When Ryan wrote in suggesting we write about the concept of "wife aggro," a collective roar erupted over here at WoW Insider. The resulting conversation was both stimulating and more than a little silly, and in the end I decided if we can discuss this topic so profusely amongst ourselves, our readers certainly would benefit from us writing on the topic.

A couple of weeks ago several people in our guild started using the phrase "wife aggro" or "girlfriend aggro" as explanations why they had to AFK or log out of the game entirely. Now, being of that oh-so-rare female gamer demographic, I really took exception to this phrase, but it wasn't until four days ago when I actually spoke up to my guildies about how I felt.

In our guild, this phrase has only been used to describe that unreasonable rage that gaming appears to instill in women when their significant other plays WoW. Whenever I hear someone say "wife aggro" in a group my eyes haze over and I suddenly fill with righteous indignation faster than a paladin in a graveyard. I guess for me it comes down to an admitted oversensitivity to gender issues in game. Being female, I hate the insinuation that women are somehow these great raging beasts just waiting for the unsuspecting gamer to naively sit down and log into the game, only to wear our intrepid hero down with their Nagging-Over-Time abilities. And so I explained this to my guildies, letting them know they are certainly allowed to speak how they like, but that I more than likely will react badly to it.

Now I have heard of other guilds expanding the use of the term "aggro" to include anything that pulls you away from the game, including email, screaming kids, and cookies. I suppose, looking at it from this angle, my greatest issue these days is "WoW Insider aggro."

Tags: aggro, female, female gamer, FemaleGamer, gender issues, GenderIssues, gf aggro, GfAggro, girlfriend aggro, GirlfriendAggro, guild, wife aggro, WifeAggro

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves