Arthas and the helm of domination was done dirty. I will forever hate blizzard for that.
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That is 100% true that helmet got turned into an absolute piece of trash.
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I choose to spend my time on the Auction House and Professions. Has no bearing whether I have friends, I’m simply making loads of gold to spend on what I want. It’s just my play style.
Really hope you guys know what you’re doing with this and that there are human eyes reviewing something every single time an actual action is taken against an account.
This community is notorious for abuse of automated systems. I’ve been in several battleground premades where the leader calls out in discord to mass report AFK to remove people for whatever inappropriate reason (such as taking the buff in Ashran). Then you have vote kick abuse in dungeons. Definitely concerned about abuse in Mythic+ content. I’ve been ripped into a handful of times for a screwup. The other day my phone went off during 3rd boss of Sanguine Depths, during swirly phase. It startled me, and I was hit and dead before getting focus back on. The complaining sucks, but that’s what ignore is for if you really need it. Add a suspension because four people reported you for a screwup is much worse.
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Does your level 1 alt parked in stormwind broadcast carry ads in trade chat 24/7? No? Then not a problem.
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There haven’t been any changes to reporting aside from a slightly redesigned UI or the rules.
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You havent interacted with many humans have you?
Please point out the rules from 2004 then let us graph the differences between them and what is being proposed.
What is being proposed is not just racial slurs or calling someone names, but like all “social contracts” if someone overhears or believes they find something offensive, OH OFFENSIVE button… Seriously, will blizzard investigate every instance of the button, or will they just let an AI or programming feature just kick the person reported? I have a feeling it will be just kicking the person, which will lead to someone buying up a few accounts to multibox and ban other users for everything from Not getting the loot drop they wanted to a disagreement about literally anything. Though you can try to defend the gross, political BS (hey as of 9.2.5 <— BS is bannable, though in my case I am using it for the world BLACKSMITH… wait, that’s not good either… Okay, Burning Stinky, is Burning stinky okay?) Really, it’s one thing to play the game and put someone on ignore for being a jerk (is that bannable too; I mean after all I used a noun to call someone a contemptibly obnoxious person) It’s a whole other issue to allow political drama to permeate a game and that after reading this patch is just that. It’s some useless marketing team (Is that bannable, after all, I am equating their actions as having absolutely ZERO VALUE as a consumer of this service), their product managers, and their programming staff all of whom are adding this “useless” feature. What’s next, Removing all the Gun graphics from the game so We do not offend anyone who dislikes guns? Then after that, We can remove clubs, baseball bats, anything the color green, horses (they smell funny and offend funny-smelling cows), and then the gender button, I mean after all Why limit the game to just two genders since we are all on the useless political drama wagon, I should be able to just add all 2 trillion genders. Gnomes and dwarves need to be made to look like everyone else, as their vertical challenged size is offensive to someone, somewhere at some point. Oh and the Tauren, they need to adopt a modern working area union lifestyle and blizzard needs to apologize to every American Indian group on the planet as the use of tee-pees is offensive to those who may have ever seen a tee-pee. Then the beer manufacturing association, should get an apology as well, and the Scottish, as not all Scottish folks are short, like archeology or have beards. Oh let’s not forget the Trolls, using Haitian culture like that, Let’s remove them too and replace them with something not too offensive, like squeaky toys. Then there is the whole gross display of fantasy western culture raging from 14th century Europe, that too could be offensive to someone who likes Star Wars, so replace all that with the Death Star. After all, it’s just the same rules, so we don’t offend people.
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This
They are attempting to force players to read the rules that already exist, and are trying to make it easier for GMs to sort player reports.
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This is just a dust in the eyes. This solves nothing and will just make people angry. Those “fragile” players with over expanded ego will trigger themselves at everything they don’t like, report everyone they disagree with for “abuse” and then GM will ban those players who just DIFFERENT with social online gaming than these “Fragile” players. And it will bring only more anger. Cause people who enjoy power over other people won’t stop. They will trigger themselves over littlest edgy jokes and report those. Twitter/Netflix/Facebook already proves this thousand of times.
I understand everyone and everything. And that’s why I telling you this won’t help. Your game is already filled with mushy feeble playerbase who ruin fun of others by whining at literally anything they deem to “offensive”, “abusive” or “inappropriate”. And they will use only a cherry pick instances of cases like that “wifeabuser” name of a character. But they won’t tell you how they reported someone for “pepelefrog” name or reported a tank who got frustrated by inability of other people to understand mechanics, used a F-bomb and left. I see a lot of such cases where people talking about “you can’t say that” or “you can’t do that”.
With my rogue LOVE to make pranks on other players with all pack of abilities game gives me. And I understand how frustrating this is for other people cause I feel frustration and anger when I’m getting pranked like this as well (which eventually changes into laugh for my stupidity that I got pranked like this). But I don’t want this game to become a kindergarten safespace. This is MMO WAR-craft game not a “single RPG safe crafted sanctuary where I can feel like at home” game.
People who demand this nonsense is the worst to play with. Stop whine. Learn to be stronger. Report ONLY the exact toxicity which is destructive. Stop reacting to edginess of other people. And let them b, accept them as they are, show that you are better and only that will change them, not the constant proving that they are right.
Original User Manual from 2004 https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/template_resource/LO0VQ46XB1281555957773363.pdf - which has the EULA at the end. It points to the requirements for accepting Terms of Use with the website for it. I selected the first archived Wayback Machine TOU for WoW from 2004. I have copied out the relevant sections for you. Yes, it included hateful names and speech.
https://web.archive.org/web/20041217101250/http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.shtml
- World of Warcraft Rules of Conduct.
As with all things, World of Warcraft is governed by certain rules of conduct that must be adhered to by all users of World of Warcraft. It is your responsibility to know, understand and abide by these rules of conduct. The following rules are not meant to be “exhaustive,” and Blizzard Entertainment reserves the right to determine what conduct it considers to be outside the spirit of the game and to take such disciplinary measures as it sees fit. Blizzard Entertainment reserves the right to add to or amend this list of rules at any time, and you are responsible for checking these Terms of Use for any newly amended or posted rules each time that you log on.
A. Rules Related to User Names.
Each user will select a user name for his or her character, or allow the World of Warcraft software to select the name for him or her. Additionally, users may form “guilds” and such guilds will be required to choose a name for the guild. When you choose a user name, create a guild, or otherwise create a label that can be seen by other players of World of Warcraft, you must abide by the following guidelines as well as the rules of common decency. If Blizzard Entertainment, in its sole discretion, finds such a label to be offensive, it reserves the right to change the name, remove the label and corresponding chat room, and/or suspend your use of World of Warcraft.
In particular, you may not use:
Names of another person with the intent to impersonate that person;
Names which incorporate ‘swear’ words or which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
Names subject to the rights of any other person without authorization;
Names of popular culture or media personalities;
Names that are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment or other companies);
Names of religious deities or figures;
Names of characters from Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft products, including character names from the Warcraft series of novels; or
Names related to drugs, narcotics, or criminal activity, including references to drug substances; or
Name comprised of partial or complete sentences (e.g., “Inyourface”, “Welovebeef”, etc);
Names comprised of pure gibberish (eg, “Asdfasdf”, “Jjxccm”, “Hvlldrm”);
Names that refer to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. “Britneyspears”, “Austinpowers”, “Batman”)
Names that utilize “Leet” or “Dudespeak” (e.g., “Roflcopter”, “xxnewbxx”, “Roxxoryou”)
Name that incorporate titles. The term “Titles” as used herein shall include ‘rank’ titles (e.g. , “CorporalTed,” or “GeneralVlad”) and/or fantasy titles (e.g., “KingMike”, “LordSanchez”)
Additionally, you may not use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the name restrictions listed above, nor can you have a “first” and “last” name that, when combined, violate the above name restrictions.
B. Rules Related to “Chat” and Interaction With Other Users.
Communicating with other Users and Blizzard Entertainment representatives is an integral part of World of Warcraft and is referred to in this document as “Chat.” Your Chats may be subject to review, modification, and deletion without notice by Blizzard Entertainment. Additionally, you hereby acknowledge that Blizzard Entertainment is under no obligation to monitor Chat and you engage in Chat at your own risk. When engaging in Chat in World of Warcraft, or otherwise utilizing World of Warcraft, you may not:
(i) Transmit or post sexually explicit images or other content or language which in the sole discretion of Blizzard Entertainment is deemed to be offensive; nor shall you transmit any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable content or language, nor may you use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the content and language restrictions listed above;
(ii) Carry out any action with a disruptive effect, such as cause the Chat screen to “scroll” faster than other users are able to type to it, including setting up macros with large amounts of text that, when used, can have a disruptive effect on the normal flow of Chat;
(iii) Disrupt the normal flow of dialogue in Chat or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users, individuals or entities, including, but not limited to, posting “Spam” messages on World of Warcraft (“Spam” messages as used in this document include, but are not limited to, any effort to use a computer or other electronic device to post an unauthorized and/or unsolicited advertisement to World of Warcraft);
(iv) “Spam” by posting or sending more than one unsolicited message or piece of mail to a single address or in a chat area;
(v) Communicate or post any user’s personal information in or on the World of Warcraft, or websites or forums related to World of Warcraft;
(vi) Use bots or other automated techniques to collect information or communicate or post any user’s personal information in or on World of Warcraft, or websites or forums related to World of Warcraft or Blizzard Entertainment
(vii) Harass, threaten, stalk, embarrass or cause distress, unwanted attention or discomfort to another user of World of Warcraft or other person or entity; or
(viii) Cheat during game play, including but not limited to modification of the game program files.
(ix) Participate in any action that, in the opinion of Blizzard Entertainment results in an authorized user of World of Warcraft being "scammed " or ‘defrauded’ out of gold, weapons, armor, or any other items that he/she has earned through authorized game play in World of Warcraft.
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why so then you can try and skirt the rules?
Right-click report already existed.
The reasons that Blizzard would take action against in-game communications remain the same.
Everything listed in the “Social Contract” was already against the rules, or are non-reportable suggestions for making everyone’s time in the game pleasant.
Clutch pearls more though, please. Sorry you can’t call people in your BG racial slurs when you’re losing, but you were never allowed to do that and people could always report you for it.
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What of the people who are not in favor of this contract? Are they not able to play?
What about those who have pre-paid for game time? Had they been prompted of the change prior, they may have chosen to not purchase game time.
Yes, the EULA and ToS state they can be updated at any time and without warning, but this is not the EULA or ToS. This is a new agreement being sprung seemingly out of no where. It grants no player agency in choosing. If they say no, they are just out of their money.
I know you moral warriors are saying “god, if you can’t be a decent human than you don’t deserve to play. Just quit.” However, this is not about morals, values, or ethics. This is a legal matter. And needs to be addressed.
I see no documentation on this reviewing my rights as a customer.
If I had paid for a 6-month sub and I’m only in 1 month, Blizzard has 5 months of unearned service revenue.
Adding a wall, a new term / contract, mid-obligation has legal ramifications. Companies do not have the legal ability to up and add such things. Not how that works. It’s not how GAAP or IFRS works.
This needs to be looked into.
My observations of the proponents of the contract are that they are displaying the same dismissive behaviors of those who already abuse the silence system.
Where in game, they mass-report to silence; here on the forum, they are using virtuous rhetoric, cherry picking, and character attacking / ad hominem to rid the discussion of any questions / opinions that opponents present.
This is not to mention the actual abuse of the report feature on the forum. People using it as a disagree button to silence.
Quite honestly, there are a lot of overly emotional players with an abysmal level of emotional intelligence and allow such feelings to steer their actions. As a result, we end up with abuse.
If you think your party’s chat is quiet now. 
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Anyone else here remember that game Hearthstone? The character Uther Lightbringer?
What was it he said? Oh wait… I remember. JUSTICE DEMANDS RETRIBUTION!
(for those of you who never played the game, here’s an amusing video)
So, for those who simply don’t get it, this “social contract” is purely about enabling that Retribution. Which begs the question: For What?
What is it that anyone can do in the game that is so evil, so vile, so disgusting and offensive that it merits people at Blizzard taking time out of their day to retaliate against a paying customer? And that’s how this SHOULD BE FRAMED. That’s what we are. CUSTOMERS. Not unruly children being babysat by a corporation (though an argument could and doubtless will be made). Even if you’re paying for your sub in gold-purchased tokens, you’re still putting money in Blizzard’s pockets and still therefore a customer.
So Why This?
Why is it that in choosing between the “Carrot” and the “Stick” Blizzard invariably always chooses to beat people with the latter, and you have a handful of copium huffers who keep trying to convince the majority that “This is fine!”
No. It’s not fine. I don’t care if it’s another layer of legalese over an agreement that wouldn’t hold up in any court of law. I don’t care if the next Taliesin and Evitel video has Taliesin hyper-verbally talking about this and how people have opinions and “That’s Fine” but we’re all wrong and he’s right. I don’t care because it boils down to one thing: Blizzard leveraging my time investment in the game against how much they can annoy me.
Is that why we’re playing the game? To be annoyed? I thought it was to have fun?
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My question is this. Will there be measures put into place to prevent this system from being abused ? My worry is people getting friends or even entire guilds to mass report a player they personally don’t like or disagree with. Are there measures in place to prevent this?
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We’ve had Squelching for years, where you been? ALL Suspensions and Bans are manual. Anyone calling the Squelch a “ban” is being dishonest.
As a Squelched account, you can still play the game. Just can’t use public chat channels. And, if you must be suspended for your offensive language, it’ll be manually applied to you, by a GM which you can appeal.
First of all, that’s against the rules. Second of all, did you see this happen with the Squelch we’ve had for YEARS?
Ever since the Squelch was implemented, I stopped using Public Chat Channels and have been fine.
Quit being paranoid. These extra reporting categories is to help Blizz be more lazy when dealing with tickets.
No unless you do this:
Then, that’s what’ll get you in trouble, not you ignoring them. Don’t conflate the two.
You can be critical of Blizz without attacking others, along with it.
I flat out called Blizz lazy with this new report feature update. It’s so they can easily ignore tickets like naming policy and cater more to tickets about cheaters.
I’m not against removing a gender button, as long as we get a slider for it.
Yeah, that’s why I like a slider.
I do know someone who finds Taurens to be “racist”, and I do understand their PoV. I just disagree with it. See, I can still be cordial with people I disagree with.
All this slippery slope just because Blizz wants to be lazy when dealing with tickets. We’ve had the Squelch for YEARS.
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This “contract” is just a reminder of what the rules already are. This was never new.
If you’re against Blizz rules then yes, you cannot play.
These rules have always existed. Stop pretending like Blizz just made up new rules because they haven’t.
It was never OK to say offensive things, in the first place. It was never OK to spam players. It was never OK to have inappropriate character names. If you never understood that, sounds like a personal problem.
Doesn’t matter if it’s labeled EULA, ToS, CoC, etc. They’ve had these same rules since forever. It’s nothing new.
You’ve always been able to choose. It’s the same rules.
That’s how it works. It’s the same rules, I don’t understand what you’re upset about.
And, the rules have not changed. What’s the problem? You ain’t losing out on money unless you decide you no longer care to abide by the same rules, that have not changed.
Nothing has changed. You’re freaking out over nothing.
Again, nothing has changed. If you want to stop supporting Blizz, go sue, if you feel like it but literally nothing has changed. They just added extra categories, in their reporting of things that’s always been against the rules.
It’s not new.
Sue, if you must, but I’m telling you nothing has changed.
It doesn’t. This is Blizz’s way of being more lazy with ticket sorting.
EXACTLY! Now, you’re getting it. And, it’s the Squelch and isn’t going, anywhere. It’s the same Rules. Nothing has changed. The Squelch is still here and hasn’t gone, anywhere. This Social Contract means nothing. Especially since the abuse of Squelch hasn’t gone, anywhere and has been around, for a long time.
Squelch.
And, I ignore those people 'cause they’re not worth my time.
The report function here is useless. So, I just Mute threads IDC for.
They can try but are just wasting their reports. Threads may get 404’d and/or posts may be deleted, but they still have their posting rights. Some posts/threads even stay up and remain or even moved.
Many of my posts have been flagged but got unflagged 'cause I didn’t break any rules. And, I tend to put posters on ignore who are only interested in fighting. They’re not worth getting actioned over.
I said something similar, and my post got deleted, but I kept my posting rights. You can’t just attack people even if you don’t like them.
Haven’t been participating in Public Chat Channels since the Squelch. Nothing has changed.
Doesn’t mean anything. If you walk into a store, pay for your stuff and shoot a fellow a customer, the store has a right to trespass you because you’re a danger to their other paying customers despite you equally being a paying customer.
The business will lose out on other paying customers who don’t want to shop there because they’re afraid to be shot at. It’s only logical to rid of the one causing harm to your business practice.
Because it is fine. The rules have not changed.
Then stop playing lol You’re doing this to yourself. Freaking out over rules that haven’t changed.
I am having fun.
The only thing they can really do is punish report stackers of the same guild and/or account. Pissing off different people is not “abuse”.
Yes, but it’s poor.
Been happening with the Squelch.
This new report function is nothing. Blizz just wants to be lazy with ticket sorting.
You are incentivizing reporting people-I know it’s just a little pat on the back message but still what the pzhuck?
Maybe spend some time on making a fun game instead of b.s. safe spaces.
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