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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."
What does WoW have to do with World War II?
Embargoed countries like that also enjoy pirated games, books, music and movies from the US. Why is WOW so special or different?
I'm sorry, I don't see the point of this story. It's listed under politics, but there's no political angle here. But I'm sure people will use this story to bash the US, yet again. It's the MO of slashdot's editors nowadays: set the political bait, and watch the flamewar fly. This is what news for nerds has turned to?
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.
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:
But I kinda wouldn't like the Chinese players to vanish because their government cuts them off.
Whether Vivendi will bow to Chinese requests, should they decide to demand it? Certainly. But they will enforce it only when there's positive proof that a player is Chinese, and only when someone requests it, they certainly won't waste resources to hunt them down. After all, it's money for them when someone plays. Actually, I'd guess they'd appreciate such a demand. After all, it allows them to ban an account, knowing well that the customer will buy another one.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The same countries that call for the US's destruction or want to see Israel and the Jews wiped off the map have no problem enjoying the products, technology and entertainment of those countries.
I love seeing those Iranian students screaming "Death To America" yet dressed just like American teenagers, no doubt influenced by the American movies and television shows they pirated.
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.
but only if you play a ghost. Only they can launched nuclear weapons.
From http://vnboards.ign.com/wow_general_board/b19789/9 6506468/p1/?73
Just got banned today after playing WOW because I am not currently in North America. Apparently Blizzard does not care about those who are stationed abroad in the Armed Forces and working for them. I purchased WOW in the Post Exchange in Seoul Korea on the Yongsan Army Base there, which is considered by law, U.S. Soil. I installed the game and created my account using my U.S. Credit Card from Delaware. My billing address was an APO, AP address which stands for Armed Forces Pacific, Army Postal. After playing the game for 3 months I got an email stating this:
" Access to the World of Warcraft account BTOBEYONDER, and all World of Warcraft accounts associated with the payment information you have provided, has been permanently disabled. It is implicitly stated on the account creation page that: This account creation process is only available to customers in North America, New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore. As a result, the account(s) will no longer be accessible in any way and will not be reopened under any circumstances. Thank you for your time and understanding in this matter.
Regards,
Account Administration
Blizzard Entertainment "
Since when is Cuba harbouring terrorists? Or is 'Communism" part of terrorism now?
Whoo, signature!
DesireCampbell.com
Isnt WoW in the gaming Axis of Evil with SwG and Evercrack?
"But I'm sure people will use this story to bash the US, yet again. It's the MO of slashdot's editors nowadays: set the political bait, and watch the flamewar fly. This is what news for nerds has turned to?"*
OK. So why do you all keep falling for it? It's OK to criticize the editors, as long as you're willing to accept your part in it.
*"/." is what it is in part because the majority of the good posters have left for greener pastures.
And point out Blizzard is owned by Vivendi. And Vivendi is French.
Kinda wrong to use this tactic, so I won't endorse it. Just putting it out there.
I unsubscribed, myself. I'll vote with my dollars elsewhere.
"Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins
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
I bought Outrun Coast 2 Coast recently (great game), and in the license set-up screen for your character, you can pick your nationality. Ireland wasn't there, which wasn't a massive shock to me as there was only about 20 or so to choose from, but to my surprise there was.. North Korea! Are they having a laugh or what? I doubt there is even anyone WITH a PS2 in the whole country..
Strange!
I highly doubt alot of the troops have enough time to hack a military firewall, considering according to a guildmate who has occassionally been posting on our guilds' site, they only have about 30-45 minutes online tops at any given time and most of the keys on the keyboards are missing. Don't burn in troops...let them play when they can! The deserve the R&R.
Actually, I thought that the piece on avatar racism in Second Life that was linked to in the article was more interesting.
Just be sure to wear the gold uniform when you beam down -- you know what happens when you wear the red one.
You'd be amazed how many people play WoW, Counter-Strike, and a host of other network games in Iraq. The internet is such a big morale booster over there. Nearly every American base I've visited has free (govt. sponsored) Internet connections for troops that include web cams, microphones, and IMs. The pay Internet (AT&T Cyber Cafes) have everything else... pre-loaded games, cams, and access to many other things the govt. doesn't want to worry about. Everytime I went in there to download my e-mail (Yes! They had laptop cubes/ connections! ($5/hour)) there were no less than 5 people playing WoW.
For those people that lived/worked on Iraqi bases the Internet connections there were pretty much unmonitored/unfiltered and allowed everything through.
I also have to say I've seen Morale network drives too... When I was there last summer the music directory was 195gb and the movies and videos topped 300gb... this is on a NIPR military LAN too. I think the leadership looked the other way 'til the filesever blew up December. I don't know if it exists anymore.