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World of Warcraft In the Axis of Evil
Kotaku is running a piece by Wagner James Au, discussing the place World of Warcraft has in 'The Axis of Evil'. From the article: "Then again, there's little reason to think the ban was enforced much at all. Veteran WoW players tell me they often raid with folks who say they are Coalition troops in Iraq who've cleverly hacked around military firewalls to log in. And while it's doubtful that anyone but Kim Jung-Il and his geek cronies could log into World of Warcraft from North Korea, there's still an embargo on Iran."
This is about the Axis of Evil - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_evil
Regardless, WoW should have nothing to do with either of them apart from legislation restricting export of certain goods, such as software, to countries to which the originating country holds an embargo - such as Iran.
I had to look into that for the software developed at our country as well to see if we could sell to a potential customer in Iraq - and we could after it was 'liberated'.
Fore more information, see:
Its about as funny as seeing America enjoying the oil coming from Iran, Syria, Iraq and the like, nations who the US have declared their resolve to destroy.
Actually, the US didn't import oil from Iraq (aside from an "oil for food" program instituted by the UN) between 1990 and 2003. Since 2003, the US has been occupying and rebuilding Iraq. As for Iran, there's been a full embargo against Iran (including oil) since 1979. The Bush administration has never expressed a desire to go to war with Syria. In conclusion, nice try dumbass, check your facts next time.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
Wow, if that's true, that's really a load of crap on their part.
I'll be honest, I play WoW from time to time and thus maintain my account there (so my character doesn't get dumped), but Blizzard has really begun to grate on me. They're starting to become one of those organizations that I just feel vaguely dirty for associating with, much less paying a subscription fee to.
I'd encourage anyone serving overseas at a military installation or embassy who's been given the shaft by Blizzard to publicize it as widely as you can; there's nothing that really inflames Ma and Pa Kettle like a corporation being dicks to troops overseas, and I could easily see an organization like Blizzard which is highly dependent on public opinion bowing to pressure and changing their policy in a hurry.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
They'll continue being embargoed until they give back all the property of US companies and individuals they nationalized after Castro's rise to power.
Dude, I think I can see my house from here.
Eve Online is creating a chinese shard to cater to this group. I doubt it will stop the chinese macro miners, but it might. Especially if their country blocks access to Tranquility. I mean, yeah yeah freedom of speech, but they're driving down the price of omber.
This will mean that Eve can no longer say they're only one server... but, still. 25,000+ people on the same server is nothing to sneeze at. Go invest in some RAMSAN's, blizard!
~W
sig?
Correct romanization is "Kim Jong Il".
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
Just to add, I have an Army friend in Iraq who tries to play WoW. While local LAN games are popular, he states that he has so much trouble with WoW (especially the Battlegrounds) because of his 8000 second ping. Yes, it would be excruciating to wait 8 seconds for Blizzard's servers to receive your command and then have to wait another 8 seconds to see the result back on your screen.
There are some good days where he gets only a 4000 or 3000 (*Woot!*) ping, but WoW is pretty much unplayable for anything except low level soloing.