The "Sexy" Dungeons May Cause a Disturb for World of Warcraft

A recent Motherboard article dives into the dark underbelly of the game's most infamous sex dungeon. Reporter Dominik Schott spent ample time at the Goldshire Inn on the Moonguard server, interviewing over 40 players about its typical happenings.

People play video games; people like sex. It's a confluence of interests that's alternatively skeeved out or titillated followers of the medium for decades, dating back to consensual fun times on old MUDs and message boards on the one hand, to the cavalcade of offensive stereotypes, actions, and ideas embedded in the infamous Atari game Custer's Revenge on the other.

Motherboard has a write-up this week centered on incidents of online sexual harassment taking place in Blizzard Entertainment's ridiculously popular World Of Warcraft, centered on an in-game location that's picked up the charming in-game nickname“rape tavern” from some of its frequent residents.The article states that a common occurrence at the tavern, for example, is for throngs of naked players to gang up on other players (or even wait outside for them) who are attempting to run away, calling after them saying things like "I'm going to fuck you unconscious!" via chat.

But while there's nothing wrong with a bunch of adults getting weird together consensually, the Motherboard piece notes a vocal contingent of players who are upset that many tavern participants won't take "No" for the answer it needs to be. The most distressing examples include moments in which people overwhelmed by the sexual chaos flee the tavern, only to be pursued, surrounded, and harassed by other players, who later told writer Dominik Schott that the other player's resistance and unwillingness was part of the sexual appeal for them.

As people critical of the article have pointed out, World Of Warcraft includes a few different ways for players who buy wow gold for gameplay to remove themselves from uncomfortable situations very quickly. But those escape methods won't be immediately intuitive to new players—including any younger ones who wander into the tavern from the nearby starting location—and in any case, that argument downplays the pain and anxiety that can be produced when you know someone is going out of their way to harass you or make you uncomfortable.

It sounds unlikely that Blizzard will try all their best to curb the behavior of the tavern residents, even if it was really possible; after all, human ingenuity is rarely more industrious than when it comes to finding new ways to make other people feel bad for your own puerile benefit.