How These Deaf Gamers Are Making ‘World of Warcraft’ More Inclusive | Rolling Stone
For all its joys, gaming can be really hard. Take massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), a popular genre whose many overlapping systems often require a constant stream of information being blasted at the player. Unlike, say, first-person shooters like Call of Duty, MMOs aren’t about twitch-based gameplay or fast reaction times. They’re about working together with other players (or occasionally, against them) for a common goal, whether that goal be to gather resources or defeat an enemy too powerful to take on solo.
Launched in 2004, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft is one of the biggest and most culturally known MMOs, and to this day maintains an extremely healthy player base. In the 20 years since its release, the game has grown exponentially, with ten full expansions and even relaunches of its classic modes beginning in 2019, building toward an outright massive amount of content for players to explore alone or with others.
As with every game this size, however, there’s a certain barrier to entry. MMOs, especially, require a lot of communication to complete a task or a quest, with some members creating “guilds” to put like-minded people together. For differently-abled gamers, this presents a problem. It can be extremely difficult to coordinate with teammates or partners who don’t understand them or their individual needs, especially in the heat of the moment mid-game.
That’s where the Undaunted Guild comes in. Undaunted Guild is a group of players from the deaf and hard of hearing community whose goal is creating an inclusive environment for people to play World of Warcraft. Through the guild, a tight knit community has formed, with members making personal connections, communicating with Blizzard directly on improving their accessibility options, and leaving a lasting impact on each other and the game that they love.
