Dear Blizzard

Misogynist slur ahead, "joking" reference to sexual assault.

Dear Blizzard,

It's been a lovely day on the WOW forums.

Someone started a thread called, "Phrases/Quotes that you really like."

Guess what the very first reply was?

"I'm gonna ook you in the dooker!"

Guess what also made the first page?

''Watch your clever mouth, !@#$%.'' - Garrosh Hellscream

Who's Garrosh, again?  Oh, right, the Warchief of the Horde.  He wasn't the warchief when he called Sylvanas a bitch, but I guess that's the kind of misogyny Thrall was looking for when he had to decide whom to promote.

You throw in these lines for reasons of your own, but your playerbase has a ball with them for reasons of its own.  A misogynist playerbase finds a line like that in-game and is thrilled.  You've just given them license to call Sylvanas a bitch.  The thinking may go something like this: Sure, maybe Garrosh is crude, but he's right, isn't he?  She really is a bitch.  It must be okay to call women bitches, right?  You know, if they deserve it.  Now it's up to the player to decide what kind of behavior warrants the term "bitch."  You may or may not be surprised by where each player draws the line.

As for ooking people in the dooker, ha ha ha.  Threats of sexual assault are hilarious.  Rape jokes are hilarious.  Obviously, it's perfectly cool that you no longer censor the word "rape" on the forums, because we're certainly all mature enough to handle sexual assault responsibly.

Some players brought up good lines in that thread.  Funny stuff, dramatic stuff, some moments your writers are probably very proud of.

Wouldn't you rather players look back and reminisce over "I am the lucid dream" and Medivh's farewell from WC3, than, "Watch your clever mouth, bitch?"

I hope that you would.

With love,
Frank Lee