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Blizzard Responds To Gay Guild Debate
Edge Online reports that Blizzard has responded to the issues raised by a gay guild trying to recruit in public chat. From the article: "We encourage community building among our players with others of similar interests, and we understand that guilds are one of the primary ways to forge these communities. However, topics related to sensitive real-world subjects -- such as religious, sexual, or political preference, for example -- have had a tendency to result in communication between players that often breaks down into harassment." We discussed this story when it first came up last week.
", we prohibit mention of topics related to sensitive real-world subjects in open chat within the game, and we do our best to take action whenever we see such topics being broadcast. This includes openly advertising a guild friendly to players based on a particular political, sexual, or religious preference,"
You decide upon your political allegiances
You decide upon your religion beliefs
You do not Choose your sexual preference .
I no more chose to be straight than a gay person chose to be gay
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
I see tons of pro-Christian conversations and Guild named all night long when I play. Blizzard never shuts them the hell up or takes action to remove these offensive-to-me names.
Blizazard's perception is that of homophobes. I can't see them any other way with this type of behavior.
- Posting anonymously so their GMs don't *find* some reason to kick me out of the game.
This argument is sometimes used to justify prejudicial behavior. In this case, it's being used to try to prevent it, and it's still wrong. Basically, "she was dressed like a whore, so she deserved to get assaulted" is the line of reasoning being used.
If the guild's recruiting has the -potential- to incite prejudicial comments among the immature and clueless, then they shouldn't be allowed at all? No. It's always the transgressor's fault. Always.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
... sensitive real-world subjects -- such as religious, sexual, or political preference, for example -- have had a tendency to result in communication between players that often breaks down into harassment.
So my question is, why haven't they taken any action against the Christian guilds? Nothing against Christian guilds, but they obviously exist and it seems no action has previously been taken regarding their existence before this GLBT debacle. Personally, I think Blizzard is blowing this issue since they never took action on 'sensitive real-world subjects' before this point, atleast with religious guilds, so it definitely seems that they are applying a double-standard here. Given the immature atmosphere of any online game, having a guild of like-minded folk whos first reaction to any intelligent piece of personal information is NOT to curse and mock the individual, well, that seems like something that should be encouraged rather than dismissed. Otherwise, Blizzard should start the Great Guild Purge of 2006 and get cracking on those religious guilds (and if they exist, political guilds, never seen any though) as well as any other 'sensitive real world topics' instead of their current method of selective enforcement.
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
The Blizzard text is copy pasted from a post on the WoW Forums.
g ht/christian/Jew/Muslim/doglover/catlover/chronica llyillwithcancer) bashing centers.
What is missing is the second half of the post. They are not banning these guilds, they are just against advertising them in open chat in the game. They have said that the best avenue of recruitment is through their own Guild Recruitment Forums. What they are trying to stop is Orgrimmar and Ironforge (Main capital cities for non-Azerothians) turning into huge (gay/republican/black/white/purple/democrat/strai
In game bashing should properly be restricted to the opposing faction, n00bs, gold farmers, overpowered classes, and the hardcore guys who have no life and stand around showing all the 1337lewts you'll never get but still want.
If this signature is witty enough, maybe somebody will like me.
This has already been pointed out many times, but the guild isn't homosexual-only, it's homosexual-friendly. And believe it or not, gay-friendly isn't code for gay-only. It means exactly what it says: everyone is welcome as long as they don't have a problem with gay people and don't use offensive language.
The big problem, really, stems from the fact that basically all guilds are straight-friendly (not that that's a problem in itself). You don't have to advertise it in your guild spams because it's just sort of assumed, the same way one assumes a car comes with wheels. It's not something you even think about, it's so obvious. Gay people don't have that luxury; the have to worry about people kicking them out of their guild if it's discovered that they're gay. Mind you, not all guilds would do this, but you can bet a lot more would kick you out for being gay than being straight.
There was a guy in a WoW forum thread a while back who was talking about how he got kicked out of a guild for mentioning that he had a boyfriend. That's something gay people have to worry about; whereas the thought of someone kicking me out of my guild for mentioning that I have a wife is ludicrous. Maybe somewhere, somehow it could happen, but I doubt it ever has.
Gay people generally don't want to throw their sexuality into peoples' faces. They just don't want to have to worry about casual remarks that might tip people off about their sexuality.