Original Post by Demi Williams of NME.com (Click here to view)
“Datamined strings indicate the game could also add the option for players to select their pronouns”
World Of Warcraft: Dragonflight will be removing gendered language from its character creation menu, according to the newly released alpha.
The Dragonflight alpha went live yesterday (July 15) and gave players the first glimpse at what to expect from the new expansion. This included the revamped character creation screen which will now exclude the use of gender-specific terminology.
In the existing game, when creating a character players are presented with either ‘male’ or ‘female’. However, Dragonflight will be changing this to ‘body 1’ and ‘body 2’.
A new Wowhead post also notes another change currently not implemented on the Dragonflight alpha, but datamined strings indicate it will be added to the game, is the option for players to select their pronouns. Apparently, the game will let players choose between he/him, she/her or they/them, as well as a preferred voice.
“What we don’t know is how these options would be used though, as there doesn’t appear to be any place to actually select this customization, and neither gender nor pronouns have ever been referenced in any player UI element,” Wowhead explains.
However, it’s notable that the game already avoids referencing the player using pronouns, instead choosing to call them “champion” or “hero”. It’s unclear if the datamined option will just be a personalized feature or if pronouns will be introduced to the game’s system.
World Of Warcraft: Dragonflight was announced in April and will introduce Dragonriding, “an all-new skill-based method of aerial movement that allows players to take to the skies on the back of their personal Dragon Isles Drake.”
Last month, Blizzard confirmed the expansion will launch “on or before December 31, 2022” with three digital versions being available for preorder.
Lox responds: “I’m not sure if this is a good idea or not, and I’m a member of the LGBTQ community. Are we taking this political correctness too far? Or, is it the right time to finally acknowledge that society no longer looks at identity in black-and-white terms, and should therefore give people the chance to create their own identity, whether in the real world, or in a fantasy game?
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