Naming Policy

[Murasaki]

I really like the naming policy Blizzard's implementing. Especially since none of the name I've come up with have to be changed. Yay! One thing I wish they'd add is something that says you can't put numbers in your character names. They've got a "no l337 speak" policy, but that still won't keep people from having names like "Marie39". The thing I'm wondering is...what about last names? Supposedly Blizzard was going to introduce them at some point, right? Any idea if they're still planning on doing that? I really hope they are.

[Lyanna]

I like the naming policy as well. I know a lot of people are griping about the restrictions but overall I thought the policy is fair.

I hope they do allow lastnames....

[Semidi]

I really don't care what someones ingame name is. They're paying as much as me to play the game why shouldn't they get a 1337 n2m3?

I'm semidi by the way, and I don't use leet names.

[Murasaki]

I find all the types of names Blizzard is restricting to be...jarring. Esspecially in an MMORPG setting. I don't think it's too much to ask for people to put a bit of extra time and effort into selecting their names, if it'll improve the atmosphere of the game world.

EDIT: I find the names jarring, not Blizzard's restricting them. :P I just reread my post and figured I should clear that up.

[GreenArmadillo]

While I certainly approve of the sentiment, I have to say that you couldn't PAY me to try and enforce something this subjective. A slur may be punished by:
A) immediate warning/suspension and potential banning if it's racial/ethnic (and "racial/ethnic connotations"? Does that mean names that are traditionally associated with an ethnic group?)
B) possible warning/suspension at Blizzard's discretion but NOT banning if it's sexual orientation (it's the only item in the policy that says action "MAY" be taken instead of "WILL", read what you will into that)
C) mandatory warning, but no more serious action (suspension/banning), if it's "national" (I presume this means Polish jokes?) or religious

They're all essentially the same offense, yet. Why should someone get off easier because they bash (fantasy example) humans from Stormwind instead of all humans?

The pop culture rule, with accompanying MANDATORY warning, also strikes me as rather subjective. Some GM's going to decide whether "Robin" is an allusion to the sidekick of Batman (i.e. not fantasy appropriate), Monty Python's Knight of the Round (still pop culture, but at least fantasy themed), or simply the bird (a common source of fantasy names)?

[chillipepper69]

Although I feel it to be a bit harsh, essp because they will enforce this on all the servers, not just the RP servers (if they have them). Not everyone likes to RP. This just meens the non-RPers will have to become more creative with thier names.

I would like to see how far Blizzard's GMs will go with this. They left it pretty vague.

[MarkusAurelius]

Now, i can understand why they would get rid of obscene/vulgar and racial/ethnic slur nonsense, but why must the get rid of the stupid sentence names?

Those are my favourites. I mean come on, welovebeef is a great name. I had an assasin called TrappedInATrap on d2 while my brother had a necro called EatSomeBone and an amazon called TooMuchBeef (he got this because beef is the staple of my families diet). I personally think that rule will make the game have LESS creative names.

I was gonna make a character called SkeletonKiss (will be forsaken) will this not be allowed since it has two different words in it?

And i always enjoy seeing people with names along the line of Roflcopter (this one particularly is great).


in my opinion, they are being a bit strick on their policy. what would be cool is if they intergrated a 'nickname' system. they can keep this policy for regular names, but we would have a choice to have my warlock (let's say his name is Dayle Wegoro) to have the nickname of Dr.Dreadful. and they still would not allow obscenities.

[Arioch]

I'm with Armadillo... while I think that the naming restrictions are a noble effort, I don't see how they can possibly be enforced without a full-time staff of Name ****s badgering everyone to change their names. And since about 75%+ of the names I saw on the stress test violate these rules, that's a lot of badgering to do. I would prefer that people choose appropriate names, but it's almost impossible to force them to do so, and to try is misguided. This is something that's much better confined to dedicated roleplaying servers.

Will Blizzard really ban three quarters of their customers because they won't play the game the way Blizzard thinks they should? I very much doubt it.

[Duroth]

Can one of the beta testers find out if they are planning to have
name generators for each of the races? This would be mucho cool. I don't
care too much what my name is, I just want to sound like a tauren, dwarf,
troll, or orc name.

[Arioch]

Can one of the beta testers find out if they are planning to have
name generators for each of the races? This would be mucho cool. I don't
care too much what my name is, I just want to sound like a tauren, dwarf,
troll, or orc name.
I saw a recent screenshot of the new character creation screen, and there was a new "Randomize" button underneath the character name (in addition to the one under appearance). So it looks like the answer is yes.\

Here's the shot:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/images/screens/characters/ss01.jpg

[BrimSt0ne M0nkey]

I dont mind names to much as long as it is letters only. I really dont like when people put numbers in their names unless they are a robotic characters.

Im not a Big RP'er but I love the traditional names of a game oriented around Medieval Warfare, the Majestic, Kingly, Warrior kind. Besides, who really plays a game soley for the sake of naming their character?

[ArkhMori]

Signs point to yes.

[Sentinel]

welovebeef
TrappedInATrap
EatSomeBone
TooMuchBeef
SkeletonKiss
Roflcopter

Um, no offense there Caesar but those names suck. If I seen anyone with those names online (apart from *MAYBE* SkeletonKiss) Ill kill em on the spot regardless of what honour I lose for it.

[Graav Wolfsong]

I don't see how this naming policy can be viewed as restrictive. It's all very fair. Not harsh at all.

"Oh no I can't name my Tauren 'Penismaster'!!! *sob*"

This does away with almost all of the names I found slightly annoying in the stress test. Like for example: ssenkraD, PKMachine, ORCWARLOCK, SEXYSKANK, Hordepwns, sdssf etc.

Too bad I probably won't be seeing 'ForniKate' around anymore. That one and the Undead warlock I ran across named CalistaFlockhart was the only now-outlawed names I enjoyed. :lol:

Personally, I would have liked them to just restrict it to fantasy names only instead of having all those rules.
And no, I'm not a name ****, honest. :innocent: It just baffles me that a decent, fitting name for an MMO is so hard for some people to think up without resorting to naming oneself after some bodypart, using leet speak or ripping off a LOTR name. I must have seen thousands of people named Gimli by now.

Example, I wanted to start a NE staff warrior (not as gimped as he may sound) but had trouble thinking up a name that sounded kinda elven. So I ended up doing a play off my own name, calling him Peterius. And I was not satisfied at all and thought to myself, "TV must've killed my imagination". Yet that is more effort than alot of people seem to spend on a name.

It's going to be your character name for a LONG time if you stick with the character so a few minutes to think up a decent name might just be worth it.

[aartamen]

I really don't care what someones ingame name is. They're paying as much as me to play the game why shouldn't they get a 1337 n2m3?



I don't care either. I will never speak to them though unless I have to. Or to someone with an uncapitalized name. If someone can't come up with a decent or properly presented name, what are the chances I will have fun playing with him? Nill.

[Syndakit]

Um, no offense there Caesar but those names suck. If I seen anyone with those names online (apart from *MAYBE* SkeletonKiss) Ill kill em on the spot regardless of what honour I lose for it.


Some people take these type of games WAY too seriously. Lighten up people. If you get so bothered cause someone's name is "leet", its YOU with the problem, not them.

[Murasaki]

Well, I wouldn't want Blizzard to be too strict. For example, SkeletonKiss is a name I think they shouldn't have a problem with. Especially considering it sounds like something out of Diablo II. Basically I'm assuming that they're making the rules vague so that they can pretty much decide what names are appropriate by their own discression. There will probably some GMs who are overly anal, and that could get annoying, but I think most people will just concentrate on keeping the names appropriate and adhering to a proper format.

[GreenArmadillo]

FYI Arioch, that randomize button has always been there and randomizes the physical features of the character. Random name generators are generally not truly random, but rather have several hundred possibilities entered into them (with last names frequently obtained by Blizzard-banned combinations of two words). Obviously fine for any single player RPG or non-MMO online stuff, but there's an obvious problem when you want names for several hundred thousand....

[Graav Wolfsong]

FYI Arioch, that randomize button has always been there and randomizes the physical features of the character. Random name generators are generally not truly random, but rather have several hundred possibilities entered into them (with last names frequently obtained by Blizzard-banned combinations of two words). Obviously fine for any single player RPG or non-MMO online stuff, but there's an obvious problem when you want names for several hundred thousand....

Check the screenshot again bub. The physical feature randomize button is still there in the left column with a new randomize button under the name wich seems to be a name generator.

[Sentinel]

Some people take these type of games WAY too seriously. Lighten up people. If you get so bothered cause someone's name is "leet", its YOU with the problem, not them.
I dont take the game that seriously. But I mean come on, if someone followed you around spamming, loser, loser, loser, would that annoy you? Cause to me names like the above are more annoying cause names cant be squelched.

[Weedkiller]

I think the reason why people choose "uncreative" names - and my biggest concern with a policy this restrictive - is that people who create characters later into the game, after thousands of characters are already created on that server, are going to have problems coming up with a good name. I myself have a hard time coming up with good names. I remember when I first made a char in Diablo I months after the game came out I had a list of a dozen names to name him. It turned out every single one was taken and I was out of ideas. I decided to screw it, use the first thing that I saw, and laid eyes on the weedkiller that my parents had just bought.

A random name generator helps somewhat but it only goes so far. After all the decent names are taken it starts giving out names little better than gibberish. Try the name generator in FFXI on one of the servers that have been up since the beggining. It took me dozens of clicks on it to get a pronouncable name for my elvaan mule.

Dont get me wrong, I think that these policies are good. I'm not a fan of seeing |337 or offensive names, but they're going to have to take into account that not everyone is going to get their first choice for their name. Or their third choice. Or maybe their 10th.

[Blackmoore]

Well, I'm gonna be choosing Blackmoore and hopefully, it doesn't get outlawed due to one of their rules.

[DarknessCrusader]

I have no problems with the name restrictions, but my friend who's characters are asdf and asdfasdf will be heartbroken for he's been usin' those names for awhile now. Qwerty! :P

[Baryonyx]

This policy is not language-restrictive. Names that fall under this policy will always be subject to the repercussions listed, whether they are inappropriate in English or any other language.

This is the one thing that concerns me, and only because I've seen how this can get blown out of proportion. Funcom (Anarchy Online) has a similar policy on this part, and one time, a major incident arose when they forced an Engineer, playing off the primary definition of slag (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=slag), made a name Superslag. Eventually, he become one of the more prominent Engineers in the game, someone everyone turned to for tradeskilling work. Then, Funcom made him change his name from Superslag to Superslang, because, apparently, "slag" is used as an obscenity in Britian (I think it was that).

Now, this person used the name entirely appropriately (slag is, primarily, a term of metallurgy, and Engineer matches with that notion) and claimed to have used it without prurient interest. Because of my knowledge of the person, I believe that. Yet, they were forced to change it anyway. And this is just American/British cultural blips... that is, between the same language. How are we supposed to know what combinations of letters can be read in any language offensively or not? This is my one concern.

That said, I am entirely in support of the new conventions... most ESPECIALLY the immersion-breakers. I've fought long and hard in other games to get the devs to focus more on an immersive, interesting, more fun world, so their new convention on immersivity is definitely something I'm pleased about. Now let's see it be enforced.

[Arioch]

FYI Arioch, that randomize button has always been there and randomizes the physical features of the character. No, that's a different button. There used to be one randomize button (http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2004/screen0/534914_20040318_screen015.jpg), now there's two.

[Nikells]

Then, Funcom made him change his name from Superslag to Superslang, because, apparently, "slag" is used as an obscenity in Britian (I think it was that).
Yes, we use it as a term for a girl who sleeps around a lot. When I heard the name I immediately thought he meant SuperSlut

I think its fair enough if they give you the chance to change the name yourself. If SuperSlag was allowed to choose his new name I don't see the problem. If he logged on one day and they'd decided to add an N without consulting him, thats another matter.

While racist/sexist/offensive names (or random strings of letters) are one thing I really could not give a damn about my "immersion" being broken by people called "TooMuchBeef" when everybody is going around saying stuff along the lines of:
"k u have good AC, u pull that mob and I'll imp it with my spells."
"afk for a sec."
"looking for help doing SOAB, lev 12-17."

Infact I kind of like having easy to remember names like that, countless times I've tried to /tell Garthrachanador only to realise I don't know how to spell it.

Plus the fact that I would consider the Warcraft universe slightly crazier* than most of the others presented in MMORPG's: they're really just making work for themselves.

*It didn't ruin my "immersion" when the Dreadlord answered his cellphone in Warcraft III.

[Blackmoore]

Btw, on that new character creation screen, is that a Orc Warrior starting with an axe?. Since when do that do that? Or is that just me?

[Baryonyx]

I think its fair enough if they give you the chance to change the name yourself. If SuperSlag was allowed to choose his new name I don't see the problem. If he logged on one day and they'd decided to add an N without consulting him, thats another matter.
My memory is hazy on the details (nearly 2 years ago now, if I recall), but I believe it was the latter. Regardless, if a player becomes THAT prominent and the name isn't caught then:

1.) The policy wasn't enforced until it was too late.
2.) The vast majority of people had no problem with the name until it was suddenly made an issue by FC.
3.) It was simply handled poorly. I HOPE Blizzard will actually enforce their policy, and not let it get that far.

As for the immersion, I do have a problem with many of those on the list. To anyone who played, however briefly, Lin2, you will recall the ENDLESS variations on Legolas and Aragorn. Anything to cut down on things like that will be greatly welcomed. Upper limits might be appreciated too, so you're not dealing with the 12+ character names you cite, but it would all be helped if people would be just a touch more creative. Everyone's got at least one or two good, easy to type, interesting names in them, if they gave it some thought. Hell, if they play these games long enough, by now they should have a list (I have about 15 or so myself).

[ArkhMori]

The WoW.com people are a bit crazy about it. They actually said my name was bad because it had more than one capital letter.

[Baryonyx]

The WoW.com people are a bit crazy about it. They actually said my name was bad because it had more than one capital letter.
A problem which could easily be solved if limited punctuation (namely a single dash or a single apostrophe) were allowed in naming. Not sure if WoW has that, but, it would be nice. The only issue with those names is that they may be considered by some the way others consider 12+ letter names: it's a PitA to sometimes remember that punctuation is there.

It could also be solved by having first and last names. Or, in your case, an interesting name could be made by switching your halves: Moriarkh. Kharmori, too... Mokharri... Arikhmor.... Might that be a bit strenuous on their part? Maybe, especially if yours has significance I'm missing in my late-night addled stupor, but at least they're enforcing their policy. Too many MMORPGs are lax on that front.

[ArkhMori]

If they instituted first or last names, that's fine, but can you really say that my name is so offensive simply because it has more than a single capital letter? O_O

[Father Jack]

The only down side is that this is going to make it harder for me to weed out the idiots I don't want to group with.

For example before when I saw a character named 'G1ml1RoXXXorsJoo' I would imediately translate that name from leet to english using babelfish.

Lets try it out:
G1ml1RoXXXorsJoo(leet)====>(english)Don't group with me I'm a pre-teen idiot with no imagination and a poor sense of humor and I'll probably get you killed then have a tantrum"

Wow better stay away from that guy! Thank you Babelfish!

But now he'll have some trusting name like 'Darnaisian' and i'll have to find out hes an idiot the hard way.

I mean I like the naming policy and all, and i think its fair, but now I'll need to play a mini-game of 'Spot the 1337 dOOd' everytime I'm looking for a group. And they don't all type with the caps lock on all the time (thats the easiest sign) so its a pretty hard thing to figure out sometimes.

[Baryonyx]

If they instituted first or last names, that's fine, but can you really say that my name is so offensive simply because it has more than a single capital letter? O_O
I didn't say it was offensive. Fact of the matter is I don't think it is offensive. I CAN feel it is inappropriate, but done because of a missing aspect in their system (lack of two names, which is I believe on the slate to do), which on balance makes it OK by me. However, you will note I ALSO said that it may be a bit strenuous on their part, but that I think they should at least get credit for enforcing a policy of their creation. That, for me, at least, is a good sign they won't be repeating the situation in other games. Is that a bad thing?

[WiglyWorm]

ummm as far as enforcement on name policies go it's handled 2 ways, usually:
The automatic filter picks it up on character creation (this is usually limited in scope.. brand names, swear words and the like)

OR

Someone complains.

They don't have "name cops" running around looking for innapropriate names, this would be a hideous use of my money, and i wouldn't stand for it, even though i don't like alot of the names i saw in the WoW ST. My money is better used for other things.. but if i see a name that grossly violates the rules "skooljoo" or something.. if they're acting like an idiot, i'll report them.

I've had my name forcibley changed once, in UO.. and i had no say in the matter at all, it just got changed to "Wulfgar" wich i hated.. so i deleted the character and remade him with the original name.

[ArkhMori]

I tried out the filter, and it's pretty thorough. No letters, no spaces, no non-letter characters, and all the various things that fit their naming scheme are dubbed 'Reserved'

[Nikells]

I've had my name forcibley changed once, in UO.. and i had no say in the matter at all, it just got changed to "Wulfgar" wich i hated.. so i deleted the character and remade him with the original name.
What was your original name?

ArkhMori's name is fine, an extra capital letter should be allowed.

I also agree with Father Jack,
"What's in a name? That which we call a L33tPl4ya13 by any other name would 'pwn n3wbs' as much."

[ArkhMori]

When you're name is changed, a GM contacts you and presents you with a box to change your name. This might have changed recently, but I doubt it. Then, you can explain your name (GM's are people, after all, and pretty nice to boot), comply, or ***** and moan at which point the next steps are taken.

[bud]

i agree with the guy that says gms wont run around checking peoples names
and i think that the whole fuss about the naming policy is for those kids (that come up with the worst names) that believe that if they go against the eula some fbi is gonna come to their door and arrest them
you know what i mean..
did anyone read the official battle.net forums during the beta sign up, if you did youll know what i mean
hell, come to think of it some peeps are soooo damn stupid
there was this one person, i cant forget, he was asking that:
"i currently have less than 3gigs on my hd, but ill free up some space if i get accepted to the beta, can i apply?"

now can you believe that question?

[ScytheNoire]

as another person who uses names that have a capital letter in the middle, i agree.

i'm against the naming policy because i hate censorship in any form.
i'm for the naming policy so that i hopefully don't have to deal with 1337_dW33d_69.

either way, i think Blizzard will have a hard time enforcing it. they are going to have to rely on tightwads to report name complaints and then will have to repeat that there is a naming policy as there is no mention of it on the character creation screen.

[Eharbad]

completely for the naming policy, i cannot see what the fuss is about!

i hate leetspeak names, names which encompass a string of stupid text or random letters.

i also hate letters in names, would your name your child with a load of letters in his name?

anyway the number of names you can create is immense, plus you *wont* have the same competition as you did in d2!

they may allow the same name on each server, so your only competing with roughly 3000 people, say 10000 characters on any one server even if they do region-only then what 100000-200000 names? its not that hard!!!!

[Pongle]

please tell me blizzard had suffered and extremely serious concussion some time in the hour before they wrote this.

The name "AussieJesus" suits a paladin just fine.. DAMN YOU.

[Murasaki]

It's been mentioned that a lot of the good names will have already been taken. Well, since there are only going to be about 3,000 people per server, shouldn't this not be an issue? I mean, I would certainly hope that it a name is taken on one server it can still be taken on another. And, if that's not the case, couldn't last names be used to differentiate between people with identical first names?

[GraceSlick]

I think the majority of the naming policy, and for those of you who think 'immersion' rules are too anally-retentive, Eno clarified it consideredably on the original thread:

"- We are not trying to make such a strict naming policy as to disallow fun/silly names. However, if you give people an inch... While some of the rules may disallow names that we don't consider "bad", we do feel like these policies allow many, many names that the stress test rules did not allow.
- While Maleki used the word "non-immersive" to preface the last section of naming policies, we do not mean this to mean "high fantasy" only names. We are just trying to eliminate the worst offenders. Warcraft is a semi-serious universe with a silly streak. We do want people to make names that are appropriate to the world in the same way.
- We may have a more restrictive naming policy that does enforce "high fantasy" names for a roleplayer server, IF we add one
- We plan to add surnames to character creation, so this should allow a fair amount of the compound names where people would like two capital letters.
- There IS now a random name selector in the character creation screen.
- Yes, the main reason we are disallowing titles is because over time we plan on adding many titles into the world for players to earn. It would seem very strange for someone to have "Lord" as part of their name while other people have the same as a title.
- We tried to add apostrophes to names, but ran into a problem with our database that considers apostrophes a special character. We are looking for a way around it so we can allow one apostrophe per name.
- As a point of reference, our proposed naming policy is very much inline with all the other MMOs and is on the less restrictive side."

-Eno


Just a couple of points:

1) It is ridiculous to ban names such as "Jesus" and "Allah" wholesale under the religious section of the policy. These are everyday names amongst many cultures which practice the associated religion. Sure, if such names are obviously deliberately offensive then they should be disallowed but then most likely they will contravene another section of the policy as well - and if not should be reviewed on a case by case basis. (One could argue that these names have no place in WoW but that would be no basis for discrimination from thousands of names which this objection could apply to).

2) It would be nice if only the forername-surname combination had to be unique (though this would cause other issues) as this would eliminate a lot of stupid variations on popular names.

[ArkhMori]

Hey, I'm happy. "Arkh Mori" is my preferred choice over "ArkhMori"

[Wompo]

I support the Blizzard's name policy. I don't really want MadMOOMOO321's running around. I just hope Blizzard makes the random name generator good enough so that it doesn't run out of names easily. Hopefully they add the surnames early enough, too...

Too lazy to type anything else at the moment. :)

[eXo]

They should be harsh on those *piep* who can`t make up a simple name.
I know it ruins my game experience so make them suffer!

I do hope the first letter of a name will not be automatically changed in a capitol letter. Oh whatever as long as i don`t see 1337....

[Squarebob Spongepants]

There was ample whining about the policy on the Beta forums when Blizzard first announced it. Some people thought that a maximum of 12 characters wasn't high enough.

In other words, you won't have to worry about insanely long and complicated names.

[Eharbad]

In other words, you won't have to worry about insanely long and complicated names.
good! 12 is easily long enough, some people just moan for the sake of moaning *cough* jose mourinho *cough*

[Grendel Rose]

I think it's okay, although I'm a tad annoyed because it might screw me over if I want to use the name I normall do (Grendal Rose) or Gallowglas, but such is life I suppose. I guess I just have to hope no GM's notice me.

[Murasaki]

How would Grendel Rose be against the regulations?

[Galron Kincaid]

1) It is ridiculous to ban names such as "Jesus" and "Allah" wholesale under the religious section of the policy. These are everyday names amongst many cultures which practice the associated religion. Sure, if such names are obviously deliberately offensive then they should be disallowed but then most likely they will contravene another section of the policy as well - and if not should be reviewed on a case by case basis. (One could argue that these names have no place in WoW but that would be no basis for discrimination from thousands of names which this objection could apply to).


Jesus and Allah are not offensive, but they completely ruin the athmosphere.

And anyone calling a MMORPG CHARACTER Jesus or Allah or Buddah or Ganesh is a total drooling mongoloid (for both choosing such names and thinking they're funny).

So banning them makes sense. Is that so difficult to grasp? :rolleyes:


Couldn't be happier about the new policy neways. Expecially about the new lines covering 1337 (moron) names and partial-sentence names.


To all those bacteria who once told me to "go to my roleplay server and leave them alone":

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA at your face! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Priest68]

Glad they did something after seeing some of the names in the stress test.

[Heavenshade]

Partial or Complete Sentences
This category includes names which:
Consist of multiple words strung together to create partial or complete sentences
Examples: "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", "Howareyou"

Sooooo......Names like "Deathcalls", "Iam", "No", etc etc are not allowed? They are all sentences? (Yes, I realise that under LOGICAL thinking, they maybe allowed, but in mmorpg, the usual case is that the company will stick to their own law like the bible and refuse to think logically...)

Jesus and Allah are not offensive, but they completely ruin the athmosphere.

And anyone calling a MMORPG CHARACTER Jesus or Allah or Buddah or Ganesh is a total drooling mongoloid (for both choosing such names and thinking they're funny).

So banning them makes sense. Is that so difficult to grasp? :rolleyes:

Couldn't be happier about the new policy neways. Expecially about the new lines covering 1337 (moron) names and partial-sentence names.


Actually they are quite offensive, at least to the followers of the religions. Naming yourself Jesus, or Christ or Jehovah or Allah, etc, is basically proclaiming yourself to be God. Aka blasphemy.

[FlareCDE]

The GMs were supposedly going to check names on the Stress Test, to test their policy and ability to enforce it. I can say with complete confidence that attempt was an utter failure. I saw more than a fair share of names that violated the rules. None grossly so, like a truly offensive thing, but broke the rules none-the-less. Yet they continue.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the restrictions. The enhance the environment, and some of them simply make chatting easier (no l33t, for instance, and I agree with the no number rule idea). Others prevent possible conflicts. I think the average GM can exercise a little bit of that thing that makes humans unique in the world and make fairly rational judgements. There is no textbook or computer algorithm that defines racial slurs, for instance. But the average GM who is familiar with local culture (another pro for locked servers) will be able to tell nine times out of ten whether something is meant to be offensive. Sure, there will be some mistakes, and I'm sure Blizzard will have a way to appeal. Or they should ;).

However, the logistics of it are mindboggling. Sure, 3000 players. At one time. And thats players, not characters, which each have their own independent name! The most efficient way to check names would be to query all the character names from the character DB, then read through them. Someone could just sit there and parse through new character creation logs for hours though and not manage to finish, at least initially. And thats just flagging them, never mind actually doing something about it!

In the end, what I think will happen is if they catch you, they have the rule in place and can execute it. But as a general rule of thumb goes, only names that are truly offensive or annoying will get attention quickly.

Oh, and last names are a must. Furthermore, they should block only identical first and last name matches. Perhaps allowing messaging by account would alleviate the only problem with this, which is typing the whole damn thing in every time you want to whisper someone. A system similar to Battle.net and D2 would be fine.

[Graav Wolfsong]

Sure, enforcing it will be alot of work but I heard Blizzard has a squad of trained monkeys to do it. And it'd still be better than anything SOE can muster.

[Syndakit]

One thing to think about is that what people name their characters is a reflection on the type of person they are. In real life this is not true because a person does not CHOOSE their name, its given to them. However, what a person names their character in a game is a great way to tell the kind of person they are, and whether you will be able to enjoy playing side by side with them.
Two examples: first example is if they DID not have such a scrict naming policy(Im all for banning racial/religious names, and sometimes sexual, cause some people are more sheltered than others so I respect that): You see a bunch of people in town and you want to make a nice party. You see names like "1337master", "BigThug", "Ji'tal", "Killyoufoo", "Rainysunshine", "Talek", "Korra", "ROLFyouDEAD". Anyways, bad examples, but my "Ji'tal" and "talek" are suppose to be RP names. Instantly you can tell who the more childish players are, and who you would get along with in a party.

Second example, everyone has the same non unique naming style, no one has unique personalities, it takes you months to find people you can play with.

My point is, in Diablo, people had all sorts of names. Whenever I played, I would never party with someone who had a childish name, because that reflected on their personality. If you force everyone to have one tract names, it will be hard to distinguish the real players with the childish, only there to make you miserable, players.

If you happen to see a name, that somehow, actually upsets you, just brush it off and move on.

Just my two cents

[FlareCDE]

One thing to think about is that what people name their characters is a reflection on the type of person they are. In real life this is not true because a person does not CHOOSE their name, its given to them. However, what a person names their character in a game is a great way to tell the kind of person they are, and whether you will be able to enjoy playing side by side with them.
Two examples: first example is if they DID not have such a scrict naming policy(Im all for banning racial/religious names, and sometimes sexual, cause some people are more sheltered than others so I respect that): You see a bunch of people in town and you want to make a nice party. You see names like "1337master", "BigThug", "Ji'tal", "Killyoufoo", "Rainysunshine", "Talek", "Korra", "ROLFyouDEAD". Anyways, bad examples, but my "Ji'tal" and "talek" are suppose to be RP names. Instantly you can tell who the more childish players are, and who you would get along with in a party.

Second example, everyone has the same non unique naming style, no one has unique personalities, it takes you months to find people you can play with.

My point is, in Diablo, people had all sorts of names. Whenever I played, I would never party with someone who had a childish name, because that reflected on their personality. If you force everyone to have one tract names, it will be hard to distinguish the real players with the childish, only there to make you miserable, players.

If you happen to see a name, that somehow, actually upsets you, just brush it off and move on.

Just my two cents
I must admit, that kinda makes sense. It is a good way of looking at a less restrictive atmosphere possibly being positive.

Well, we'll see what happens. Whether Blizz uses this are their ace card or strictly enforces it, or even changes it before release is still up to the future.

[The Sneak]

Good I'm glad someone finally implemented this rule in a game, I'm sick of *** *** names like "<-----n000b****face" its an rpg so play it like one, not like counter strike

[Galron Kincaid]

Actually they are quite offensive, at least to the followers of the religions. Naming yourself Jesus, or Christ or Jehovah or Allah, etc, is basically proclaiming yourself to be God. Aka blasphemy.

For "not offensive" i meant "not constituting an offensive-vulgar-obscene word".

But we can also see it that religious way, yes :)

[Callist0]

This is actually the first game where I've seen them add the rules about not allowing phrases and l33t sp33k as names. A lot of games have similar policies on national/sexual/religious/political base, but no company ever made the step to only allowing suitable fantasy names.

I'm not a hardcore roleplayer, I use words like lol, 4tw and you name it often when chatting, but the names I see sometimes do bother me. When walking around a fantasy setting I don't want to see names like ObiWan Th4M4n or xxxroflcopterxxx (which btw IS one of the funniest l33tsp33k names I ever saw ;)

I commend Blizz for this choice and hope they will enforce it. Imm3rs10n 4tw!

[Graav Wolfsong]

I do agree that with this naming policy it will be that much harder to spot the d00ds and mentally challenged little brats I usually go out of my way to avoid playing with. So I guess I'll be spending some time playing the same "Spot the 1337 d00d" minigame as well.
But I can live with that, it doesn't take that long to figure out wether you're grouping with a d00d or not. Just a few lines of chat often tells me if I want to find another group or not.

[red.13]

Someone mentioned that in Diablo 2 he liked allowing all names hence he could see what kind of person a player was and to group with him or not. Obiously this is a downside, but not important for me at all. Diablo 2 is straightly different from WoW and that's why there will be no problem. Why you ask? We should make friends and foes by knowing their charcters, actions, thoughts etc. Being aware of it, we can - like in normal woird - choose our comrades. Mind that someone's name can confuse you and tell you nothing, or worse - it will tell you something completely else.

I think that name policy follows to making WoW as World-like as possible. In normal world we have normal names, even if there are some strange ones all of them are simply common. In MMORPGs we can choose any name we want despite of our character's will (:)) and enviroment that he lived in. Sorry but IaM|-|/\(k3R (I am hacker) would be simply unnormal and our character's parents simply wouldn't give him such a name. Hence of this we immerse into the alter World of Warcraft, play with our character and forget about l33ts, OWNers ;P etc. Developing good ambience in reall MMORPGs, for me, it crucial.

Firstly I thought that such policy would only be valid on RPG servers (on which I desire to play) but ordering such policy on all servs makes me very happy because I won't see stupid names traveling through WoW (I can avoid stupid players, vile players etc., but I can't avoid seeing her names - of course I can set sth. like rendernames=0, but that's not the point).

[spaker_man]

I love the naming policy!

Someone want to tell me what xxxroflcopterxxx is? I don't even know what it means but I'm glad I won't see it in game.

The leet speak and sentence portion is great but I have a concern regarding last name policy that might exist. Good RP last names for dwarves and gnomes and orcs could be considered as against the sentence portion rule ....

Names like: (off the top of my head)

Dornin Toestubber

or

Krull Skullcracker


might be questionable. These woudl be great names to see in game as far as I'm concerned. But I guess we shall see.

[Callist0]

Dornin Toestubber

or

Krull Skullcracker


might be questionable. These woudl be great names to see in game as far as I'm concerned. But I guess we shall see.

I doubt they will question these names as they use names like those in the rest of the warcraft series. Also, in medieval times (but more so in fantasy) it was common practice to give someone a second name based on their achievements, place of birth or outstanding character trait.

It would be a different matter if those two were called Krull Iwhoopass and Dornin Myfeethurt, cause those are a)non fantasy and b)clear and obvious sentences.

I think Blizzard trusts people to make the distinction, and I'm sure most people are well capable of doing so.

[spaker_man]

I think Blizzard trusts people to make the distinction, and I'm sure most people are well capable of doing so.
You and Blizzard give most people more credit then I do ;)

[Oberon]

I love the naming policy!

Someone want to tell me what xxxroflcopterxxx is? I don't even know what it means but I'm glad I won't see it in game.

The leet speak and sentence portion is great but I have a concern regarding last name policy that might exist. Good RP last names for dwarves and gnomes and orcs could be considered as against the sentence portion rule ....

Names like: (off the top of my head)

Dornin Toestubber

or

Krull Skullcracker


might be questionable. These woudl be great names to see in game as far as I'm concerned. But I guess we shall see.

Can't use Krull (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085811/). It's the name of a fantasy movie and is copywritten. Skullcracker (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/skullcracker/index.html) is also the name of a video game. Toestubber (http://camelot.allakhazam.com/Mobs/search.html?cmob=3448) is a DAoC character. I think you're safe with Dornin.

[GraceSlick]

@Galron kincade - I believe my post contained the view which you raised; I'll reiterate: Yes, I said, "jesus" etc. probably IS innapropriate for the WoW setting but then a lot of names which will get in under the naming convention are e.g. in the official thread - Maleki oked the name Fathamburger.

Therefore to be consistent (and fair) you would have to come up with much more precise criteria on which you could same which names were and which were not immersion breaking. Not to do so would just lead to in game bitterness and players reporting other players names.

But, such a stict criteria cannot exist. e.g. how do you decide between well-known and not well-known religious names?

@heavenshade the name Jesus is not offensive - think in a wider context, try living in a Latin, catholic country.

EDIT: my point is not to say that these names SHOULD be allowed just that the arguments you have used don't discriminate against them fairly and consistently.

[GraceSlick]

Can't use Krull (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085811/). It's the name of a fantasy movie and is copywritten. Skullcracker (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/skullcracker/index.html) is also the name of a video game. Toestubber (http://camelot.allakhazam.com/Mobs/search.html?cmob=3448) is a DAoC character.

I don't think its that you cant use these names its just that if the owner of the copyright complains you could possibly have to change it.

But:

1) The owner of the copright e.g. someone from the movie company who made Krull would have to play WoW.

2) Said person who have to be incensed enough by this to make a complaint.

[spaker_man]

Can't use Krull (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085811/). It's the name of a fantasy movie and is copywritten. Skullcracker (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/skullcracker/index.html) is also the name of a video game. Toestubber (http://camelot.allakhazam.com/Mobs/search.html?cmob=3448) is a DAoC character. I think you're safe with Dornin.
Nice googling there .... Those honestly came off the top of my head ... The movie Krull maybe Copywritten but i doubt the name is a registered trademark. In any case .... they were just examples of the type of good Roleplaying names.

But thanks for having nothing better to do ;)

[GraceSlick]

^ Fair point spaker_man; and if it is a registered trademark are the owners really going to feel their trademark has been violated by some gamer calling their alter ego by the same name in a fantasy MMORPG?

[Apollo]

I hope I can use Apollo. I don't think it breaks any of the laws but I have Phoebus as a backup anyway... and if that's taken I'll kill myself :lol: ...either that, or make a new name.

[SamuraiBob]

I have to say that I believe that Blizz has gone pretty overboard on what is and is not acceptable. It was brought up a lot that you can't use a trademarked or copywritten name, but that involves half the stuff they use in-game. For instance, there's a bashing weapon called Fight Club. Come on, honestly. Its hypocritical to say 'this and that' can't be used, but then to have half a dozen of their items or NPCs abusing the exact same rule? Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for immersion, but I don't want this game to become a strict, by-the-books gotta-be-a-RPer game. It's Warcraft. Warcraft does not take itself seriously, not a single Blizzard game ever has!

On a side note, I really do wish they would enlist this rule to be maintained and enforced instead on an RP server (or Servers). There are those that want to play the game, immersing themselves into the world, shaping the world the way they want to (RPers), and then there are those who simply want a game to play, something ever-changing, with lots of people, that's a fun and laidback atmosphere. Aside from the standard clashes they will have between different types if they DON'T utilize RP servers (I.e, l33td00d wants to mess around, so they are chatting it up in d00d$p34k, making Artanis the RPer get annoyed, fight ensues, GM is called in, blah blah blah), you are going to have in general angst between the people that know who they can avoid (l33td00d$), and the ones that will sneak up on you, backstabbing the party cause they are a l33td00d in disguise.

Besides, funny names are an excellent portrayal of a character. I believe if I am not on a Roleplay server, and I feel like naming my tauren Shaman 'Milkdud,' I should be allowed to without anyone getting up in arms over having a 'trademark or copyright' name (even though, a milkdud itself is not a copyright, it needs an 'S' to land in that zone). Milkdud is just an example (having said it, I am sure it'll pass the censors, and be acceptable, and now taken), but the idea is present. You don't want to restrict the casual gamer who has no interest in developing his character for the game's lineage, seeing as its the truly hardcore ones who will make up that section of the history anyway.

My .02.

Bob

[Arioch]

Are they going to apply the same rules to pet names? I was planning on eventually getting a white Frostsaber and naming it "Blizzard." :|

[Sadow]

Are they going to apply the same rules to pet names? I was planning on eventually getting a white Frostsaber and naming it "Blizzard." :|

I don't think they're going to make you change your pet name over something like that. If you named him "XtReMeBliZz" then it's likely they will get on your case about it.

The naming policy is simply to keep a semblence of fantasy to appease those who want it. The "doods" still enjoy playing the game and will, thusly, pick a different name. It appeases both sects of gamers.

[BaronSprite]

"Major Religions or Religious Figureheads"

That wipes out over 500 names. Greek, Roman, Celtic, ect all had alot of gods with a variaty of names. http://www.loggia.com/myth/gods.html has a pretty decent list of alot of names that are now banned.

"Blizzard Employees"

What if a QA guy that no one has ever talked to before and doesn't even work on WoW has an extremely common alias? Why should they get preference?

Which employees does this cover??? Will the janitor who used an alias of Zealot in a bbs game 15 years ago get perference?


"Advertising" & "Trademarks"
"Any non-beneficial, non-WoW related businesses, organizations, or websites"
"Are trademarked/licensed by a company or individual"

That's a few MILLION names. You're going to be doing alot of googling to find a name no one has used.

"Partial or Complete Sentences"

That's ALOT of names that would have been available after all the other sweeps. JusticeKnight TruthSeeker ect ect ect + i.

"Pure Gibberish"

Does Adelskap seem like gibberish to you? Because it means knighthood in swedish. I hope blizzard is going to have alot of translators around, not every language seems as eloquent as english to the untrained eye.

"Real World References"
This category includes both clear and masked names which"

Well there goes every name of a hero throughout history. That's like.. a few hundred thousand names off the top of my head.


"Titles"

Well there goes my name.



Under the current naming policy, I would be amazed if anyone could come up with any name at all.

[SirMoogie]

I really think their Trademark infringement rule is too loosely worded. They say "only if the trademark owner protests", but what do they mean by protest? Formal protests like cease and desist letters? I doubt this because requests such as these mean nothing to internet communities. Look at AOL IM, there are probably hundreds of people named Barbie yet has AOL received notification from Mattel to terminate said accounts, no.

I really think this rule is being used to stifle immersion breaking names, such as Barbie, Batman, McDonald and loosely using the word protest to back it up. By protest I'm sure they mean "If there ever was a complaint over the use of a trademark name". However, the lawsuits that deal with Trademark infringement are only with serious violations where people become confused over ownership. Certainly no one will be confused by the actions of a character named Barbie and stop buying the Barbie doll product as a result (as if there ever was intent in the first place). Such immersion breaking rules don't belong on the normal servers, but the role-playing servers. If anything is to change they should change “protest” to “cease and desist letter” instead.

In case anyone was wondering (or making poor assumptions) my name is of my own fabrication, so I’m not angry a name like Batman won’t be accepted so much as a company could come along someday and trademark my name, thus giving Blizzard reason to eliminate my character name.

[Sadow]

Everyone is still forgetting that they aren't going to be evil overlords, standing over the "Ban" button as they cackle maniacally, sorting through the list of names looking for someone to get rid of. It's going to be used with discretion.

This is, again, a clear-cut case of people over-reacting to a decision that they have not even tested yet. That, and it's rather silly - is the fact that your name can't be LordWhatever really that terrible?

[Squarebob Spongepants]

Under the current naming policy, I would be amazed if anyone could come up with any name at all.
I have several names in mind for different characters, non of which violate the naming policy. So go ahead. Be amazed.

No, I'm not going to tell you any of those names. People will just steal them. I'll tell you this much thou - I'm not naming any of my chars Squarebob Spongepants :p

[Heavenshade]

@heavenshade the name Jesus is not offensive - think in a wider context, try living in a Latin, catholic country.

Perhaps. But the point is that, even if it is not offensive to some, it maybe(or will be, in this case of "Jesus") offensive to others.

[Arioch]

Everyone is still forgetting that they aren't going to be evil overlords, standing over the "Ban" button as they cackle maniacally, sorting through the list of names looking for someone to get rid of. It's going to be used with discretion. How do you know? All it takes is one overzealous Name **** to piss off a lot of players.

(edit: I can't believe you guys bleep out ****.)

[GraceSlick]

Perhaps. But the point is that, even if it is not offensive to some, it maybe(or will be, in this case of "Jesus") offensive to others.

Your reply suggests the very point am I making. The naming rules are very subjective. They give no well-defined demarcation criteria which can be used consistently to separate the set of acceptable name from set of non-acceptable ones. This means that enforcing them will be difficult.

Unless one person made the decision on all names you could be sure that the system would not be applied consistently. And like Arioch says there is then the possiblity for some "Name ****" to abuse the system.

But I think that the rules will not be applied too strictly and that they are, on the whole, a good thing. I can just forsee a few possible legitimate upsets occurring

[Graav Wolfsong]

This is, again, a clear-cut case of people over-reacting to a decision that they have not even tested yet. That, and it's rather silly - is the fact that your name can't be LordWhatever really that terrible?

Wholeheartedly /Agreed

Going on a "Theyre banning all names!!!1121!" rant is ridiculous.

The naming policy leaves plenty of room for names.

And people need to remember that these restrictions will be applied with a healthy dose of common sense. Wich some of the posts in this thread seem to lack by the way.

Blizzard may be a little wonky at times but they are a far cry from anything like SOE and their evil monkey employees.

Religions and religious figures.
Thats fine, no one wants to upset those religious nutcases. They cause way to much ruckus. It's better to just keep it clean and not have to deal with that.

The trademark infringement rule basically means they don't want any Aragorn and Legolas or Captain America and Superman running around.
Besides, no company will act on names like that anyway, the wont be any complaints, this seemed to be an issue for nervous players in CoH when that came around as well, trademark infringement isnt a worry unless a characters name and\or distinctive likeness is exploited for profit.

Sentence or words in a name only applies for names like 'IkilljOO' not for 'Stormrage'. Not for names that fit the world. Almost all Warcraft characters have surnames with two words put together.
Once again, common sense people!

Only argument I've seen that I agree with to a certain extent is that name restricions will only create undercover d00ds.

"I can't be 'MasteRof1337neSs' *sob*" If your name can't be roflcopter or whatever, tough ****, suck it up and deal with it. Why not spend the time youre spending whining to think up a name that fits the warcraft world.

This is Blizzards game and if they want a naming policy that urges players to create names that can fit into the Warcraft universe, thats their prerogative.
The naming policy is very fair and makes alot of sense and the rants about it are ridiculous overreactions.

When a company has to suffer through the abuse of the B.Net legions 24\7, is it any wonder they set strict rules to keep them in check? They've seen the worst gamers the world have to offer, no wonder theyre being cautious. Who would want to let these people loose in an MMO without a leash.

Normally my anarchistic tendencies would make me oppose any strict ruleset like this but the infinite idiocy of legions of gamers tell me this is a wise choice by Blizzard.

[Syndakit]

This is, again, a clear-cut case of people over-reacting to a decision that they have not even tested yet. That, and it's rather silly - is the fact that your name can't be LordWhatever really that terrible?

This can be reversed to say "Is the fact that someone's name is JumpingSpider really that terrible?" And the answer is NO.

[Sadow]

This can be reversed to say "Is the fact that someone's name is JumpingSpider really that terrible?" And the answer is NO.

I do not have a problem with that, and I would not be apt to think that it would be a serious problem to Blizzard - it could be a nickname or whatnot. Again, it's all up to discretion, and since we have not tested out that name in the retail game yet, it would be daft to immediately say that it is acceptable/not acceptable.

[boobi]

This policy is not language-restrictive. Names that fall under this policy will always be subject to the repercussions listed, whether they are inappropriate in English or any other language.
Straight out of the naming policy, and at first it looks smart. Of course there will be people of many nationalities playing wow, so why shouldnt they be treated as well as englishspeaking players?

Then you realise that this can be abused endlessly by people who get pissed when their own name is changed. Most combinations of letters means something in some language that is against the naming policy. (afterall there are between 4-8000 languages spoken on this planet. And just with the more common 200 or so languages there will still be a lot of unusable names)


I think its sad that they have to use such an exstensive naming policy, ive been playing mmogs for quite a long time now, and over the years i have had many laughs at funny/smart names. As someone mentioned before its also a good way to quickly judge people both ways. If someone is named xxxownzj00xxx i will probably not enjoy grouping with that player, but if a players name makes me laugh, we obviously have the same sense of humor and a funny name is a great icebreaker. I usually spend a lot of time trying to come up with a "smart" name and i have met and become friends with a lot of people who initially started chatting with me only because they found my name amusing.

There is also the issue of recognition, if someone has been playing different mmogs over a number of years with the same name, he/she has probably made a lot of friends - but these friends will obviously only recognize him under that alias, or at least much of the "hey man didnt you play that game back in 99?" will disappear - something i find very sad, its one of my favorite things with a new game, rediscovering old friends that ive had much fun with in the past.

For the people who feel that someones name might break their "immersion" in the wow-universe - maybe a regular server is not the place for you anyway?
During the 5 years and 3 mmogs ive played groupchat has usually been a healthy mix of mmogbanter, abbrevations, jokes about current day events etc. One would think that would break the illusion of really being in another world more then someones name not being inline with the fantasy theme of the game? Also realise that your highfantasy name probably means "dirty slut" in some obscure language...

Oh well hopefully blizzard will not be all too harsh on people who walk on the edges of the policy with funny names. I know Daoc had a naming policy and yet i managed to play fine for 2 years with the names Boobi Playmobile and
Halvtysk Streetfighter! :)

see you in open beta :buddies:

[Syndakit]

I do not have a problem with that, and I would not be apt to think that it would be a serious problem to Blizzard - it could be a nickname or whatnot. Again, it's all up to discretion, and since we have not tested out that name in the retail game yet, it would be daft to immediately say that it is acceptable/not acceptable.


Partial or Complete Sentences
This category includes names which:
Consist of multiple words strung together to create partial or complete sentences
Examples: "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", "Howareyou"


Considering its in the naming rules as not acceptable(jumpingspider is a complete sentence), than we CAN immediately say its not acceptable.

[SamuraiBob]

Considering its in the naming rules as not acceptable(jumpingspider is a complete sentence), than we CAN immediately say its not acceptable.


I disagree. JumpingSpider itself is not a complete sentence. It is at most a sentence fragment. A complete sentence requires at at least two words with a hidden subject (three if the subject needs to be in the sentence). JumpingSpider itself is nothing more than the name of a local arachnid, making it acceptable. If you were (able) to put in Hail before it making it HailJumpingSpider, THAT would be a sentence, and therefore, unacceptable. As it stands, it is little more than a proper name or adjective.

Bob

[wakiki]

Ack! It seems as if Blizzard is actually going to spend part of their time removing names like "ILikePie" which will make them more ineffecient about the ones that really matter, such as the vulgar, offensive ones. Doh :(

[Syndakit]

I disagree. JumpingSpider itself is not a complete sentence. It is at most a sentence fragment. A complete sentence requires at at least two words with a hidden subject

True, jumping in my example is more of an adjective modifying spider than a verb. Cut me some slack Ive been out of school for awhile :lol:

[FlareCDE]

Your reply suggests the very point am I making. The naming rules are very subjective. They give no well-defined demarcation criteria which can be used consistently to separate the set of acceptable name from set of non-acceptable ones. This means that enforcing them will be difficult.

Unless one person made the decision on all names you could be sure that the system would not be applied consistently. And like Arioch says there is then the possiblity for some "Name ****" to abuse the system.

But I think that the rules will not be applied too strictly and that they are, on the whole, a good thing. I can just forsee a few possible legitimate upsets occurring
There is no real algorithm to determine whether a name is generally offensive or not. It's going to take a lot more human judgement, the rules are just there so when they do act, they can point and say "we warned you" when someone complains.

The human element does bring in the possibilities of less-than-optimal customer service, for a more politcally correct terminology. The concept of corrupt GMs is not new, however, so we can only hope that Blizzard will keep a careful watch on their own, and have a decent appeals system.

I agree with the last statement there... but no system with without it's perils, either.

[MarkDavis]

I like the name filter policy. A majority of the names are going to be filtered, while others are going to get hammered by the man. Since we will all have to pay a monthly fee, we can expect better treatment of issues as opposed to the crap the past Blizzard communities put up with.

[pimp]

I always liked having names with a second layer on it, be it some kind of referential to an existing person/thing or just a subtle sexual implication.

I remember someone with the name Fleshdancer. I liked that one, but will it be banned now? I can see why names like "Iwilleatyour****" won't be allowed, but names like 'fleshdancer' should be allowed imo. But the naming policiy forces you to be creative and find new ways of putting that extra pun into your name.

My best name at D2 was 'plznottherepapa'. Ha! Still like that one. Oh well.

[Appetitus]

Wow, I was just wondering about WOW and clicked in here.

They want $15 a month and will insist on some crazy, ill defined morality about names? I need to be responsible about a name having some meaning in some far off land?? Cannot use Barbie??


:lol:


This is so sick

:howdy:

[GraceSlick]

There is no real algorithm to determine whether a name is generally offensive or not. It's going to take a lot more human judgement, the rules are just there so when they do act, they can point and say "we warned you" when someone complains.

The human element does bring in the possibilities of less-than-optimal customer service, for a more politcally correct terminology. The concept of corrupt GMs is not new, however, so we can only hope that Blizzard will keep a careful watch on their own, and have a decent appeals system.

I agree with the last statement there... but no system with without it's perils, either.

Exactly. I'm sure we'll just have to wait unless release when we can see precisely how strictly it is to be enforced.

I'm sure Blizzard does not mean to punish anyone will a slight sense of humour or anyone with a name whose spirit fits in with the that of the world even if it seems to be against the naming policy. The policy is just there so people can be given ample warning about all kinds of obviously innapropriate names so people aren't surprised when GMs ask them to rename their characters.

[Blackmoon]

For the people who feel that someones name might break their "immersion" in the wow-universe - maybe a regular server is not the place for you anyway?Then what is? Might I remind you, that Blizzard isn't currently planning on having roleplay servers.

Edit: Just to add a little more to this: In general I'm very happy at them having a naming policy. On the other hand, I do hope they aren't going to be too strict about this. I'm a roleplayer, but I still want my name to be a little more for me than a collection of letters put in fantasy-oriented combination. Therefore my names most often have some kind of meaning. I hope this doesn't take that opportunity away from me.