Commenting on Controversy

Although I often participate in discussions about WoW on the internet, it always amazes me how many of the comments seek to shut down the conversation rather than participate in it. It's not even that I necessarily love each and every one of the conversations that go on, but if I can't clearly agree or disagree I won't barge in to call it all off. My problems with this are twofold:

1) commenters presume to tell the blog owner how to use their own webspace, and
2) commenters enforce their own opinion of what merits discussion.

Get out of my internet

Self-hosted or not, a blog is a space where one or multiple contributors produce original content to be published on the web. They have control over what is published (assuming that the host or ad contributors don't limit or direct the content, which I think applies to a great many WoW bloggers). When a blogger makes a post, they are making it public to the internet, and assuming that they have left comments open (even if moderated), they are open to a dialogue about said content. Some posts generate a lot of discussion, particularly if they are about topics that aren't able to be summed up in a few simple factual statements. Obviously, the most recent one is equal gender representation of raid bosses in WoW, and before that there have been other interesting topics like behavior in pugs or sparkle pony sales.

If a blogger makes a post and leaves comments open to discussion, it's perfectly all right to voice agreement or disagreement and explain why. If I come out with "All Worgen are ugly as sin," I won't be troubled if you say "You're wrong; they have adorable snarling faces." We may disagree about it, but we are having a discussion. However, if your response is, "Stop talking about Worgen, I don't care about this," well...no. Don't come in to a blogger's slice of internet and tell them how to use their space. If you don't want to talk about the topic, then skip the post and refrain from wasting time commenting. Tangentially related to this is screening comments which personally attack the blogger rather than their ideas - no one has to use their own space to host personal attacks. Unless they are breaking the law, it's no one but the blogger's business who and what gets a space on their website.

Let me tell you what's important

There are two layers to a commenter telling a blogger that their chosen topic is not as important as another. The first is WoW specific, where discussions about gear or strategy get a free pass as de facto important information, but criticism of the game is less important, particularly if it's about things like respect or equality. The interesting thing is that the argument often used is "it's just a game." In which case, why are we wasting all this RL time calculating our best stat, QQing to Blizz about class balance or heroic difficulty, fleshing out RP backstory, hell, why are we even wasting our RL time playing just a game? If it's not this argument, it's that more popular topics like PVE or PVP information are the most important and always merit post space, with discussion about lore, RP, achievements, companion pets, and of course criticism of the game reflecting society's *isms being devalued as not worth time or effort to discuss. Commenters don't get to tell a blogger what is the most important thing for them to discuss. If it's not important to you, don't spend your important time commenting.

The second layer is something that occurs a lot in social justice discussions - a concern troll advises us against wasting keystrokes on unimportant things and suggests other topics they consider to be worthy of discussion. This is basic derailing, a silencing tactic that says "stop having the conversation you want to have and talk about what I want you to." When it comes to, say, feminist topics, people love to rank causes on their worthiness of discussion: why waste time talking about unequal pay when we should talk about gendered violence, don't talk about violence when we should talk about Haiti, forget Haiti when we need to talk about the intersectionality of poverty and accessibility of healthful foods. Holistically, all are feminist issues, and when a blogger chooses to talk about one, that is the focus of the discussion and if you'd like to talk about another one, find another platform. So if a blogger makes a post about a topic near and dear to them, don't derail it by demanding they change the subject.

Suggestion for commenters who consider current controversy a waste of time:

Say you take your own advice, and don't waste time reading or commenting on any blog posts you find unimportant or unnecessary. (I'm assuming the reason you describe them as such is because you actually believe that, rather than secretly disagree but don't want to come off as a silencing concern troll.) So you stop entirely reading about gender equality in WoW and keep playing the game you love, and the discussion continues without bothering you. Then, one patch releases a 6-boss raid with 3 female bosses and 3 male bosses, and a 4-boss raid focusing on some matriarchal baddies, so 4 female bosses. [For the record, I'm not saying that every raid from now till WoW's demise should be female-dominated, since that would be the same problem, just that this one, acknowledging earlier imbalances, attempts to give the flipside.] Would you throw up your hands and say, "No! I can't play this game with all these female NPCs running around! How can I have fun now?!" If you're like any of the raiders I know, you'll hardly notice, and instead throw yourself into the boss tactics and sweet loot. Assuming Blizz continues to create challenging and exciting encounters, you lost nothing with regards to your playtime, and those having the discussion gain what they requested.

Finally

I do appreciate the posts examining *isms in WoW, although participating in them is often a double-edged sword. It's a very personal topic, and as one of my favorite writers puts it: "[...] they wonder, these intellectual, clever, engaged men, why my voice keeps raising and why my face is flushed and why, after an hour of fighting my corner, hot tears burn the corners of my eyes. Why do you have to take this stuff so personally? ask the intellectual, clever, and engaged men, who have never considered that the content of the abstract exercise that's so much fun for them is the stuff of my life." If I don't engage much, it's likely for this reason.

To summarize, should you comment on a post, only do so if you are willing to address the actual topic, rather than silencing, derailing, or dismissing the discussion. Furthermore, limit any attacks to the idea itself and not the person, and we can continue to create an interesting and respectful WoW blogging community.