Revision of Queer Bodies: Modifications of Sexual Affordances in World of Warcraft

In queering gameplay, cues of sexuality concentrate the possibilities of action communicated by (avatar) design. However, many games such as Blizzard’s World of Warcraft (Blizzard 2004) ensure the erasure of queerness by “correcting” threats on heteronormative gameplay – updating the queer bugs which permit the player to embody queerness. Centering a discussion of gaming as an embodied experience through avatar design, this paper explores how scripted values may constrain online performance, allowing a player to express queerness in World of Warcraft (WoW). Notably, this paper explores the alterations invested in avatar bodies and how they influence sexual affordances for players, compromising queer gameplay when the game is patched, or as new expansions are released.