Blizzard banning players in game for forum stupidity?
by Mike Schramm 
Jun 4th 2007 at 10:30AM
You may have missed the ruckus on the General forums this weekend-- and if you did, consider yourself lucky. Some idiot (at least we're pretty sure it was just one guy on his many alts) posted a lot of junk on Saturday about a story right here at WoW Insider. We won't bore you with everything they said, but the gist of it is exactly the kind of harassment that Ezra's father was trying to avoid-- players complaining that they weren't cool enough (even with a house that hadn't burnt down, and, you know, their health) to get the epic mount that Ezra did. Yes, it seems Penny Arcade's theory came into effect yet again.Fortunately, it's gone now-- the fever pitch hit on Saturday morning, and it wasn't till early Saturday afternoon that a CM finally showed up on the boards and deleted that junk. We can only suppose that if they had hired someone to take Tseric's place yet, it might have been taken care of sooner.
But here's the best part-- while this weekend's incident was far from the first shameful occurrence on the official forums, it might be the first in which a player got penalized not just with a forums ban, but with the loss of an in game account. Iroc says his brother jumped in to make an Ezra troll post this weekend and found his account in game disconnected.
Frankly, if anyone deserves it, these losers on Saturday did. But given the way that Blizzard's rep replies in the thread, it doesn't seem likely that they're banning in game for idiocy on the forums just yet-- more likely that Iroc's brother had an unrelated technical problem. Considering the way the forums are, however, it just might be a possibility worth considering.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Zorrg Jun 4th 2007 10:44AM
Ban them. This kind of silly behavior has been going on long enough on the official forums and it's about time to knock out real punishment to those that are destroying (or have almost completely destroyed already) the community for the rest of us.
Your forum profile is an extension of your game profile/subscription. If you break the policy in game, you loose your forum account. If you break the forum policy, you loose your game account. Should work both ways in my opinion.
GT0783 Jun 4th 2007 11:15AM
The people that complain about his situation are pathetic and should get banned for good. They make me sick.
chaz Jun 4th 2007 11:16AM
It's a slippery slope. Once they determine an activity on the forums is grounds for account termination, we could find them terminating accounts for things we might consider petty. It could spiral into all business-no-fun pretty fast.
I'm not sure what the right decision is on forums, I don't envy Blizz on this one. On one hand, a lot of fun has come from nonsense on the forums. On the other hand, the have become a den of trolls. (Side question: do trolls live in dens?)
Pingmeister Jun 4th 2007 11:31AM
Wherever there's a forum, there will be trolls.
While I find trolling repugnant I think there's fine line between heated debate and trolling and it would be difficult to differentiate enough to ban someone's account over it.
Druid dude Jun 4th 2007 11:33AM
Blizzard has stood by and let a small minority of absolute jackasses take control of their forums for way way too long. I hope this it is true that they are starting to hand out ingame suspensions for people being complete dickwads on the forums that they own.
Michael O'Hara Jun 4th 2007 11:46AM
and it's only now that the CMs are banning these idiots for making fun of one good thing that Blizzard /Vivendi have done? In my opinion, nothing short of draconian moderation is needed on the official forums. Either that or just close the whole damn thing down, it's not real useful anyway.
Donald Cake Jun 4th 2007 11:59AM
I think they will be banning too many people
mike_a Jun 4th 2007 12:07PM
It isn't really clear that the ingame ban related to the forum activity. If it was, the CM's are acting outside blizzards own stated policies.
I don't know about what was in the infamous thread but if you look at what has been going on in EVE - corruption involving developers secretly boosting characters - maybe people have a legitimate right to complain.
We already have seen the corruption involving Nihilum - like, their own personal developers....
Blizzard want to run their game like their own personal police state.
Ceej Jun 4th 2007 12:20PM
Ban them.
Seriously, no disrespect to the prior poster, but I don't see the slippery slope. Proper application of common sense will tell anyone when someone is just being an idiot, or abusive, or a plain ole' dick. There may be a gray area when trying to define these things absctractly, sure. But really, we all know it when we see it.
Blizz has stood by and watched what happens when they don't ban people from the boards for a few years now and look at how things are. Anything's gotta better than the way it is now.
Beldoro Jun 4th 2007 12:36PM
I had a great idea to deal with the forum Trolls - if and when the get a forum suspension / ban, they shuold get some kind of debuff in game. Like polymorth, but turn them into a troll. They can't chat or communicate and have 1 hp. Maybe they just wander around like sheep.
Theserene Jun 4th 2007 12:43PM
"I don't know about what was in the infamous thread "
Basically a load of trolls complaining about Blizzard giving the phoenix mount to a dying kid. Apparently it wasn't fair to anyone else.
Considering how unfair LIFE has been to that poor guy I'd think that banning a load of trolls who saw fit to attack that is fair and just behavior.
Lets face it, the kind of people who get all up in arms about a gift being given to a dying person are not the sort of person we want playing on the servers anyway.
Jason Jun 4th 2007 12:43PM
@9; It is a slippery slope, and refusing to see it doesn't change that. The forums are free, and a privilege granted as a result of paying your account fee. As such, they have their own Code of Conduct, their own terms of use. These are completely separate from the game's EULA and Terms of Service. In no way does the current ToS or EULA state that your access to the game can or will be terminated for actions outside of the game on Blizzard's forums.
Ultimately, I think that the forum ToS needs to be more strictly enforced. It's been stated by many, most eloquently, yet angrily by Tseric in his last post on the official forums. They're a cesspit of trolls, overrun by people who will stomp on anyone in ultimately pointless and failed attempts to get what they want. Sadly, the easiest and swiftest way to deal with them is that little red biohazard symbol, and it's something that far too few people use. Perhaps something similar to the ingame spam button is in order?
Tridus Jun 4th 2007 12:46PM
If we make the assumption that its only a certain number of forum posters that cause most of the problems, why not ban them from the forums?
Blizzard rarely gives out actual bans, they tend to use suspensions. Those don't get the job done. You can clean up the forums by waving the banstick there without it coming down on game accounts as well. (Though people who troll servers like Blackrock's attacks on Argent Dawn should be banned from the game outright. Blizzard is way too lenient about that nonsense.)
someone Jun 4th 2007 1:17PM
The forums are the way they are because blizzard treats its customers like dirt. On top of that the only way to get any kind of result over there is to cry/whine/make a mess.
So dont tell me its the peoples fault when blizzard sets it up so thats the only way to communicate.
Also it was just plain stupid to give him the first phoenix mount ever, should have given him a netherdrake.
RSH Jun 4th 2007 1:32PM
@14: Why exactly was it stupid to give him the first phoenix mount ever? The Netherdrake isn't all that special, it took me a bit over ten days to get one, but this is a gift for a dying child from Blizzard the Make a Wish Foundation and should be something unique. What's the problem here?
Also, where exactly are Blizzard treating their customers like dirt? Please reply without including the word "nerf" if at all possible.
chaz Jun 4th 2007 1:33PM
@14,
I'm not taking the bait, Mr. Troll.
Mixx Jun 4th 2007 1:40PM
Just to clarify something that has more to do with Make-A-Wish than WoW trolls (ban them I say) Just because a wish was granted does NOT mean the child is dying. This is a misconception that we try very hard to clear up. Make-A-Wish grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions. Kids that get wishes often go on to live full adult lives.
Two former "Wish Kids" as we call them actually now work for this chapter some 10+ years after having their wish granted. (In case you're wondering: I work for Make-A-Wish & also play WoW)
A wish is not a death sentence, as a matter of fact, it is often what renews the child's & families hope & spirit and you would be surprised how much that can do.
Please resume bashing said trolls now, thanks :)
Theserene Jun 4th 2007 1:46PM
Regardless, anyone who has an issue with Blizzard giving this kid the phoenix mount is a moron. And a heartless selfish one at that.
Hammer Jun 4th 2007 2:11PM
I wish Blizz would ban the trolls from the game because of their forum behavior. It would probably make World of Warcraft a much nicer place to game.
Todd Jun 4th 2007 2:12PM
Good Job and Huzzah! to Blizzard!
Keep the sociopaths (which is what most forum trolls are, deep down) away from the human children.