It is part of human nature to categorise people, those who are like us and those who are not. In all aspects of our lives we often come down to “them and us”. “Us” is comfortable and reassuring, them is different, sometimes beyond our comprehension, sometimes threatening; mostly though just different. People also have a tendency to label and stereotype. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it can be a kind of shorthand providing everyone understands what the labels mean and that they are not used to represent the whole of a person; that they are used as a starting point, not to completely sum a person up. Stereotypes don’t have to be bad as long as we recognise where they come from and that they are generalisations, they are not representative of the whole and that they may be exaggerated. Of course, there can be a very negative side to labels and stereotypes. They can be derogatory and demeaning; they can be founded on hidden agendas and perpetuate untruths.
This is true in WoW as well in our real lives. We are all familiar with the “Huntard” and the new kid on the block, the “Deathtard”. It’s a bit of a running joke, we have all come across players that fit those stereotypes and we all know plenty of Hunters and Death Knights that are great players and recognise that “Huntard” is a stereotype that a lot of Hunters don’t fit at all. These labels are derogatory, we label others to reinforce our own (often groundless) sense of superiority. When we call someone a Huntard we are not only using short-hand to convey an unspoken set of meanings about the hunter we are also saying that we think we are a better player, we know more than them.
Since I have embarked on my AH adventure I have started following a lot of gold-making blogs. On the whole they are very good and make for interesting reading – there are lots of helpful tips and people are generous enough to share their methods. One of the most popular is Gevlon’s blog Greedy Goblin; Gevlon not only writes about making gold in WoW but also about economics, his personal views and values. Prominent features are his disparaging posts about “Socials” and M&S (morons and suckers?). More and more I see these terms used, in the same tone, on gold-making blogs. I suppose what makes me really uncomfortable is the implicit judgement in these labels, that to be “social” is inferior to be a “goblin” is superior; of course the M&S term doesn’t imply anything at all, it’s very up-front!
It’s something that’s been bothering me for a while, ticking away in the back of my brain whilst I tried to pin down what made me uncomfortable about it. What brought it into focus today was a post over at One Copper (and this post isn’t directed at Seth, his post is just what made things start to come together in my head!). I get that gold-making isn’t a social activity, competing against other sellers means that one is acting alone. What baffles me is the sneering attitude that seems to be the norm about people that play WoW in a different way, for different reasons.
no offense taken,
great writing too.
grtz
Seth
I’m glad you’ve taken it in the spirit intended
My blog tends to be my “thinking out loud” space and today your post was the catalyst for that.
Gevlon sees the world in very black and white terms – no shades of grey for him. Either you’re at the gold cap, or you’re a moron. Either you raid hard modes, or you’re a slacker. Either you believe people with less income than you shouldn’t be allowed to eat in the same restaurant and buy a house in your neighborhood, or you want to put everyone on welfare and destroy civilization.
I take a certain perverse amusement watching him flounder around well out of his depth on subjects like raiding and economics and sociology, but if others are picking up his vitriolic, “I am better than you” terminology then that is rather sad.
Hey Ratshag! It’s nice to see you’re still lurking in the blogosphere
I think you’ve managed to put your finger on what makes me uncomfortable about his view of the world – maybe it’s an age thing but for me the world is full of grey and perhaps that’s experience. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that….nothing is ever that simple 
I’ve never subscribed to the viewpoint that “other” is inferior (or superior for that matter), it is just different – all part of my grey perspective.
If i wasn’t so Holy I might admit to a little amusement myself
I need to be careful i don’t become Holier than Thou *grins*
I guess the thing about labels like “huntard” and the like is that that they’re very readily disproved in game. I mean, you only need to see a well-played hunter in action to realise that it’s just a rather tired joke, as opposed to an actual denigration of the hunter class (maybe). Whereas, the problem with disparaging terminology about approaches to the game is that it strikes at more fundamental things – like the idea plenty of people prefer the levelling game rather than the raiding game, but this shouldn’t make them second class citizens.
Also Gevlon’s terms don’t really bother me becuase I see them as being part of his persona – in order to be successful, one has to project an image of success and all that. *smirk*. And it doesn’t surprise me that his terms, and perhaps his attitudes, are picked up by the rest of the gold-making community – although it would be preferable if people playing the game in their differing ways didn’t insist on validating themselves by attempting to undermine others.
It’s a bit like the hardcore vs casual argument that rages on in the background fairly regularly – I’ve never got that either