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Male Blood Elves Get Pumped Up 232

Posted by Zonk from the gaah dept.
Kotaku reports that the Male Blood Elves, from the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Burning Crusade, have been made more masculine by their Blizzard overseers. Which totally makes sense, because when I think elves I think paragons of masculinity. From the article: "You changed it because your constituency is a bunch of capslock-riding asshats who are threatened by bishy player characters. The reason Blood Elves were Horde in the first place is because everyone was whining about all the Horde races being ugly juggernauts. The point of Blood Elves was to inject some swish into a very physically intimidating set of races. They're not exactly chunky now, and I do not begrudge a game company making prerelease aesthetic changes, but their reasons for doing so are pathetic. " Before and after photos are available in their post.
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Male Blood Elves Get Pumped Up More

Male Blood Elves Get Pumped Up

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  • congratulations, blizzard (Score:5, Funny)

    by blackcoot ( 124938 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:31PM (#16582222)
    you've taken characters that were previously more like sensitive, artsy types and made them look like hulk hogan in drag. bravo.

  • so... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mmmmbeer ( 107215 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:35PM (#16582302)
    So a bunch of whiny pansies are bitching about Blizzard giving in to a bunch of whiny pansies? Will that make them change it back?

  • "Some swish"? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Canthros ( 5769 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:35PM (#16582314)
    "Bishy"?

    Are we reading the rantings of some crazed slash-fiction writer? This has to be the most mind-numbingly stupid objection to a change that I've ever heard.

    • Re:"Some swish"? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Ironsides ( 739422 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @03:10PM (#16582836) Homepage Journal
      "Bishy"?

      Bishy: Short for Bishounen.

      Bishounen: Japanese word translating roughly as "Pretty Boy". Used to refer to males who are very handsome/pretty and sometimes very androgynous. Wiki Link [wikipedia.org]

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by blueZhift ( 652272 )
      "Bishy"?

      This probably refers to the Japanese term, bishonen, which means "beautiful boy". Just think of Orlando Bloom who plays Legolas in the LotR movies. You'll also see this in Japanese RPGs such as the Final Fantasy series. I guess some guys are too macho to play as bishonen, eh?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Canthros ( 5769 )
      To the innumerable helpful pedants: I already knew what 'bishy' meant.

      It's not really something that pops up in conversation with normal people, though.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Virak ( 897071 )
        It's not really something that pops up in conversation with normal people, though.

        You must be new here.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Canthros ( 5769 )
          Not really, no.

          I did specify normal as a qualifier, after all. Also, 4-digit uid. I'd like to claim that Slashdotters had a bit more perspective, back in the day. However, I've been here plenty long enough to doubt that.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Knara ( 9377 )
            I dunno, it seems to be that "back in the day" there was a barrier to entry (what's this "www" thing you speak of) that kept things from being as reactionary. Though, I guess I'm probably wrong there and seeing it through slashdot-colored glasses.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by tverbeek ( 457094 ) *
      In other words, if it doesn't affect you personally, you don't give a damn how other people feel.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Canthros ( 5769 )
        Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Unless I mean that it's a petty and trivial thing to get worked up over, and maybe the writer should relax, take a break, and visit the Big Blue Room with the Daystar in it?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tsuzuki ( 442471 )
      It's obvious you understand the term, or else you wouldn't have mentioned slash...

      But the "crazed slash-fiction writer" types are probably the ones most affected by the change. They're playing as male Blood Elves mostly for the aesthetics of the character, including the bish and the swish. ;D Say whatever you like about the changes, but they're still paying customers!

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Blakey Rat ( 99501 )
      He could have used the (somewhat) more mainstream term "Metrosexual" which means roughly the same thing, but is actually meaningful to people who don't spend half their lives watching crappy cartoons from halfway across the world.

      Anyway, the objection that the horde didn't have any "attractive" characters was/is entirely valid. That's why, IMO, the majority of servers have a lot more population on the alliance side than the horde side. Who wants to look at a tauren's ass all day when you can look at a sexy
  • There is a presumption that the BEs were being added because players wanted a less physically intimidating race or a less ugly race or both. I disagree. I think they are being added because they were an obvious choice from the existing Warcraft storyline, and the contrast of elves with the magic-adiction-fueled willingness to do anything to restore their place in the world is a fairly decent intro for a new horde race.

    The look is rather arbitrary, but I'm overall pleased that a BE warrior won't look like a
    • I think it was at least partially done to give the Horde an attractive race. I suspect that the number of Horde players will increase dramatically with BC. I know I'll be rolling a female blood elf.
    • But that's not an argument for a playable race, its an argument for a story. Playable character arguments need to be examined by the balance that exists. Alliance had, for a very long time, overwhelming numbers. And you can probably guess that nobody was playing as male blood elves. Maybe nobody has the post-modernist tolerance to stomach pretending to be an elf that runs around pretending to be a woman?

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by ajs ( 35943 )

        And you can probably guess that nobody was playing as male blood elves. Maybe nobody has the post-modernist tolerance to stomach pretending to be an elf that runs around pretending to be a woman?

        Two things: first off, there's no such race. This is a race which will first appear in 2008 when the expansion is released. It does not exist at all now, so I'm not sure where you're getting this information about the population distribution of BEs....

        Second, please do not confuse post-modernism with blurring of gen

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by HybridJeff ( 717521 )
          "Two things: first off, there's no such race. This is a race which will first appear in 2008 when the expansion is released. It does not exist at all now, so I'm not sure where you're getting this information about the population distribution of BEs...."

          FYI The expansion is scheduled for release at the end of January 2007 (the 22nd I believe). If you count the Beta servers (invite only) Blood Elves actually do exist in the game now. THat said, it will still be a few months untill they hit retail.

        • Re:Some real problems in this article (Score:5, Informative)

          by rk ( 6314 ) * on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @06:46PM (#16585822) Journal

          "Two things: first off, there's no such race. This is a race which will first appear in 2008 when the expansion is released."

          Did you know that WoW is based on previous Blizzard RTS games?

          Blood Elves [wikipedia.org] in all their glory... introduced in Warcraft III, way back in 2003.

          Nobody gives a damn about history anymore, even in made-up worlds.

  • *CLICK* (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:36PM (#16582324) Homepage
    *CLICK*

    That's the sound of the WoW playerbase not giving a damn and picking whatever race gives them the best bonuses for their class. While I love Kotaku, this honestly strikes me as one of the whiniest posts I've ever read on there. Boo hoo, Blizzard "nerfed" the character model by making it buffer. While I think its high time Blizzard enable characters to alter more of their physical appearance similar to City of Heroes, I have to wonder...is this really worth posting on the front page of Slashdot?

    • Re:*CLICK* (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Thansal ( 999464 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:46PM (#16582504)
      heh. Thank you.

      This post (and the others I have seen complaining about it) just came off as silly. I decided to poke around and found some screen caps of old vs new and the new basicly just looks like a Night Elf male body. This isn't a "bad" thing. This is a "so friken what" thing.

      Combine that with the fact that your race realy is not visible startign in the mid to late game where every one has the same friken armour and the only way to guess someone's race is if they don't have a helmet displayed or if they are a friken dwarf/gnome.

      (I like the work frick.)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Fozzyuw ( 950608 )
      Boo hoo, Blizzard "nerfed" the character model by making it buffer.

      Man, if I had some mod points, I'd mod this up as "funny" for this statement! lol

    • Oh please. I'm sure there are so many gnome rogues because of the stat bonuses.

      I actually rolled a dwarf hunter instead of night elf specifically because the model was so ridiculous looking. It was obvious then that their deviation from the "elf" archtype was dictated by the sexual insecurities of teenage boys, and that they confirm it by rescinding a more traditional design based on complaints is just plain offensive.

      I mean, who do they think they kidding, anyway? Of those whose self-image reflects either
      • Gnome rogues are an interesting exception. A lot of people roll gnome rogues due to how friggin hard they are to hit in PVP due to their size. They easily get lost in large crowds.

  • I thought they were trying to make them look more masculine. The hair on the new one looks a lot more feminine than the old one to me!

  • "constituency"? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ObjetDart ( 700355 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:37PM (#16582352)
    That's an interesting euphemism for "customers".

  • One body size does not fit all (Score:5, Interesting)

    by snuf23 ( 182335 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:37PM (#16582356)
    I hate the way WoW only has one body shape per race/gender. All of the males are over muscled. I suppose that's fine for a warrior but why should a mage have biceps like Ahnold? The same goes for rogues, you can't make a slender male thief.

    • SWG had a nice system (Score:5, Interesting)

      by attemptedgoalie ( 634133 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:55PM (#16582636)
      I thought that Star Wars Galaxies had the best customization I've seen. WoW is a bunch of the same looking people wandering around wearing similar clothing.

      SWG had a much more diverse feel.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by DocSavage64109 ( 799754 )
        You should see City of Villains/Heroes. The charater customization allows you to change nearly everything including nose size, jaw size, and costumes. You can also unlock multiple costume slots so your character can have multiple looks for different moods or occasions.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by snuf23 ( 182335 )
          SWG actually had more facial modifiers than CoH/CoV (and yes I've played CoH recently so I'm aware they updated it). One thing that SWG allowed you to do was make player characters that were overweight. I know CoH could do this since they have fat NPCs, but as far as I can tell there is no way to make a fat hero.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Burlap ( 615181 )
        play CoH/V if you want really diverse charcter appearance.

      • Re:SWG had a nice system (Score:5, Insightful)

        by tourvil ( 103765 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @03:59PM (#16583618)
        SWG had a much more diverse feel.

        Yes it did. It also lagged all to hell when you were in a slightly populated area. I wish WoW was more customizable too, but I think they did that on purpose to reduce the amount of character info that needed to be passed around to other players.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by geekoid ( 135745 )
        City of Heros is much better.

        And I don't want any game to follow SWG in any way.

    • Re:One body size does not fit all (Score:5, Funny)

      by Lord_Slepnir ( 585350 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @03:19PM (#16582966) Journal
      Not to mention the human females all look like contestants for Miss Azeroth. I get a little worried when I see a "Heavy Mithril Breastplate" jiggling when my character runs. What do they make these thing out of? Mithril foil?
    • The male humans look far too much like roided up linebackers.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by TheWormThatFlies ( 788009 )

      Because "can walk through a door without turning sideways" = "girly man", evidently. Aaah, comicbook aesthetics. :/ The original model wasn't buff enough? Good grief; it looks nothing like an elf -- the only way you can tell what it's supposed to be is that the ears are pointed.

      I don't play any MMORPGs, so I don't really have anything to complain about, except the principle of the thing. If I did play, I would like to have a character which is aesthetically pleasing to me. It would be nice if at leas

  • Changing content based on customer feedback? (Score:3, Funny)

    by bunions ( 970377 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:38PM (#16582358)
    THOSE BASTARDS!
  • They are no worse then the Night Elves [wikipedia.org]. Personally, I do not find it that big of a deal. I personally liked the fact that the Horde were "uglier" or more "brutish." I always thought it meant we had more players who cared less about character aesthetics and more about substance. Of course, I do not play anymore, so the attitude might have changed greatly. Personally, I liked playing what amounted to a bull walking upright...

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by chrismcdirty ( 677039 )
      When I played, it always seemed that the Horde were the adolescents who just wanted to play as a bad guy, all the while deriding the Alliance for choosing characters who look pretty. And that was the attitude from day -14 or so. Personally, I didn't care, as long as the stats were there for the class I chose.
    • that allowde me to get a glimpse of the stats Blizzard tracks.

      75% of all hard core gamers play horde

      this means there is a huge skill imbalance between the two factions.

      They determined that more casual gamers chose allience for the looks. Hence the addition of a 'pretty' race.

      I would love to analoze all of Blizards data. I bet there is a lot of information just waiting to get out.

  • I'd rather have a choice (Score:5, Interesting)

    by LocoMan ( 744414 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:39PM (#16582378) Homepage
    I don't know, but one of the things I'd like to see improved in WoW is the "everyone has the same body type" thing, maybe sliders for how thin/muscular/fat/tall/short you want someone (with limits, of course, so that humans are always taller than dwarves, for example).

    I just think it would help set characters apart from everyone else, so you could play (for example) a fat priest like friar tuck on Robin Hood, or a thin tall albino guy like Elric of Melniboné. No idea how hard would it be to implement that, though. I'm still rather new to the game, probably would be problems scaling the armor that are actual models (instead of just different textures) when they're on the characters.
    • Love will drive you insane.

      Roll d20 for a SAN check.
  • This is a non-story. And it's rather insulting that it made it ANYWHERE let alone a major news/blog/whatever site. Who is the source? Oh, that's right, some random "offended" person at http://gaygamer.net/index.php?id=1632 [gaygamer.net] who is complaining that the team behind a currently-in-production game made an art decision.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )
      the point is, it was made as an art decsion, it was made because other people whined.

      Interesting, if you look at the number of whiners the largest of portion of them are Horde.
      Also, almost all horde complaints get addressed, while alliance complaints are seldom addressed.

      Not that it means anything, I jst find it interesting.

      I don't really care, because nothing is sexier then a gnome.
      go gnome, go gnome, it's your birth day...

  • Dear Blizzard, (Score:5, Funny)

    by chowdy ( 992689 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @02:43PM (#16582448)
    I feel that the female blood elves wear far too much clothing. This expresses an extreme imbalance in the WoW gameplay. It is completely unfair that male night elves may go topless, while female night elves cannot. This imbalance in gameplay must be addressed, or else i will cancel my subscription.

    Sincerely,
    Whiny Blizzard Customer
  • So I guess Bruce Lee was queer then, because he's skinny, right? How retarded. If they put the male elf in a ball gown, then fine, change it to some pants or whatever. If they feel like any arm diameter beneath 25" scale is too effeminate, I'm sure there are plenty of UFC fighters who are smaller than that, who happily contest otherwise, on a regular basis, for money, in the ring.
    • They wil most likely be casters, which means they will be wearing ball gowns consistantly.

      And the porportions are based on fantasy, not reality. So withing this contect, a 25" are diameter is girly.

  • femme? (Score:4, Informative)

    by illegalcortex ( 1007791 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @03:07PM (#16582790)
    It just goes to show how superheroically drawn the characters are drawn when the "femme" version is more muscular than most men in the real world. I know I wish I had pecs and biceps like that... Couple more before/after pics here [wowinsider.com].

    I REALLY wish wow had better options for customizing the build/appearance of the players. I get so tired of seeing the same old faces and same old bodies. But I guess there's just no money in it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )
      well wishing hasn't work, how about, oh I don't know, lifting some weight maybe? with a professionable trainer?

  • So, that is why the expansion was delayed until 2007! Just to fix up the male Blood Elves. [grin]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )
      COuld very well be.. From what I gather The would have to change every animation applicable to them, like clothes, armor, weapons, etc.

  • It's fun to stay at the... (Score:4, Funny)

    by QuantaStarFire ( 902219 ) * <ed.kehoeNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @04:24PM (#16583976)

    Wow. I can totally see these new Blood Elves spending all their time in the woods, lifting trees, spotting each other, getting into the shower together after a long workout and having hot, sweaty se--um, yeah.

    You gotta feel sorry for the Blood Elf women though; they can look, they can dream, but they know in their hearts that it can never be. To make things worse, they don't have the nice human gentlemen callers to fall back on; that ship sailed more than 4 years ago.

  • Male fantasy character stupidly over-muscled, film at 11.

    -or-

    Trivial aspect of cult game tweaked, hardcore fans up in arms, continue paying monthly fees.

    From the "who gives a shit?" department.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )
      Trivial aspect of cult game tweaked, hardcore fans up in arms, continue paying monthly fees.

      I think you answered your own question.

  • In Other News... (Score:4, Funny)

    by dthx1138 ( 833363 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @05:29PM (#16584944)
    Valve announced today that the wood texture on the AK-47 in Counterstrike will be made slightly darker.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )
      I see you point, but what if the change the color to orange because a group of people pressured them?
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Company ignores customer complaint: "They're not listening to their player base!"
    Company responds to and rectifies customer complaint: "They don't have spines! They're caving to the masses!"

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shados ( 741919 )
      Thats unavoidable, unfortunately. The vocal majority is rarely the majority. So people who complain tends not to state what people in general wants...so you either make the loud mouths happy, or the quiet majority...but you won't get both. Unfortunately, both have roughly the same amount of power, even though their is a huge numerical imbalance :(

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @06:29PM (#16585642)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Want to see a Twig? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Bryansix ( 761547 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @06:33PM (#16585684) Homepage
    Look at the Dark Elves in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. My character is like a twig. He has less muscle mass then me in real life and that is saying something.
  • When I think elves I think paragons of masculinity.

    Hard to believe that I'm the only Slashdot reader who saw a series of films called "The Lord of the Rings".

    Legolas the Elf was probably the #1 badass in those films.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )
      yes, but he was not the paragon of masculinity.

      there is a difference.

      he was probably the paragon of elfulinity.
       

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by K8Fan ( 37875 )

        I think a lot of guys just have a problem with the idea that a skinny guy with perfect hair could kick their ass up one side of Rivendell and down the other.

  • ... is a hermaphrodite.

    You. Insensitive. Clods!

  • Most likely a technical decision. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Kaboom13 ( 235759 ) <kaboom108@@@bellsouth...net> on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @09:52PM (#16587640)
    The real reason behind this probably has little to do with player demands. Wow has always been plagued with horrible clipping and armor fitting problems. Many of the issues are still around from release. Most likely Blizz realized geting the male armor models to fit the extremely skinny blood elves correctly was going to be difficult. Male BE are now almost identical to male Night elves. I actually support the change, however, because Warcraft elves (before and after their change to blood elves) were thinner then normal humans but never the impossibly thin elves of some fantasy worlds. The new elves look a lot more like the elves in warcraft 3 imo.

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