World of Warcraft: Dragonflighthas been alpha testing the various areas of the Dragon Isles for the last several weeks. While questing in the Ohn’ahran Plains, alpha testers met a major centaur character who is Deaf, a first forWorld of Warcraft.
The Ohn’ahran Plains are a beautiful landscape which is home to theWoW’sGreen dragonflightand several centaur clans. The Shikaar clan of hunters is one of these groups, and are led by Sansok Khan, the new Deaf character in question.
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When players first approach Sansok Khanin theDragonflightalpha, she gestures to them with a series of hand motions that mimic sign language, while her interpreter, Okir, speaks. During the entirety of the Ohn’ahran Plains experience, Okir is never far from Sansok Khan, and always speaks for her. Every time she is spoken to during quests, a block of text within it simply states the following:
<As Sansok Khan signs, Okir vocalizes.>
Players can speak to Okir as well, but when they do, he kindly asks players to direct their attention to Sansok Khan. If pressed on what he is doing, Okir explains his role as interpreter in a clear and concise manner before reminding the player his words are hers, and asks they address Sansok Khan instead.
The conduct shown by Okir and Sansok Khan is exactly how interpreters and Deaf or Hard of Hearing individuals operate in the real world, proving Blizzard has done its research on the topic. The portrayal of these characters is consistent and exceptionally well-done, and is a huge step towardsinclusivity and diversity withinWorld of Warcraft.
Players are ecstatic to see representation like Sansok Khan in the game. While it would be easy to relegate a person with such a disability to the sidelines, Sansok Khan is front-and-center with the main storyline, and is one of the major centaur who players aid throughout the zone. Many people couldn’t help but draw comparisons between Sansok Khan and General AmayafromThe Dragon Prince, a powerhouse LGBTQ+ Deaf character who stormed into the hearts of fans everywhere.
Of course, there are plenty of other fans who are not impressed with Sansok Khan inDragonflight. Some fans accuse her inclusion as performative, while others are disappointed it took World of Warcraftso long to start adding inclusivity like Sansok Khan or Chromie and Pelages,World of Warcraft’sfirst trans characters. ThoughWorld of Warcrafthas had a lack of inclusivity in its history, many would agree it is better to start late than to never do so at all.
World of Warcraftis available now on PC. TheDragonflightexpansion is set to launch later this year.
