The Egotistical Priest
An irreverent and opinionated discussion of the many classes
in the World of Warcraft gaming universe.
Romantic Or Creepy?
by Vonya
Oddly enough, I have never really had many problem with lecherous encounters. It seems like everyone else I know has – my husband (on his female characters), my coworkers (also female characters), Aensu (on every character of any race or gender he ever plays)…the list goes on and on.
It’s like an epidemic that I am oddly immune to. Believe me, I’m not complaining. This post was spurred by a friend who tried to play an alt only to have another player latch on to her and dog her heels for about an hour, spamming group invites, “helping” her kill mobs, and emoting crudely at her.
I can’t be sure that he was attempting a romantic encounter, but it’s funnier if I do.
Surely some of you have had similar encounters, or tales of woefully offbeat advances while on your characters.
Tell me, oh blogosphere, what rules would you add to the following list?
Rule 1) There is never any situation in which the /lick emote is appropriate.
And I mean that wholeheartedly. I don’t care what you do in the relatively public depths of Goldshire – at that point you should be more imaginative anyway.
Rule 2) The /flirt emote is funny, not attractive.
Rule 3) Spamming guild and group invites (or requests to duel, for that matter) are irritating, not romantic. I’m not sure if there is a subset of the gaming population who does appreciate a constantly spammed invitation in the game, but everyone I know finds it unbearably rude.
February 26th, 2009
Amen for #1. AMEN.
Since I’m male, and all my characters are male, I can’t add much. But I certainly agree with #’s 1 & 2.
In fact, I have a difficult time distinguishing between /flirt and /silly.
February 26th, 2009
Clearly, what you fail to realize is that these are the best way that internet nerds like myself have come up with to attempt to garner the attentions of the fairer sex. We moved on to these after “zomgz r u a rl gurl?” didn’t work.
I will have to come up with something new apparently….
February 26th, 2009
I’ve had some issues with my female characters, but /ignore works pretty well, as does wandering off to someplace safe, AFKing, and going to get some water or do something else for a few minutes.
And unfortunately, I’ve seen other players latch onto my wife’s characters, but they are usually of the duel/opposite-side-PvP-and-grief variety, which she doesn’t take well to.
February 26th, 2009
I respectfuly disagree with rule #1
well somewhat disagree
it might not be entirely appropriate, but then one of the reasons i love my guild is because we’re not quite apropriate. I personaly believe that /lick is permissible to use between close friends who take it in fun and are not offended and between people already in a romantic relationship. (otherwise, I’d have to stop using /lick on my spouse’s toon and I’d rather not 
)
wholeheartedly agree with rules #2 and 3 though
February 26th, 2009
Hmmm. I never thought of /lick as appropriate but as terribly funny. More of like an… I am going to continue to /lick you until you start tanking mobs so I can kill them… kind of thing.
It is when the /e comes out and goes beyond the default emotes where things can get creepy. That indicates thought of an actual response. *shiver*
February 26th, 2009
/lick is ALWAYS appropriate as a Feral Kitty. I like to use it while stealthing about Stormwind for example, especially on people I know. It’s just a kitty way of saying “Hi Friend!”
February 26th, 2009
I would also like to add that IN SOVIET STORMWIND, THE PUSSY LICKS YOU!
February 26th, 2009
But of course you do not have troubles with unwelcome suitors, my sweet Petunia of passion. For they can see that your heart beats only for me, with the strength of a thousand kodos. Only a few of which are sickly or aged.
February 26th, 2009
I have only had one really lame encounter and that was when I was fishing as a low level human in Goldshire (on a non-RP server) and this couple were having a picnic nearby that I guess was romantic in nature, except that the guy kept hitting on me in emotes.
I “lol”ed and “pat” him the first time, but then he kept going and then I had his girlfriend picking a fight with me. I had to end up going and logging out because I didn’t want to be part of their weird drama.
February 26th, 2009
There is, in fact, an appropriate situation the the /lick emote, though it only applies to licking healers.
/lick (healer)
Tastes like (nature, holy)!
February 26th, 2009
I play a lot of female characters, so I’ve had a few run-ins with people like this. I think my favorite to this point was the guy who was “proud” of being a 35-year-old web designer who lived with his mom.
February 27th, 2009
I’ve gotta say that I’d put 1 in the 2 category, that it’s always funny but in no way, ever, yeah you know. Well maybe, but only between consenting adults, and Feral Druids apparently. (Soviet Stormwind Kitty; I lol’d)
Otherwise I’ve got a couple suggestions for the list:
*Asking someone you’ve just met to be you’re girl/boyfriend just because they happen to be the right gender.
*Suddenly insisting on voice chat, out of the blue, without warning, and for the soul purpose of breathing heavily on the other end (/gag).
February 27th, 2009
My hunter friend has a pet named Oreo. I think it’s perfectly okay to /kick and Oreo.
February 27th, 2009
/lick an Oreo
February 27th, 2009
Amen, sister! Especially to #3.
As a frequent victim of unwelcome group and guild invites, you nailed it. Walking around without a guild tag floating over my head nets me countless unannounced guild invites, every single one of which is incredibly annoying. I’ve stopped hitting the decline button, as this only seems to encourage the culprit to hit me again, however even after the invite times out, more often than not I still get hit with another one.
Same with group invites, I had a nice long rant about that. Hehe
The flirting? Not so bad, but I seem to experience this a lot… on all my characters. All that’s really been annoying is the frequency, particularly since I rarely “speak” while in-game. :/ It’s when they start following you around, determined to continue when I’ve given them no response that kinda creeps me out.
February 27th, 2009
Spamming invites or pretty much any repeatedly annoying behavior goes like this for me:
1st time: Dude, please don’t do that.
2nd time: If you do that again I’m going to report you for harassment.
3rd time: /ignore. Open GM ticket. Submit ticket.
You’re required to ask somebody to stop griefing you ONCE before you report them. I’m nice enough to ask once and warn once.
And if as a female character or player, you are getting griefed in a manner that is related to your gender, the GMs should be all over it. If they aren’t things could get fairly messy for them, Blizzard does not want a reputation for tolerating harassment.
February 27th, 2009
Re: There is never any situation in which the /lick emote is appropriate.
Apart from the already mentioned druids in cat-form, I’d want to add ghost wolf-form shaman.
Other than that, I fully agree with you (especially on #3)
February 27th, 2009
I read a few blogs (ok, more than a few…more of a bunch…or a basket perhaps) and this subject comes up here and there, and there seems to be quite a few that experiences this. I have never had this experience. And I’m a pretty regular player, almost every day for a number of hours, I have only female toons. But never have I had inappropriate attention becuase I’m a female and/or play female toon…. I’m wondering if there’s a difference between the Europeans and the Americans here? Or Scandinavians perhaps? My server is more or less half Swedes (at lest, it feels like that when grouping) and rest is Scandinavians, Brits, Dutch and some random strays…. I’m puzzled.
February 27th, 2009
I played a female hunter for a while, and whenever I was hanging around SW i’d get hit on. It was so creepy because I’m a dude and I don’t know any real ladies out there playing guy characters. I had to tell so many ppl “sorry, I’m a guy”. *shudder* And as long as we’re talking about inappropriate emotes, /moan is not appropriate outside of close friends. And no, soviet kitties are NOT exempt from this one.
February 27th, 2009
Rule X) There are no girls on the internet, so you just /flirted with a dude, dude!
Rule Y) If you’re going to ask me to duel you naked, you’d better wine and dine me first. Snapper Extreme and Nethergarde Bitter do not count.
Also, not so much a rule, but rather just a thought….
When somebody does the “X tells Y…No, no its not going to happen” totally out of context, all I can think of is Billy Madison shouting in the middle of biology class “No I will not make out with you! Did ya hear that? This girl wants to make out with me in the middle of class. You got Chlorophyll Man up there talking about god know’s what and all she can talk about is making out with me. Go on with the chlorophyll.”, and chuckle.
How do you turn that into a rule?
Rule Z) When you use /no completely out of the blue, you will receive the title Chlorophyll Man/Woman.
February 27th, 2009
I finally managed to shake my creepy stalker guy. He topped all that behavior off by chasing me down in Undercity during the Love is the in Air holiday and repeatedly tried to group with me. I repeatedly turned him down. He eventually ran around the city and found me, opened trade, and gave me a “You’re Mine!” candy heart. ACK! I almost wonder if he even creeped himself out with this maneuver because I haven’t gotten a whisper from him since then. Thank goodness.
As for the /lick emote, we have a guy in our guild that uses it as part of his RP persona. He always plays undead characters, so it’s sort of an extension of their cannibalistic tendencies, I suppose. He never uses it provocatively — it’s normally part of his greeting. I think it’s pretty funny. I do know this guy though. Maybe a good guideline would be “Don’t /lick anyone you don’t know”? Good advice for RL, too.
February 27th, 2009
I’ve suffered #3 on my gender-bended rogue alt – duels – I was a new player at the time and was declining them and then quickly trying to ignore, but for a time the next invite was faster than I could ignore. Eventually I was either faster with my method or figured out a way, I can’t recollect now. He also was “helping” me kill mobs – I aggroed some mobs by proximity and then let him take aggro from me and then left to watch – he died – lol.
#1 – as someone said, this is like #2 amongst friends but stands on its own in regards to strangers.
#2 – just another /silly.
Flirting with strangers ala RP – a little fun can be had from time to time – boat rides can be enhanced if you jump up on the box and get a couple female toons (hopefully drai and nelf) to dance for you.
tl;dr – Flirting with strangers ala RL online chat – creepy for both genders, especially dumb for dudes (cuz its most likely another dude you’re hitting on).
February 27th, 2009
I’ve never had anyone follow me around. But every once and awhile I’ll get a random whisper with something like
“Do you like kinky sex?”
from a level 1 characters still in the starting area, while I’m in Dalaran or somewere in Northrend usually. I just ignore it and they thankfully don’t whisper me again, but it still detracts a bit from the fun of the game.
February 27th, 2009
Rule 1 must be revised!
A good friend and I always /lick when we see eachother. She is an easty coaster and I am a westy so its rare when we are on at the same time between our work schedule. I respectfully request an exception 
You know I had this great long rant about something that happened to me and my daughter one day outside Northshire. But I think I will blog it. I forgot how angry it made me and instantly how I view the people there.
February 27th, 2009
Another rule is #4: If you are giving me free stuff, I will let you follow me around like a puppydog for a while rather than frightening you by mentioning that I have a penis in real life.
My characters are usually male, but I long long ago I once played a female BE lock through Ghostlands. Around level 15, some guy playing a rogue latched onto me. He didn’t have the quest, but he came up some tower of doom and killed mobs for me. He died a lot. He was a couple levels higher than I was, but clueless. He may have flirted slightly, maybe not.
But then he started giving me gear of the eagle, potions, fabric. I had no alts to pass down such nice things, so I took them. He followed me around for an evening, wasn’t ever rude, followed rules #1-3, and I didn’t want to upset some fragile teen ego by pointing out that I was not, in fact, a female blood elf in real life.
February 27th, 2009
This topic always reminds me of one of my funnier WoW experiences on my female undead priest, and makes me need to repost the story.. It still makes me laugh..
———————-
I was in Org and a kid said he had 10 minutes and needed 1000xp to level, wanted a partial run thru RFC.. I was bored, so I figured what the heck..
First drop down at the instance:
He: “Wow!”
Me: “?”
He: “Ur kewl”
Me: “lol”
Step into the instance, he’s looking at me:
He: “O_o Wow!”
Me: “What?”
He: “you are cool, and hot.”
Run thru the instance, get his level:
Me: “Grats on the level”
He: “ty.. grats on being cool.. and tough.. and hot.. too many to mention”
Me: “and 39.. and male..”
He: “?”
He: “you’re a boy??? ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww”
He: “wtf ewwwwwwwwwwwwww”
He: “and 39? ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww”
He: “ewwwwwwwwwwwwww”
Me: “That’s what you get for flirting with online characters.”
February 27th, 2009
I /lick people all the time! It’s my trademark. Though I think of it more like a silly sloppy wet doggy lick than a, uh, stimulating one.
February 28th, 2009
[...] reading Ego today, I was reminded of you. Instead of spilling the bile that rose from my belly in her fair ear, [...]
March 1st, 2009
I play with my boyfriend. When I meet creepy people while levelling, he comes with his huge draenei, his grumpy dwarf or his 80 human mage… My baby elfs are a bit shy.
But my big 80 elf got her cat to protect her…
… and a whole guild of 25 people : I’m guild master !
March 2nd, 2009
Funny is I’ve always been harassed on all of my female characters, especially in the low levels. Usually around level 8 I notice someone that’s constantly targetting and following me. When I ask “Wtf are you looking at?” he begins to spam duels. I find it quite funny though, because after about 6 invites I usually just cut the bullcrap and drop the bomb:
“Duel invites are considered harrasment by the game masters, and is a bannable offense. You have been reported. I am a guy, cya”
March 5th, 2009
A lick between guildys/friends are ok – my most disturbing encounter was a 12 year old trying to chat up my toon when I first started playing , following her around, blowing her kisses/flirting which was very weird and disturbing, I used to get the odd toon try and ‘adopt’ me while leveling up . Because I could heal the liked having me around. I try and out Pych the ones who do become annoying or follow you around, like the best way to get rid of a Gym promoter shoving free passes and memberships in your face is to say ” I’m already a member..” Shuts them up. If its a boy thinking your a girl, just say. Mate. Im a 40 year old dude… you really want to be following me around.. but yeah. Being the bigger person and /ignoring – walking away is the most easiest..