Blizzard & GLBT Friendly Guild Recruitment; Throwing A Baby Out With The Bath Water?

[Alihja]

“I've got big soulful eyes, long eyelashes, and a wet tongue. What more could a guy want?” That’s what my female Tauren says on occasion when I type the /flirt emote. Meanwhile, my male Tauren says that he offers "free rides for the ladies." I guess the developers have coded our characters to be heterosexual. Not that I ever cared. Who cares about sexual preferences? Apparently, everyone cares, even though they might like to pretend that they don't.

Oh look, it's a can of worms (which is something like the Diet of Worms, except that nobody but Blizzard gets to eat any) lets open it!

In the virtual world of Azeroth, these very adult sexually themed emotes are the source of a lot of fun for many people. And in the same virtual world, words like “faggot” --or any number of creative misspellings of it-- are plastered throughout general chat courtesy of my fellow server mates. We know that these words are commonly used, even though they are a violation of Blizzard's terms of use. So, does making a "GLBT friendly" (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered Friendly) guild, also put a gamer in violation under the same rule? Sara Andrews, a player on World of Warcraft's Shadow Moon server made such a guild, and Blizzard issued a warning to her after she began recruiting players in a public channel.

Exactly how the terms of use have been violated is still unclear. Her recruitment attempt was quickly was followed by an e-mail from Blizzard, to notify her that recruitment of a GLBT Friendly guild, was a violation of terms of use, - Sexual Orientation. Here is a link to Blizzard’s policy on this matter, which reads as follows:

Sexual Orientation

This category includes both clear and masked language and/or links to websites containing such language or images which:

• Insultingly refer to any aspect of sexual orientation pertaining to themselves or other players

If a player is found to have participated in such actions, he/she will:

• Be temporarily suspended from the forums
• Be given a final warning, any further TOU violations will result in permanent suspension from the forums and a temporary ban from World of Warcraft

As of this date, there is no language which includes anything about recruiting for a GLBT Friendly guild. I bet you’re wondering what the insulting phrase was to incite such a warning, right? Well, here it is. Cover your eyes, mom, lest our fragile psyches wilt from this very insulting phrase, which I am about to share with you. Here it comes, brace yourself for the scary insult..

1/12/2006 8:50 (GMT) Shimmre General - Stormwind City
"OZ is recruiting all levels, but especially 50-60s! We are working on our
Onyxia Chains and will be doing UBRS and hopefully Onyxia soon! We are not
"glbt only", but we are "glbt friendly"! http://guilduniverse.com/oz

This is what set off a chain of emails back and forth between Blizzard and Sara. Even though Sara tried to explain to Blizzard that her intent was not to insult anyone, Blizzard notified her that she still was not allowed to recruit for a GLBT guild in public channels. We have a copy of the emails, and you can read them here!

After news of Sara's story began to circulate, Blizzard eventually made this post to their forums over the weekend.

	Relax, we're here to provide a positive environment for you.. now hush little baby, don't say a word.

Apologies for the length of time it took to get this information out to you. We encourage community building among our players with others of similar interests, and we understand that guilds are one of the primary ways to forge these communities. However, topics related to sensitive real-world subjects -- such as religious, sexual, or political preference, for example -- have had a tendency to result in communication between players that often breaks down into harassment. To promote a positive game environment for everyone and help prevent such harassment from taking place as best we can, we prohibit mention of topics related to sensitive real-world subjects in open chat within the game, and we do our best to take action whenever we see such topics being broadcast. This includes openly advertising a guild friendly to players based on a particular political, sexual, or religious preference, to list a few examples. For guilds that wish to use such topics as part of their recruiting efforts, our Guild Recruitment forum, located at our community Web site, serves as one open avenue for doing so. We will be clarifying some of the language in our game policies in order to help avoid such confusion in the future.


After reading the article over at In Newsweekly, and after seeing her post in my World of Warcraft discussion group, I caught up with Sara in emails. I had some nerdy questions of my own to ask.

I wanted to know if there had been any word from Blizzard since the e-mail volleying on the 15th and 16th, or since their post in their forums over this past weekend.



Sara told me that she had received no reply personally from Blizzard. “As to their reply on the forums, I find it a poor attempt to justify their actions. In the game, a tauren can emote and speak aloud, "Homogenized? No way! I prefer the ladies!" That's only one of many sexual references in the game. So for them to say that they wish to keep such things out of the game is utterly ridiculous. . . and possibly discrimination. It's ok for them to have a comment like that, yet not ok for us to advertise for a glbt friendly guild? Unacceptable!”

When asked if Blizzard had made any attempts to disband her guild, Sara told me that they had not made any attempt to do so. “Apparently, it's ok to have the guild, just so long as I don't let people in general know that we are glbt friendly. HOWEVER, we can mention that on THEIR forums? I don't understand the difference. I believe they're trying their best to cover the poor move made by their GMs. . . and it's only making them look worse.” I can see her point.


I also asked about what was to become of, OZ, her guild.

“My guild is in the hands of the members as of now. I will not be renewing my account at this time. I have not disbanded the guild, however a guild without a guild leader probably won't last long. This saddens me because of all of the hard work I've put into that guild, but I simply cannot support a game which stands by this behavior. I really do wish that I could pass the guild down to someone to look after it for me, but the guild isn't quite an endgame guild yet. I was working hard to get it there, but it's not there yet. Turning a guild like ours into an endgame guild is very difficult, and I don't think there is anyone in guild that would want that kind of responsibility, unfortunately. So, OZ will probably be a thing of the past before too long.

So there we have it. Or at least, a part of it. We look forward to hearing Blizzard’s official (and more clear) response on this issue, some time in the future.

I would like to say one thing, before we part ways. Blizard's argument that sexual orientation and other real-world subjects shouldn't exist in any public discussion just doesn't pan out. The reason why it doesn't pan out, is because the audio files in their game already address it. Shouldn’t people be allowed to promote their guild in the public channels, regardless of whether or not they are “homogenized”?

[Stegmite]

Does anybody else think that their PR people work in the support area? The release is the same response to the emails she had been receiving. I don't care how this comes out in the end because it's not my server, but come on, how much "support" does Blizz get a day that justifies these souless responses.

[Alihja]

Originally Posted by Stegmite

Does anybody else think that their PR people work in the support area? The release is the same response to the emails she had been receiving. I don't care how this comes out in the end because it's not my server, but come on, how much "support" does Blizz get a day that justifies these souless responses.

Greetings, Stegmite,

Thank you for the follow up post to this story. (twitch-twitch) Yup, I noticed that too. (twitch) Thank you for reading and posting at NotAddicted.com.

( )

[Itdano]

Still bears asking... wtf is "GLBT"?

[Runned]

Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered (or transexual, I get the two confused)

[Itdano]

Cool. We get acronyms for everything now!

[Lars]

Great article, Ali. Very well done.

"Homogenized? No way! I prefer the ladies!"

Case closed. The hypocrisy is ridiculous. I think it is pretty plain that instead of reversing what was a bad decision by a GM, Blizzard is trying to backpedal... but not so much that they actually admit they were wrong.

[Alynia Wildpetal]

Originally Posted by Stegmite

Does anybody else think that their PR people work in the support area? The release is the same response to the emails she had been receiving. I don't care how this comes out in the end because it's not my server, but come on, how much "support" does Blizz get a day that justifies these souless responses.

When reading the link to the e-mail chain, I swore Blizz's responses were actually the same e-mail being re-sent over and over again.

Reminds me of the hologram messages from I, Robot:

"I'm sorry but my responses are limited. You will have to ask the right questions."

And yeah, I believe Blizz has already well pointed out their hypocrisies in the "Off to the Racists" article as well.

Ironically, I didn't even know what GLBT meant until I first heard about this incident.


While I wish no harm to gays or "transgenders", .............. ahh shit, I dunno, its a touchy subject.

I see your point Snuggly. If your gunna bring heterosexual humor into the mix then in the interest of equality how can you leave out everyone else. But at the same time homosexuals and "others" will always be in the minority just because of their limited numbers due to nature.

The whole "sex craze" thing just gets old. Can't we do anything without sex being part of it?

Its a video game with cows and elfs, can't we just leave the sex out of it all together?

Frankly though, if your picking your friends, or people you choose to associate with based on yours or their sexual orientation, you got problems either way.

The point is that if I hang out with a guy in a video game, I don't care if he is gay or straight or transgender or partially gendered or nongendered, just shut the hell up about all the sexual orientation crap.

I like to pick my nose from time to time, but you don't see me starting a guild thats "friendly to people who pick their noses". Its just kind of assumed that you picking your nose isn't really relevant to the mechanics of playing the video game, just like being transgender or gay or half gendered or whole gendered or a bit curvy in your sexual orientation has no real corelation to you playing a video game.

What this all boils down to (in my opinion only) is people trying to feel accepted.

Everyone wants to feel all warm and fuzzy about everything they do these days. No one can just do their stuff and keep their mouth shut about it anymore. Everyone has to shout from the rooftops about their behavior and scream to the masses "I don't feel loved so i'm going to whine until you love me."

If it doesn't settle down im gunna go to that server and start a guild that is "friendly to people who pick their boogers" and we will FIGHT all the way to the supreme court if we have to to have our plight heard and accepted if Blizzard stands in our way!

What we need is a good pandemic, or great depression again. Things like that are good for getting peoples minds off trivial shit like this. "Wow, i'm probably gunna die in 3 weeks from this bird flu thats infected 150,000 people in my area. I guess being in a GLBT guild on WoW doesn't really matter all that much anymore."

I dunno, I wanna think gays are fruit cakes, but I can't really say that since i'm not one, so I really have no basis to judge. Tough call one way or the other. Definitely a sticky situation though.

Oh yeah, last post was me, Vern

(no edit feature FTL (sorry Fry, know you hate that term))

FTL&GLBT friendly!

[Alihja]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The whole "sex craze" thing just gets old. Can't we do anything without sex being part of it?

Its a video game with cows and elfs, can't we just leave the sex out of it all together?

If you have ever spoken about your dating life or conquests on a guild message board or in guild chat, then your argument that people should leave sex and their lives out of the game, is not really how you feel, because your past actions speak differently. So, you might want to rethink that argument.

People talk about sex, they think about sex. The innuendos are programmed into the game. Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex! There isn't anything wrong with that.

I bet if you wanted to make a guild that is friendly to booger pickers, you could. Guilds are for like-minded individuals. There are women only guilds, Christian guilds, muslim guilds, guilds for fans of a comic or website, for people who jack off to anime, or any type of religion, hobby, culture, or sub-culture that you can imagine. If it's not against their rules, I don't see any problem with it.

[Uncle Morgy]

I'd say he has a point... if the gulid was started on a Role-Play prefered server.

And even then, who is to say that those elfs and cows aren't bi?

I mean, we've all seen two Kerran chicks get it on in Luclin.

Uhh... Haven't we?

Sure, it's all about being accepted, but they aren't pushing it down your throat. I'll bet you wouldn't have heard of this if you hadn't read about it here. What they're doing is really quite harmless. And these people who argue about the "hidden gay agenda", or complain that they don't want to see them recruiting because it's an affront to their conservative sensibilities, might as well ask for everything else to be censored, too.

I mean, I never, ever, once sent in a petition when I saw the recruiting messages for the christian guilds and I was a pagan. Maybe, with your people's reactions, I should have. Ban those christ-loving freaks! =P

Well, I can see the point behind it really I can. Personally I'd probably see the text cross the screen think for a second and laugh, maybe tell a quick joke about it on Voice. but more-or-less because it's a bit on the taboo side to brodcast something of that nature. But the reality of it is that, i wouldnt refuse to group with these players and or critisize them, for who they are. And we all know guilds are based on (to some point) a comfortable enviroment, I'm not any classification that falls under GLBT but I really wouldnt want insults flying across my screen towards them either, It's not anyones place to judge these people reguardless if you agree with it or not. According to the text, by saying that they are GLBT friendy wouldve been similar to to any guild who somewhere in their charter is says don't insult officers....It's the same principal. I think that they have every right to Broadcast that in the open as much as they want, as long as they aren't forcing their oppinions upon anyone...i think it should be that for for all instances....if were a die hard republican for instance, and i didn't like the ideals of demo's there should be no problem with me starting a guild who is republican friendly....im not encourageing anyone who doesnt already feel/think the way i do to come.

/crymore

Everyone always trys to get into everything , gay , bi , lemmon , trans Who gives a fuck , calling girls dude no one cares.

Just play the game and stop crying.

Uni,

I had to do it....

If I start a "heterosexual friendly" guild, is this bigotry?

[Unregistard]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If I start a "heterosexual friendly" guild, is this bigotry?

dunno... how friendly do we have to be with these alleged "heterosexuals"???

Originally Posted by Alihja

If you have ever spoken about your dating life or conquests on a guild message board or in guild chat, then your argument that people should leave sex and their lives out of the game, is not really how you feel, because your past actions speak differently. So, you might want to rethink that argument.

People talk about sex, they think about sex. The innuendos are programmed into the game. Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex! There isn't anything wrong with that.

I bet if you wanted to make a guild that is friendly to booger pickers, you could. Guilds are for like-minded individuals. There are women only guilds, Christian guilds, muslim guilds, guilds for fans of a comic or website, for people who jack off to anime, or any type of religion, hobby, culture, or sub-culture that you can imagine. If it's not against their rules, I don't see any problem with it.

I can kind of see your point. Theres times when personal life spills over into guild chat BUT by and large the guilds that I have been in actually forbid any kind of sexual, political, religeous or otherwise controversial subject matter. It only makes sense; debating about these things is usually a social faux paus in rl as their is no amount of reasoning that will convince a catholic that he should be jewish or atheist etc.

Now having a guild that is strictly for or friendly to glbt might cause members of that guild to be harrassed, which in turn could turn into a legal dillemna for Blizz. Example: glbt member: "LFG MC attunement"....random player: "LOLZ dont invite glbt member, hes gay LOLZ." or glbt member gets invited to a pug and immediately gets kicked out once leader sees g tag....glbt member now opens a gm ticket for harrassment or discrimination w/e (see where I'm going?).

Blizz doesnt want to have to deal with this kind of thing all the time. About taurens and their heterosexual comments all i can say is that its a hetero world :/ there's no controversy regarding heterosexuality.

[Thrack]

Originally Posted by Alihja

If you have ever spoken about your dating life or conquests on a guild message board or in guild chat, then your argument that people should leave sex and their lives out of the game, is not really how you feel, because your past actions speak differently. So, you might want to rethink that argument.

People talk about sex, they think about sex. The innuendos are programmed into the game. Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex! There isn't anything wrong with that.

I bet if you wanted to make a guild that is friendly to booger pickers, you could. Guilds are for like-minded individuals. There are women only guilds, Christian guilds, muslim guilds, guilds for fans of a comic or website, for people who jack off to anime, or any type of religion, hobby, culture, or sub-culture that you can imagine. If it's not against their rules, I don't see any problem with it.

I just wanted to touch on this topic. I just spent a great deal of my night reading through many forums discussing this "dilema" ... and because of the sleep deprivation, I am going to keep this short.

People want to be in a guild that they are comfortable in. They want to be in a guild that they'll have fun in, and share some common interests with people in. Every single MMORPG I have played (the list includes many) ... 95% of the fun I had, was due to the social interaction I had with people. In our society, heterosexuals have a lifestyle that differs from the GLBS lifestyle. Wouldn't you want to surround yourself with people that have similar interests as you in ALL walks of life (along with some different tastes to keep things interesting, and keep your mind open)... including gaming?


Too sleepy to write much more ... but that's just my two cents on the whole shin-dig.

-Thrack

[Catriona]

Personally, I think Blizzard's excuse for their actions was weak. You don't punish the victim to prevent the crime, so they shouldn't be giving Sara problems b/c they are worried about her guild being harassed by other players. Absolutely ridiculous.

Jeez, get a friggin life, all of you.

Originally Posted by Unregistard

dunno... how friendly do we have to be with these alleged "heterosexuals"???

ROFLMAO!!!!!!! Now THAT....that was good. =D


Incidentallly, I'm a bisexual female. I've been married twice (to men...13 years of marriage), and now I'm partnered with a female (we've been together 4 years). And you know what.....NONE OF THAT has jack shiiite to do with playing WoW.

I enjoy playing the game with most everyone, straight, gay, bi, transgendered, castrated, I don't care....young, old, everything in between. I don't see how any part of anyone's personal life has anything to do with whether I would enjoy playing the game with them. Unless....in their personal life they are a total asshat. Then...I'll pass.

Well, I know I'm coming into the game late, but there is at least one major GLBT Guild, Stonewall Champions, on Proudmoore. I'm a member of the guild, and I've had nothing but pleasant experiences. However, our sister guild on the Horde side, is The Spreading Taint, and they've had quite a few issues with their name, for having a sexually suggestive name. Which is ironic, since the phrase "spreading taint" is used quite often in the lore, when describing the Undead. My guess is that most of their trouble is from uptight people reporting the name, and a bad GM<there are quite a few of them> making a bad call.....


But if you're looking for a fun, GLBT guild, check out the Stonewall Champions on Proudmoore, http://stonewallchampions.org. It was well worth the transfer.

[Khatib]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

And you know what.....NONE OF THAT has jack shiiite to do with playing WoW.

Wait... you're a Muslim?

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