Obvious throwaway account.
I’ve been debating on making something like this for a while, because this is an issue that has been growing increasingly concerning every single time that something new happens in game. However I’ve been hesitant to actually post something about the topic I’m about to delve into. Why? There are several reasons. First and foremost, I’m not a person who lives for drama. I’m a very secluded person, who suffers from mental issues that I really won’t get into. I do not say this for sympathy points, I say this to make the point clear that drama is the very last thing that I want to get involved with. Secondly as this title suggests this is going to be about the PCU - a group that is very notorious for going to extreme lengths to harass and shit talk people that they deem as enemies. And lastly, well, this is all happening on EU servers. I was hesitant to bring up this topic because let’s face it, it won’t get as much attention as it would if this was happening on American servers. People generally do not care enough over here to do anything about this, and while it is extremely disheartening to see I figured I may as well speak my mind.
Apologies in advance for my rambling nature and the length of this post.
What is the PCU? This question has come up quite a lot on the Alliance side of the server, but for anyone who plays Horde even the mere mention of the name will get you nothing but praise from the people that align with them. To put it bluntly, the PCU (Perroy’s Cinematic Universe) is a collective group of people that follow an individual named Perroy, and as the name suggests, go around making guilds following this guy’s “guidelines” to roleplay on the server of Argent Dawn. And when I say they go around making guilds, I mean quite literally that as of the date of this posting they have 11 Horde guilds and 11 Alliance guilds that have the tag [PCU] in their guild names or descriptions. Every single time a new thing is introduced to the game you can bet that the PCU will make a guild about it. You want a guild full of Zandalari Trolls? Well of course they have a guild for that. Vulpera? Have to be the first guild on the server to have one of those too. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing mind you, they just also seem to have a monopoly of guilds that all sing about providing “quality roleplay to the server of Argent Dawn.” But don’t take my word for it. Take Perroy’s word for it yourself: https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/the-pcu-now-recruiting-updated-op-server/54704
What’s the issue there you might ask? What’s so bad about wanting to provide a server full of people with quality roleplay?
The issue isn’t the goal that the PCU claims to strive towards, like I stated previously it isn’t necessarily a bad thing to have a guild full of trolls or vulpera or knight roleplayers. But the monopoly itself is one of the biggest issues of the server. Let’s say for example that for some reason you’ve done something to upset a member of the PCU. That member goes to complain to the rest of the guild, who then complains to the leader Perroy, and then suddenly your character is shunned from roleplaying with 20 - 30 other people in that guild. No big deal, you just go on to roleplay with someone else, right?
However, as one might have taken from the scenario, there is a major issue that stands out. Anyone who speaks out against the PCU are labeled as “Anti PCU” and are vilified in their community. A quick search on the EU Argent Dawn forums brings up plenty of PCU labeled topics, a majority of them promoting their army of guilds and going through the comments any one that has a problem with them are very quickly jumped on and are harassed there. And while that behaviour could be limited to the forums, unfortunately it is not. PCU members frequently go around in game “infiltrating” other guilds with their own members, spreading rumours and falsehoods about people that they do not like. And lord forbid you happen to enjoy ERP in the comfort OUTSIDE OF THE GAME. If a member even catches a whiff of you enjoying adult orientated content in roleplay in general, not just wow related, you are blacklisted. Period.
Suddenly that character who was shunned just by one guild is shunned by two. Or three. Or five. And soon they find it difficult to find anything other than random walk up city roleplay.
Which in itself lies another issue. Since the PCU strives to make the entire server roleplay their way or the highway, they have frequent ‘raids’ on the two faction capitals of Stormwind and Orgrimmar. Long time server roleplayers know about the infamous raid when the Void Elves were announced - there were mobs and in character lynchings against other player’s will, all for the sake of causing havoc and to express their disdain for the new race. These raids continue to this day, and while the PCU’s side of the argument is that “if you don’t like the roleplay then don’t show up to it”, their argument is impossible to accommodate to. There is simply no way for someone to ignore a massive faction wide roleplay in a major city hub when people are /y typing curse words and emotes. Even if you ignore one person doing it, two more will pop up doing the same thing. The only way to “not show up” is to avoid a major rp hub, which is one of the -only- rp hubs on the server.
Argent Dawn, known for being a roleplaying server, is one of the most difficult servers to roleplay on. People whom I’ve talked to simply do not wish to deal with the PCU so they either don’t RP anymore, or they leave to go somewhere else. And my main issue that I personally have with the PCU isn’t their vile comments, the reports on members being homophobic and racist, the complete narcissistic nature of Perroy or even the bullying and harassment the members do to players. It’s the complete and total lack of empathy from them. Every single argument made against them will be counter argued with “Just don’t ERP”, or “Just go somewhere else if you don’t like what we do.” Their complete lack of self awareness and self righteous gatekeeping on a game that they themselves have no rights to nor do any of them own is what gets to me.
Again, I do not wish for drama. I don’t type all of this out to start shit with the PCU or to bring harassment upon their users. I type this because I, as a very tired almost thirty year old, am so sick of seeing the same shit over and over again while I’m in Stormwind or Orgrimmar. For anyone wondering why I didn’t provide any screenshots or “proof” of my claims, the tumblr page https://consequencesofargentdawn.tumblr.com/ has more information than a single person can provide. I suggest looking there.
And with that, thank you for those who read through my ramblings and stuck around. I wish you all nothing but the best and remember. At the end of the day it’s all just a game. And a game is supposed to be about fun.
