What are your prejudices?

I'm quite the peaceful person. I really don't like pvp for instance, I just don't feel any special entertainment in killing my fellow players, even if they happen to be alliance. That is, unless they play shitty gnomes. I just can't stand gnomes! Killing one feels like making the world (Azeroth) a better place somehow. Odd, isn't it? It's not like gnomes have been especially pesty to me during my playing or that I was bullied by one when I was a child (or was I?). I've even played some gnomes myself (not above level 17 though) and I thought it was ok!

We all have some prejudices in WoW. I'd even say we have plenty. And before I start out I'd like to warn you not to take anything I'm going to write personally, even if I don't know you. These are totally unfounded prejudices and not based on some one person/char. I've got this idea for instance that all girls start out playing either 1. priest (sometimes druid, but then always resto) or 2. hunter. AmIrite or amIrite? I started out as a priest! And I know everyone thinks that rogues are played mainly by 12-year olds. It's probably true too. I've got a notion about every class and every race which might, or might not, affect the way I interact with whoever is playing it. I'm not sure, I haven't given it that much thought "in action". But I'm quite sure I think that blood elves are played by people lower of age than the general tauren, as one example. People who play warlocks and mages are probably of higher age than people who play rogues (as mentioned) or paladins. And I always get the feeling that most people who play hunter mains are daft (and ret paladins too to some extent), because leveling such an easy class kinda spoils the player into thinking everything is easy, and therefore behave unskilled. You know all those "melee-hunters"? Or hunters who don't use pets? Playing a hunter the entirely wrong way still works, because it's such an easy class. Like I've always said, there's a reason gold farmers choose to bot hunters, and no other class.

But then again, all classes are easy leveled now (except healing classes...).

And although I know there can't be any truth to this, I always get back to thinking that ... isn't there though? I know how it works, you think something is true and then you seek out the information that verifies it, blind to anything else. I do it too. But still, it's really fun to find yet another girl who happens to play a priest main (I know so many girls that started out as priests...)!

I'd really love to be able to make some sort of statistical analysis of what people choose to play what classes. Is there an age/sex difference between what class you choose to start out with? Or is it completely random? Are my prejudices somewhat correct?

Those are of course prejudices about the people who play a certain class. But I started out with the gnomes. Just as I dislike gnomes, there are some races I think higher off and respect more than others. And classes too. I generally think rogues deserve to die, but that must have something to do with their habit of suprise stun locking me to death when I'm questing. On the other hand I've been ganked plenty by all classes. Prot warriors always have my respect, simply because I know the pain of leveling one. Well that doesn't apply anymore, they're imba now. I have a certain hate-love towards dwarves. I like the race, but think that most people who play them tend to be elitistic (generalization ftw!).

Blizzard have succeeded with spreading hate and anger between the factions too I think. I've been properly brainwashed into thinking that all alliance are evil, and stupid. But then I think about most horde players and realize we're not so different after all ;)

Think about it the next time you do a random instance. What is the player behind the char like? Why did you make those conclusions? Just by looking at the races and classes we make some assumptions, which are then changed to new assumptions as soon they "open their mouths" i.e. write something. Which makes me think of another prejudice, if people use bad english (badderer than mine) I generally think they're stupid too. Or if they use "lulz" every other sentence. And it's usually quite easy to tell if someone is below 18 years of age by the way they express themselves. And old people (35+) are usually silent. I could go on all night! And in the end I'm probably just right one out of ten times :P

Well this is mostly a bunch of anecdotes, but my point is that we're affected by our prejudices even in a game like WoW. The interesting thing about this is that in a game like WoW, our prejudices are obviously unfounded. Or at least founded on very weak grounds. And yet it works the very same way as prejudices outside of WoW. But then we think we have reason to believe the things we do about people. I've met some really annoying gnome rogues, and so I think gnome rogues generally are bass turds. "Real life" prejudice works the exact same way. I see some german people on TV who drink beer and I get the general idea that germans all drink beer. We need to work this way to make sense of the world around us in a fast and efficient way, but sometimes it's a little "too efficient", making us blind to the truth. Gnome rogues are bass turds though. For real.

So what are your prejudices?