I call for blizzard to ...

Q u o t e:
I call for Blizzard to step up and do more to remove vulgar and perverted people from the game. It is clear that at this point things have gotten out of hand so much so that maybe blizzard just can't handle it anymore, i mean you report someone and chances are nothing is ever done about it and people know this and mock the reporting process and continue spewing their garbage.

Fortunately, I can assure you that nothing of the sort is the case. Our policies are reactive and not proactive though, and we are simply not in a position to 'patrol' the various chat channels in-game. We do encourage our players to submit an in-game petition naming the offending player and listing the nature of the harassment when they are faced with inappropriate conduct though, as this affords us the opportunity to investigate and take appropriate action. You can even select the Report Issue option when submitting such a petition, and our staff will avoid making direct contact so as to prevent an interruption of game play.

You can reference our Harassment Policies here:

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=20455

Q u o t e:

I know there is a language filter true and yes enable it if you don't like the trash that is allowed to permiate the games chat channels and appears to be encouraged by blizzard through their lack of action on such matters but what do u do when kids play this and they don't have their filter enabled? sure their parents should have put it on but that makes it ok to act in any fashion you want to? No it does not, so Blizzard i plead with you to do more than send out automated emails, have hour upon hour wait for gm tickets etc.

Again, you post in the assumption that nothing is done =(. May I ask what has lead you believe this? The mere presence of those who would violate our policies? As before, I encourage you to report activities that you find disagreeable. While the filter does indeed exist and can be an excellent tool, it is by no means license for anyone to persist in the violation of our policies.

On another note, only a player in their majority may legally establish a World of Warcraft account, and parents who allow their children to play World of Warcraft are encouraged to exercise a measure of oversight to ensure that the time that their children enjoy in World of Warcraft is as fun and clean as can be. The language filter as well as parental controls can significantly assist in this effort.

Q u o t e:
This game was great once and it can return to that but at this point it is looking like the bad side of town 8(

I can appreciate your desire for the best possible game play environment, and in fact, that is our highest priority. We feel that we've always striven to uphold such an environment for our players, and we will continue to do so for as long as players join us within the World of Warcraft.

Q u o t e:
I'll call back to my belief that if you trot around with a holier-than-thou attitude looking for reasons to be offended and report people, you really have no place in the anonymity of the internet because you will always find people who offend you, and even more-so in society in general.

It's not about being 'holier than thou' or 'looking for reasons to be offended'. While this is often something very difficult for those who are on the offending side to appreciate, World of Warcraft has players from all different backgrounds, and we strive to provide the best environment we can for all of them.

Since it's a shared, contained environment, you can think of World of Warcraft like a theme park of sorts. We will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure that it's the best possible place for those who choose to spend time with us within it.

Q u o t e:


It is people like you that I hate. Crying like a baby cause some said a bad word is straight rediculous. Like other people mentioned use your ignore list and if that isn't enough to handle the situation I don't know how you live your life on a daily basis. I don't even want to imagine the type of person you are in real life but I am sure you have an attorney and you use him regularly, you need to be punched in the face.

It is spelled 'ridiculous'.

It is 'ridiculous' that you would be offended because someone else wants a clean environment for themselves and their children when playing a game. As it happens, we tend to agree with those who strive for a clean environment and we actively appreciate those reports. Naturally, we employ a measure of discretion when acting on them, and you need not fear that we respond to spurious claims.

Your insults and assumptions, on the other hand, are not welcome.

Q u o t e:

Blue thanks for responding and keep fighting the good fight i just would like to see a more "public" display of punishment so others would see what happens and maybe it would curb their attitude towards acting in the manner's they do.

I'm afraid that 'public' doesn't enter into the equation. We take our privacy policies rather seriously, and we will never reveal the actions taken against another player's account.

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Completely disagree. The ESRB rating relates only to the contents of the game itself (IE npc interactions, boss dialogue etc). Online content and variables like that are not rated, because such things can't be predicted.

Correct. Regardless, what is important is that our policies and Terms of Use are the blueprint for shaping the in-game environment.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=20455

Q u o t e:
Why you gotta bust balls blue poster guy? Not cool.

I believe it was the part where it was suggested that people need to be punched in the face for expressing their views. I tend to take a dim view.

Q u o t e:
I think when you have people that report the smallest use of language that they find offensive, then you've got a problem.

For example, I've seen people shout "reported" with complete seriousness after someone casually used "the b word" in trade. That's ridiculous, imo. But I'm certainly no fan of little 16 year olds that learned a few new words at school today and decide to drop foul language containing all letters of the alphabet into every other half-sentence.

At the end of the day, those that cuss THAT much need to grow up and those that can't handle a small amount of foul language need to toughen up.

Fortunately, it isn't a problem. We receive and measure each and every report against our policies appropriately. It is the responsibility of every player to uphold our policies at all times, and assuming that the dialogue in question measures up, then there's nothing to be concerned about, and thus, no problem =).

I do not believe that the choice to 'toughen up' and be party to language that one does not wish to be party to is the correct approach. It is certainly highly questionable to express that as the mature approach. It is my opinion that the mature approach is to 'grow up' and recognize the power of language, and the effects that casual use of offensive terms can have on others.

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I honestly don't know any of the rules I agreed to. I am in the same boat as 80% of all the other wow players, maybe more. I adhere to my personal "rules" before any other as well so in this case your arguement means nothing to me.

I provided a link to both sections earlier in this thread. As is the case in essentially every scenario where rules are important, ignorance of them is not absolution and willful ignorance the poorest course.

Q u o t e:


I am aware of where the rules are and how to get them but I simply do not care. So I guess I am taking a poorer course.

How different could the rules of a videogame be than that of society? You don't have to read the rules to know how to follow them. It is common sense if you are over the age of 10.

What is and what is not acceptable in society is a learned thing, and 'common sense' is a product of what is really long experience. Not only that, but social mores and acceptable behavior can vary wildly from population to population and from group to group within a population. World of Warcraft includes individuals from all kinds of populations all over the world, and our goal is to provide an environment that is best for everyone involved.

In that context, acceptable behavior isn't necessarily common sense and must be learned (often over a period of years). Fortunately, we provide a reasonably simple and codified standard that one can read and review (in a period substantially shorter than years, one measured in minutes typically) in an effort to ensure that their behavior falls within those standards and avoid the unpleasant consequences that violating them can generate.

Even if one does not wish to review the policies and standards of conduct, they remain responsible for them. It seems best to know what one is agreeing to each time one agrees to the terms of use =/.