Blizzard’s latest book in World of Warcraft’s novel series, WoW: Exploring Kalimdor has come under fire for supposedly propagating racist stereotypes. Twitch star Asmongold, one WoW’s most prominent creators, has given his opinion on the controversy.
Outside of World of Warcraft’s ever-expanding virtual universe, there’s a whole collection of Blizzard-commissioned books dedicated to exploring the lore behind some of the game’s most iconic characters and races.
WoW: Exploring Kalimdor is one such book, but has come under fire from some readers for allegedly promoting racist stereotypes – specifically against Jews. With the treatment of the novel’s Goblin characters paralleled to the treatment of Jews during The Holocaust, the book’s official release has been delayed until further notice.
Incidents of Goblins poisoning water cast an eerie specter over the story, and Twitch star Asmongold has been quick to criticize the book’s contents too.
Asmongold reacts to WoW Kalimdor book backlash
Reading WoWhead’s post discussing the article during a December 15 stream, the self-professed “professional neckbeard” goes on to discuss his thoughts about the book’s apparent stereotyping of different real-life races.
“I do think to a certain degree that is true,” he states, noting that “it’s very obvious that Tauren culture is based off of Native Americans, and it’s very obvious that troll culture is based off of the Caribbean’s. I think that we can all admit that.”
He continues that “I think that it is weird if you have a race that is depicted as a real-life culture, and then you have the problems and the stereotypes of that fantasy race mirror the stereotypes and problems of the real-life culture that it’s representing. I think it’s bad writing to be honest because you’re just creating an allegory at that point.”
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Moving on to discuss the controversial portrayal of the game’s Goblins, he notes that “I said this a long time ago: Goblins are clearly caricatures of Jewish people. There are a lot, a lot, a lot of similarities.” As his chat disagree, he fumes that “I’m am the last person that ever says this kind stuff, if I’m saying it, maybe there’s a reason.”
“What I’m saying is that there a lot of the stereotypical things that people say about Jews, they say the same things about Goblins.” While he highlights that he doesn’t believe the parallels were directly intended, he makes it very clear that the book won’t be securing a space on his shelf anytime soon.
This issue appears to be yet another chapter in a series of unfortunate events. Blizzard recently came under fire for releasing in-game Warlock armor that bore a striking resemblance to the traditional white outfits worn by members of the supremacist organization, The Klu Klux Klan.
The company has not announced when the book will be available for purchase again, or whether they’re planning on pulling it entirely.
