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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBlizzard threatens players who plan "Gnome March" for Warriors
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 5th 2006 at 11:47AM
I always thought Blizzard was pretty easygoing about ingame player-driven events. I've myself participated in quite a few naked races around Azeroth, players continually line up and run raids on the major cities, and Blizzard even sorta condones twinking in the lower level BGs. That's why I was so surprised to see their attitude on this one.Myxilydian on Burning Blade-H is a Warrior who, like many, is concerned about changes to his class in the Burning Crusade. So, in a more creative form of whining about nerfs, he's posted in the Forums organizing a "Gnome March"-- he's asking Warriors unhappy with their class changes to create a level 1 Gnome warrior on Thunderlord, and at 4pm tomorrow (12/6), march from Ironforge to the gates of Stormwind in solidarity (he's inviting Shammies, too-- he says they should make a Dwarf Paladin for the march). I think it's a great idea, and a funny, creative way to voice his concerns.
Blizzard disagrees, however. Drokthul has closed the thread and posted that "anyone caught participating in this event or any event with the sole purpose of disrupting the game play for others will be punished." Wow. If you ask me, that's extremely harsh for a group of players planning to create 1st level Gnomes and run around together for a while. Guilds do that all the time-- is Blue planning on banning all of them too? Already, Myx (I believe it's Myx-- might be another Warrior supporting the cause) has been banned from the forums.
Now, comments in the Forum thread indicate that Myx may have posted this a few (100?) times before, and maybe in the wrong forums. I'm not going to defend that kind of behavior-- the Forums are crazy enough without spamming, even of stuff like this. But I don't think a level 1 Gnome ingame raid is the kind of play that "disrupts" anything-- it's a creative form of expression within the community (especially when the stated goal is not play disruption). And Blizzard is way wrong, in my (usually) humble opinion, to squelch it so draconically. As I said, usually they've landed on the side of player-driven events. Why they've changed their tune on this one, I'm not sure, but it's definitely not a change I agree with.
Update: A commenter rightfully points out that I jumped the gun on saying "ban"-- Blue says "punish" not ban, and there are other punishments besides banning. Still, I think it's wrong to "punish" your community for doing creative things with your virtual world.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Fan stuff, Blizzard, News items, Expansions
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Evan Dec 5th 2006 4:55PM
I think the issue here is not that they're protesting. The issue is, if 100+ warriors all run into Ironforge at the same time, the server WILL crash, not a chance it won't. It is a stupid way to protest; actually, the most violent way of protesting there is in the online world. Crashing the server intentionally, as they plan to do, is the one thing in WoW that cannot be avoided, ignored, or opposed by every single other player on Thunderlord.
Blacksabre Dec 5th 2006 7:08PM
Actually, our guild, Emerald Dream, on Alleria, ran a gnome event a couple months ago...racing from the gnome starting point in Coldstream Valley, to Darnassus.
Sounds to me like maybe an overprotective Blue got his wind up and decided "They can't do that on MY shift!" and started pulling plugs.
Blizz has pushed hard to create a group activities state of mind in Wow. It's a shame they stomp on a new form of it, simply because they can't handle criticism.
Black
Shakina Dec 6th 2006 4:46PM
There are two ways to look at this.
1. If you are in favor of the march, this could technically be pushed as violation of 1st amendment rights. I know it sounds ignorant to call it that, but as a social game, it does offer freedom of expression. These issues have been voiced and founded in the past. Also, federal regulations do extend in the virtual world. So, would someone actually take this type of this as limiting freedom of assembly? Not too sure, but they could reasonably push for it.
2. If you are against it, it would be easy for Blizzard to say that such actions would crash their server and ruin the availability of service that they provide to the players not upset at them (assumable quite a few are, since they are concerned with numbers crashing the server). This would directly be in violation of several Blizzard rules and is very defendable...I would say more defendable than 1st amendment rights.
Judgment weighs in favor of Blizzard...
Jason Dec 7th 2006 9:52PM
I haven't read any of the other comments yet, but I really only have this to say.
This isn't the first time that someone from the warrior community has wanted to get a bunch of people together for such an event. It's not the second, or the third, or even the fourth. I can remember at least that many that have already happened. It's not creative or novel anymore. It's disruptive, and as such, deserves to be punished should it come to pass. Petitions, rallies and the like are in violation of the ToS you agree to every time you log in. As such, you can be punished for violating them.
Now, is Blizzard being a bit heavy handed? Perhaps, but they've been lenient in the past with regards to this. They're not going to stay lenient forever.