform and Desperate Prayer. In return, he keeps me from screaming at my raid leader and catching a fast G-kick. I’m honored and flattered that Matt has invited me to add a little bit of my perspective to his World. He needs my presence so his sanity doesn’t get lost.
Street Cred
I have two level 70 Priests, one leveled Holy, one Shadow. Both are now Holy-CoH spec.
Renwein of Darrowmere (Human) – moth-balled since 2.3; made it 3/4 TK and 5/6 SSC, runs an occasional weekend-ZA.
Wynthea of Nazjatar (Troll) – Slayer of Illidan and countless gnomes. Red mohawk of DOOM.
My true love in this game is PvE, but I’ve dabbled more and more in PvP – the quickness of an arena match is a good nerve-soother when hours in a raid get to be too much. I have no real PvP claims to fame, but I’ll brag about them when I achieve them.
Welcome aboard!
I play a female night elf hunter. Most people assume I’m a guy. I’m used to it by now. (My female tauren hunter alt has had many more creepy stalkers… maybe because female taurens are more likely to be actual chicks? Dunno.)
“mon the gals” 😛
I swear I know of more female wow-bloggers than I do males!
I would welcome you to the madness, but I think I’ll just laugh maniacally at your plight. *evil laugh*
The Matticus has you. You cannot escape!
*is smitten by the anti-cliche gods*
Nice to see another face around here. 🙂
Yeah, I used to joke about being male until proven innocent.
I think we’ve all had the experience of getting on an unfamiliar vent and hearing “OHMYGOD, you’re a GIRL??”
Maybe I should do a post about the funniest things that have happened to me or my friends because of our perceived gender. 🙂
Nice post Wynthea.
I have one for you. My boyfriend started playing the game to spend more time with me, and pre-BC he stalled out on leveling his warrior. I wanted us to play together, so once my pally dinged 60 I leveled the warrior from 40-60. He insisted that I keep him specced prot, so whenever he was out of the house I would tank instances. Around the same time we joined a guild, but it was principally me playing both toons. Pretty soon he was 60 and it was time for UBRS, and the guild needed a tank more than my healer. So, I offered–and mind you, I’d never been on vent before. Imagine my guild’s surprise when their gruff-looking night elf male tank turned out to be a girl!
He took over his own character again when BC came out and started tanking for himself, but for the rest of our stay in that guild, people suspected either that 1) my boyfriend didn’t exist, or 2) he was a woman, despite his own very deep voice on vent.
To this day, he’s never “really” been to UBRS. As he always reminds me, suuuure, his character used to tank UBRS all the time, but he’s never seen the doorway.
ZOMG grls play WoW 2? No Wai!!!!! *Puts up sign “No Girls Allowed”* =D
Always good to see another perspective considering Matticus is literally an elitist jerk. Plus, I will not cringe as often since your grammar is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better. Looking forward to more posts.
Waiting for a whole blog post about me
<3
There are NO women on the internet.