The personal interactions between players is not rated by the ESRB. It is governed by the policies Blizz has in place. The in-game code of conduct is pretty vague - but applies to all games regardless of rating. Same with the forums. The forum rules go into a lot of detail so are quite helpful for figuring out just what Blizz has issues with.
The very first thing on the list.
Racial / Ethnic
This category includes both clear and masked language and/or links to websites containing such language or images which:
Promote racial/ethnic hatred
Are recognized as a racial/ethnic slur
Allude to a symbol of racial/ethnic hatred
If you want to know how Blizz reps review language reports - the Forum Code of Conduct is a great starting place.
They do not spell it out. The social rules for games (human interactions) are not governed by the game rating. They are governed by the game company social policies. Those policies are the same across all Blizz games regardless of rating. Rather family friendly.
The game CoC is pretty vague. The Forum CoC follows the same rules as the games - but spells things out a bit which can help people avoid mistakes.
I wonât pretend Blizz is good at their documentation or making it clear - but that is exactly what they judge all player to player interactions by across all games and Blizz media. Forums, comments on articles, Bnet chat, etc.
You can try to rules lawyer if you want, or you can listen to me. Up to you. Not my account, not my penalties.
Just so long as you remember that while you can say what you want (initially), there may also be consequences for what you say or how you say it.
One of the parts of the application process was to provide examples of your contributions toward the community, be it content you created (streaming) or discussions (Discord, forum, etc.). As such, Blizzard has a fairly good idea of what the participants in the council will be like, and believe me, there are a good number of them that are critical of Blizzardâs development strategies more often than not. They have to remain civil in that discourse, but as long as they do, they can freely speak their minds.
The in-game code of conduct is virtually identical to the forum code of conduct. Certain things are viewed more granularly there than on the fora, but for all intents and purposes, if you canât do something legitimately on the fora, you canât do the same thing in-game either. Remember, all chat is logged. Even guild chat. Blizzard rarely touches guild issues though unless there is an especially egregious action taken against a player (real life threat, doxxing, targeted disruption of in-game activities as a form of retaliation). But everything you type and send when you hit Enter on your keyboard is logged.
You skirt the line, you takes your chances. You know this though and are just splitting hairs otherwise. Your own judgement, good or otherwise, will determine the outcome of any given situation. That said, neither Mirasol nor myself are judging you here. Thatâs for Blizzard to do if and when the need arises. Weâre just pointing out the systems players have to work with. Iâm slightly more animated about it than she is, but the gist is the same from both of us. Youâve got a brain. Itâs up to you to use it.
I have been counseled for offending and harrassing a person. Some we hear harassment, we go have been here. and it wasnât harassment.
I was discussing philosophy at work. stuff like existentialism. they were a devout bible type. who only reads the one book.
SoâŚnow I donât do that anymore. My boss was cool about it. As was I.
I was going dudeâŚyou probably didnât wake up this morning thinking youâd be informally counseling me on why I canât talk about Sartreâs or his wife Simoneâs work since it can be a form of religious harassment. I make it interesting, no?
He goes yepâŚmy manager friends get funny jokes to tell at the bar later. I getâŚwhatever the hell this was about.
This. I posted that I thought the warlock tier hood from SotFO was cool with its original design. Not once when I looked at it did I think of âthatâ group of people, especially seeing as how âtheyâ donât exist in this game. Then I got reported as a racist.
Watching all the people who come to CS and want to discuss their penalties. The Forum Support Agents have been explaining this stuff for years. They point out the in-game infractions that happen to match the Forum Code of Conduct. Their social policy is the same across the board. All games, all media.
That is why I suggest anyone who wants wants a more detail read the forum Code of Conduct. That is the one place they go into detail about what applies to all their games/media.
I just wish it was written, otherwise if someone asks I canât say âSure bro, look at this, hereâs Blizzard saying what the rule isâ. Wonât affect me as I donât talk in game so good luck to whoever has to deal with it.
Experience, as well as interactions with Blizzard via any alternative venues available to us (if there are any at the time). Blizzard doesnât ânannyâ the chat in their games (outside of Overwatch, where they do preemptively deal with abusive environments when possible), but will instead act upon reports of alleged incidents and take whatever action they deem appropriate in response to whatever they find actually occurred. I see F-bombs dropped all the time in chat, but it is highly unlikely most get actioned. Itâs almost always only when someone reports another player that logs are looked into. But it goes back to saying whatever you say and having to deal with the consequences later if what you said and/or did was inappropriate in terms of player conduct.
You would be wrong on that front. Remember, Blizzard is a private entity. They can remove you from their venues for any reason. Although this is literally splitting hairs, for the sake of argument, they could ban you for farting on an open mic if they wanted to. Unlike courts of law where laws are codified in writing, private entities have much more leeway when doling out infractions. And they donât have to necessarily be written to be binding either, especially when it is something that is a commonplace expectation in any public setting. Yes, that means you have to stay on your toes sometimes, but thatâs the nature of non-governmental entities.
