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."

Comments

WoW belongs in the axis of evil

[pHatidic]

Rule of thumb: Anything that allows you to "level up" is out to fuck you, take your money, or both. Examples: School, military, corporate hierarchy, catholic church, world of warcraft, scientology, etc.

Now if you're both in the military and addicted to WoW then you're really in trouble. That's either the second or the fourth circle of hell, depending on how the maths work. Either way it isn't good.

Leave Our Troops Alone

[shoma-san]

Most of the folks that claim they can do this are probably not part or a combat unit in a Marine Expeditionary Force but still have to be worried about getting blown up while waiting to log into WOW. If there is a chance that they could die tomorrow and they want to play WOW then let them play WOW. Dropping a dime on them on Slashdot does nothing but make it harder for them to do what they want when they want.

Re:Leave Our Troops Alone

[Rob T Firefly]

I do hope this doesn't come off as insensitive or anything, but for some reason I'd be dubious if faced with an online avatar of someone who claims to have hacked past a US Military firewall - that is, hacked past a US Military Firewall - to do something as bandwidth-sucking and most likely specifically not allowed as playing a damn MMO.

I'd be happy to be proven wrong on this, as I'd love to think that even in a hellish war zone my fellow gamers can get their fix, but it just doesn't seem like something that would actually be allowed to happen all that much. And even if against all odds and logic it somehow did happen, I doubt said gamers would be bragging about their exploits in a damned text chat.

The idea that people who are sitting comfortably at home playing a computer game may be fishing for some sort of street cred or sympathy by falsely claiming to be among those whose lives are being put on the line is completely disgusting on every level.

Re:Leave Our Troops Alone

[Sunburnt]

The concept of a "U.S. Military Firewall" is not particularly intimidating. When I was stationed in the Gulf with the Air Force, the Communications squadron was using the same garbage as my 55-year-old mother - McAfee products, and not always with up-to-date patches. A friend in that unit informed me that such was common practice throughout the military in unsecured environments (such as a MWR tent with Internet access.)

Hell, even the censoring of certain websites (rotten.com, ebaumsworld.com, and theonion.com are the only ones I can recall, but it's been a few years) was easy to circumvent for anyone clever enough to uncheck the "Proxy Server" setting in IE. I wonder if anyone ever bothered fixing that?

Given the temperament of the bored kids I remember staffing the Air Force's server rooms, I'd imagine they're probably enabling this kind of activity. Can't say I blame them. I wish we had WoW instead of a copy of Tekken 3.

Re:Leave Our Troops Alone

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like like the ??AA needs to crack down on the US military!

Re:Isn't It Funny..

[Frogbert]

The Iranian government doesn't represent the WHOLE population of Iran. Just like the Americas Presedent doesn't represent the opinion of 100% of America.

Cuba?

[DesireCampbell]

Since when is Cuba harbouring terrorists? Or is 'Communism" part of terrorism now?

Re:Cuba?

[dbIII]

Since when is Cuba harbouring terrorists?

There's hundreds of them at GITMO.

I can't understand the US attitude to Cuba - can't trade with them but renting space for a naval base is OK.

Re:Cuba?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

So, when does the USA intend to give back all the property of the British Crown that they stole after the War of Independence?

Oh, wait, I forgot. It's different for Americans. Americans are special, and the world should do as they say, not as they do.

Re:Cuba?

[ultranova]

So, when does the USA intend to give back all the property of the British Crown that they stole after the War of Independence?

As soon as Britain can take it by force, of course.

Oh, wait, I forgot. It's different for Americans. Americans are special, and the world should do as they say, not as they do.

Excatly. And the name of the difference is power. As long as the US is the strongest nation on Earth, it will keep on being the biggest bully as well. As soon as some other nation gets the power, they will become the bully as well.

Why does the US, or any other country for that matter, still keep on talking about right, justice, democracy, or any such thing in their rethoric is beyond my understanding. No one believes it. International policy is not about those things, never has been, and likely never will be, and that's hardly a secret. It is about power, the acquisition and defense of it, at any cost. Talking about "Axis of Evil" or other such nonsense simply adds a touch of hypocrisy to it, it does not make it any less filthy affair.

Re:Cuba?

[spun]

So America's gonna give Hawaii back to the Hawaiians, hmm? Because you know it was seized in a coup d'état. Oh wait, that's right. Things are different for America.

Re:Most countries are banned from WoW, too

[Trolan]

And when the guy contacted Blizzard informing them of his situation, they reinstated the account and credited him 4 days. There's nothing to see here, outside of an account being flagged due to location and registration IP address, all brought up, quite possibly by a guild split causing some people to be asshats and reporting him. No anti-military bias, just the usual issues which crop up when you have a massive customer base, and piles upon piles of complaints against people who threaten someone's e-peen, whether they're real or imagined.

Re:Isn't It Funny..

[vertinox]

True, but the Iranian government represents the population of Iran that would like to see the U.S. destroyed. Thats scary.

Not really. When you compare it to other things, you are more likley to die in a car accident or slipping in your shower.

Chances are Iran would never be able to nuke us. I'd be more concerned if we attacked Iran and then Russia and China decided to declare war on us for no good reason.

They have ICBM's that can hit every city in the US. Iran can barley hit Europe.