A concerned whisper went through Goldshire in World of Warcraft. Blizzard is taking action against the “eRPlers” – or has it always been this way?
“How can someone with such a name still roam around on the realm?” – This is surely a question many might ask while lingering in the cities of World of Warcraft. But it’s not just there that one encounters creepy names; it gets really eerie at times in Goldshire on roleplay realms, such as “Argent Dawn” or “The Aldor”. What people write about their characters can lead to bans – it’s so bad that Game Masters can’t even rewrite it.
What happened? In the US WoW forum, an outraged player named Valui reported that he received a 3-day ban. He was punished for “Disruptive Gameplay” and couldn’t for the life of him understand what was going on.
After a while, the first Game Master noted: “If something is deemed inappropriate to verbalize, then it is also inappropriate to pack it into an addon that can be read by other players.”
Valui still seems to have no idea what it could be about and suspects it is because he criticized Blizzard in several of his RP-flags. It seems this also gets under the skin of Game Master Vrakthris, who becomes a bit clearer and explains:
To put it very clearly, Valui, there have been no changes to our rules. They are the same rules we’ve had for many years. The only thing that has changed is that you went from “not yet reported” to “reported and reviewed.”
The quote you mentioned may be ambiguous, but that is not why your account was punished. The content that was reported was far more graphic than anything you’ve brought up here as an example. To such an extent that even my expertise in innuendos and vagueness cannot rewrite those contents without acting inappropriately myself.
Yet even after this, Valui still seems to not know what it is really about, even though everyone else in the thread had suspected it from the very beginning – it concerns activities in Goldshire that one might rather label as “racy.” Following this, the GM goes on again:
It’s strange that it took so long for someone to report you for this content if you’ve really been behaving this way for quite some time. I can only assume that those who saw it did not know that or how to report it.
Nothing you’ve written was shocking. It’s simply not appropriate for our game or really any place except for those where one actively seeks such material.
What kind of addon are they talking about? The addon most commonly used by roleplayers is “Total RP 3”, but there are also alternatives, though most features are similar. Among the main features is that characters can be described in more detail. Details such as size, type of clothing, general behavior, or even a character story can be included. All this information is then referred to as the character’s “flag.”
While most of these “flags” are harmless, you can find quite a few flags with a lot of detail that you might not want to know in the notorious Goldshire. Draenei might have a few too many body parts, and night elves describe every angle of their bodies and their sexual preferences in such detail that even the porn industry would blush with shame.
Many probably thought that the “flags” were basically not within Blizzard’s punishable area – after all, only those who also use the addon can read it. However, Blizzard had already created the option some time ago to report content written in addons as well and to impose sanctions regarding it.
What does that mean? If you’ve ever wondered how it is possible that characters with offensive names can saunter through World of Warcraft unscathed and Blizzard does “nothing,” it simply comes down to the fact that these characters have not yet been reported. So if you find an offensive or inappropriate name or some pretty crude expressions in the roleplay flag, report the respective offenders. Because Blizzard only reviews such things when they are reported.
Do you have people on your realm who push boundaries in public – whether in RP text or as character names? What are the most absurd names you’ve encountered?
