Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSexual dimorphism in Cataclysm
by Matthew Rossi 
Dec 13th 2010 at 6:00PM
Also interesting to note was that this trend goes both ways: when blood elves debuted, the males were much closer to the females and were beefed up in The Burning Crusade beta. As Annalee Newitz pointed out, the other race that debuted in BC, the draenei, are extremely dimorphic; males are bigger and more massively muscular than orcs, while their females are far less mesomorphic. What interested me, at least so far as the tauren and troll model changes went, is that players complained that the tauren and troll women weren't to their liking, which most likely had an influence on the design of draenei and blood elves.
Now, with Cataclysm, we have two new races to consider. How do the worgen and goblins stack up on the dimorphism scale?
Well, goblins may well be the least dimorphic race in WoW, or at least a contender. (Gnomes aren't terribly dimorphic either, so it may be as simple as a consequence of geometry.) Male and female goblins certainly are distinct from one another in their playable incarnation, with males having slightly more pronounced features and females being slightly taller.
While there has clearly been an effort to make the goblin female appealing visually, it hasn't occurred as a result of highly altering her body type to be very distinct from that of the male. They are both short, slight beings. There's no major discontinuity between the men and the women when it comes to goblins. Goblins are, therefore, a race lacking in a strong component of sexual dimorphism, which suits a people who are such experts at negotiation and commerce.
How, therefore, did our Gilnean friends come out of their curse? Well, since worgen were once human, we're already talking about a fairly dimorphic race in WoW. All human males, from the mightiest warrior to the warlock and wizard, are built like brick outhouses, as my father used to say. (He didn't say "outhouse," but you can understand why I made the substitution.) But do worgen maintain the dimorphism of their parent race?
I wouldn't say so. It's not that they maintain it -- it's that they take it as a foundation and go wild with it. One of the interesting aspects of World of Warcraft is that many of the males crouch; worgen are no exception to this trend, although they're the first Alliance race to do so. Orcs, tauren, trolls and now goblins all have between a slight and severe crouch or hunch to their posture in the males. Tauren females are taller than tauren males unless you count the pronounced hump on the male's backs; the troll females stand generally taller than the males, save for the rare moments when the males straighten all the way from their extremely severe crouching posture. Worgen are similar in this regard.
How, therefore, did our Gilnean friends come out of their curse? Well, since worgen were once human, we're already talking about a fairly dimorphic race in WoW. All human males, from the mightiest warrior to the warlock and wizard, are built like brick outhouses, as my father used to say. (He didn't say "outhouse," but you can understand why I made the substitution.) But do worgen maintain the dimorphism of their parent race?
I wouldn't say so. It's not that they maintain it -- it's that they take it as a foundation and go wild with it. One of the interesting aspects of World of Warcraft is that many of the males crouch; worgen are no exception to this trend, although they're the first Alliance race to do so. Orcs, tauren, trolls and now goblins all have between a slight and severe crouch or hunch to their posture in the males. Tauren females are taller than tauren males unless you count the pronounced hump on the male's backs; the troll females stand generally taller than the males, save for the rare moments when the males straighten all the way from their extremely severe crouching posture. Worgen are similar in this regard.
As can be easily seen in the picture above (including the feet this time), a worgen male is slightly shorter than a worgen female due to this extreme hunch, but almost twice as wide. The body type of a worgen female is nearly as slender compared to the make as the draenei but, like a tauren, is taller than the male due to posture issues. So worgen fall somewhere to the far extreme for sexual dimorphism for playable races, somewhere between draenei and tauren/trolls.
Why the worgen curse makes women grow taller than men, I have no idea, but there it is. It's also interesting that while the female is taller, every aspect of the male from the head and jaws to the hands and feet grows massively, while females see very little in the way of growth of those portions of their anatomy. The worgen male sports a massive maw of savage fangs, while the female's mouth (although still a large muzzle full of sharp teeth) is far less developed, almost fox-like. Much like the tauren or draenei, the worgen male is nearly double the width of the female.
Interesting that of our two new races, the goblins come off as nearly physically equivalent between genders, while worgen exaggerate the already striking dimorphism of their parent race -- especially considering that most Gilnean women you meet in the game are such astonishingly aggressive and forthright women.
Why the worgen curse makes women grow taller than men, I have no idea, but there it is. It's also interesting that while the female is taller, every aspect of the male from the head and jaws to the hands and feet grows massively, while females see very little in the way of growth of those portions of their anatomy. The worgen male sports a massive maw of savage fangs, while the female's mouth (although still a large muzzle full of sharp teeth) is far less developed, almost fox-like. Much like the tauren or draenei, the worgen male is nearly double the width of the female.
Interesting that of our two new races, the goblins come off as nearly physically equivalent between genders, while worgen exaggerate the already striking dimorphism of their parent race -- especially considering that most Gilnean women you meet in the game are such astonishingly aggressive and forthright women.
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 10)
MichaelBerean Dec 14th 2010 10:33AM
@Tafuub: I disagree as to where these female avatars come from. I would say they are clear adaptations from manga, anime or Japanese-flavored console-style RPG's.
They have most of the classic themes represented in WoW: fox-girl (Worgen), cow-girl (tauren), green demons (short or tall), blue demons, tall and willowy with blue/purple hair (Night Elves), beautiful and gender-ambiguous (blood elves), rounded matron/mother (dwarves), child-like and spunky (gnomes). Perhaps the Forsaken could fill the role of the pale vampire-girl. You might even say they included cat-girls with the Draenei, due to their cat-like ears and tail. If you consider that outfits and spell effects temporarily grant an angelic appearance to humans you could say that all of the (typically Japanese) manga female archetypes are represented in WoW now.
Ronin Dec 14th 2010 10:34AM
@tafuub You seem to imply that just because other cultures may view this issue differently than we do, that our viewpoint is wrong. When in fact, the existence of various viewpoints only proves that those viewpoints are _different_ from one another. Your underlying assumption leads me to wonder if you're just part of the "Hate America First" club.
Gossamer Dec 13th 2010 6:18PM
I was very excited about the Worgen race when I heard about it. I've wanted to play a savage, feral character for a long time, but none of the current female models really convey savagery. (The Undead female is the closest so far.) The Worgen female, sadly, fell far short of this.
I have always hated the female troll models because they are so upright, whereas the male model have arguably the most hunched model of all. I was really hoping to see some true savagery, even a healthy dose of ugly in the Worgen female models. Instead I feel like the worst kind of furry, and the /silly and /flirt emotes don't help the image.
Blizzard seems to be afraid of "ugly" female characters, other than perhaps the Undead. Sure, you can pick faces that have a less pleasing appearance, but it feels almost out of place because the rest of the model is so very pretty.
Eldoron Dec 13th 2010 6:23PM
Thank you for telling your subjective opinion. Please don't handle it as a fact. Thanks
Tayacan Dec 13th 2010 6:39PM
Look, it's a comment. It's not necessarily supposed to be perfectly objective. Actually, I think it would be kind of sad if people didn't offer their opinions about articles.
Saeadame Dec 13th 2010 6:43PM
I don't know, my troll female who has one of the non-pretty faces and the longest tusks I could get for her looks pretty fierce. I don't think her standing upright makes her less so, personally. She's much fiercer than some of the "Hunchback of Notre Dame"-style troll males, imo. I don't think the posture makes them look particularly fierce at all... more like they're probably in constant and unnecessary pain from that back deformity they have.
I think Tauren females are the least fierce-looking of the Horde races, because no matter what pattern you stick on their faces they always look pretty adorable.
Pyromelter Dec 13th 2010 6:46PM
I just find it interesting that you blast the female troll model, yet your avatar is a female troll model.
Gossamer Dec 13th 2010 6:47PM
I'm sorry if I somehow offended you. This is of course my, personal opinion.
I would ask, however, that if you disagree you at least offer some argument or difference of opinion, not just accuse me of not being objective, which I never claimed to be.
Eldoron Dec 13th 2010 6:48PM
Problem is that people these days usually handle their opinions as ultimate facts (facts for themselves, anyways). Just read his post again. I like to think and say that X is my opinion, because of my thoughts and feelings, but I know they are not facts, not ultimate, and I accept if things are different.
pancakes Dec 13th 2010 6:50PM
I think trolls are the reason that the females of every race created since has been pretty. They have a lot of different faces, yet in 4 years of playing WoW, I can say without exaggeration that I've seen ONE troll female without the "pretty face".
The majority of people roll a female to have a pretty character, & if they want a rugged character, they'll roll a male, an attitude that blizzard have picked up on when designing the newer races.
mazokuranma Dec 13th 2010 7:09PM
@Eldoron
She did convey it as an opinion. Constantly using 'I' and using words such as 'seems' are what separate opinion from fact, which she did multiple times. You're either a troll or a moron, probably both. That's how it -seems- from where -I- sit anyway. I'm stating it as an opinion, since you seem to miss such subtleties when they aren't directly pointed out to you.
As for the worgen female model, I'm a male who almost exclusively plays female toons. Prior to Cataclysm, only Horde races were exceptions to this rule for me. I have to like the way my model looks. I want pretty for females, badass for males. Personally, races like orcs or tauren achieve this easily with male models, whereas I think male night elves and humans look rather goofy. I agree with you, though, that the worgen female just seems to fit the furry fetish a bit too much for me.
I don't really think Blizzard is afraid of 'ugly' characters per se, but that the player base prefers pretty characters, and I count myself among them. You'll never see me roll a dwarf female, for instance. On the other hand, with so many pretty characters to choose from, I'd hardly be upset if some ugly ones were in the mix too. In any commercial product, though, I would think majority opinion generally outweighs designer preference on such things as cosmetic issues. They are trying to market and sell a game, after all. If you really want ugly models, you need more people to speak up in favor of them really. That's about the only way something like that gets added. Whether or not you can get enough support, of course, is another issue entirely.
Matthew Dec 13th 2010 7:20PM
i PAID to have my troll female go from pretty face to the angry looking one (but without a skin disease)I think she's a powerful shawoman, and a feminist.
If I could only change how she /wave
Female trolls rock.
Snuzzle Dec 14th 2010 8:51AM
The really interesting thing about troll females is their faces were actually designed to wrap around the alpha model skull, not the revamped one. That's why the "uglier" faces look so very out of place. It's not just because the rest of the model is so pretty (in fact, I would argue troll females have a rather formidable physique with strong runners' legs and long lean muscles) but because it was not originally intended to fit on that mesh.
I, too, picked a very fierce face (I think it's the one with purple eyes) for my troll female and tusks as large as I could. She's a troll. She's not supposed to be Miss Silvermoon, she's supposed to be a vicious and cunning adversary. Personally I think the "pretty" face is bland and emotionless.
Also, surprised the article didn't bring up the largest and most glaring (imho) dimorphic trait of the worgens: the eyes. Death knight female worgens look to me to be about ten times more ferocious simply because of the glowing eyes. The males have them, the females have barbie doll eyes. A simple tweaking of the eyes would make the worgen women look so much more dangerous:
http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt20/Desukar/Photos%20for%20Blog/better_fworgen_eyes.jpg
Boom. Giving the different faces distinct eye colors, I think, would also help as right now it doesn't feel like female worgen have "faces" so much as they have "facial patterns".
Alar Dec 13th 2010 6:19PM
A good article, but you forgot to mention the difference in the eyes between the male and female Worgen. With the males, we have a cool, somewhat beady looking glowing eyeball that can vary in color from face to face. With the females, we have a very large, bulgy human looking eye that does not change except a very tiny amount of eye color in face to face (the change being almost completely unnoticeable).
Ata Dec 13th 2010 11:36PM
I think that's exactly what makes the Worgen Female so unappealing to me, but I understand how they struggled, earlier comment regarding how they had faces in two different extremes earlier showed this.
roseclown Dec 13th 2010 6:19PM
You forgot that the female worgen have completely different eyes.
In fact, if you look closely? Their iris is copy pasted from the human female. One of the reason they are so glazed looking is because they are a much older and lower resolution.
Not to mention the males look like wolves, and the females have the head of toy breeds. And how the female worgen have the biggest breasts (talking about proportion) of any other race in-game. Oh, and the make up. The worgen female has thicker eyeshadow then any other race in-game, on every face. Even human females don't have that much make-up...
/sigh
I tried. I really tried to play on. But somewhere between the half-lidded, make-up ridden eyes and the toy puppy head, and the lack of fiercely glowing eyes, I deleted it with a vengence and rolled male.
I play a troll female, I am used to sexual dimorphism. But this? This borders on insulting. It's like she was smacked repeatedly with a 'I'M A GURL!' stick.
/grumbles
/sighs
Then again, out of my 3 troll females none of them have the pretty face... so maybe it's just the sheer lack of options we get with the worgen ladies.
Goblins ftw, btw.
/goes back to playing her 4 goblin ladies
Larka Dec 13th 2010 7:05PM
I race change my night elf to one, because...well for me its a lesser of two evils. I was a druid, and female night elfs have more cons then good for me. that being said though my biggest problems with the female worgen are 1. EYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. snarl. though if some day they redo the customization of wow, i would love to be able to...oh...idk pick the ACTUAL worgen eyes? geez sexual whatever aside, there is NO reason for a races eyeballs to be different between genders.
lady.silverdragon Dec 13th 2010 8:02PM
I am with you there. Despite the other problems with the model, I would have rolled a female Worgen if only they'd had the same awesome glowing eyes as the male model. As it stands, the only way I will ever play one is if I roll up another death knight.
tulipblossom Dec 13th 2010 8:42PM
You are so right about the eyes. I agree with everything you've said, though. I don't understand why the female worgen has such a distinctly different face shape than the males, either. When you look at a male and female, irl, we look similar, but different. Our faces are very similar, although females are just more feminine. We don't usually have entirely different looking faces, though. The male and female worgen have entirely different eyes. Why? I don't know about you, but I've never walked down the street only to see a guy whose eyes are drastically different than mine. His might be a different color, but his don't glow while mine do or something crazy like that. Why do the male worgens' eyes glow, but not the female's? How does this make the females more feminine?
I feel like Blizzard just gave up on the female model. Unless we see changes in a future patch, I really feel like they just gave up or that they're not taking the opinions of the players all that seriously. And, that's pretty frustrating.
Hollow Leviathan Dec 13th 2010 9:22PM
I noticed their disproportionate breasts first off, as well. They're the size of her head, bar the muzzle, and I can't imagine that's any less comfortable than the massive crouch that the male trolls suffer.