Blizzard finally steps up with zero tolerance on offensive names.
To ensure all participants in the Arena Tournament have the best experience possible, there will be a zero-tolerance policy for any inappropriate character or Arena team names created on the Arena Tournament realm.
Characters with inappropriate names will be deleted. This means that you will need to customize another template from scratch and re-earn all personal and hidden ratings. Keep in mind that in a later phase of the Arena Tournament team rosters will be locked down. If your character is deleted during this time, no exceptions will be made and your team will need to use whoever is left on that roster in order to continue competing.
Arena teams with names deemed inappropriate will be dissolved. This means that you will need to create another charter for your team and climb back up from a rating of zero.
Please think twice before naming your characters and Arena teams!
Thank you Blizzard. An awful lot of crap names slip through the net on normal realms. I’m glad to see a zero-tolerance policy on the Arena Tournament.
I am unbelievably lucky. I’m in a very gender-balanced guild. While jokes may be lewd, they’re not homophobic, racist or sexist. If a bloke does make a sexist joke, he generally knows better and is just trying to tweak the nose of one of our female guildies. I have never EVER seen anyone assume that a bad player was a girl, or assume that because someone was a woman, that they would be a bad player.
Maybe I’m just more cynical these days, or maybe I’m getting angry in my ‘old’ age. I find my tolerance for certain types of jokes growing gradually smaller, and I’m less likely to let them slide. Perhaps it is because I’m not as afraid of being seen as ‘overly PC’, or a ‘harpy’ or anyone of a number of insults used against people who object to -ist slurs and language. ‘PC gone nuts’ is a regular phrase, whipped out whenever someone gets called on their ableism or sexism (or any other -ism). Derailing for Dummies covers many of the not so great arguments used. Linguistic Reform seems like an impossible task. How do you stop every teenage boy in the world using ‘gay’ to mean something is bad? You can’t, but that doesn’t mean you can’t point out the problems inherent with using words like gypped, lame, or retarded.
Quoting the dictionary origins of words and citing their historical use doesn’t really change the fact that such words are problematic. Maybe your gay friend isn’t offended, but others certainly will be. Straight people who accept homosexuality as a normal part of humanity will find the use of ‘gay’ as a slur distasteful and offensive. As someone with mental health issues, a lot of everyday language that has it’s roots in mental disability or illness doesn’t ‘offend me’, but becoming more aware of how problematic some words are reminds me of the stigma that is still attached to mental illness, and disabilities in general. (Please note that I am not saying that someone using the word retarded is being malicious towards those with mental retardation, or that someone saying their hip is giving them gyp is intentionally being racist.)
Now this is not to say that you need to spend your life watching how you speak. A lot of people wouldn’t care even if you did. But a ‘sense of humour’ is not the same for everyone. We don’t all find the same things funny; or if we do it is because we recognise that the joke highlights something particularly dark and uncomfortable.
‘Sapped Girls Don’t Say No’ is not funny. Jokes that trivialise or glamorise rape are not funny. Jokes that target the raper, rather than the raped, and make them an object of derision? I can see the humour in that.
It is very easy to be defensive and dismissive about -ist use of language. Especially if you personally feel you are something of an enlightened, tolerant, intelligent individual who would never dream of discriminating against anyone, or putting those. Any insult is grounded in something ‘bad’ or ‘other’ – body shame, internalised sexism, fear of being not-normal, so asking someone to find a substitute for every ‘bad’ word is impossible. Even non-slur phrases have a certain amount of ableism in them (“I hear you” and “I see”, seemingly innocuous to those of us with our hearing and vision intact. No, again, not asking you to drop those phrases from your vocabulary.)
Something of a ramble again! Back to the topic – the arena zero tolerance policy. The response on the forums so far has been low key – predictably with some people going THANK GOD BLIZZARD and others going TAKE A CHILL PILL DON’T GET OFFENDED. Yay for dismissiveness.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Angelya and Janice Riper, The 'mental Shaman. The 'mental Shaman said: New Blog Post: Some jokes just aren't funny: http://bit.ly/9BEvnS #blizzard #feminism #arena [...]
* thumbs up *
As a gay gamer, having to “deal with” the immaturity of some of the player base (unfortunately) has just become the status quo. Trade chat is littered with “Fag! Fgt! Gay… etc”— while I highly doubt many of these people would have the audacity to say some of the shit they do in real life, the anonymity the internet provides them “allows them” to. I love how you touch upon the whole “well I have gay friends! So I’m not being homophobic!” As if that gives them licence to not be culpable for their actions.
While, it doesnt bother me per say– it doesn’t mean that its “ok”.
Kudos to Blizzard, and nice write up, sir. /applaud.
Yeah. One of the things that frustrated me about the recent Girl Gamers Panel at PAX was the implication that anyone who might be offended by oppressive comments (be they female gaming professionals or otherwise) should learn to suck it up in a predominately male environment. The attitude is that these bigoted turns of phrase are so ingrained in our culture, that it is pointless to try and fight such things. It really frustrates me.
And thank you for taking the time to comment even after all the messing around with the theme
Heh…. I just realized I called you “sir”. Just as a reflex.
Pardon me, madam!
As both a female and bisexual gamer, and friend to several transgendered people, the use of the word “gay” for everything and anything negative always bothers me – it’s a ticket to instantly losing your healer if you use it while pugging with me. But I do realize that it’s the slang now and try not to let it bother me too much.
What does always bother me a great deal is the use of the word rape, the joking about rape as if it’s the proper thing for a boy to do to prove his masculinity, etc. That is something that should never be funny and displays a great deal of disrespect for humanity in general. Rape is not funny, and never should be funny.
Just because something is slang, that doesn’t mean it is right. While I don’t tend to comment on people using ‘lame or retarded’ in every day language, I will make my disapproval of ‘gay’ as slang very clear. Although in my experience it tends to be very laddish lads and teenagers that use it, rather than adults with any sense.
I think I first started to object to things like DIAF and rape in a gaming sense only about a year ago, and am now embarassed that I didn’t see how bad WISHING DEATH on someone or comparing a digital defeat to sexual assault really is.
Haha, no worries. Gendered greetings/honorifics are such loaded things anyways
Nice post
I tend to take a nuetral approach to most things like this. As a female competitive gamer for over 15 years, & a mechanical engineer, I’m used to being ‘in the boys club’. My family also owns most of the car salvage yards around Chicago, so to say I grew up around harsh & crude language is an understatement.
Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I’m full of shocking things to say ( I’m sure that’s why you don’t follow me
) – the sexist jokes Derevka throws at me and the gay jokes I throw at him could be misinterpreted by many. Obviously I really don’t buy into that line of thinking – there’s a huge differance in believing in stereotypes & laughing at them.
That being said, if I offend someone, they don’t have to follow me. In Wow, & things like Arena, you can’t exactly ignore it. You can’t refuse to play in a competition because the other team is offensive – and let’s face it: many of the names and talk from players in the game are not gentle kidding; they’re TRYING to be offensive & provoke people. And it’s that kind of behavior that is irking me lately.
Most who know me know I tend to find humor in anything & have a think skin. But I’m not an ideal representation of the general population. Even I’ve seen some things lately that make me cringe. Kudos to blizz for taking a step to address this.
I think I have the most fitting link for this subject. You probably recognize it instantly when you see it:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/
I think the ‘being one of the boys’ thing is a symptom of individual ‘survival’ in a male-dominated area. Sexist and Gay jokes between friends who know better is one thing (as I said, ‘sexist’ jokes get used to tweak my nose because my friends know me). However making sexist or gay jokes to strangers? Inappropriate. This plays into ideas of personal space and personal virtual space – a twitter, while public, is a personal expression and a mixture between personal and public space. Being shocking and crude is entirely possible without perpetuating the trivialisation of (for example) sexual abuse. There’s a big difference between jokes about sex, or the state of society, and then there are jokes about putting women in their place. I think there is a difference between the two.
I don’t follow you because I am forgetful and thought I already was following you. *wanders off to correct that oversight*
Haha, yes, it is an oft quoted one in these sorts of dicussions.
.-= Pewter´s last blog ..Some Jokes Just Aren’t Funny (a thank you to Blizzard) =-.
Very good post – quite thought-provoking!
I know I am guilty of throwing around the word “retarded” much more than I probably ought to. I try to catch myself but it certainly slips out more often than not before I’ve realized it.
I am glad to see Blizz taking a firmer stance on the issue. It’ll never be perfect, of course, but I think that hitting the arena/PvP subset like that will go a good distance to improving it.
.-= Alas´s last blog ..In which I am thoroughly neurotic =-.
internet anonymity+trade chat=ASSHATS.
too bad. it makes the normal people shake their heads and block trade.
I have to agree with Derekva. People who are “gay this” and “fag that” all over WoW are using the internet to “allow them” to express their inner bigot. I made a very similar, if ill-advised post, in my guild forums after joining a new guild that was more inclined to say offensive things than my last, and of course it didn’t go over well.
Apparently, ignorant and offensive people don’t like being told they are being ignorant and offensive. Which is all the more reason to tell them. Although we play in a virtual world, it’s never to early to learn how to be a better person, in game or out.
.-= Wugan´s last blog ..How to Wipe on the Lich King Encounter =-.
I’m glad that Blizz has implemented this policy. Many people think that it is “lame” of me, but I report names that are inappropriate. I even add you to my list so I can make sure that you didn’t cheat and “rename” yourself to your original name.
Making tasteless “jokes” about serious issues such as rape, or a sexuality/religion/etc. is NOT ok and not clever.
.-= Anea´s last blog ..Nature vs. Nurture =-.
I have nothing to say except: YES. Beautifully articulated and thought-provoking.
I wish I was better at watching my language, I really do.
I don’t think anyone can be 100% perfect 100% of the time. At least you get the problem, which is more than so many people in the game
Small steps!
.-= Pewter´s last blog ..Some Jokes Just Aren’t Funny (a thank you to Blizzard) =-.
Hear, hear! I’m 100% behind you on this one- it’s only surprising it took so long. And thanks for the link!
.-= Disciplinary Action´s last blog ..Eleventh Hour Challenge: Update =-.
You know what? I wish they would do this ACROSS THE BOARD. If they threatened (and followed through with) the deletion of characters, regardless of level, on the grounds of inappropriate I’m sure I would see less “Ballgayzer” and “Irontitz” and such. Alas, we could only be so lucky.
JD Kenada´s last [type] ..I Like Warriors!