Developer Blizzard has renamed a mission-achieving character in World of Warcraft after the main musician’s anti-gay rhetoric surfaced.
The character, originally known as “Gorge the Corpsegrinder,” was modeled after Cannibal Corpse singer George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher. The NPC met in the Burian tundra of the game and was the leader of the Horde faction who especially hated elves and night gnomes.
However, as Metal Hammer spotted, the character was renamed “Terminator Grek’lor” after Fisher’s anti-gay comments surfaced. In a 2007 interview, Fisher described the alliance as a “homo alliance” and the crowd’s rival faction as “expo emo f*suckers.”
The interview appeared at Blizzcon, Blizzard’s annual fan meeting in 2011, prompting Michael Morhaime – co-founder and then chief developer – to apologize. However, the character’s name remains in the game to this day. The new name Grek’lor now lives in the public test world of World of Warcraft, and the change is expected to extend to all PC MMO players soon.
Although neither Fisher nor Blizzard has publicly commented on the change, the rebranding to Grek’lor is likely to be part of the parent company, Activision Blizzard’s effort to clean up the game. It came in response to allegations of sexual harassment in his studios and a lawsuit brought by the California Department of Housing and Fair Employment.
In recent months, World of Warcraftban Other changes made include removing developer names from the game, removing sexual jokes and innuendo, and even cutting “suggestive” dialogues.
Source: NME
