WoW Life Lesson #9 - A New Perspective Can Change Your World
Posted by 
Admin on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 - 35 Comments Tags: Alliance, Horde, wow life lesson, wow life lesson #9, wow life lessons
Admin on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 - 35 Comments Tags: Alliance, Horde, wow life lesson, wow life lesson #9, wow life lessons 
As you may have noticed this week, the guys are running lowbie Horde characters - quite a departure from the Alliance toons they usually run. Watching them run RFC as Horde is a real treat because, from my perspective, it shows that WoW is a fun game for both 'sides'.But as you and I are both aware, there is a dark side to WoW, a dark side far more angry and divisive than anything in Sunwell or Icecrown, and for some, it begins the first second they create a toon. It may not have been talked about before as candidly as I am about to and I think this week is the perfect time to discuss it and how it relates to this life lesson.
As you know, there are two main 'sides' or factions in World of Warcraft: The Horde and the Alliance. These two side are pitted against each other by the forces of fate seemingly set in motion to create conflict and instability throughout the entire WoW universe. And it is in this illusion of opposition that cultivates perspectives which foster in some an unusual hatred of the 'opposing' faction.
I have know some Alliance players who unilaterally vilify the Horde as all being monsters bent on destroying all that is sacred to the World of Azeroth, somehow believing that it is their duty to eradicate all Horde on sight.
I also know some people who play Horde who believe that the Alliance is filled with do-gooders, pompous elitists, essentially zealots, bent on purging thought any means all those unlike themselves.
These perspectives are from RL people who actually see other RL people who play opposing factions as enemies based solely on a story told to them, a story which basically says those not like you are the enemy. All of this stems from basic misunderstandings and cultural stories based on inference and conjecture rather than direct experience and personal evaluation which unfortunately escalated into open conflict.
Being primarily an Alliance player, I know the lore and stories I have been told about the Alliance and their heroic efforts. I have been ingrained with stories of the Horde as the 'evil' ones and that it is 'my duty' to destroy the Horde whenever possible. But over time, I have met several Horde players in game that were kind and generous to me even when I was on a PVP server that made me reconsider all of those stories I was told about the 'evils' of the Horde.
While I have never played a Horde character for any substantial length of time, I can appreciate some of the stories of a few of the Horde races. From watching the opening cinematics of each of the Horde races and playing a Horde toon up a few levels, most of them seems to be races of people thrown into conflict and doing their best to survive the circumstances thrust upon them. Paramount to their struggle is trying to change the perception by the Alliance, somewhat based on purely visual cues or the manipulation by others upon them, that they are essentially monsters while in truth they are just a race of peoples doing their best to survive.
It also seems to me that the Alliance may be misunderstood by the Horde as well. The Horde may not understand how deeply the Alliance was affected by the events of the past perpetrated by an essentially mind-controlled group of peoples manipulated to do the bidding of another. Maybe the Horde's main struggle against the Alliance is to get the Alliance to understand that those horrible events of the past were not their true intention and that they just wish to live their life.
While I know I will never play a Horde toon again, I can see why some are drawn to those races. I can appreciate why someone would choose to have their character's backstory be that of the Orcs or Tauren or any of the other Horde races.
All of this points to a greater concern within the World at large, the RL world that we all venture into from time to time, usually on Tuesday mornings.
If everything is, as I believe it is, a microcosm and macrocosm to everything else, than this game of WoW shows how some - only some - use inaccurate stories, limited perspectives and general omission of facts to create divisions and conflicts between peoples. The only way these falsehoods can be lifted is through direct experience and personal evaluation based upon internal criteria rather than external dogma or consensus.
There are many people on this planet, many people, with many perspectives and beliefs and interests that it's a wonder small groups of us can agree on anything. Some would say that there are more than two factions in RL while I would say that there are none. It depends on your perspective. Do you choose to see disharmony or potential? Do you choose to see adversaries or opportunities? What do you choose to see?
So here's the challenge to you, to put this life lesson into action, and it will only take one hour.
Would you be willing to run a toon on a different faction up to level 10? Would you be willing to do that? And if you do, let me know what you think.
It's only one hour, but that hour may change your perspective of your entire world.
At least , that's my perspective.
Reader Comments (35)
Coming from someone who has played 70+ on both sides I can attest a lot of stereotypes on both sides are true. Alliance seem to be filled with 12 year olds who don't know left fro right, while the horde is filled with epeen waving asses who think they are superior because they picked the "cooler" races. Both sides were and are very different in terms of attitudes, maybe thats why the game is so fun.
I'm with you 100% Some people have to be willing to see the shades of grey that encompass both sides, to realize the rational behind the "enemy" faction before they blindly judge.
Personally I've been a neutral in the Alliance vs. Horde player schism since day one. On the same day I rolled a Tauren druid and a Human mage and kept both going at about an equal rate for several months.
In the end I stuck with the Alliance for the long haul, but I still have a soft spot for the Horde and their races.
Maybe some day the understanding will spread.
I personally enjoy playing the horde over alliance, but that's just a personal preference, (and my guild is horde). I went to test a draenei paladin. It was a nice experience, especially when I look like the Beast. Of course, a lvl 80 draenei pally would be more enjoyable, I was satisfied nonetheless. When playing horde, I do notice some odd things about how alliance and horde play. For instance, Alterac Valley, Horde likes to Zerg, and Alliance like to turtle and defend. It's not gonna change. I have met some polite alliance, and they respected my presence. I've seen the dark side of horde, and they give us a bad name. I think it's the people's personality that drives them to their characters, and it shows in how they play. I like to be Good, so I played a BE Paladin, cause I like a lil bit of evilness.
Well, I have played Horde side for almost the entirety of my WoW career. Not based on anything other than the fact that my IRL friends who introduced me to WoW all played Horde side. In terms of biased opinion against the Alliance I don' think I have one. I have met just as many interesting folks on either side and just as many annoying folks on either side. My opinions may be different if i played on a PVP server, or an RP server but, from my PVE server perspective everyone is just folks. The faction based warfare DOES however add soemthign cool to the game experience.
All that siad I did play a Human Pally up to level 15 and just didn't enjoy it very much. My guess is that it has more to do with playing a Pally then playing Ally side.
The first toon i ever made was a night elf rogue. Why? Because i had no idea wtf the game was about and i thought NE's looked the coolest at that time( was just before BC). Then when BC came and i understood the game a bit more, I found out that a couple of my friends played horde. So i made my loved BE Paly.
What i noticed, is that there are all kinds of players on both sides.
Part of the game is ganking eachother. I know i don't enjoy it when it happens to me, but if i gank some1 else it's great. For me it has nothing to do with the whole ally/horde thing.
Imo it's just about enjoying the game your way. If that means rolling the same faction as your friends or choosing a side cause you like their "description" beter, then by all means do so.
I'm a Draenei Holydin. That's right, Alliance. But, I rolled a Draenei because I started playing after TBC was released, and I just <3 how the Draeneis looked. After reaching level 70 with it, I decided to roll a BE Mage. It was awesome! I was lucky though. The first members of each faction I met where really nice guys. Both factions have their Pros and Cons... You just need to look at the Pros.
I have mutliple toons leveled 60-80 on each faction. I have difficulty understanding why so many players deny themselves such a large chunk of the game by sticking to one faction.
That said, I definitely prefer the Horde backstory, quests and characters and I seem to get along better with Horde players.
one of the best articles I've heard in a while
Exeedee 64 orc Dk
The game was definitely built to have some sort of conflict between the alliance and the horde, probably it's the very reason why even in neutral towns horde and alliance can't understand what the other faction is saying (although it's weird that blood elves can't understand common). I agree with kleenur that most of the hatred between factions comes from the pvp servers. On a pve server you mostly get left alone or sometimes even helped by the opposing faction. For some reason though pvp makes everyone blood thirsty warriors out for the extermination of the opposing faction, hopefully, all in good fun lol.
I try to be nice to allies as long as they treat me nicely. If I haven't been ganked recently, I probably won't go out of my way to gank somone else. This one time two allies actually let me have a titianium node right in front of them. I was very suprised.
I've played both Alliance and Horde and can appreciate both sides. I tend to favor the Alliance. I have a good friend that pretty much only plays Horde. There is some trash talk that goes on.
nice life lesson :) i play horde mainly (warlock) my mom plays alliance,i also play ally and both sides are unique:)
After hearing from some of my friends that are horde I might just make a horde and see what they are about because I really have never leveled a horde past lvl 10 so I am willing to see whats out there next :)
I have toons on both sides. I am mainly Alliance but only because the friend that got me into WoW was Alliance. There are times I play my Horde toons for weeks on end and I don't touch my Alliance toons for a month or more. The reverse is also true.
The differences aren't just between the factions but also between the servers. Someone above mentioned that the on his server the Horde tend to zerg in AV where the Alliance tend to turtle. On my Alliance server it is the other way around. I haven't done any BG's on my Horde server. Since it is a PvP server I get enough in the countryside. I don't need to visist a BG to get killed. :)
i have played both sides, and i like the horde side the best imo. this is all just imo, but i want to get it out there. humans as there side goes they do things in the name of Glory, and right. while the horde do things for strenght and honor. Glory is an individual self gradification, while right is a perception. as to there counter parts strength witch can be taken many ways, i take it as a will to survive. and honor, again self gradification. so if you really think about it, the horde and alliance are the same in many ways, they both honor there past, in order for a bright future. yet there is conflict, just like RL there is always conflict; and sometimes just sometimes there is a peace that can only be found on the other side of war. the main point i am trying to make is that mabe people in RL should take some things away from this game. Honor: conduct yourself so that you can be respected. Meaning, dont steal someones girlfriend, dont take a roomates money, dont use people to get ahead. Strength: When you fall, pick yourself back up. when you see another fall, lend a hand. Right: have morals, if you dont learn some. be and ethical person, if you make alot of money, warrent that money by doing your job and doing it well. i dont think i have enough room to give all the examples i am thinking of right now, so the ones i give will have to be enough. hopeful people understand what i am trying to say.
I actually belong to both a Horde and an Alliance guild, each made up of exactly the same selection of people. We've all level capped Alliance side and at some point I imagine we'll be capping on the Horde as well. We're all friends and we all enjoy the game the game's sake. I don't think any of us are particularly moved by the Horde/Alliance thing.
I'm a roleplayer (you can laugh now i don't care) and me and a guildmate were invited to an initiation cermony for a new guild who wanted to align themselves with allies of ours. Anyway we were all sitting in the inn in Silvermoon and someone asks the leader of this new guild what his guild stands for. He stands up and yells 'WE BRING DEATH TO THE ALLIANCE'. Me and my friend started laughing at that and he couldn't understand what was so funny. To him all alliance were the 'enemy' but that was from a lack of knowing the lore. We asked him about Jania Proudmoor, a known human who has supported the horde and the humans who saved Thrall but he didn't even know who they were.
I think basically you're right Saint. It's a lack of knowledge. Everyone should know the lore and have some understanding of the other side.
I have two characters on a normal server dunheaghal a dwarf hunter and calvallah an undead warlock and when i faced the horde i wave them and help them out if needed not caring that they are horde or alliance knowing its a game and some where is someone playing and that bieng killed is innoying and would personal like and engineering universal translator to talk to the other side
i enjoy both sides also... the only true differnce i think is the races and also the racial abilitys
Lets not forget the game is called World of WARcraft - not World of Everyone gets along on Hello Kitty Island Adventure craft.
@kalcifer- i too am a role player, theres nothing to laugh about it.
Hmm well im a horde guy, yep im the big the bad and the ugly side in this world we live in. But are we truley the evil 'side' in this world? My answer is no both from my perspective and from questing and takeing alook at the lore. One- as i've noticed from reading and questing alliance are acctually the 'eviler' side and i say this because, note that i am about to give away some SPOILS- When you do the quest to retake UC and kill the demon leader you begin the talk with thrall for a moment when the alliance bastard king runs in with his
goons and threatens to kill thrall! and calls us all the true evil of azeroth or something i cant quite remeber, and then thralls just like "dude king dont kill us we dont want any hamr" and the king basicly charges right at thrall till a chick from theromore comes in and ports him away (not thrall the king). So as you can see the alliance in the lore feels that were digusting monster, but the horde doesnt think much bad of the alliance except when they try and kill us! Now that was my lore reason, MY reason for hateing ally is in our realm there ass's whether its takeing my kill from a quest or stealing a nod while i kill the monster, it just pissing me off and the always have some stupied macro were they say something dumb in whatever language and we can make out what it says like- Yo u lo se agai n. You know something like that, i mean i even roled an ally to level 70 and i got so pissed because all the allies were rude to eachother and then when i started playing horde i saw so many people transfer from ally to horde it wasnt even funny. Well this is why i hate ally.
I've been a Horde player ever since I started playing WoW. I was originally going to roll Alliance, but my brothers had rolled for the other faction. Never had any intention of playing an Alliance toon since then because I just don't feel any attachment to that faction like I do towards the Horde.
I don't hate Alliance players. Goodness knows I've encountered kind souls from that side, while I have witnessed fellow Horde players being downright nasty. In the end, it comes down to a player's actions, not because the lore says "you good, they bad".
I play on daggerspine(pvp) and i was introduced to the ally side of things and i thought that it was ok
The allies in my experiances are a lot more temprmental than horde are. Although i was never ganked by a fellow allie (which in my opinion is where most of the tensions come from).
i tried to roll a horde BE pally but i hate the lvling process and i might try to lvl him with a friend and his 80 DK bwe
i actually enjoyed the horde side more but my main was on allie and i hate to lvl specially a dif faction if i can help it.
While i am an alliance hunter, i have played a horde hunter and made many friends in the game on horde. i play alliance at the moment, with some RL friends, but i still respect the hordies out there, particularly as a cousin plays horde.
I didn't really pull any lore related prejudices out in game, except if i got into a lore argument because i didnt see any use getting extremist in a fantasy world
I play a level 60 Tank Paladin Dwarf, I picked this coz i like the idea of helping people out through healing and battle. It is true that most ally are filled with younger players as the allience seem more Heroic compared to the Horde. however i am 17 and have met a few people who are more mature and intresting to talk to, for this reason it makes me stop and think that when i see a horde, that is another player and killing them for no reason isnt nice :( so i leave them be and help them out if they are in trouble.