For the Lore: Faction bias

This weekend's column in WoW Insider: Know your Lore was on the Southern Barrens. Anyone that has played through the Southern Barrens knows its a highly polarizing area. Now, one of my weaknesses in life is that I read internet comments, where as most know people say really stupid things, but they are also unfiltered and often give sense of temperature of the room if you're willing to look at the comments for more than than just the highly biased, poorly written, hate filled bile which is it. There is also the amen chorus, the love you thus love your work comments, and so on. It's amazing how much the comments on WoW Insider or MMO champion look like those at places like Politico.

The thing of it is I have no issue with bias when it's out in the open, and you can tell if writers are honestly putting that bias aside or they are covering it up, lest it keep working its way into their work. Newspapers used to be little more than highly biased pulp which supported one group or another. The idea that anyone is without bias is silly; at best, we all have biases whether we want to admit them or not. The key is, do they get in the way? Personally I find I have a strong Horde bias. That is not to say I don't like the Alliance. There are parts I find interesting like dwarfs, Alterac, and Kul Tiras. I've been writing about trolls these last few days because it's timely and I like trolls.

Bias also normally is a statement of passion. I write about things I care about. Yes, the people at WoW Insider are paid, but it's my hope they have passion for the things they are writing about otherwise the quality suffers.

73's