The conversation around the Activision Blizzard harassment scandal is continuing as the situation develops, and is starting to cause a divide between some World of Warcraft (WoW) content creators.
Some – like MadSeason and Preach Gaming – will no longer be making WoW content. Others, including Asmongold and Pyromancer, are streaming a lot of Final Fantasy 14 at the moment. Some, like Taliesin & Evitel, MrGM and players from esports orgs like Method, are still producing WoW content.
This difference in the content that creators produce and the games they play is resulting in some heated debate.
Yesterday, British WoW content creator MrGM (pictured left) made the below tweet, making the point that while the WoW in-game store has been criticised by parts of the community, Final Fantasy 14 (FF14) also has a store that allows players to buy items for real money. This comes after parts of the WoW community left the game to try FF14 instead.
MrGM described the tweet as a ‘social experiment’. This tweet, of course, caused a lot of debate on Twitter around the differences between WoW and FF14, and irked some in the WoW community.
One streamer in particular, Pyromancer (pictured right), reacted strongly to the result of this reaction.
He said on stream (around the 36-minute mark): “We have a dumbfuck in the chat, he’s a MrGM fanboy. Let me help you with something here, motherfucker. 601 items in the store. Do you know what most of those items are? Cosmetics from old content that are unattainable. You know what isn’t in there? $60 level boosts. $30 race changes. $25 faction changes.”
Someone asked Pyromancer in chat: “Why can’t you buy them with gold like in WoW?”
“You realise you can literally buy gold in WoW using the in-game systems right? You can use real money to buy the gold to get them,” Pyromancer replied.
“You can grind your gold to buy WoW tokens,” the person in chat responded.
“Yeah, most people don’t do that,” Pyromancer continued.
“I can’t stand the content creators who are still simping for WoW because all of their money depends on it, so they stand around and pretend like they’re not talking shit about other games, to disguise the fact that they’re terrified, cos it’s the only way they have to cope. I’m fucking sick of it.”
Pyromancer
Pyromancer said: “Do you know how many discontinued transmogs you can get in WoW? Only those on the black market auction house. If you want to be a dick rider, and you still want to try and simp for that fucking company [Activision Blizzard], I can’t fathom how blind… I can’t believe the WoW community. You’re fucking idiots.”
Pyromancer then said in this Twitch clip: “I can’t stand the game. I can’t stand the people who play it. I can’t stand the content creators who are still simping for it because all of their money depends on it, so they stand around and pretend like they’re not talking shit about other games, to disguise the fact that they’re terrified, cos it’s the only way they have to cope. I’m fucking sick of it.
“I’m sick of putting so much of my time, energy and love into that fucking universe to have it all crumble around me because perverted mid-30-year-old and 40-year-old men can’t keep their fucking hands to themselves. And it’s why the game sucks!”
Pyromancer deleted his Twitter profile afterwards, and the above Twitch clip – now viewed more than 200,000 times – made its way around the community. And back to MrGM, who responded with tweets such as the following:
A now-removed Reddit thread was created on Asmongold’s subreddit, and some hate was sent MrGM’s way afterwards, with MrGM saying he received death threats.
Some in the community criticised MrGM’s actions constructively, and he says he has heard them.
MrGM said: “I’m turning off the ability to reply to my recent tweets. At least I can control some of the abuse through Twitter, but unfortunately the 325+ comment hate post about me still exists [this is referencing the Asmongold subreddit post, which Asmongold has now deleted].
“I’ve clearly made some mistakes in the last 24 hours. I’ve got a lot to learn from this.”
Asmongold responded to MrGM’s tweet and reaction, and removed the thread.
Asmongold said on stream: “I’m going to delete the thread. And I’m also going to say: You shouldn’t throw stones whenever you live in a glass house. You had no problem tweeting and laughing and playing off Pyromancer’s mental problems, saying ‘play stupid games, win stupid prizes’ when he deleted his Twitter. What happens when this gets turned around on you?
“Stop being a bitch. The moment that this happens to you, don’t go to cry to Twitter after you did the same thing to somebody else. There will be no more comments or negative threads about MrGM on my Reddit. I do hope you learn from this, because you’re at fault just as much as he is. And in my opinion, even more, because you’re looking for sympathy even though you started the drama. It’s pathetic.”
Further reading: Opinion: World of Warcraft is tainted. Let it be – let it put you off playing it, let it act as a reminder of Activision Blizzard’s abhorrent behaviour. If that’s what it’s going to take to start eliminating sexual harassment from this industry, then so be it
Dom is an award-winning writer who graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV as well as Riot Games and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Association up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and as an esports consultant helping brands and businesses better understand the industry.
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