I did some searching on Google over the weekend. I looked at blue posts on WoW forums in response to player complaints of homophobia. What I encountered didn’t shock me…
Vrakthris, chief forum moderator, often handles these complaints and he does so in the most crass, demeaning, and dehumanizing way possible. Often, he supports bullies in these threads and gloats before shutting down discussion when players have legitimate problems with homophobic behavior. I’ve searched and found that only Vrakthris engages in this kind of behavior in the official World of Warcraft forums.
Of course, Vrakthris has been there for quite some time and comes from the old-school of hate-based gamer culture. His chosen avatar was, for a long time, an ogre–a crude brute with low intelligence and poor people skills–and I find that fitting for an archaic, out-of-touch bigoted bully like Vrakthris.
Of course, on his twitter page, he proudly displays a rainbow flag–but that means nothing, anymore. The rainbow flag is often coopted by bullies these days, often as a means of silencing legitimate criticism by queer voices.
Every time a player complains about homophobia, sexism, or racism in the game, there’s Vrakthris to shut down the thread and make sure everyone knows that he’s in charge, gay people need to shut up, and that Activision-Blizzard simply doesn’t care about minority rights (unless it’s to pander for more queer cash).
Vrakthris: delightfully empowering homophobic bullies for over 15 years.
My Job Is Scaring You 