Sometimes a character that exists solely for background “flavor” can have a significant role in a game, despite being non-interactive and non-playable.  Two such characters in World of Warcraft are Donna and William, human children that run around the trade and canal districts of Stormwind.  Their impact is such that a Google search of “Stormwind ‘William and Donna’” gives two pages of search results, and “Stormwind ‘Donna and William’” gives an additional three results.  The names of the characters are taken from Donna Anthony, who used to be the Community Manager (known as Katricia in the forums) and her husband, William.

Donna perpetually chases William around town because he stole her “dolly” and won’t give it back.  William perpetually taunts Donna and teases her about it and refuses to give it back.  Player  responses from the Google search  fall into four basic categories.  1) Kill them both, they’re annoying, 2) Ooh, how cute, they’ll probably grow up and fall in love, 3) Someone needs to get that doll from William and give it back to Donna and 4) Gee, I hope Donna catches him and beats the %(*$@$^ out of him, (or the less violent version: “Donna needs to snatch her dolly back from William”).

Response #1 seems to lay the responsibility for the conflict on both parties, and condemns them both as “brats”.  From a feminist perspective, this is obviously problematic.  The poor behavior rests solely on William, who stole Donna’s property.  Donna’s efforts to regain her property are properly assertive, though apparently ineffective, as she has been chasing William continuously for over two years now.  Wanting to “kill” them reeks of eliminationism, but may just be gamer-speak for “they annoy the hell out of me”.

Response #2 is perhaps even more insidious than the first response.  William torments Donna by treating her disrespectfully and stealing her property and she — falls in love with him? Yikes.  Unless William does a complete turnaround in adolescence and begins treating Donna with respect and affection, this attitude toward the interaction has very frightening implications.  It implies that it’s normal for little boys to torment little girls, and that it’s acceptable.  Further, it suggests that the proper response of the little girl is to be grateful for the attention and treat it as a compliment.  Haven’t we gotten over this already?  William’s behavior isn’t “cute”, it’s mean and petty.  He’s not complimenting Donna, he’s treating her as a subordinate unworthy of respect and peaceful interaction.

Response #3 at least respects Donna’s right to have her own property, but it assumes that Donna has no agency to accomplish this on her own.  While in the real world, often little boys can really outrun little girls perpetually, this is by no means universal, and sometimes society (in the form of parents, teachers, coaches, etc.) steps in and rescues the dolly from William’s clutches.  Dark Legacy Comics published a strip addressing this “outside agency” solution here.

Finally, there’s my own personal favorite, where Donna turns the table on William and gives him a dose of his own medicine.  Whether she physically assaults him or simply reclaims her dolly and ignores him, she acts as her own agent, using her own power to thwart his attempt at making her feel helpless.  Admittedly, it would be counterproductive and perhaps morally wrong for Donna to beat William up, but as someone who has watched that boy torment her since August of 2005, I’m rooting for Donna here.  Perhaps she “accidentally” trips him so he falls into the canal and is eaten by the (not so mythical) canal monster, or perhaps she simply catches up with him and grabs her doll back, goes down to the orphanage and plays with some of the girls there. 

The bottom line is that if Blizzard had written Donna such that she somehow acted on her own behalf to regain her property, we’d see a feminist narrative of empowerment.  As the narrative exists presently, however, it serves to reinforce patriarchal stereotypes.   Most of the people who observe the interactions either attribute agency where Donna does not have agency (“blaming the victim” for attempting to fight back), accept William’s behavior as normal and assume Donna will become acclimated to it rather than rebel against it, or deny Donna appropriate agency in her quest to retrieve her dolly by introducing a deus ex machina in the form of a third party who rescues her from her dilemma.  Only a small handful see Donna as both able to and morally justified in regaining her dolly. 

The interaction between Donna and William is a reflection of the real world, not a “neutral” background dressing for a setting in a game world.  I would skip work to have a “world event” where Donna regains her dolly and William meets some sort of justice.  I’m looking forward to the day when Blizzard decides to spice up the “background” of Stormwind in that way.

odanu posted this entry on Thursday, November 1st, 2007 at 8:18 am and filed it under Characters, Games, General, MMORPGs, PC Gaming, Women in Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.