I'm sorry if this may have been posted before but this is ridiculous
Battle.net is banning people for "offensive" names. Now I'm not that pissed about losing beta, I had a great time and I'm grateful to blizzard for answering my prayers. What I'm worried about is that this may be a sign of things to come. I'm scared that battle.net 2.0 will be a totalitarian type of atmosphere, with less focus on freedom and community (chat channels?). "Character Name: Dopeman#dopeman
The character name being used for the StarCraft II character on this account has been determined to be highly inappropriate. As a result, beta access for StarCraft II is being revoked from the account"
Does anyone think Dopeman is offensive? I mean are people going to be banned for using songs as a namechoice?
Poll: Do you find Dopeman offensive?
No (1555)
78%
Mildly (180)
9%
Yes (172)
9%
Dont care/See the results (97)
5%
2004 total votes
Your vote: Do you find Dopeman offensive?
(Vote): Yes (Vote): No (Vote): Mildly (Vote): Dont care/See the results
Poll: Do you think this is a bad policy?
Yes (1097)
67%
No (487)
30%
Other/See the results/Dont care (52)
3%
1636 total votes
Your vote: Do you think this is a bad policy?
(Vote): Yes (Vote): No (Vote): Other/See the results/Dont care
I mean any name can be construed as offensive? Names like "Demon" may be offensive to religious people. "Demuslim"? What about if a player is openly gay and shows it in his name? Will he be banned?
Recent edit: I responded to blizzard and they replied, I sent them this thread so we'll see if they respond again. I will update if they do
e p to beta.accountsu.
show details 5:26 PM (22 hours ago)
Seriously? Dopeman?
beta.accountsupport@us.battle.net to me
show details 7:34 PM (20 hours ago)
Hello,
Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding the StarCraft II Beta account you are using. We appreciate and understand your point of view, yet have to reiterate Beta testing access is considered a privilege and access can be terminated under the discretion of Blizzard Entertainment at any time.
While these repercussions may seem harsh, we feel very strongly that these names have no place within our games. Therefore, we regret to inform you that we are unable to reverse the account action previously issued.
We thank you in advance for your time and for respecting our position
I sent them a link to this thread and asked for a response, we'll see!
Lol, I don't find Dopeman offensive at all. And to be honest, I don't really care what people use as nicknames...but I guess it's a good policy, even though banning "Dopeman" is a bit overkill.
On May 19 2010 06:51 RRated wrote: Maybe I'm not understanding something, but what exactly is offensive about that name?
Prolly something along the lines of dope being slang for drugs. Or possibly an insult to mentally challenged members of society. leaning towards the first one.
Drug reference, but this is overdone. Still I understand why Blizzard would do it, if they thought it was necessary to implement a filter, they can't let usernames skirt that censorship. Blizzard wanted to make sure this game won't cause any controversy among the nanny culture that we live in. I don't support this ban, but it is a reflection upon our PC culture backed by ridiculous litigation and inane media obsession.
It's not that it's offensive, it's that it's inappropriate. It's like calling your character Marajuana. How do you think it would work out if everybody was running around with names like "Cocaine," "Weed," "Dope," etc.?
On May 19 2010 06:56 Zeke50100 wrote: It's not that it's offensive, it's that it's inappropriate. It's like calling your character Marajuana. How do you think it would work out if everybody was running around with names like "Cocaine," "Weed," "Dope," etc.?
It's a justified policy.
Are you serious? Did you just obtain the internets?
On May 19 2010 06:55 Aphelion wrote: Drug reference, but this is overdone. Still I understand why Blizzard would do it, if they thought it was necessary to implement a filter, they can't let usernames skirt that censorship. Blizzard wanted to make sure this game won't cause any controversy among the nanny culture that we live in. I don't support this ban, but it is a reflection upon our PC culture backed by ridiculous litigation and inane media obsession.
This, and it's beta so they're quicker to throw out bans. When the game is live they'd make your change your id, not just instantly ban you.
Ultimately silly, but I can't fault blizzard for this.
This is absolutely ridiculous. Blizzard's censorship of non-swear words in a game where miniature people are being burned, blown up, and shredded seems hypocritical. Why don't they rename STIM while they're at it? Or is that not supposed to be a drug that the marines take so that they can kill a bit more before they get slaughtered?
I appreciate the banning of very offensive names, but this one certainly doesn't seem bad enough to be woth a ban. It is quite a bad name imo though
Blatantly obvious racist etc names should go for sure.
On May 19 2010 06:56 Tsagacity wrote: The filter censors "backdoor" and "came." I hope that insanely strict approach towards ambiguous interpretations isn't used with names :s
Really? In a game where every second map has a backdoor? "came"!??!!? This is mad.
On May 19 2010 06:55 Aphelion wrote: Drug reference, but this is overdone. Still I understand why Blizzard would do it, if they thought it was necessary to implement a filter, they can't let usernames skirt that censorship. Blizzard wanted to make sure this game won't cause any controversy among the nanny culture that we live in. I don't support this ban, but it is a reflection upon our PC culture backed by ridiculous litigation and inane media obsession.
This, and it's beta so they're quicker to throw out bans. When the game is live they'd make your change your id, not just instantly ban you.
Ultimately silly, but I can't fault blizzard for this.
I agree, however, "Ultimately Silly" is definitely fault-worthy. ^_^
It is absolutely bad policy. There's no question about it. Dopeman? Dope? So now I have to worry about Blizzard crawling up my ass about dope? Gaahh! If it bothers blizz so much, dissallow the words for use in names and identifiers.. don't ban the person.. it's your systems fault! The blizzard from the past we all love is being replaced by a monster corporation.
On May 19 2010 07:04 spinesheath wrote: Really? In a game where every second map has a backdoor? "came"!??!!? This is mad.
It also blocks out "trans" as in when you say "transport". I was trying to talk to one of my friends the other day and said transport and it blocked it out hahaha.
While I do not support the ban for the player in regular circumstances, you guys have to remember that this is the Beta. It is Blizzard's Beta. I; you; we, are all privileged to be a part of it. And if Blizzard wish to implement inane bannings during the Beta, let them do so. I really hope this kind of over policing does not occur once the actual game is released however.
They should set up a system whereby you are allowed (read: forced) to change your Character name to something else, and if it happens a second time, they delete the character and its stats. Immaturity and stupid names on the internet needs to be tolerated seeing as... well... internet.
my friend actually named one of his character in WoW "Blackdickk", after being the "Blackdickk" for 1 and a half months, only then a GM came to talk to him about his name being offensive and offer him a free name change, a name change in WoW cost something like 20 dollars i belief...
and ur "Dopeman" gets a perma account ban? hot damn the policy is tight in SC2...
Maybe this teaches you to come up with something a bit more unique and creative on your next account,
Mostly people who complain about getting banned have these borderline offensive nicknames (like yours, but usually a bit more extreme I agree) or a retarded teenager joke.
Go cry me a fkin river when you're banned for that.
I just see this as Blizzard trying to un-4chan Bnet. I would definitely prefer to have a Bnet without people with names like "f4gstomper" and stuff like that.
I don't smoke pot, but if someone chooses to have some name that loosely ties to that, who cares? I mean, pot abuse is less harmful than alcohol abuse, however, I'm sure someone with an alcohol related name would be left alone. To state that the name is offensive is just plain ignorant (unless of course, drugs such as alcohol, or caffeine are offensive to you as well). Ironically I'm sure a lot of people that claim it as "offensive" consume alcohol at least once in a while or at least accept that people around them do; which in its own is hypocritical.
I understand the argument about it being illegal being in violation of the TOS, however if they are going to take the approach that illegal things are inappropriate, enforce this policy on any name that has any sort of tie to illegal activity.
I also understand that blizzard does not want to step on people's toes on this subject. The average person is incredibly ignorant when it comes to understanding drugs; so people blindly associate illegal drugs with being really bad, while accepting things in our society that are significantly worse for us. But really, if they are going to be so strict about drug related names, change stim packs to something else >.<
They won't ban id's like demuslim or people who are "openly gay and shows it in his name" because doing so would bring about a shitstorm to blizzard. Having family values group and the ACLU trying to screw you at the same time isn't fun. Banning references to drugs, on the other hand, gives them a good public rep, so they will be more prone to that. Although, considering the target demographic, it might not be too great of a policy...
I'm sure in release you just get a warning and a way to change your name, most likely a complete account reset. Do it again and you get banned. That's the usual policy in most games.
On May 19 2010 07:16 Kratisto wrote: They should set up a system whereby you are allowed (read: forced) to change your Character name to something else, and if it happens a second time, they delete the character and its stats. Immaturity and stupid names on the internet needs to be tolerated seeing as... well... internet.
This will probably happen. They don't need to have a second-chance policy for beta because they have hundreds of thousands of people playing and it's fucking beta. They're going to be more lenient and forgiving toward people who pay $60-100 for their product.
its beta, not like they're going to ban paying customers once the game releases for something as minor as an offensive name. They'll just make you choose a new name, no need for the extra punishment for deterrence when you can solve case by case.
It's going to be funny with this policy that 53% agree with, some get banned randomly 2 years losing all their achievements, valid game license, friends list, etc. because 1 person found their name offensive
This is the same kind of policy that Xbox Live has for GamerTags. First off, you have to realize that this is THEIR network. They get to dictate the rules and you have the choice of accepting them or not.
Now...about Dopeman as a name. It's a reference to Dope (drugs). That is inappropriate for a game that they are trying to push as not "Mature" rated. That means that everything in the game has to not be of a mature rating. Yes, that includes players names as well. Why? because a kid could pick this game up and play it and be "exposed" to names that are inappropriate for his/her age.
Having your game rated Mature is pretty bad for business. If the game is NOT rated M, then they have a responsibility to make sure it does not cross that line.
It's beta, it's as much about sales as it is about game balancing. They are providing this to us for free. I realize that you didn't expect 'dopeman' to be banned. It sucks you lost your key.
Are you really in a state of mind where you don't see why they banned 'dopeman?'
This is the beta, they have to implement a naming policy but they don't want to take the time or effort to staff people to monitor it. We're not live they haven't hired the community staff yet. So ... they use a heavy handed policy to try to push people into not screwing around.
It's not hard... just pick a name you wouldn't mind your bud calling you while a cop pulls you over....
@RRated I agree it's silly to censor swear words while people are being blown up... but have you ever watched tv? The hypocracy isn't Blizzard's its the general population's. People are shot in every other tv show, but one tit or f^&k and all hell breaks loose... thats why I love America... and live in Canada
Totalitarian? I think this is taken out of context.
Think about Blizzard as a company that wants to sell a game that to an audience. Obviously, the larger the audience the better (more money). Restrictions such as "18+" rating or "contains drug content" or "explicit language" or "nudity" narrows an audience.
While it may be true that many of us are exposed to... see above... the fact of the matter is, some parents don't like their kids exposed to it. Therefore, to have the largest audience possible and have a game that can appeal to the largest audience possible, restrictions are put on the game itself rather than influencing the audience's or audience's parent's decision to purchase the game.
So before you go out and say that Blizzard is going to be all controlling and freedom restricting (very American of you) stop and think of it as a business decision first and ask "Why?" instead of making some garbage pole about whether people find it offensive or not (polls like those give zero useful information other than inflame the discussion).
Either way, I doubt my inability to create user names like "child pervert", "dope man", or "fuck tard" will deter me from purchasing the game. Afterall, I buy the game to play it, not as a means to be an "online billboard" per se. I guess since you also don't have beta anymore, you decided you had nothing better to do than to come on here and inflame a trivial discussion that will go nowhere.
P.S. Blizzard already said they are implementing chat channels for battle.net 2.0 after release. So get your facts?
There should be an option to allow us whether we want the chat filter's or not.... seriously, they rate the game to be 13+ and it's moderated to a point where it's becoming a joke and turning into PG.... -.-"
Besides, some of the names aren't even offensive at all, I guess it's to please the parent's so it will be in-line with their goals of expanding the e-Sports scene if parents accept the less 'violent' use of language in the game I suppose?
Its probably because dope is slang for cannabis but the fact of the matter is unless one has smoked cannabis or knows about slang terms for it 'Dopeman' would not automatically equate to 'cannabis man' for those people who don't.
On May 19 2010 07:37 Kinslayer wrote: Now...about Dopeman as a name. It's a reference to Dope (drugs). That is inappropriate for a game that they are trying to push as not "Mature" rated. That means that everything in the game has to not be of a mature rating. Yes, that includes players names as well. Why? because a kid could pick this game up and play it and be "exposed" to names that are inappropriate for his/her age.
Having your game rated Mature is pretty bad for business. If the game is NOT rated M, then they have a responsibility to make sure it does not cross that line.
I've never seen any ESRB ratings that take into account what an online playerbase might do with said game. All games that have online component seem to include a statement that gameplay may change online next to the rating requirement. I can only imagine WoW being rated based on what guild chat says in some guilds.
On May 19 2010 07:37 Kinslayer wrote: Now...about Dopeman as a name. It's a reference to Dope (drugs). That is inappropriate for a game that they are trying to push as not "Mature" rated. That means that everything in the game has to not be of a mature rating. Yes, that includes players names as well. Why? because a kid could pick this game up and play it and be "exposed" to names that are inappropriate for his/her age.
Having your game rated Mature is pretty bad for business. If the game is NOT rated M, then they have a responsibility to make sure it does not cross that line.
I've never seen any ESRB ratings that take into account what an online playerbase might do with said game. All games that have online component seem to include a statement that gameplay may change online next to the rating requirement. I can only imagine WoW being rated based on what guild chat says in some guilds.
It's a little more detailed than that actually. While you are correct in saying that all games say ESRB rating may be different when playing online, that is extremely specific to the ONLINE experience only. Meaning, when you are playing vs other people, the company making the game can't be held responsible for what those players say to you.
BUT... gamertags/nicknames/etc are part of the game's UI. You can completely choose not to play online but browse the leaderboards and you will see inappropriate names. That you can hold the company accountable for. The game's User Interface has to be not M rated including data coming from leaderboards/etc. What happens when you're actually playing online and interacting with other people in real time is a different story.
On May 19 2010 07:38 Paramore wrote: Totalitarian? I think this is taken out of context.
Think about Blizzard as a company that wants to sell a game that to an audience. Obviously, the larger the audience the better (more money). Restrictions such as "18+" rating or "contains drug content" or "explicit language" or "nudity" narrows an audience.
While it may be true that many of us are exposed to... see above... the fact of the matter is, some parents don't like their kids exposed to it. Therefore, to have the largest audience possible and have a game that can appeal to the largest audience possible, restrictions are put on the game itself rather than influencing the audience's or audience's parent's decision to purchase the game.
So before you go out and say that Blizzard is going to be all controlling and freedom restricting (very American of you) stop and think of it as a business decision first and ask "Why?" instead of making some garbage pole about whether people find it offensive or not (polls like those give zero useful information other than inflame the discussion).
Either way, I doubt my inability to create user names like "child pervert", "dope man", or "fuck tard" will deter me from purchasing the game. Afterall, I buy the game to play it, not as a means to be an "online billboard" per se. I guess since you also don't have beta anymore, you decided you had nothing better to do than to come on here and inflame a trivial discussion that will go nowhere.
P.S. Blizzard already said they are implementing chat channels for battle.net 2.0 after release. So get your facts?
Child pervert is not anywhere near Dopeman. and I'm not American.
Children on the internet should be aware and their parents should be even more aware. Whats to stop someone from saying sexually suggestive stuff? or bypassing swear filter with numbers? Internet in general should have a mature rating. are you really suggesting that they banned my accoutn because they feared names like Dopeman would lead to a mature rating? I sincerely doubt this.
For all the flamers, I thanked blizzard in my OP and I am not bitter about the banning (i have other accounts), I wanted to probe the masses.
To all of those complaining about the censor chat system, you know you can be big boys and turn it off right?
I could see why they would ban "dopeman" but I personally don't find it offensive. It's Blizzard's system and they have a right to run it however they want. It's strict enforcement sure, but there's nothing "wrong" with Blizzard being overprotective with its premiere multiplayer system.
On May 19 2010 07:38 Paramore wrote: Totalitarian? I think this is taken out of context.
Think about Blizzard as a company that wants to sell a game that to an audience. Obviously, the larger the audience the better (more money). Restrictions such as "18+" rating or "contains drug content" or "explicit language" or "nudity" narrows an audience.
While it may be true that many of us are exposed to... see above... the fact of the matter is, some parents don't like their kids exposed to it. Therefore, to have the largest audience possible and have a game that can appeal to the largest audience possible, restrictions are put on the game itself rather than influencing the audience's or audience's parent's decision to purchase the game.
So before you go out and say that Blizzard is going to be all controlling and freedom restricting (very American of you) stop and think of it as a business decision first and ask "Why?" instead of making some garbage pole about whether people find it offensive or not (polls like those give zero useful information other than inflame the discussion).
Either way, I doubt my inability to create user names like "child pervert", "dope man", or "fuck tard" will deter me from purchasing the game. Afterall, I buy the game to play it, not as a means to be an "online billboard" per se. I guess since you also don't have beta anymore, you decided you had nothing better to do than to come on here and inflame a trivial discussion that will go nowhere.
P.S. Blizzard already said they are implementing chat channels for battle.net 2.0 after release. So get your facts?
I understand your point; however, whether the person's online ID is a drug reference, or the chat that is said online is a drug reference is essentially the same thing. You can't moderate the chat completely. This is why most games state that ratings may change during online play. The swear filter is easily bypassed, and in most cases is disabled anyways. So really, Blizzard isn't protecting kids from seeing inappropriate content by limiting people's IDs nor are they impacting the game's rating.
its a good policy, there are kids and sensitives who play blizzard games too, thats why theres a language filter. Dopeman isnt an offensive name and its deffinitely overkill by blizzard to ban you for this, but it is stil a good policy, hopefully they just tune it down a little in terms of strictness
On May 19 2010 07:38 Paramore wrote: Totalitarian? I think this is taken out of context.
Think about Blizzard as a company that wants to sell a game that to an audience. Obviously, the larger the audience the better (more money). Restrictions such as "18+" rating or "contains drug content" or "explicit language" or "nudity" narrows an audience.
While it may be true that many of us are exposed to... see above... the fact of the matter is, some parents don't like their kids exposed to it. Therefore, to have the largest audience possible and have a game that can appeal to the largest audience possible, restrictions are put on the game itself rather than influencing the audience's or audience's parent's decision to purchase the game.
So before you go out and say that Blizzard is going to be all controlling and freedom restricting (very American of you) stop and think of it as a business decision first and ask "Why?" instead of making some garbage pole about whether people find it offensive or not (polls like those give zero useful information other than inflame the discussion).
Either way, I doubt my inability to create user names like "child pervert", "dope man", or "fuck tard" will deter me from purchasing the game. Afterall, I buy the game to play it, not as a means to be an "online billboard" per se. I guess since you also don't have beta anymore, you decided you had nothing better to do than to come on here and inflame a trivial discussion that will go nowhere.
P.S. Blizzard already said they are implementing chat channels for battle.net 2.0 after release. So get your facts?
I understand your point; however, whether the person's online ID is a drug reference, or the chat that is said online is a drug reference is essentially the same thing. You can't moderate the chat completely. This is why most games state that ratings may change during online play. The swear filter is easily bypassed, and in most cases is disabled anyways. So really, Blizzard isn't protecting kids from seeing inappropriate content by limiting people's IDs nor are they impacting the game's rating.
ah...but they are protecting them If the kids choose to go online and play, then all bets are off to what happens in that game session.
But...if the kid doesn't play online and just happens to browse the leaderboards to see his friend's rating or whatever and sees player IDs that are offensive, then Blizzard is to blame since that is not an online session.
On May 19 2010 07:38 Kantutan wrote: Not offensive, but dopeman is quite a stupid name. Hardcore stoners are so bloody annoying.
Fail? Its a reference to a song, I haven't smoked weed in over 9 years.
If hardcore stoners are bloody annoying perhaps you should relax? Maybe smoke a joint?
No, not fail. Like Blizzard is supposed to go and find out first if a person named 'dopeman' based their name off a song or if they're one of those people who pride themselves on smoking pot. I have smoked pot, for the record. But based on experience, anyone who constantly talks about pot or references it in their names are complete idiots. I guess you happen to be an exception then, but I don't see why you're surprised at all that Blizzard is banning names like these.
Outright banning is ridiculous. Hope that changes to resemble Xbox LIVE policy, where you just get told to change your name. I used to use Opiumjones as an alias and XBL wouldn't let me register it because of the word "opium". So i changed it to OPMjones and later got told it was inappropriate. I changed it and moved on, which is what I suggest some of you angsty teens try doing.
Terrible policy. Someone probably got pissed at some cheese you did and reported you for it. Honestly though, I used to report people in WoW if they had a mildy offensive name if they ganked me a bunch. I'd friend them, then a few days later I'd have a random person on my friends list and ask them what happened. Haha, they'd be so pissed. Yeah it's a dick move, but I don't think blizzard should be so anal about it. They're well within their rights to dictate how you should name your character, but banning is a bit over-reactive.
If anything, they should at least give you a warning and make you change it to something less inappropriate.
I still dont understand the whole pursuit of filtering out any possible cuss word in any language. Last time I was chatting in Dutch with some mates and apparently the word 'hier' is filtered... (it means "here", like in 'her, there, yonder' ) . I mean why on earth!? Hier isnt even an English cuss word... I even looked up urban dictionary and nothing even is remotely the same as hier.
On May 19 2010 07:54 Playguuu wrote: Honestly though, I used to report people in WoW if they had a mildy offensive name if they ganked me a bunch. I'd friend them, then a few days later I'd have a random person on my friends list and ask them what happened. Haha, they'd be so pissed. Yeah it's a dick move, but I don't think blizzard should be so anal about it. They're well within their rights to dictate how you should name your character, but banning is a bit over-reactive..
People like you shouldn't be playing games online and you know it.
I don't like this whole reporting stuff...feels like we're in some totalitarian state with no freedom of speech.
this is a terrible policy and whoever banned you from the beta for having a name like that really needs a serious attitude readjustment, at least that's my opinion
On May 19 2010 06:56 Zeke50100 wrote: It's not that it's offensive, it's that it's inappropriate. It's like calling your character Marajuana. How do you think it would work out if everybody was running around with names like "Cocaine," "Weed," "Dope," etc.?
Blizzard is taking this too far. The number of people in the world who's parents won't buy them sc2 SOLELY because of no filters is nothing close to the lower customer satisfaction that the filters bring, that is if the former case even exists.
On May 19 2010 07:38 Kantutan wrote: Not offensive, but dopeman is quite a stupid name. Hardcore stoners are so bloody annoying.
Fail? Its a reference to a song, I haven't smoked weed in over 9 years.
If hardcore stoners are bloody annoying perhaps you should relax? Maybe smoke a joint?
No, not fail. Like Blizzard is supposed to go and find out first if a person named 'dopeman' based their name off a song or if they're one of those people who pride themselves on smoking pot. I have smoked pot, for the record. But based on experience, anyone who constantly talks about pot or references it in their names are complete idiots. I guess you happen to be an exception then, but I don't see why you're surprised at all that Blizzard is banning names like these.
Yes fail? The name is clearly not offensive. Also perhaps you should not make sweeping generalizations about people who reference pot. Its not a good trait.
Blizzard wants to reap as much as it can from SC2. It saw the success of SC1 in Korea and is absolutely determined to become the sole owner of everything SC2-related (undoubtedly this was a factor in the Kespa decision, but I'm not saying Blizzard was solely at fault); no LAN, no chat channels (yet, hopefully soon), several expansion packs for SC2... its a money-milking machine planned to squeeze the dollars from everywhere and everyone possible. If you're asking whether SC2 will do such things like this without notice, yes.
After all, people with banned IDs are obviously not going to just suddenly give up the game because of that (the official game isnt even out yet, so records don't matter too much yet), although it may frustrate us. However, there are some people out there who would stop playing SC2 because of offensive names or whatever, and Blizzard is trying to not lose that market. Also, it helps that there's less chance of any religious trouble if there are no religion-bashing IDs out there...
edit:
On May 19 2010 07:26 rockon1215 wrote: My alt name is usually Gabe Uttsechs. Do you think that would be banned?
lol at first i thought your name was trying to say "gave _____"
Only old people refer to dope as weed....dope is heroine...so I can see where they are going but I disagree with any kind of censorship. It is also a little late and useless to be trying to protect kids who are being bombarded with language, sex, and violence on a daly basis from school, television, and internet.
On May 19 2010 06:56 Tsagacity wrote: The filter censors "backdoor" and "came." I hope that insanely strict approach towards ambiguous interpretations isn't used with names :s
Ya this happened to me already. I was using a key named "mySTDhurts" and they said it was high inappropriate. I just hope they don't see my other username which is way worse than that one Keep trying blizzard, I'm going to make it to may 31!!!!! WOOOO
Here is the message I received: Character Name: MySTDhurts#chunkybuddha
The character name being used for the StarCraft II character on this account has been determined to be highly inappropriate. As a result, beta access for StarCraft II is being revoked from the account. Please keep in mind that the purpose of the beta is to gather data to help improve and polish the game. Beta testing access is considered a privilege and access can be terminated under the discretion of Blizzard Entertainment at any time.
This will not affect your access to the retail release version of StarCraft II.
Thank you for your understanding regarding this matter.
Blizzard built the system, therefore they have & will always set the rules within it. If you do not like their 'totalitarian' system (or strict stance on names) then you are free to play another RTS so don't dis-pare as I'm sure one other will allows offensive names. I for one do not find it beyond blizz's right to filter out certain names as it helps clear up the system.
You may notice in your beginning post that you used language that steered towards to your side by giving incorrect wording.
No where in the italics (assuming that is Blizz's message), does the word offense, offensive or any other forms be used.
Dopeman does not offend people.The reason why you were revoked is because younger kids (well, not that much younger) are part of the Starcraft II pool and names like Dopeman does not help discourage the usage of drugs.
We want an environment that is friendly and healthy. Therefore, though I dont' find it "offensive as your poll asks," I agree that Blizzard should take such actions, though simply revoking your beta seems unnecessary, just delete the character like the game resets do.
Though this shows a good precedent to not make names relating to drugs, sex, alcohol (which is a drug...) and whatnot.
Edit:
And yeah, by making sure your account's name is appropriate is totally restrictive of rights, and TOTALLY tolatarian. That evil company, how could they do that to us. We should have the freedom to make names like Totallyfullofdick and sexisbetterthanschool because it's sooo cool. I mean, first the language filter and then this? Where will it end? Maybe they won't even let us rush the opponents as it can be too distressing if the enemy loses!
And yes, sarcasm...
Second Edit: And it really feels like this thread is just a place to complain about losing your privilege for something stupid. You say you are glad you got the chance and aren't annoyed but I really have something that tells me you're not completely truthful.
Blizzard's rules on user names are not new. Millions of us worldwide agreed to their user names code of conduct when we clicked agreed for the EULA and Terms of Service for our WoW accounts.
Here's the 2008 versiom, but it's been around since 2005
snip ..... In particular, you may not use any name:
(i) Belonging to another person with the intent to impersonate that person, including without limitation a "Game Master" or any other employee or agent of Blizzard;
(ii) That incorporates vulgar language or which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
(iii) Subject to the rights of any other person or entity without written authorization from that person or entity;
(iv) That belongs to a popular culture figure, celebrity, or media personality;
(v) That is, contains, or is substantially similar to a trademark or service mark, whether registered or not;
(vi) Belonging to any religious figure or deity;
(vii) Taken from Blizzard's Warcraft products, including character names from the Warcraft series of novels;
(viii) Related to drugs, sex, alcohol, or criminal activity;
(ix) Comprised of partial or complete sentence (e.g., "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", etc);
(x) Comprised of gibberish (e.g., "Asdfasdf", "Jjxccm", "Hvlldrm");
(xi) Referring to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. " "Britneyspears", "Austinpowers", "Batman")
(xii) That utilizes "Leet" or "Dudespeak" (e.g., "Roflcopter", "xxnewbxx", "Roxxoryou")
(xiii) That incorporates titles. For purposes of this subsection, "titles" shall include without limitation 'rank' titles (e.g. , "CorporalTed," or "GeneralVlad"), monarchistic or fantasy titles (e.g., "KingMike", "LordSanchez"), and religious titles (e.g., "ThePope," or "Reverend Al").
You may not use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the name restrictions listed above, nor can you have a "first" and "last" name that, when combined, violate the above name restrictions.
I imagine we'll all have to agree to something similar for SC2 on Battle.net. However, 99% of the time wow players were asked to change their name and weren't even suspended, and some got away with it if their character names were borderline and amusing.
Remember: ALWAYS read the small print, and ignorance is no defence in law.
Wow leave it to America to even sensor our video games further. I think this is taking a step in the direction of making the game accessible to everyone no matter the age, but even in WoW they made you change your name a million times! Even younger kids play that game as well--and oh boy what they read in trade chat....
Their word filter IS increadibly strict, to the point of silliness.
On the other hand, since "dopeman" might as well be "weedman", referring of course to illegal (in most countries) drugs... obviously, it's "offensive" Not like, insulting offensive, but.. Offensive to those that have issues with drugs and, more importantly, drug culture... So there you go.
I voted mildly. I can see how the name could be construed as offensive, although it is a little bit extreme. I don't really have a problem with the policy, think they just should have handled it differently.
Can't they just make you change your name? i.e. You can't login until you've changed it and they give you some way of changing it.
I guess this is a beta, and in the retail release I'm sure a system like that will be introduced.
On May 19 2010 09:01 Niarro wrote: Their word filter IS increadibly strict, to the point of silliness.
On the other hand, since "dopeman" might as well be "weedman", referring of course to illegal (in most countries) drugs... obviously, it's "offensive" Not like, insulting offensive, but.. Offensive to those that have issues with drugs and, more importantly, drug culture... So there you go.
That line of reasoning is wicked retahded.
"I have issues with 'black culture', ban blackman!"
Maybe this came about because someone reported it? Blizzard generally doesn't implement super strict rules about names, but when people get uppity, they will take action.
I don't like the idea of censorship, but since people are generally such big pussies about what kind of content their kids are exposed to (even though SC2 is technically rated "Teen"), this shit is inevitable.
You see, blizzard has merged with konami and have begun banning offensive and non pokemon names.. Yes thats right! you gotta name yourself after weeaboo obsessive themes.
on a side note; just make a disney name, dopeman isnt exactly original, i can understand your grief but ultimately dont care.
Children play our game: We have humans being killed in the most bloody fashion possible. IN FACT, you can see a marine who's been cleaved in half vertically slowly split and fall to the ground... We have Marines who use drugs to enchance their ability to fight at a higher capacity. We have an entire race predicated on solely wanting to consume the universe and add it to their gene pool...
YET we want to provide a wholesome environment where drug use is not encouraged to children. (unless they intend to shoot stim packs in order to kill other people more efficiently!)
I wish my name was Nicholas Digger, and that I was overweight.
So I could call myself BigNickDigger, and then SUE Them when they told me my name was offensive.
I think it's way over the top that they ban you for having an "offensive" name. I can understand them forcing you to change it to something else, but a flat out ban for it is stupid.
On May 19 2010 07:04 spinesheath wrote: Really? In a game where every second map has a backdoor? "came"!??!!? This is mad.
It also blocks out "trans" as in when you say "transport". I was trying to talk to one of my friends the other day and said transport and it blocked it out hahaha.
On May 19 2010 06:56 Zeke50100 wrote: It's not that it's offensive, it's that it's inappropriate. It's like calling your character Marajuana. How do you think it would work out if everybody was running around with names like "Cocaine," "Weed," "Dope," etc.?
It's a justified policy.
"Dope" has multiple meanings. Who knows what definition of "dope" he meant to use?
Of course calling yourself "Cocaine" "Meth" "LSD" etc etc. is inappropriate... BUT is he doing that? NO! He's using an indirect term that could or could not mean Marijuana. That`s like banning someone for calling themselves "Stardust", "Crystal", "Acid", "Eve" etc etc etc because it COULD mean something inappropriate.
Let's say a innocent boy is making a name for sc2. He calls himself "Acid" because he thinks it's just SUPER DUPER cool. And then the next thing he knows, Blizzard bans him for have a "inappropriate" name. How is that fair? You can't justify whether or not the boy meant LSD or just Acid because he thought is was cool.
This justified policy of which you speak of doesn't apply to OP's name because it has no clear and direct relation to weed. As he stated before, the name derived from a music artist. Did Blizzard know that? No they didn't, but they still banned him without warning.
The best thing to do is to give a warning first or just justify to them your true incentive for choosing that name.
Ok banning you for that name, Dopeman, is stupid. Sure dope can mean a drug, but it can also mean, awesome. "Hey man, that shit was so dope! Good job!"
On May 19 2010 09:26 StewKer wrote: Ok banning you for that name, Dopeman, is stupid. Sure dope can mean a drug, but it can also mean, awesome. "Hey man, that shit was so dope! Good job!"
it can also mean 'hey your the dope selling man' which is probably the only thing they thought as they hit the ban key - but perhaps you should still attempt to reason it with them, it couldn't hurt, right?
Blue post already responded to someone that was banned for their name 'weedking' 2 months ago. They said they don't actively look for offensive names so if you were banned for a name it was because someone reported you. Obviously you should consider that being in beta is a privilege not a right.
I wonder if they would ban me if I named myself Crackling. O_o
On May 19 2010 07:38 Paramore wrote: Totalitarian? I think this is taken out of context.
Think about Blizzard as a company that wants to sell a game that to an audience. Obviously, the larger the audience the better (more money). Restrictions such as "18+" rating or "contains drug content" or "explicit language" or "nudity" narrows an audience.
Well as someone pointed out the game already contains drug use... marines use stimpack, and the icon for the skill is a syringe - chances are the game already has "contains drug content" on the classification label.
On May 19 2010 08:56 No-Killer-Instinct wrote: ..... In particular, you may not use any name:
(i) Belonging to another person with the intent to impersonate that person, including without limitation a "Game Master" or any other employee or agent of Blizzard;
(ii) That incorporates vulgar language or which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
(iii) Subject to the rights of any other person or entity without written authorization from that person or entity;
(iv) That belongs to a popular culture figure, celebrity, or media personality;
(v) That is, contains, or is substantially similar to a trademark or service mark, whether registered or not;
(vi) Belonging to any religious figure or deity;
(vii) Taken from Blizzard's Warcraft products, including character names from the Warcraft series of novels;
(viii) Related to drugs, sex, alcohol, or criminal activity;
(ix) Comprised of partial or complete sentence (e.g., "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", etc);
(x) Comprised of gibberish (e.g., "Asdfasdf", "Jjxccm", "Hvlldrm");
(xi) Referring to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. " "Britneyspears", "Austinpowers", "Batman")
(xii) That utilizes "Leet" or "Dudespeak" (e.g., "Roflcopter", "xxnewbxx", "Roxxoryou")
(xiii) That incorporates titles. For purposes of this subsection, "titles" shall include without limitation 'rank' titles (e.g. , "CorporalTed," or "GeneralVlad"), monarchistic or fantasy titles (e.g., "KingMike", "LordSanchez"), and religious titles (e.g., "ThePope," or "Reverend Al").
You may not use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the name restrictions listed above, nor can you have a "first" and "last" name that, when combined, violate the above name restrictions.
LOL. I bolded the rules that are just outrageously silly. Especially the last one on titles...I dont understand it why is KingMike or LordSanchez bad?
The one one religious figures is also quite silly. There are so many religious names that are common...many people in this world are named Jesus for instance.
Conceivably Blizzard could find something wrong with any name.
On May 19 2010 07:15 jamesr12 wrote: it also filter the word "black" the filter is crazy turned it off after like 5 games
That's pretty racist on blizzard's part... if you filter black you also have to filter white, yellow and brown.
they actually did filter white i was amazed the other day when i tried to type it and it didn't work
at least i think that's the word that was filtered if not there is at least one more ridiculous word they are filtering
It's really bad because there are probably a lot of people that are legitimately using the filter so they don't have to hear fuck and shit every five minutes but have to put up with normal everyday words being blocked out, the only people it hurts are the people they're trying to protect as everyone else is going to be playing with the filter off.
People should come up with more creative names then :D
Pretty dumb policy though. I can see where blizzard is coming from though since they have tens of millions of people, they have to be like politicians in their level of "political correctness" or else people will become offended.
All these banned words are actually most likely because they've received complaints from many people who play World of Warcraft.
On May 19 2010 10:10 FabledIntegral wrote: Dope is more so used to describe something as "awesome" than it is associated with drugs nowadays...
I'm going to disagree seeing as it is no longer 1999 and I'm going to side with blizzard on this one.
Dopeman refers clearly to drugs. I'm a little perplexed as to how so many people don't understand this.
If this thread was about the language filter I would agree that it's a little over the top. (However you can turn it off so is it really that big of a deal? I think not!)
And you were probably reported for something or pissed someone off who was overly sensitive (who then reported you) thus your name appeared on their radar. I don't think this is the sort of thing blizzard hunts around for.
On May 19 2010 10:28 skipgamer wrote: I doubt they would flat-out ban you if you purchased the game, just tell you to change your name (as they do in WoW)
because it's beta it's just less hassle for them to ban atm.
so... who cares really?
back in my dark days when I played wow someone reported my name roflcaust and they didn't make me change it. Would have thought this case was not nearly as bad
Banning over Dopeman is a bit harsh, however the policy is good and NECESSARY, do you want kids playing with people with names like PussyRocks, IFuckYourMomLongTime, etc. ?
I remember when i played EQ2 i made my name CharlieManson and i went back on the next day and my name had been changed to Char. I thought that was pretty dumb but was like w/e
On May 19 2010 10:45 Windblade wrote: Banning over Dopeman is a bit harsh, however the policy is good and NECESSARY, do you want kids playing with people with names like PussyRocks, IFuckYourMomLongTime, etc. ?
I think not.
can't they just not let u make names that have filtered words in them?
On May 19 2010 07:24 QueueQueue wrote: I don't smoke pot, but if someone chooses to have some name that loosely ties to that, who cares? I mean, pot abuse is less harmful than alcohol abuse, however, I'm sure someone with an alcohol related name would be left alone. To state that the name is offensive is just plain ignorant (unless of course, drugs such as alcohol, or caffeine are offensive to you as well). Ironically I'm sure a lot of people that claim it as "offensive" consume alcohol at least once in a while or at least accept that people around them do; which in its own is hypocritical.
I understand the argument about it being illegal being in violation of the TOS, however if they are going to take the approach that illegal things are inappropriate, enforce this policy on any name that has any sort of tie to illegal activity.
I also understand that blizzard does not want to step on people's toes on this subject. The average person is incredibly ignorant when it comes to understanding drugs; so people blindly associate illegal drugs with being really bad, while accepting things in our society that are significantly worse for us. But really, if they are going to be so strict about drug related names, change stim packs to something else >.<
I second QueueQueue's opinion portrayed in his post on this subject.
Wow, who the hell does blizzard think they are? Australia? Thought police? Isn't starcraft rated Teen? Have you heard the words teens use these days in their speech?
How can dopeman be offensive in any way.
I understand that this is beta, and access to it is provided "as is" with all rights reserved by Blizzard, but when I pay money for the actual game, I expect to not be banned outright for a silly name.
(ix) Comprised of partial or complete sentence (e.g., "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", etc); (x) Comprised of gibberish (e.g., "Asdfasdf", "Jjxccm", "Hvlldrm"); (xi) Referring to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. " "Britneyspears", "Austinpowers", "Batman") (xii) That utilizes "Leet" or "Dudespeak" (e.g., "Roflcopter", "xxnewbxx", "Roxxoryou") (xiii) That incorporates titles. For purposes of this subsection, "titles" shall include without limitation 'rank' titles (e.g. , "CorporalTed," or "GeneralVlad"), monarchistic or fantasy titles (e.g., "KingMike", "LordSanchez"), and religious titles (e.g., "ThePope," or "Reverend Al").
All these rules are utterly retarded. DO YOU REALIZE BY.FLASH WOULD BE BANNED ? omg omg omg
Anyway, there have been a few cases where this policy was enforced where it wasn't warranted, but by and large it's a good idea. I can't possibly fathom how you could choose a name like "Dopeman" and not expect someone to take exception.
If you want to pick a fight about society's understanding of Marijuana, there are other (and better) avenues to do so.
All these rules are utterly retarded.
They're the same rules that Blizzard has been using for years. This isn't something they just whipped up yesterday.
On May 19 2010 07:58 condoriano wrote: Anyone knows why this happened? It "expired"? Or did they not like my "rottedchode" id?
hahhahaha... i'm glad you are banned, i was one of the many players that reported you for talking mad shit during game and being a horribly bad mannered player both in and out of the game... seriously deserve that.. karma all the way...
i hate all censorship of any kind, and this is pretty bad rofl
I could at least understand where they're coming from if they wont let you be named like cunt or fuck or shit or something, but DOPEMAN? That's just a guy whose dope!
On May 19 2010 07:24 QueueQueue wrote: I don't smoke pot, but if someone chooses to have some name that loosely ties to that, who cares? I mean, pot abuse is less harmful than alcohol abuse, however, I'm sure someone with an alcohol related name would be left alone. To state that the name is offensive is just plain ignorant (unless of course, drugs such as alcohol, or caffeine are offensive to you as well). Ironically I'm sure a lot of people that claim it as "offensive" consume alcohol at least once in a while or at least accept that people around them do; which in its own is hypocritical.
I understand the argument about it being illegal being in violation of the TOS, however if they are going to take the approach that illegal things are inappropriate, enforce this policy on any name that has any sort of tie to illegal activity.
I also understand that blizzard does not want to step on people's toes on this subject. The average person is incredibly ignorant when it comes to understanding drugs; so people blindly associate illegal drugs with being really bad, while accepting things in our society that are significantly worse for us. But really, if they are going to be so strict about drug related names, change stim packs to something else >.<
I second QueueQueue's opinion portrayed in his post on this subject.
Lol, seriously? You're turning this into a "is weed bad" argument? Drugs are illegal. Reference to illegal activities can be construed as an inappropriate name, end of story. Your opinions on weed as an illegal substance are completely irrelevant.
Wait, why aren't the chat filter and username issue subject to the same policy. I want to say 'fuck' in chat it's cool. If another player has the filter on it protects them from the word. Why doesn't it just filter usernames as well? %*&$man.
On May 19 2010 13:29 thopol wrote: Wait, why aren't the chat filter and username issue subject to the same policy. I want to say 'fuck' in chat it's cool. If another player has the filter on it protects them from the word. Why doesn't it just filter usernames as well? %*&$man.
Yeah, yeah. That's my point. Why can't users who are concerned about being exposed to inappropriate language turn on a filter that protects them from both chat and usernames? It seems like they solved the problem already and then made the problem.
On May 19 2010 07:24 QueueQueue wrote: I don't smoke pot, but if someone chooses to have some name that loosely ties to that, who cares? I mean, pot abuse is less harmful than alcohol abuse, however, I'm sure someone with an alcohol related name would be left alone. To state that the name is offensive is just plain ignorant (unless of course, drugs such as alcohol, or caffeine are offensive to you as well). Ironically I'm sure a lot of people that claim it as "offensive" consume alcohol at least once in a while or at least accept that people around them do; which in its own is hypocritical.
I understand the argument about it being illegal being in violation of the TOS, however if they are going to take the approach that illegal things are inappropriate, enforce this policy on any name that has any sort of tie to illegal activity.
I also understand that blizzard does not want to step on people's toes on this subject. The average person is incredibly ignorant when it comes to understanding drugs; so people blindly associate illegal drugs with being really bad, while accepting things in our society that are significantly worse for us. But really, if they are going to be so strict about drug related names, change stim packs to something else >.<
I second QueueQueue's opinion portrayed in his post on this subject.
Lol, seriously? You're turning this into a "is weed bad" argument? Drugs are illegal. Reference to illegal activities can be construed as an inappropriate name, end of story. Your opinions on weed as an illegal substance are completely irrelevant.
Wow it's like blizzard is turning into Big Brother. You can't make a name that is a referance to an illegal activity. So like would I get banned for making the name speed because speeding is illegal? Or how about the name Jay. I mean jaywalking is illegal too right? There's a lot of places where it's illegal to park too, they should ban the name park as well, just to see how well it goes over in Korea.
They better not start banning people for "funnybananaman" since bananas are penis shaped or for some other retarded logic like what they're already using -_-
Banning offensive names is a good idea. Doing so without giving the person a chance to change their name in case like this is bad policy. The first step should be denying access until the player chooses a new name. Repeat offenders can then be banned. Summarily banning without a warning is bad business.
For all they know, dopeman could just be referring to a silly person. Only people that KNOW about weed would get the reference, therefore children and stupid people can't be offended unless someone explains to them that it's a nickname for an illegal drug. Also, if a grownup is offended by the word dope, they're overly sensitive.
Have you noticed how sensitive the chat filter is, it's probably the same guy removing names lol seriously who ever is one that takes offense to everything like "xbox" is a mature word apparently so is steamrolled.
Although i do think dopeman is in poor taste it's not really offensive. I mean drugdealer or crackhead not really a good name but it's not NIGGERKILLER or nazilover, jewyou etc it's not exactly targeting a group or anything.
It better just be a warn and name change for retail else i feel they are going to get a lawsuit.
On May 19 2010 07:24 QueueQueue wrote: I don't smoke pot, but if someone chooses to have some name that loosely ties to that, who cares? I mean, pot abuse is less harmful than alcohol abuse, however, I'm sure someone with an alcohol related name would be left alone. To state that the name is offensive is just plain ignorant (unless of course, drugs such as alcohol, or caffeine are offensive to you as well). Ironically I'm sure a lot of people that claim it as "offensive" consume alcohol at least once in a while or at least accept that people around them do; which in its own is hypocritical.
I understand the argument about it being illegal being in violation of the TOS, however if they are going to take the approach that illegal things are inappropriate, enforce this policy on any name that has any sort of tie to illegal activity.
I also understand that blizzard does not want to step on people's toes on this subject. The average person is incredibly ignorant when it comes to understanding drugs; so people blindly associate illegal drugs with being really bad, while accepting things in our society that are significantly worse for us. But really, if they are going to be so strict about drug related names, change stim packs to something else >.<
I second QueueQueue's opinion portrayed in his post on this subject.
Lol, seriously? You're turning this into a "is weed bad" argument? Drugs are illegal. Reference to illegal activities can be construed as an inappropriate name, end of story. Your opinions on weed as an illegal substance are completely irrelevant.
Wow it's like blizzard is turning into Big Brother. You can't make a name that is a referance to an illegal activity. So like would I get banned for making the name speed because speeding is illegal? Or how about the name Jay. I mean jaywalking is illegal too right? There's a lot of places where it's illegal to park too, they should ban the name park as well, just to see how well it goes over in Korea.
That's a pretty weak argument. Speed, Jay and Park all have a lot of ambiguity, and noone would ever immediately make the reference to traffic violations. "Dope" is pretty straightforward.
Also, there's a big difference between a traffic violation and a serious criminal offence. Noone ever got jailtime from double-parking.
I should mention that I really couldn't give a damn what people call themselves, I wouldn't find it offensive at all. But there are plenty of people out there who are petty and would complain, so Blizzard has to cover that. All I'm saying is that's easy to understand, and to try and get on a high horse about "alcohol is worse than weed bro" is just really, really dumb and completely besides the point.
(ix) Comprised of partial or complete sentence (e.g., "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", etc); (x) Comprised of gibberish (e.g., "Asdfasdf", "Jjxccm", "Hvlldrm"); (xi) Referring to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. " "Britneyspears", "Austinpowers", "Batman") (xii) That utilizes "Leet" or "Dudespeak" (e.g., "Roflcopter", "xxnewbxx", "Roxxoryou") (xiii) That incorporates titles. For purposes of this subsection, "titles" shall include without limitation 'rank' titles (e.g. , "CorporalTed," or "GeneralVlad"), monarchistic or fantasy titles (e.g., "KingMike", "LordSanchez"), and religious titles (e.g., "ThePope," or "Reverend Al").
All these rules are utterly retarded. DO YOU REALIZE BY.FLASH WOULD BE BANNED ? omg omg omg
omfg how am i suppose to get xXxaZn13oodWaRR10RxXx
granted the name is stupid but it should be allowed none the less, don't do the moderation let the ridicule from his peers be the moderation.
although i guess it's fair if it's the agreement before you make the name lol i forget if it was in there but i read that dam thing long ago and i don't remeber that.
On May 19 2010 07:15 Neptuneajax wrote: While I do not support the ban for the player in regular circumstances, you guys have to remember that this is the Beta. It is Blizzard's Beta. I; you; we, are all privileged to be a part of it. And if Blizzard wish to implement inane bannings during the Beta, let them do so. I really hope this kind of over policing does not occur once the actual game is released however.
Amen.
Also the word filter is absolutely hilarious. Filtering out words like "came" and "white" and "black" which are more commonly used in regular discourse than as something innapropriate. I was literally laughing out loud when I was trying to type about strategy and half of my words were blanked out.
lol at blizzard. They are going to extreme lengths to get this game a lower parental advisory warning to appease the sanctimonious conservative set in the USA and Korea. They will fail and irritate fans in the process.
On May 19 2010 10:45 Windblade wrote: Banning over Dopeman is a bit harsh, however the policy is good and NECESSARY, do you want kids playing with people with names like PussyRocks, IFuckYourMomLongTime, etc. ?
I think not.
can't they just not let u make names that have filtered words in them?
Dopeman is overkill, but in principle I have no problem with this. It shouldn't be too hard to be creative enough to come up with a name that isn't censored.
Lol, seriously? You're turning this into a "is weed bad" argument? Drugs are illegal. Reference to illegal activities can be construed as an inappropriate name, end of story. Your opinions on weed as an illegal substance are completely irrelevant.
My points were applicable to this situation because other words that reference other (not all of course) illegal activity will be untouched, while a loose drug reference is scrutinized. Your argument that is relates to illegal activities fine, if they actually enforced it in that manner, but we can find references to illegal activity in so many names you would see on Bnet. Are we going to start banning names that have "Kill", "Steal", "Tax Evader", or "DontPayParkingMeters" somewhere in their name? No, they probably wouldn't be.
Why is it, that someone would get more offended about a drug reference in someone's name and not "Kill"? Both violate the TOS as illegal activities.
So if Blizzard is going to have gray area in naming conventions when it pertains to illegal activity, why scrutinize the illegal activity that isn't nearly as offensive and let worse acts of illegal activity go untouched. I don't know about you, but in my opinion, the illegal act of killing someone, or stealing from someone is much worse than someone smoking pot and therefore should be more offensive based on their TOS naming criteria. I am sure we can go through MANY names that wouldn't be banned that relate to acts much worse and more offensive than smoking pot.
So what is the justification of that? It's simple, it's people's ignorance on the topic. The stigma about drugs being such a horrible thing overshadows things that are much worse, and because of that, blizzard will be hypocritical in regards to their own naming TOS.
My points in my first post had no intention of starting any sort of discussion about the legal standing on drugs; if that was what was interpreted from it, I am sorry. I was only emphasizing the ignorance people have on the topic of drugs as a means to show how ridiculous it that someone would get offended over a drug reference and not to other, worse illegal acts.
On May 19 2010 10:45 Windblade wrote: Banning over Dopeman is a bit harsh, however the policy is good and NECESSARY, do you want kids playing with people with names like PussyRocks, IFuckYourMomLongTime, etc. ?
I think not.
can't they just not let u make names that have filtered words in them?
But I'm pretty sure a name with "Rape" or "Torture" may be banned.
"Killed" is difficult because it is not necessarily offensive. I mean, killing a person is illegal, but you can kill plenty of other things as well. It also could refer to killing units in-game. If your name was "IKillPeople" you'd probably get the same treatment.
Like I said, I'm not at all offended by these names, but I know the power of people's pettiness =/
On May 19 2010 07:24 QueueQueue wrote: I don't smoke pot, but if someone chooses to have some name that loosely ties to that, who cares? I mean, pot abuse is less harmful than alcohol abuse, however, I'm sure someone with an alcohol related name would be left alone. To state that the name is offensive is just plain ignorant (unless of course, drugs such as alcohol, or caffeine are offensive to you as well). Ironically I'm sure a lot of people that claim it as "offensive" consume alcohol at least once in a while or at least accept that people around them do; which in its own is hypocritical.
I understand the argument about it being illegal being in violation of the TOS, however if they are going to take the approach that illegal things are inappropriate, enforce this policy on any name that has any sort of tie to illegal activity.
I also understand that blizzard does not want to step on people's toes on this subject. The average person is incredibly ignorant when it comes to understanding drugs; so people blindly associate illegal drugs with being really bad, while accepting things in our society that are significantly worse for us. But really, if they are going to be so strict about drug related names, change stim packs to something else >.<
I second QueueQueue's opinion portrayed in his post on this subject.
Lol, seriously? You're turning this into a "is weed bad" argument? Drugs are illegal. Reference to illegal activities can be construed as an inappropriate name, end of story. Your opinions on weed as an illegal substance are completely irrelevant.
dopeman really isn't about weed but even if it was, weed is not illegal for everyone. what's the line for medical marijuana users? also, illegal != offensive imo.
also, "dope" man is technically not a reference to a illegal activity just as "bullet" man is not considered a reference to assault or murder.
To me dope just means slang for awesome...(didn't know about weed reference) I think Blizzard is being ridiculous here. I believe the word Black is also censored by the filter?
"Killed" is difficult because it is not necessarily offensive. I mean, killing a person is illegal, but you can kill plenty of other things as well.
Yeah, and this is why this TOS is flawed.
Words can be taken in different contexts. People use "Dope" in the context of stupidity, as well as something being "Awesome". Speed can be a reference to methamphetamine, but also the rate at which something moves.
You mentioning that while killing people is illegal, you can kill other things brings up another issue. Could we not use a similar argument for pot? Some people use medicinal marijuana, and it is used in a legal context. So suddenly, we're taking two things, and using them both in a legal and illegal situation, and of both, the one with "Dope" in it is worse than a reference to killing? Really? That is pretty counter intuitive to what you think a policy stating "No reference to criminal activity" would be enforcing.
So suddenly, we are entering all this gray area in their TOS, and it's somewhat unfair to people. I know the simple means is to just avoid all names that could have any sort of tie to anything illegal, but we know that will not happen. However, some people who clearly violate the TOS will be banned, while others that are also violating will go untouched.
Personally, I could care less what names people have; but things don't really offend me.
playing devils advocate ... the beta is free and they can do what they want honestly, they are trying to keep it as "kid" friendly as possible i assume ... although i know its not really a game for kid.s
Crap, so far if I played someone like FuckMyDoggie or smth like that, i at least knew he was most likely BM, and prolly going to cheese me. Now i wont even have that :S
I agree that blizzard should have the power to prevent players using offensive names. But I honestly think banning is the wrong approach. Especially when this game goes live, because offensive can at some level be subjective. Personally I think it would be much better if Blizzard renamed offensive names. If someone called themselves AssFace and that is deemed offensive then blizzard should be able to rename it to PassFace or LastPlace or whatever they want. This would (a) be a less autocratic approach, (b) let blizzard show a bit of homor, (c) mock offensive players a little as reminder of what they have done, in a form they can not easily remove/forget because they are stuck with it. Throw a $10 fee for name changes on top so they have the option to pay to fix it and they will be grateful that they are not stuck with it, and blizzard will make money instead of loose customers via ban.
On May 19 2010 06:55 Aphelion wrote: Drug reference, but this is overdone. Still I understand why Blizzard would do it, if they thought it was necessary to implement a filter, they can't let usernames skirt that censorship. Blizzard wanted to make sure this game won't cause any controversy among the nanny culture that we live in. I don't support this ban, but it is a reflection upon our PC culture backed by ridiculous litigation and inane media obsession.
Then why not just force them to change their name? Or warn them? A Ban seems ridiculous.
Also if the OP got the beta from pre-ordering then it his his legal right to ask for a refund. Any time the provider chooses to block services from the end users you are entitled to a refund.
In fact just by clicking the "decline" to the TOS entitles you to a refund, since the contract is made AFTER you bought the game.
On May 19 2010 09:46 Attica wrote: Blue post already responded to someone that was banned for their name 'weedking' 2 months ago. They said they don't actively look for offensive names so if you were banned for a name it was because someone reported you. Obviously you should consider that being in beta is a privilege not a right.
I wonder if they would ban me if I named myself Crackling. O_o
chances are that no one was offended by his name but rather reported him because he pissed them off in some way
On May 19 2010 15:57 DeCoup wrote: I agree that blizzard should have the power to prevent players using offensive names. But I honestly think banning is the wrong approach. Especially when this game goes live, because offensive can at some level be subjective. Personally I think it would be much better if Blizzard renamed offensive names. If someone called themselves AssFace and that is deemed offensive then blizzard should be able to rename it to PassFace or LastPlace or whatever they want. This would (a) be a less autocratic approach, (b) let blizzard show a bit of homor, (c) mock offensive players a little as reminder of what they have done, in a form they can not easily remove/forget because they are stuck with it. Throw a $10 fee for name changes on top so they have the option to pay to fix it and they will be grateful that they are not stuck with it, and blizzard will make money instead of loose customers via ban.
Man I have to say your idea really amuses me and I like it. Haven't really thought about if it's a good, serious idea overall because I'm hella tired and about to sleep, but still... naming someone LastPlace is great.
I think if Blizzard assumes each name ban will generate an extra sale, they'll forecast more profit from their current policy.
On May 19 2010 15:57 DeCoup wrote: I agree that blizzard should have the power to prevent players using offensive names. But I honestly think banning is the wrong approach. Especially when this game goes live, because offensive can at some level be subjective. Personally I think it would be much better if Blizzard renamed offensive names. If someone called themselves AssFace and that is deemed offensive then blizzard should be able to rename it to PassFace or LastPlace or whatever they want. This would (a) be a less autocratic approach, (b) let blizzard show a bit of homor, (c) mock offensive players a little as reminder of what they have done, in a form they can not easily remove/forget because they are stuck with it. Throw a $10 fee for name changes on top so they have the option to pay to fix it and they will be grateful that they are not stuck with it, and blizzard will make money instead of loose customers via ban.
So they can fix the problem. Humilate the offender. AND make money of it......
On May 19 2010 13:57 Subversion wrote: That's a pretty weak argument. Speed, Jay and Park all have a lot of ambiguity, and noone would ever immediately make the reference to traffic violations. "Dope" is pretty straightforward.
Also, there's a big difference between a traffic violation and a serious criminal offence. Noone ever got jailtime from double-parking.
I should mention that I really couldn't give a damn what people call themselves, I wouldn't find it offensive at all. But there are plenty of people out there who are petty and would complain, so Blizzard has to cover that. All I'm saying is that's easy to understand, and to try and get on a high horse about "alcohol is worse than weed bro" is just really, really dumb and completely besides the point.
So, now the criterion is whether you get jailtime for something or not? It is pretty weak, you know.
Seriously - you would think speed is a word showing how fast something happens. Also, if you are thinking about traffic, you may think speeding is traffic violation.
If you don't know that it is also an euphemism for amphetamine, you will not be offended.
If you know it, and are not oversensitive, you will not be offended, because speed also means all those other things. Why would you think it has to mean amphetamine?
"Dope" also means secret information.
This filtering/id censorship system becomes a bullshit system as soon as it starts to interpret normal words. A kid who calls himself SpeedMan (because he does 6pool rush everytime) and doesn't know all the other meanings for "speed" may get banned and then he will definitely find out what it stands for. This id censorship system is just for show really...
p.s. If you guys really want to be unique snowflakes in the id creation area, why not try another language? All they can really censor is English.
Even if Dopeman wasn't a fairly ambiguous name this would be way too severe and unjustified a punishment. A warning + required name change should come first. If this happens at retail, Blizzard is going to get a lot of angry phone calls.
This reminds me of being automatically kicked from CS servers because my name has "ass" in it. Yay for bad coding.
company policies, and i belief most company that develop & host game right now do some filters with the name. We agreed with their R&R during the registration account, was that our fault in the first place or blizz?
did you try to contact blizzard customer services? maybe they could help u solve this issue.
On May 19 2010 06:54 ryanAnger wrote: People associate Dope with Weed (rightfully) and ignorantly are offended by it.
It's just another case of people being fearful of things that are out of their mental grasp, and reacting.
actually i think the entire reason why they use that censorship and all that is not because they are offencive or not, but because to defend themselves against possible law suits. Due to the broken justice system in america you can be pretty much sued for anything and everything....So I dont think Blizz is really trying to be silly about it but rather trying to cover all their options just incase. Always think outside of the box
According to Blizzard's policy I suppose my accountname would be considered offensive as well, since it's the name of a Greek deity (and actually of an asteroid, which is why I named it that way) -- Ceres.
and I have to say, for some reason I don't consider drug references at all offensive. I just don't see what would compel anyone to ban something so innocent such as Dopeman.
This is not a question whether Blizzard can do this. Sure they can, it is their game. Even when you buy the retail version, you still agree to the TOS.
However, it is obviously not a perfect censorship system and that is what the post is about.
Best to play safe with names, because afterall, I am there for the game (not the name).
The problem would be if I chose a name unaware of what it might mean in some bizarre English slang, and had to face consequences (such as needing to change my name or even reset my account). That would piss me off. And even then, it is Blizzard's game, the only thing I can do to disagree is to not play their game, not buy their expansions and never ever enter www.blizzard.com and try to fight a PR war. Not interested in that, I'd rather play SC2.
It is wrong to be mad at Blizzard, because the developers of the game are not the ones making such PR bullshit decisions as to censor out "Dopeman". Developers are by far the most important people in the company for me, since it is them I can thank for having a good time with SC2. I am sure a lot of them would not mind me choosing a name such as DopeMan or SpeedMan. Not that I want to - but just in case.
On May 19 2010 17:57 jtgizmo wrote: actually i think the entire reason why they use that censorship and all that is not because they are offencive or not, but because to defend themselves against possible law suits. Due to the broken justice system in america you can be pretty much sued for anything and everything....So I dont think Blizz is really trying to be silly about it but rather trying to cover all their options just incase. Always think outside of the box
You can sue for anything but it's usually a waste of time. Most frivolous lawsuits get thrown out of court. I can't imagine a legitimate lawsuit against Blizzard stemming from lack of extreme censorship on the bnet servers. Absolutely all games containing online features contain a disclaimer protecting the developers anyway.
If this is truly the reason then Blizzard's legal team is a bunch of pansies.
its a good policy. think about the good number of parents who buy their kids game (prob alot of you) and they open up sc2 and see retards like dopeman everywhere. whoops thats about 40% of the market when parents dont wnat their kids looking at this stuff.
I honestly don't know why you would get banned for "Dopeman"... Sounds a little too crazy. I hope blizzard doesn't go out of their way to censor things like this in the future... Yeah if your name was FUCKINGFAGGOT or something I would be totally for censoring that... but Dopeman? C'mon blizz....
-_________-; This is messed up. I just love the internet, you have the choice between places where ppl will tell you they fuck your mother with a spiked club coz they just lost the game and get away with it and places where "dope" is considered offensive. Me and my friends were just astonished at a few words that were forbidden in French. Like "con" (means dumb/stupid), I mean cmon even my grandmother says that !
Puritanism or anarchy : I just don't want to choose. I'm all for a good mannered community, but bnet 2.0 is turning into a classroom. What's the next step ? Shall we get banned for peeing inbetween games without asking permission to Blizz ?
You can turn off the profanity filter can't you? Blizzard are just trying to create a cool and friendly environment in the deteriorating shithole that is internet. Can't blame them for that, hell, a large portion of their target market are only kids. Also in live b.net there will most likely be an option for a name change if your name goes against their policy, whereas in a free beta they probably don't think twice before banning.
The best thing about American language filters is, that totally inoffensive German words suddenly get censored and new filters censor every word you write before and after the filtered word...
It's the same for several Dutch words. I mean, I understand the need for a language filter to censor four-letter words since enough people object to that, but seriously, this one tries to censor every word that can vaguely be associated with an 'edgy' topic and comes closer to a failed attempt at thought control than an actual language filter.
The censorship was terribad already back in SC1. Couldn't even write the swedish equivalence to "stop (it)". I remember this one guy who registered the name "MobyDick" before Dick actually got censored. Later, anytime you'd call him, you'd get a stupid !"#¤ in the chat. Seriously, Dick is even a real name.
Also who are these people that think their kids don't already know these words from grade school? I bet the same people that grew up in an opressed world thinking babies were delivered by the storch =[
Anybody who thinks this stupid fucking censorship is justified is an idiot. It's a war-game where you slaughter people, if it's ok for someones kids to play that, why the fuck shouldn't it be ok to view naughty words in the chat? Oh, for the ratings you say? But the ratings don't take into account "online interactions" so that's a bullshit response. There was an article about internet censorship in the mid-90's where they expressed concern that the internet was turning into a big fat censorship zone where freedom of speech was being stomped on with an iron boot. This is fucking it. And I'm not even talking about the ridiculousness of buying a game and then having to be on your best behavour in order to be able to continue enjoying what you yourself paid for. What the fuck has happened with the gamer community to make it fill up with such a huge load of crybabies?? It's fucking pathetic. People are getting their widdle feelings hurt by the bad things someone said during a match? They're the fucking ones who should get banned, not the legitimate players who act like normal human beings. Well I'm out, I just had to register and post this cause most of the responses here are fucking pathetic. Stop trying to justify censorship on the internet. Stop trying to impose some fucking weird american moral code on the rest of the world where it's cool to kill people as long as you don't see a nipple. WHO THE FUCK WHO IS THAT SENSITIVE ABOUT SWEAR WORDS LETS THEIR KIDS PLAY GAMES WHERE THE POINT IS TO SLAUGHTER EACH OTHER????
Yeah, TL/DR: PEOPLE ARE FUCKING IDIOTS, DEAL WITH IT!
As much as that guy is raging a couple posts up I have to agree with some of his finer points. How can you justify playing a war game where you kill things and then justify the ban of language like the word "dope", its crazy.
With the above logic these words with drug related alternate meanings should also be banned: speed - Amphetamine acid - LSD horse - Heroin bone - Crack/Weed/Heroin rock - Cannabis Resin/Crack solid - Cannabis Resin meow - MCAT tabs - LCD bean - Ecstasy Ecstasy - lol
all regular words as well, there's probably loads more I cant think of, where do you draw the line?
On May 19 2010 19:47 Midgetraper wrote: Anybody who thinks this stupid fucking censorship is justified is an idiot. It's a war-game where you slaughter people, if it's ok for someones kids to play that, why the fuck shouldn't it be ok to view naughty words in the chat? Oh, for the ratings you say? But the ratings don't take into account "online interactions" so that's a bullshit response. There was an article about internet censorship in the mid-90's where they expressed concern that the internet was turning into a big fat censorship zone where freedom of speech was being stomped on with an iron boot. This is fucking it. And I'm not even talking about the ridiculousness of buying a game and then having to be on your best behavour in order to be able to continue enjoying what you yourself paid for. What the fuck has happened with the gamer community to make it fill up with such a huge load of crybabies?? It's fucking pathetic. People are getting their widdle feelings hurt by the bad things someone said during a match? They're the fucking ones who should get banned, not the legitimate players who act like normal human beings. Well I'm out, I just had to register and post this cause most of the responses here are fucking pathetic. Stop trying to justify censorship on the internet. Stop trying to impose some fucking weird american moral code on the rest of the world where it's cool to kill people as long as you don't see a nipple. WHO THE FUCK WHO IS THAT SENSITIVE ABOUT SWEAR WORDS LETS THEIR KIDS PLAY GAMES WHERE THE POINT IS TO SLAUGHTER EACH OTHER????
Yeah, TL/DR: PEOPLE ARE FUCKING IDIOTS, DEAL WITH IT!
This is the most logical thing I've read on a forum all day. Kudos to you, sir. When I first started playing SC back during its release no one was talking about having "manner", and you weren't being considered an asshole for compulsively typing "GLHF" before, and "GG" after each game. It's good sportsmanship they say? What is sportsmanlike about wishing your OPPONENT good luck? I'm not hoping that you get lucky during the game and win. I'm trying to kill you! Getting off topic... The fact of the matter is that if someone's kid is accessing the internet seeing the handle "Dopeman" isn't going to traumatize the kid. I think "Dopeman" is pretty fucking low on the totem pole of illicit content online. Jesus, it isn't even on the totem pole at all.
On May 19 2010 20:06 SnOw. wrote: As much as that guy is raging a couple posts up I have to agree with some of his finer points. How can you justify playing a war game where you kill things and then justify the ban of language like the word "dope", its crazy.
With the above logic these words with drug related alternate meanings should also be banned: speed - Amphetamine acid - LSD horse - Heroin bone - Crack/Weed/Heroin rock - Cannabis Resin/Crack solid - Cannabis Resin meow - MCAT tabs - LCD bean - Ecstasy Ecstasy - lol
all regular words as well, there's probably loads more I cant think of, where do you draw the line?
You forgot to mention STIM- (Stimulant (Amphetamine)) PACK.
What a horrible first post.. You must be really mad about this to have bothered signing up just to rage on the matter.
On May 19 2010 19:47 Midgetraper wrote: Anybody who thinks this stupid fucking censorship is justified is an idiot. It's a war-game where you slaughter people, if it's ok for someones kids to play that, why the fuck shouldn't it be ok to view naughty words in the chat? Oh, for the ratings you say? But the ratings don't take into account "online interactions" so that's a bullshit response. There was an article about internet censorship in the mid-90's where they expressed concern that the internet was turning into a big fat censorship zone where freedom of speech was being stomped on with an iron boot. This is fucking it. And I'm not even talking about the ridiculousness of buying a game and then having to be on your best behavour in order to be able to continue enjoying what you yourself paid for.
That's a double edged sword. Some (kids) will have a less enjoyable experience if there is a lot of bashing/cursing etc going on.
What the fuck has happened with the gamer community to make it fill up with such a huge load of crybabies?? It's fucking pathetic. People are getting their widdle feelings hurt by the bad things someone said during a match? They're the fucking ones who should get banned, not the legitimate players who act like normal human beings. Well I'm out, I just had to register and post this cause most of the responses here are fucking pathetic. Stop trying to justify censorship on the internet. Stop trying to impose some fucking weird american moral code on the rest of the world where it's cool to kill people as long as you don't see a nipple. WHO THE FUCK WHO IS THAT SENSITIVE ABOUT SWEAR WORDS LETS THEIR KIDS PLAY GAMES WHERE THE POINT IS TO SLAUGHTER EACH OTHER????
Yeah, TL/DR: PEOPLE ARE FUCKING IDIOTS, DEAL WITH IT!
Blizzard can do whatever the hell they want. Their product, their EULA. Stick to 4chan imo.
Also as far as modern computer games go, I'd say starcraft is a pretty good alternative from a parents point of view. It's not very graphic and it's certainly less likely to give your kids nightmares than most FPS..
Ridiculous. Would I risk getting banned if my name was Stimpack? Because in the Starcraft World, it's a drug, and it's also one of the reasons why Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty gets a mature rating in Korea.
On May 19 2010 20:25 StarBrift wrote: Blizzard has a unit IN THE GAME that injects drugs during battle and they ban people for being called dopeman? What?
Come on blizzard! The icon for stim is a freaking syringe! If they ban people for drug reference they should re do their game.
That's pretty much what I was referring to in my earlier post.
I'm all for free speech. As long as you don't incite violence, you should be allowed to call yourself whatever you want. I don't believe that blizz would lose customers over "offensive" names. Hell, worst case scenario bleep names like you do with half the words in existence. When I read the F bomb, I cry tears of black.
Dont think you should have been banned ideally, but its their product their policy, and you have to abide by it. Just a convenient way to do things, not gonna be perfect.
On May 19 2010 07:38 Kantutan wrote: Not offensive, but dopeman is quite a stupid name. Hardcore stoners are so bloody annoying.
Fail? Its a reference to a song, I haven't smoked weed in over 9 years.
If hardcore stoners are bloody annoying perhaps you should relax? Maybe smoke a joint?
No, not fail. Like Blizzard is supposed to go and find out first if a person named 'dopeman' based their name off a song or if they're one of those people who pride themselves on smoking pot. I have smoked pot, for the record. But based on experience, anyone who constantly talks about pot or references it in their names are complete idiots. I guess you happen to be an exception then, but I don't see why you're surprised at all that Blizzard is banning names like these.
He's surprised because it's fucking stupid. If the world was run by asshats like you, the whole internet would be a censored, oppressive shithole.
Blizzard is just trying to back track and get SC2's rating down from mature to teen. Dopeman may not be offensive to a gamer, but gamers don't make laws...society, hence non-gamers, make laws. Btw, your QQing feeds me power. ^_^
Oh snap Penn and Teller, let them talk some sense into blizzard. However having played WoW for a few years I just hope blizzard doesnt keep that type of naming enforcement system in place. My name in WoW was grogtastic. I had it reported by griefers who sucked at arena quite a few times and had a few forced named changes. I even got a tempban for changing it from grogtastic to grogtastiticc and other variations like that. I have no problem with blizzard banning racist or just profane names. But with the report abuse button in the game I really hope there arnt going to be people who report because they are pissed they lost.
This is nonsense, I mean if your nick was buttface.thewanker or something I'd say sure or things like gasthejews.talibanforlife or whatever. Thats offensive, this is just... funny I guess lol. Would never even have stopped to think your nick was weird.
Lol... this policy is absolutely ridiculous. I mean honestly... unless someone's name is something like "Fuck.Pussy" or some stupid crap like that just leave us alone...
Another problem that no one seemed to address is where should blizzard then draw the line if they allowed names such as dopeman to exist? It's obvious names such as fuck.you or any racial slurs deserved to be banned. The policy may be strict but that's the way I think it should be. Not because they are trying to 'keep the children safe' or maintain face but because people online will CONSTANTLY push the boundaries of any rules that you set.
If dopeman is ok shouldn't drugman be ok? Drugman may not even refer to illegal drugs it could be a name someone who works in a pharmacy likes. Rxman in my opinion is an acceptable ID to have while Drugman is not. Give someone an inch and they'll take a whole mile.
The questioning of such language censors on a game with 'killing' and 'light drug usage' is a strong argument to have but as I previously stated they have to draw the line somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if there was cursing during the campaign. Such as Raynor saying 'Damn'. This however doesn't mean that Damn.Damn is an appropriate name to have.
It's wrong that they banned you from beta and it's likely that instead of banning you post release you'll probably get notified of a name change.
And as I previously stated, you probably fucked up somewhere and BMed the wrong person who then reported you. Blizzard isn't just looking for excuses to ban people from their beta.
I fail to see why drugman would be considered wrong whatsoever. And just because people might "push the line," doesn't mean you should make it that much more strict. That's a terrible argument.
On May 20 2010 03:04 FabledIntegral wrote: I fail to see why drugman would be considered wrong whatsoever. And just because people might "push the line," doesn't mean you should make it that much more strict. That's a terrible argument.
If I was a pharmacist I would name myself drugman hands down.
One of my teacher's last name in high school was Dopeman. So... I really don't find that name offensive. Sorry to hear that happened to you. Anyways, beta will be over soon :p... just wait for the real game to come out. :D
On May 20 2010 03:21 NoUShutUp wrote: One of my teacher's last name in high school was Dopeman. So... I really don't find that name offensive. Sorry to hear that happened to you. Anyways, beta will be over soon :p... just wait for the real game to come out. :D
lol make sure he doesnt play this game or he might get banned due to his Real Id Real name
I think they should let people have any name they like. Even if its really offensive or racist. People need to get over it. And before anyone says I dont understand, my heritage is one that is commonly made fun of on television and blamed for wars, banking crises, etc.
Also @ the 4chan comments. I frequented 4chan long ago when I was still in high school and honestly it does change your perspective on this sort of thing. But maybe the other people will join in and say that it's relieving to not get worked over stuff that doesnt matter.
Yes blizzard can ban him for the name, but that doesnt mean they should.
its not about being offended its about creating a respectful environment. there is NO reason to create a juvenile name other than going "teehee my name is xxx"
your name is blatantly and obviously against the TOS which you agreed to, that's the end of the story
no argument you can come up with matters with that in mind. it's a beta, you shouldn't expect to be given any second chances when you're not paying anything
I've got no problem with the policy of withdrawing a tester's access to the beta on account of having a "highly inappropriate" name. Infact, I wholeheartedly support the policy.
However, for the life of me, I can't see how the name "Dopeman" is "highly inappropriate". Perhaps mildly dodgy, but no more than that. A warning or forced rename would have been a much more appropriate response in this particular case.
On May 20 2010 03:21 NoUShutUp wrote: One of my teacher's last name in high school was Dopeman. So... I really don't find that name offensive. Sorry to hear that happened to you. Anyways, beta will be over soon :p... just wait for the real game to come out. :D
Crazy. Given that, I say make up a story about how your uncle or w/e was your hero, and his last name was Dopeman and you adopted it as your online alias. But then again since the beta ends in less than 2 weeks it may not be worth it to you at this pt.
It's not our decision on what words/names qualify as offensive or not, but I expect that they will just do namechanges once the game goes retail and not ban you.
Well I dunno, in my division there was a guy named ShowMeUrTits and the #1 in 2v2 div was named asstwins. So I'd say it's ridiculos to start banning at Dopeman.
Why do I see everyone associate dope with weed...where I'm from dope is heroine and the only people who think dope is marijuana are old people like my parents. The first time my dad found a joint in my car he ran in the house holding it screaming, "are you smoking dope son!?" I burst out laughing...who the hell calls marijuana dope?!
On May 20 2010 05:02 omg.deus wrote: Why do I see everyone associate dope with weed...where I'm from dope is heroine and the only people who think dope is marijuana are old people like my parents. The first time my dad found a joint in my car he ran in the house holding it screaming, "are you smoking dope son!?" I burst out laughing...who the hell calls marijuana dope?!
it just means drugs and most people don't hang out with many people who do heroin so they wouldn't be using it to mean something other than marijuana
snip ..... In particular, you may not use any name:
(i) Belonging to another person with the intent to impersonate that person, including without limitation a "Game Master" or any other employee or agent of Blizzard;
(ii) That incorporates vulgar language or which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
(iii) Subject to the rights of any other person or entity without written authorization from that person or entity;
(iv) That belongs to a popular culture figure, celebrity, or media personality;
(v) That is, contains, or is substantially similar to a trademark or service mark, whether registered or not;
(vi) Belonging to any religious figure or deity;
(vii) Taken from Blizzard's Warcraft products, including character names from the Warcraft series of novels;
(viii) Related to drugs, sex, alcohol, or criminal activity;
(ix) Comprised of partial or complete sentence (e.g., "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", etc);
(x) Comprised of gibberish (e.g., "Asdfasdf", "Jjxccm", "Hvlldrm");
(xi) Referring to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. " "Britneyspears", "Austinpowers", "Batman")
(xii) That utilizes "Leet" or "Dudespeak" (e.g., "Roflcopter", "xxnewbxx", "Roxxoryou")
(xiii) That incorporates titles. For purposes of this subsection, "titles" shall include without limitation 'rank' titles (e.g. , "CorporalTed," or "GeneralVlad"), monarchistic or fantasy titles (e.g., "KingMike", "LordSanchez"), and religious titles (e.g., "ThePope," or "Reverend Al").
You may not use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the name restrictions listed above, nor can you have a "first" and "last" name that, when combined, violate the above name restrictions.
This is much too strict. It's much stricter than restrictions on real names. It's much stricter than Blizzard holds themselves to for the content of their games. Blizzard could make a more tolerant policy if they wanted to. They have a legal department.
On May 20 2010 03:36 mOnion wrote: they should ban him its a childish name.
its not about being offended its about creating a respectful environment. there is NO reason to create a juvenile name other than going "teehee my name is xxx"
make a real ID and get over it.
Being juvenile is part of the appeal of the internet and gaming. It's a bad policy; at the very least you should receive a warning first.
They wouldn't let me use "LordWeird" i'm guessing because the word "Lord" is in it. This is no surprise and even though it was harsh I believe it was an okay decision.
edit: yep, just saw the post slightly above mine...
snip ..... In particular, you may not use any name:
(i) Belonging to another person with the intent to impersonate that person, including without limitation a "Game Master" or any other employee or agent of Blizzard;
(ii) That incorporates vulgar language or which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
(iii) Subject to the rights of any other person or entity without written authorization from that person or entity;
(iv) That belongs to a popular culture figure, celebrity, or media personality;
(v) That is, contains, or is substantially similar to a trademark or service mark, whether registered or not;
(vi) Belonging to any religious figure or deity;
(vii) Taken from Blizzard's Warcraft products, including character names from the Warcraft series of novels;
(viii) Related to drugs, sex, alcohol, or criminal activity;
(ix) Comprised of partial or complete sentence (e.g., "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", etc);
(x) Comprised of gibberish (e.g., "Asdfasdf", "Jjxccm", "Hvlldrm");
(xi) Referring to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. " "Britneyspears", "Austinpowers", "Batman")
(xii) That utilizes "Leet" or "Dudespeak" (e.g., "Roflcopter", "xxnewbxx", "Roxxoryou")
(xiii) That incorporates titles. For purposes of this subsection, "titles" shall include without limitation 'rank' titles (e.g. , "CorporalTed," or "GeneralVlad"), monarchistic or fantasy titles (e.g., "KingMike", "LordSanchez"), and religious titles (e.g., "ThePope," or "Reverend Al").
You may not use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the name restrictions listed above, nor can you have a "first" and "last" name that, when combined, violate the above name restrictions.
This is much too strict. It's much stricter than restrictions on real names. It's much stricter than Blizzard holds themselves to for the content of their games. Blizzard could make a more tolerant policy if they wanted to. They have a legal department.
We call it CYA at work. Cover Your Ass.
Blizzard wants the policy on record so that if they want to they can inforce it. I believe they have the same naming policy in WoW and they don't strictly enforce it their. If I was the OP I would email every "offensive" name on ladder to them and be the bitter loser. Take everyone down with me. Blizzard should really have just done a name change, or this should have never been an issue.
With rules the biggest issues arise with a lack of consistency. Blizzard isn't consistent in how and who they punish.
On May 20 2010 05:02 omg.deus wrote: Why do I see everyone associate dope with weed...where I'm from dope is heroine and the only people who think dope is marijuana are old people like my parents. The first time my dad found a joint in my car he ran in the house holding it screaming, "are you smoking dope son!?" I burst out laughing...who the hell calls marijuana dope?!
it just means drugs and most people don't hang out with many people who do heroin so they wouldn't be using it to mean something other than marijuana
totally wrong...dope doesn't mean just drugs...it was slang for weed decades ago and nowadays exclusively refers to heroine. doesn't matter if u hang out with heroine users or not, it's irrelevant...unless ur sheltered or grew up in the 60s u know dope as heroine and heroine only.
b/c of this I can see why blizzard doesn't want any heroine related user names
EDIT: did some research and I guess there are some places like Kansas where heroine isn't around so people say dope to refer to crystal meth. Still, I found that the vast majority of people thought as I did that dope only refers to heroine.
I think there is a logical explanation for this... Dopeman.Dopeman was one of the Blizzard developers favourite name so when he got a break to play and made dopeman.dopeman it was taken! So he just got angry and revoked the beta so he could have the name.
On May 20 2010 05:02 omg.deus wrote: Why do I see everyone associate dope with weed...where I'm from dope is heroine and the only people who think dope is marijuana are old people like my parents. The first time my dad found a joint in my car he ran in the house holding it screaming, "are you smoking dope son!?" I burst out laughing...who the hell calls marijuana dope?!
it just means drugs and most people don't hang out with many people who do heroin so they wouldn't be using it to mean something other than marijuana
totally wrong...dope doesn't mean just drugs...it was slang for weed decades ago and nowadays exclusively refers to heroine. doesn't matter if u hang out with heroine users or not, it's irrelevant...unless ur sheltered or grew up in the 60s u know dope as heroine and heroine only.
b/c of this I can see why blizzard doesn't want any heroine related user names
I'm honestly curious how they can take a stand against drugs when there's literally an in game version called stim. Is stimjunkie over the line? How about just needleabuser? It's like Rockstar banning people on Gta4 for using 'whore.'
You can probably get the account unlocked if you just reason with them, there is literally nothing offensive about this. Blizzard is really good about unbanning accounts if you just give them a call. haha
yea i think dope primarily refers to heroin cuz of the very high dopamine levels that u reach w/ it since weed is less offensive and decriminalized in certain countries, a nickname of "weedman" may have prevented your ban or chroniclover or something ><
On May 20 2010 05:38 ArC_man wrote: CowGoMoo is a "partial or complete sentence", so that isn't allowed now? Blizzard gonna be banning their own employees?
The naming conventions are not new. They have been used for years.
It's absurd how many of you are over-reacting to violating naming conventions that have been in place since before sc2 was in alpha.
On May 20 2010 05:38 ArC_man wrote: CowGoMoo is a "partial or complete sentence", so that isn't allowed now? Blizzard gonna be banning their own employees?
The naming conventions are not new. They have been used for years.
It's absurd how many of you are over-reacting to violating naming conventions that have been in place since before sc2 was in alpha.
Blizzard's policy was bad in Wow too. Reporting became a way to grief people for mildly offensive things.
No, dopeman isn't offensive. But that doesn't mean you can compare it to "demuslim" or religious names or the like. Dope implies weed which is illegal in the U.S. (Blizzard resides in the U.S. and whether you agree with it's legal status is irrelevant) thus Blizzard has found it necessary to find names that imply these things and ban them.
This is just the beta, so the ban wasn't that big of a deal. I imagine when the game is released, they'll force you to change your name only.
snip ..... In particular, you may not use any name:
(i) Belonging to another person with the intent to impersonate that person, including without limitation a "Game Master" or any other employee or agent of Blizzard;
(ii) That incorporates vulgar language or which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
(iii) Subject to the rights of any other person or entity without written authorization from that person or entity;
(iv) That belongs to a popular culture figure, celebrity, or media personality;
(v) That is, contains, or is substantially similar to a trademark or service mark, whether registered or not;
(vi) Belonging to any religious figure or deity;
(vii) Taken from Blizzard's Warcraft products, including character names from the Warcraft series of novels;
(viii) Related to drugs, sex, alcohol, or criminal activity;
(ix) Comprised of partial or complete sentence (e.g., "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", etc);
(x) Comprised of gibberish (e.g., "Asdfasdf", "Jjxccm", "Hvlldrm");
(xi) Referring to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. " "Britneyspears", "Austinpowers", "Batman")
(xii) That utilizes "Leet" or "Dudespeak" (e.g., "Roflcopter", "xxnewbxx", "Roxxoryou")
(xiii) That incorporates titles. For purposes of this subsection, "titles" shall include without limitation 'rank' titles (e.g. , "CorporalTed," or "GeneralVlad"), monarchistic or fantasy titles (e.g., "KingMike", "LordSanchez"), and religious titles (e.g., "ThePope," or "Reverend Al").
You may not use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the name restrictions listed above, nor can you have a "first" and "last" name that, when combined, violate the above name restrictions.
This is much too strict. It's much stricter than restrictions on real names. It's much stricter than Blizzard holds themselves to for the content of their games. Blizzard could make a more tolerant policy if they wanted to. They have a legal department.
Aren't these the naming conventions for WoW characters?
snip ..... In particular, you may not use any name:
(i) Belonging to another person with the intent to impersonate that person, including without limitation a "Game Master" or any other employee or agent of Blizzard;
(ii) That incorporates vulgar language or which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
(iii) Subject to the rights of any other person or entity without written authorization from that person or entity;
(iv) That belongs to a popular culture figure, celebrity, or media personality;
(v) That is, contains, or is substantially similar to a trademark or service mark, whether registered or not;
(vi) Belonging to any religious figure or deity;
(vii) Taken from Blizzard's Warcraft products, including character names from the Warcraft series of novels;
(viii) Related to drugs, sex, alcohol, or criminal activity;
(ix) Comprised of partial or complete sentence (e.g., "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", etc);
(x) Comprised of gibberish (e.g., "Asdfasdf", "Jjxccm", "Hvlldrm");
(xi) Referring to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. " "Britneyspears", "Austinpowers", "Batman")
(xii) That utilizes "Leet" or "Dudespeak" (e.g., "Roflcopter", "xxnewbxx", "Roxxoryou")
(xiii) That incorporates titles. For purposes of this subsection, "titles" shall include without limitation 'rank' titles (e.g. , "CorporalTed," or "GeneralVlad"), monarchistic or fantasy titles (e.g., "KingMike", "LordSanchez"), and religious titles (e.g., "ThePope," or "Reverend Al").
You may not use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the name restrictions listed above, nor can you have a "first" and "last" name that, when combined, violate the above name restrictions.
This is much too strict. It's much stricter than restrictions on real names. It's much stricter than Blizzard holds themselves to for the content of their games. Blizzard could make a more tolerant policy if they wanted to. They have a legal department.
Aren't these the naming conventions for WoW characters?
I played WoW for quite awhile and while names would often be reported and changed, it was never a ban or any sort of service interruption. They just said "enough people reported your name and now you should probably change it", next time you logged in. It wasn't really enforced unless it was extremely offensive with a racial slur or something. My friend leveled a character to 80 with the name "PhatCawk" and only then got it changed a few weeks after some high visibility chat.
The only time you would get suspension is if you changed it from something offensive to another offensive name like 2-3 times in a row. Really not that big of a deal.
On May 19 2010 20:25 StarBrift wrote: Blizzard has a unit IN THE GAME that injects drugs during battle and they ban people for being called dopeman? What?
Come on blizzard! The icon for stim is a freaking syringe! If they ban people for drug reference they should re do their game.
snip ..... In particular, you may not use any name:
(i) Belonging to another person with the intent to impersonate that person, including without limitation a "Game Master" or any other employee or agent of Blizzard;
(ii) That incorporates vulgar language or which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
(iii) Subject to the rights of any other person or entity without written authorization from that person or entity;
(iv) That belongs to a popular culture figure, celebrity, or media personality;
(v) That is, contains, or is substantially similar to a trademark or service mark, whether registered or not;
(vi) Belonging to any religious figure or deity;
(vii) Taken from Blizzard's Warcraft products, including character names from the Warcraft series of novels;
(viii) Related to drugs, sex, alcohol, or criminal activity;
(ix) Comprised of partial or complete sentence (e.g., "Inyourface", "Welovebeef", etc);
(x) Comprised of gibberish (e.g., "Asdfasdf", "Jjxccm", "Hvlldrm");
(xi) Referring to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. " "Britneyspears", "Austinpowers", "Batman")
(xii) That utilizes "Leet" or "Dudespeak" (e.g., "Roflcopter", "xxnewbxx", "Roxxoryou")
(xiii) That incorporates titles. For purposes of this subsection, "titles" shall include without limitation 'rank' titles (e.g. , "CorporalTed," or "GeneralVlad"), monarchistic or fantasy titles (e.g., "KingMike", "LordSanchez"), and religious titles (e.g., "ThePope," or "Reverend Al").
You may not use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the name restrictions listed above, nor can you have a "first" and "last" name that, when combined, violate the above name restrictions.
This is much too strict. It's much stricter than restrictions on real names. It's much stricter than Blizzard holds themselves to for the content of their games. Blizzard could make a more tolerant policy if they wanted to. They have a legal department.
Aren't these the naming conventions for WoW characters?
I played WoW for quite awhile and while names would often be reported and changed, it was never a ban or any sort of service interruption. They just said "enough people reported your name and now you should probably change it", next time you logged in. It wasn't really enforced unless it was extremely offensive with a racial slur or something. My friend leveled a character to 80 with the name "PhatCawk" and only then got it changed a few weeks after some high visibility chat.
The only time you would get suspension is if you changed it from something offensive to another offensive name like 2-3 times in a row. Really not that big of a deal.
Same, I ran around with a friend's email as a screen name with a guild name as ATHOTMAIL.COM. They didn't force me to change it until my friend reported it.
Call blizzard and tell them you were referencing Dopey from Snow White and the 7 Dwarves. Dopey IS an english word simply meaning sleepy after all. Americans are retarded. There, I said it.
On May 20 2010 06:16 pash1k wrote: I hope mine doesn't the boot - after all "pashik" can be construed as gibberish.
It actually isn't gibberish, I did a google search and turns out Pashik is actually an Armenian singer, so according to the name restrictions regulations, bylaw "xi) Referring to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. " "Britneyspears", "Austinpowers", "Batman", or "Pashik Poghosyan, Armenia's Golden Singer")" is completely banned so you better change it ASAP
(xiii) That incorporates titles. For purposes of this subsection, "titles" shall include without limitation 'rank' titles (e.g. , "CorporalTed," or "GeneralVlad"), monarchistic or fantasy titles (e.g., "KingMike", "LordSanchez"), and religious titles (e.g., "ThePope," or "Reverend Al")..
Looks like the username that I've been using for almost a decade violates this =(
I doubt they care they've been copy/pasta the 'beta is a privilege' message to be about the invite I won at PCGamer. :-|
Edit: They flatly refused to invite another account because I ended up getting and entering the TL key first. Seriously, its no sweat off their back to invite someone else and yet they refused and refused to be understanding about it because 'beta is a privilege'.
On May 20 2010 09:04 Antisocialmunky wrote: I doubt they care they've been copy/pasta the 'beta is a privilege' message to be about the invite I won at PCGamer.
I hate to state the obvious, but Blizzard profits from giving people beta access, that's why they do it...
On May 19 2010 07:04 spinesheath wrote: I appreciate the banning of very offensive names, but this one certainly doesn't seem bad enough to be woth a ban. It is quite a bad name imo though
Blatantly obvious racist etc names should go for sure.
On May 19 2010 06:56 Tsagacity wrote: The filter censors "backdoor" and "came." I hope that insanely strict approach towards ambiguous interpretations isn't used with names :s
Really? In a game where every second map has a backdoor? "came"!??!!? This is mad.
Black was as well, I'm not sure if it still is. I have my censor off.
I don't think it's offensive, but it's a good policy. You got the crappy end of the proverbial stick, but drug references are offensive to some people, regardless of whether you think so or not.
On May 20 2010 09:36 Sharpiez wrote: I don't think any name doesn't violate those rules.
I am screwed, my username is Sharpiez and that probably violates their trademark policy or somehting. Wtf.
Probably does. Actually, my email to log in has last resort in it, from the Papa Roach song(Made that email like 10 years ago haha). A friend of mine's name is Patrick Sharp, identical to the player on the Chicago Blackhawks. It's his real name, so it shouldn't be banworthy, but who knows? Based on these rules, they very well could ban him, and have a legitimate case against it. I don't think it's fair, but that's just how it is.
Hm... I wonder if I'll ever get in trouble for my name.
I mean, if you don't know what it means, it just looks like a funky word. I don't even think it could be offensive to anyone anyway. If you know what my name means without looking it up it probably will just make you smile.
On May 19 2010 07:04 spinesheath wrote: I appreciate the banning of very offensive names, but this one certainly doesn't seem bad enough to be woth a ban. It is quite a bad name imo though
Blatantly obvious racist etc names should go for sure.
On May 19 2010 06:56 Tsagacity wrote: The filter censors "backdoor" and "came." I hope that insanely strict approach towards ambiguous interpretations isn't used with names :s
Really? In a game where every second map has a backdoor? "came"!??!!? This is mad.
Black was as well, I'm not sure if it still is. I have my censor off.
I don't think it's offensive, but it's a good policy. You got the crappy end of the proverbial stick, but drug references are offensive to some people, regardless of whether you think so or not.
A POSSIBLE reference to one of the most tame drugs in the world resulting in an instant ban? How is that a good policy? ANYTHING can be found offensive to someone in the world, so they might as well remove the ability for players to talk or even have names on bnet. Complete anonymity is the answer.
On May 19 2010 06:56 Zeke50100 wrote: It's not that it's offensive, it's that it's inappropriate. It's like calling your character Marajuana. How do you think it would work out if everybody was running around with names like "Cocaine," "Weed," "Dope," etc.?
It's a justified policy.
I guess if people had names like that, battle.net would somehow cease to function? What do you think? Maybe you're forgetting people have had names like those since the beginning of the internet, and it hasn't made a difference at all. It is pretty annoying that they thought a name as unoffensive as "Dopeman" worthy of a ban. Pretty ridiculous, actually. Marijuana isn't illegal everywhere, and it's considered a dangerous substance nowhere.
On May 20 2010 09:43 Lysergide wrote: Hm... I wonder if I'll ever get in trouble for my name.
I mean, if you don't know what it means, it just looks like a funky word. I don't even think it could be offensive to anyone anyway. If you know what my name means without looking it up it probably will just make you smile.
Lysergide as in lysergic acid, as in acid, as in LSD.
Its not really about whether you find it offensive or not. Its more about if its appropriate or not. I guess none of you are parents, most people here must be teenagers. So yeah, you probably smoke weed, and dont find names like "dopeman" offensive. To be honest, neither do I, but thats not the point. The point is, that when the game is rated for 12 and above, as parents or as a company, you just dont really want the 12 year old kid to log in, and then face off against "dopeman.dopeman", "crack.addic7ed", "mein.kampf", "gay.fucker", and all that good stuff that people some up with for names when there is no moderation. Now sure, you might not find the name "dopeman" offensive. And for example, a nazi wouldnt find the name "mein.kampf" offensive. And I suspect that drug users wont find the name "crack.addic7ed" to be offensive. But they are still inappropriate. And 12 year old kids still shouldnt be seeing that kind of stuff when they log on to battle.net. The question is not whether you as a teenager find the name offensive, the question is whether its an appropriate name for a 12 year old kid to see.
Seriously, how hard can it be to come up with a name that isnt a reference to drugs, sex, or an insult?
Back in the day we were not patrolled what so ever when we played these games online. Now i feel like companies are much more concerned about making the experience controlled.
Blizzard is a PC company and generally supports that mindset. Although I am not a fan of the PC culture I am not upset over it. I just accept that it is their policy and I can simply not use any of their software if it bothers me so much.
The filters censor "black" too... i see no point, except maybe racism? I was bored so i typed "black sheep wall" and was gonna do the spacebar thing with "Cheat Enabled" in SC BW...
For some reason, people still think inappropriate = offensive.
And it doesn't even matter if you think it isn't inappropriate, because it's society as a whole that determines what's appropriate, not a bunch of people on an online forum >.>
On May 20 2010 10:27 Zeke50100 wrote: For some reason, people still think inappropriate = offensive.
And it doesn't even matter if you think it isn't inappropriate, because it's society as a whole that determines what's appropriate, not a bunch of people on an online forum >.>
The issue here is that Blizzard doesn't find Dopeman appropriate and they are a private company. Customers use their servers so they can police it how they wish. Same goes for this forum. If a mod finds a post inappropriate and/or against the rules they can punish you or warn you. Just how it is.
On May 20 2010 10:27 Zeke50100 wrote: For some reason, people still think inappropriate = offensive.
And it doesn't even matter if you think it isn't inappropriate, because it's society as a whole that determines what's appropriate, not a bunch of people on an online forum >.>
The issue here is that Blizzard doesn't find Dopeman appropriate and they are a private company. Customers use their servers so they can police it how they wish. Same goes for this forum. If a mod finds a post inappropriate and/or against the rules they can punish you or warn you. Just how it is.
what he said ^^
but still, a renaming, or something should be in order. an outright removal of your beta access is pretty extreme. the punishment doesn't match the crime imo.
On May 20 2010 10:27 Zeke50100 wrote: For some reason, people still think inappropriate = offensive.
And it doesn't even matter if you think it isn't inappropriate, because it's society as a whole that determines what's appropriate, not a bunch of people on an online forum >.>
The issue here is that Blizzard doesn't find Dopeman appropriate and they are a private company. Customers use their servers so they can police it how they wish. Same goes for this forum. If a mod finds a post inappropriate and/or against the rules they can punish you or warn you. Just how it is.
what he said ^^
but still, a renaming, or something should be in order. an outright removal of your beta access is pretty extreme. the punishment doesn't match the crime imo.
True it would be a better ending to allow the player to name change and not just cut them off cause they chose something against the naming convention. I can agree with that.
Yea it's a bit over the top, but it's their beta so w.e. I never planned on using the alias 'dopeman' or something else 'inappropriate', mainly because the one account per cd key thing, so why waste it on a dumb name, though i have to admit its not like 'dopeman' = 'RacistDrugOffensiveGuy'
i hope blizzard gets to release sc2 and patch it to the likeness of scbw when it got stable. then they can all die of cancer for all i care. Lousy people
On May 19 2010 08:59 Legendary- wrote: Wow leave it to America to even sensor our video games further. I think this is taking a step in the direction of making the game accessible to everyone no matter the age, but even in WoW they made you change your name a million times! Even younger kids play that game as well--and oh boy what they read in trade chat....
Actually when it comes to video game censorship and censorship in general, America is very lax and becoming more so everyday, especially compared to many countries around the world. Have you watched TV recently, compare it to 20 years ago, hell even 10 years ago. It's changed A LOT, what is accepted now and wasn't back then. Sex, violence, language. The rules have become much more relaxed for all of those and I'm not just talking about speciality channels or movie channels. Even the usual broadcast trio or your major cable channels.
Compared to many countries in Asia and Europe who are moving toward more and more censorship, America is basically censor-free. So I would think the statement of "leave it to America to even sensor our video games further" is a little out of place. Especially since you can largely find any video game in the world in this country in stores (granted you may have to look around for some), made here or not. Everything from Japanese hentai games to Russian shooters, all uncensored from their original content.
On May 20 2010 10:27 Zeke50100 wrote: For some reason, people still think inappropriate = offensive.
And it doesn't even matter if you think it isn't inappropriate, because it's society as a whole that determines what's appropriate, not a bunch of people on an online forum >.>
The issue here is that Blizzard doesn't find Dopeman appropriate and they are a private company. Customers use their servers so they can police it how they wish. Same goes for this forum. If a mod finds a post inappropriate and/or against the rules they can punish you or warn you. Just how it is.
That doesn't mean you can't complain or protest it.
I had a friend who named his WoW char Facialcum. One day a GM asked him if he could relog and change his name, why didnt they just ask this in this case...
On May 20 2010 10:57 Rebel wrote: >.< sorry to hear you got banned for this.
I had a friend who named his WoW char Facialcum. One day a GM asked him if he could relog and change his name, why didnt they just ask this in this case...
In the actual release of the game it will be like this. But in the beta, they will be less lenient as people are given the opportunity to play for free.
Once the game rolls out, they will probably give warnings first, yeah. It kinda makes sense.
Blizzard: Here, have some free shit! Player gets access to the beta, and proceeds to be an ass about it, breaking the rules ------> Blizzard: Gtfo!
on the other hand, once the game comes out
player throws a wad of cash in blizzard's face, and then proceeds to be an ass about it Blizzard: Hm, that cash sure is neat. But come on, dont break the policies, mmkay? player proceeds to keep on doing stuff he knows he shouldnt be doing -----> Blizzard: Gtfo! And thxs for the money!
actually its pretty weird that Blizzard gave the rule about offensive names, since they would be locking the different players to different regions. people in general do not use only english as their language. imagine all languages(i think) have bad languages and someone uses their offensive words from their native language as their username, then someone from the same country would understand that and find it offensive. unless blizzard can block all those offensive words off bnet.
On May 20 2010 18:44 SnuggleKittens wrote: i also like how the censor (if your are crazy enough to have it on) censors incredibly offensive words such as "black" and "white"
User1: What colour is your cat? User2: %#@%$
Its funny when you speak in other languages aswell. For instance, the word "Slut" actually means "End" in swedish rather than a promiscious person, and since end is a fairly common word in general phrasing, there are some anoying censorship when you chat swedish through a profanity filter
The word "lust" means "want" in swedish, so every time I ask a friend if he wants to play a game I'm forced to write: "Do you have the intention to enter a game?" It's really annoying.
Then, if I want to end something, I can't even write "slut", which means "end" in swedish..
As you can imagine, starting and stopping games is quite a challenge for us..
On May 20 2010 20:50 Perfect Balance wrote: Their new policies are quite ridiculous.
The word "lust" means "want" in swedish, so every time I ask a friend if he wants to play a game I'm forced to write: "Do you have the intention to enter a game?" It's really annoying.
Then, if I want to end something, I can't even write "slut", which means "end" in swedish..
As you can imagine, starting and stopping games is quite a challenge for us..
There used to be a vanity pet in WoW called the maine coon, named after the actual type of cat called a maine coon, because it was a maine coon. Blizzard and their Super Lawyer Buddies Extravaganza team thought it was inappropriate so they changed it.
It's minor, but it's completely asinine nonetheless.
Blizzard has to draw the line somewhere, and honestly, I don't mind if Dopeman is out of bounds- it's mildly offensive, but is also a pretty shitty nickname. If stricter enforcing of naming policy will weed out more names that make my eyes bleed, I'm all for raising the quality bar on nicknames.
On May 20 2010 20:50 Perfect Balance wrote: Their new policies are quite ridiculous.
The word "lust" means "want" in swedish, so every time I ask a friend if he wants to play a game I'm forced to write: "Do you have the intention to enter a game?" It's really annoying.
Then, if I want to end something, I can't even write "slut", which means "end" in swedish..
As you can imagine, starting and stopping games is quite a challenge for us..
slut means end in swedish?! wow I'm gonna use so many shitty jokes with that.
but on topic, it's kinda ridiculous, and I wish they would draw the line somewhere, but I bet activision has say in it, not just blizzard, because, HAVE YOU SEEN THE NIGHT ELF DANCE, zomg horny movements lolz.
On May 20 2010 20:50 Perfect Balance wrote: Their new policies are quite ridiculous.
The word "lust" means "want" in swedish, so every time I ask a friend if he wants to play a game I'm forced to write: "Do you have the intention to enter a game?" It's really annoying.
Then, if I want to end something, I can't even write "slut", which means "end" in swedish..
As you can imagine, starting and stopping games is quite a challenge for us..
Yes, this is bad design. They are totally not thinking about the rest of the world in this case. Although you and your friend do have a workaround in turning off the profanity filter.
On May 20 2010 10:21 morimacil wrote: Its not really about whether you find it offensive or not. Its more about if its appropriate or not. I guess none of you are parents, most people here must be teenagers. So yeah, you probably smoke weed, and dont find names like "dopeman" offensive. To be honest, neither do I, but thats not the point. The point is, that when the game is rated for 12 and above, as parents or as a company, you just dont really want the 12 year old kid to log in, and then face off against "dopeman.dopeman", "crack.addic7ed", "mein.kampf", "gay.fucker", and all that good stuff that people some up with for names when there is no moderation. Now sure, you might not find the name "dopeman" offensive. And for example, a nazi wouldnt find the name "mein.kampf" offensive. And I suspect that drug users wont find the name "crack.addic7ed" to be offensive. But they are still inappropriate. And 12 year old kids still shouldnt be seeing that kind of stuff when they log on to battle.net. The question is not whether you as a teenager find the name offensive, the question is whether its an appropriate name for a 12 year old kid to see.
Seriously, how hard can it be to come up with a name that isnt a reference to drugs, sex, or an insult?
You make a lot of assumptions about the posters here - I can assure you they are not correct.
Sure there are teenagers here, but there are also grown up people who do not rely on a game rating (teen) to save their kids from foul language. This system encourages kids learning about drugs, sex and insults. You can use a (seemingly) common word and get it censored out/banned/warned for it. Naturally you will go and check it out.
You also make an assumption that marijuana = dope. There is a world of difference between those two. Sure, I don't want to see a lot of + Show Spoiler +
"mein.kampf", "gay.fucker"
However, "dopeman.dopeman" says absolutely nothing about drugs to a person who doesn't know that meaning. They will never know what it means, unless they actively pursue the knowledge outside of the game experience.
I am simply saying that Blizzard should ban words that have a single direct meaning - but should not ban normal words that may mean something in slang. It is counterproductive.
Of course that is assuming they are not just doing a half-assed attempt at reaching a particular rating by implementing a half-assed system and not caring about the results it produces.
On May 20 2010 05:02 omg.deus wrote: Why do I see everyone associate dope with weed...where I'm from dope is heroine and the only people who think dope is marijuana are old people like my parents. The first time my dad found a joint in my car he ran in the house holding it screaming, "are you smoking dope son!?" I burst out laughing...who the hell calls marijuana dope?!
it just means drugs and most people don't hang out with many people who do heroin so they wouldn't be using it to mean something other than marijuana
totally wrong...dope doesn't mean just drugs...it was slang for weed decades ago and nowadays exclusively refers to heroine. doesn't matter if u hang out with heroine users or not, it's irrelevant...unless ur sheltered or grew up in the 60s u know dope as heroine and heroine only.
b/c of this I can see why blizzard doesn't want any heroine related user names
EDIT: did some research and I guess there are some places like Kansas where heroine isn't around so people say dope to refer to crystal meth. Still, I found that the vast majority of people thought as I did that dope only refers to heroine.
way to tell me I am totally wrong when you are posting with no clue whatsoever.
I am not totally wrong. You are totally wrong. Look the word up in a fuckin' dictionary. Christ.
How your friends use the words isn't relevant. People use words differently all over. Especially slang. But the word does have an actual definition.
On May 20 2010 10:21 morimacil wrote: Its not really about whether you find it offensive or not. Its more about if its appropriate or not. I guess none of you are parents, most people here must be teenagers. So yeah, you probably smoke weed, and dont find names like "dopeman" offensive. To be honest, neither do I, but thats not the point. The point is, that when the game is rated for 12 and above, as parents or as a company, you just dont really want the 12 year old kid to log in, and then face off against "dopeman.dopeman", "crack.addic7ed", "mein.kampf", "gay.fucker", and all that good stuff that people some up with for names when there is no moderation. Now sure, you might not find the name "dopeman" offensive. And for example, a nazi wouldnt find the name "mein.kampf" offensive. And I suspect that drug users wont find the name "crack.addic7ed" to be offensive. But they are still inappropriate. And 12 year old kids still shouldnt be seeing that kind of stuff when they log on to battle.net. The question is not whether you as a teenager find the name offensive, the question is whether its an appropriate name for a 12 year old kid to see.
Seriously, how hard can it be to come up with a name that isnt a reference to drugs, sex, or an insult?
I put the responsibility of raising my daughter in my hands.
This means that everything I allow her to do is my responsibility.
If I allow her to play a game that's multiplayer then it's pretty safe to assume that the rating is an automatic M. You could try to pass off SC2 as a teen rated game I suppose and then find yourself amused as you watch a collossus burn a marine to a husk...you know with burning corpse and everything.
A 12 year old is no longer shielded for society unless you have home schooled the poor kid. They've already heard all of that and more in middle school. I am already more than aware of what people on the internet are prone to saying. I mean really, people are much more likely to say things they normally wouldn't due to the anonymity of the internet.
Again what your kid sees or doesn't see should rest on the parents, period. It shouldn't be on the shoulders of the company or the TV..or the school.
On May 20 2010 20:50 Perfect Balance wrote: Their new policies are quite ridiculous.
The word "lust" means "want" in swedish, so every time I ask a friend if he wants to play a game I'm forced to write: "Do you have the intention to enter a game?" It's really annoying.
Then, if I want to end something, I can't even write "slut", which means "end" in swedish..
As you can imagine, starting and stopping games is quite a challenge for us..
Yes, this is bad design. They are totally not thinking about the rest of the world in this case. Although you and your friend do have a workaround in turning off the profanity filter.
ha, that is terrible.. I remember some online game that had a filter with words from many languages and if there is a single word from filter in a sentence it wouldnt even show.. So I sit there trying to chat with a friend in my language and chat wasnt showing up.. Changing some words and trying to figure out what was going on and the game banned me from chatting.. That is hilarious.. How stupid do you have to be to make a system like that when some basic words mean something else in another language..
On May 20 2010 20:50 Perfect Balance wrote: Their new policies are quite ridiculous.
The word "lust" means "want" in swedish, so every time I ask a friend if he wants to play a game I'm forced to write: "Do you have the intention to enter a game?" It's really annoying.
Then, if I want to end something, I can't even write "slut", which means "end" in swedish..
As you can imagine, starting and stopping games is quite a challenge for us..
Why is lust filtered? Why is white and black filtered? Anything with "trans"? Wtf? Cant say transfusion, transport, transform, transparent...or anything from here http://www.morewords.com/contains/trans/
Seriously this shit doesnt make any sense.. What is next? I find mondays, december and letter "v" offensive.. ban that..
On May 20 2010 20:50 Perfect Balance wrote: Their new policies are quite ridiculous.
The word "lust" means "want" in swedish, so every time I ask a friend if he wants to play a game I'm forced to write: "Do you have the intention to enter a game?" It's really annoying.
Then, if I want to end something, I can't even write "slut", which means "end" in swedish..
As you can imagine, starting and stopping games is quite a challenge for us..
slut means end in swedish?! wow I'm gonna use so many shitty jokes with that.
but on topic, it's kinda ridiculous, and I wish they would draw the line somewhere, but I bet activision has say in it, not just blizzard, because, HAVE YOU SEEN THE NIGHT ELF DANCE, zomg horny movements lolz.
"Out of minerals" = "Slut på mineraler"
Yeah, english word filters - by default - on a product meant for international use is fun It shouldn't even be there in the first place, certainly not as a default.
This is basically just a challenge for all you suckers to get a little original and come up with something really offensive that passes the filter. GOD FORBID YOU USE YOUR LITTLE CORRUPT MINDS
There were several Warcraft 3 clans in Battle.net 1.0 which refered openly to National Socialism and Blizzard didn't care at all even when I reported them. Now they are banning people for nicknames like phallic.aggressor or dopeman that's just redicolous I don't find them to be offensive in any kind.
I have a someone in my division named Vondouchebag. If dopeman is too offensive why hasn't this guy been removed. They really need to make clear cut lines or even a program that when you create a name it will let you know if it's allowed or not. I know my name isn't inappropriate in any way, but those of you that want to be funny shouldn't have to worry about being able to log in every time.
I feel that the banning of the name "dopeman" is justified as the thing that comes to most peoples heads when someone says "dope" is that of an illegal(in most places) drug. I feel that this is different to such a name as "speedman" because the most common use of the word "speed" is for the "rapidity in moving, going, traveling, proceeding, or performing" (thanks dictionary.com). When you made the name "dopeman" I assumed that you made the name in the context of the illegal drug and that is the reason why I voted that banning the said name was not unreasonable.
A kid sees your name while playing starcraft and goes to his parents and asks "mommy whats dope?" and she says "its a drug that can be harmful to you". Not satisfied with this explanation the child goes to school and asks the other children, one very knowledgable child tells the curious child about how his big brother does dope and if he wanted to meet up with him. Curious child meets up with said person, tries it for the first time, gets addicted, ruins life, dies.
A different child sees "speedman" while playing starcraft and then thinks "Wow speedman, he must be super fast like Sonic The Hedghehog, awesome" and continues to voidray rush him.
Obviously this is exaggerating a little but the justification is there in my opinion.
TLDR; I think that choosing said username indicates lack of thought on your part when creating a name for yourself.
and another thing im called "Coldplay" from other games such as Supreme Commander and youre not allowed to use Coldplay as name or identfier in SC2... so i had to use ColdplayR...
On May 21 2010 02:33 Baum wrote: There were several Warcraft 3 clans in Battle.net 1.0 which refered openly to National Socialism and Blizzard didn't care at all even when I reported them.
Yeah dude, because Germanys pretty much the only country in the world that cares about shit like that lol
On May 20 2010 01:25 iCCup.Nove wrote: Another problem that no one seemed to address is where should blizzard then draw the line if they allowed names such as dopeman to exist? It's obvious names such as fuck.you or any racial slurs deserved to be banned. The policy may be strict but that's the way I think it should be. Not because they are trying to 'keep the children safe' or maintain face but because people online will CONSTANTLY push the boundaries of any rules that you set.
If dopeman is ok shouldn't drugman be ok? Drugman may not even refer to illegal drugs it could be a name someone who works in a pharmacy likes. Rxman in my opinion is an acceptable ID to have while Drugman is not. Give someone an inch and they'll take a whole mile.
The questioning of such language censors on a game with 'killing' and 'light drug usage' is a strong argument to have but as I previously stated they have to draw the line somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if there was cursing during the campaign. Such as Raynor saying 'Damn'. This however doesn't mean that Damn.Damn is an appropriate name to have.
It's wrong that they banned you from beta and it's likely that instead of banning you post release you'll probably get notified of a name change.
And as I previously stated, you probably fucked up somewhere and BMed the wrong person who then reported you. Blizzard isn't just looking for excuses to ban people from their beta.
Coincidentally, my ID on both EU and US is damnit.damnit , and I have yet to receive a notice from Blizzard.
On May 21 2010 03:45 Risu wrote: A kid sees your name while playing starcraft and goes to his parents and asks "mommy whats dope?" and she says "its a drug that can be harmful to you". Not satisfied with this explanation the child goes to school and asks the other children, one very knowledgable child tells the curious child about how his big brother does dope and if he wanted to meet up with him. Curious child meets up with said person, tries it for the first time, gets addicted, ruins life, dies.
Hmm, I wonder if "Alcoholman" would be banned. After all, alcohol kills more people than every illegal drug combined.
Honestly I think it's just a business decision by blizzard, they don't really care themselves. They just want to avoid mothers sending them angry letters and boycotting the game etc..
It's pretty clear that alot of blizzard employees smoke weed...just look at Trolls in WC3/WoW...
It has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that blizzard is just a bunch of money grubbing sissies, trying to do anything to keep this game from being "too mature" so it won't exceed a low-age market of consumers. They want everyone from ages 8-30 to go out and buy their shit, and if having uncensored online play restricts that, then by god they will censor it up. Don't want any excuses for mothers to say like "hey little timmy, i don't like you playing with people named "dopeman", or "butthed", that's innapropriate, you're not allowed to play this anymore".
I promise you that's the only reason they are doing this shit. Steam is an incredibly successful store/server/gaming community, with zero cencorship whatsoever. They still sell tons and tons and tons of products and have thousands of players. I prefer their method of "make your user name whatever you want, whenever you want" far beyond blizzard's.
you know the best way to get this policy changed is to just get someone to make a name like "JesusisGreat" and get him banned and then get the christian right and fox news on our side!
On May 20 2010 01:25 iCCup.Nove wrote: Another problem that no one seemed to address is where should blizzard then draw the line if they allowed names such as dopeman to exist? It's obvious names such as fuck.you or any racial slurs deserved to be banned. The policy may be strict but that's the way I think it should be. Not because they are trying to 'keep the children safe' or maintain face but because people online will CONSTANTLY push the boundaries of any rules that you set.
If dopeman is ok shouldn't drugman be ok? Drugman may not even refer to illegal drugs it could be a name someone who works in a pharmacy likes. Rxman in my opinion is an acceptable ID to have while Drugman is not. Give someone an inch and they'll take a whole mile.
The questioning of such language censors on a game with 'killing' and 'light drug usage' is a strong argument to have but as I previously stated they have to draw the line somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if there was cursing during the campaign. Such as Raynor saying 'Damn'. This however doesn't mean that Damn.Damn is an appropriate name to have.
It's wrong that they banned you from beta and it's likely that instead of banning you post release you'll probably get notified of a name change.
And as I previously stated, you probably fucked up somewhere and BMed the wrong person who then reported you. Blizzard isn't just looking for excuses to ban people from their beta.
Coincidentally, my ID on both EU and US is damnit.damnit , and I have yet to receive a notice from Blizzard.
I guess they handle it like they do in WoW, where they only take action against names if they get report because of that name.
That being said, I dont find the name offensive at all, but I also understand that Blizz has every right to enforce a naming policy on their platform.
I spent the entire beta with a highly and obviously inappropriate name that even the mildest of wusses would have reported. It hasn't been changed. Chances are that you 6-pooled someone who works as a GM\has access to the ability to ban others, and you crushed their ego, and this is how they are making themselves feel better about it.
ITT, anyone who agrees with this player being banned, is a puss. Period. You people should slog your messy diapers back to 1st grade and start putting notes in the teacher's tattle box to tell on each other. There's not even a shred of decent reason to kick someone out of anything, let alone an extremely fun beta, for being named Dopeman.
On May 21 2010 05:52 bodysnatcher21 wrote: Hmm, I wonder if "Alcoholman" would be banned. After all, alcohol kills more people than every illegal drug combined.
Honestly I think it's just a business decision by blizzard, they don't really care themselves. They just want to avoid mothers sending them angry letters and boycotting the game etc..
It's pretty clear that alot of blizzard employees smoke weed...just look at Trolls in WC3/WoW...
Well, there's that, and the fact that Blizz is in California -_-
On May 21 2010 03:45 Risu wrote: I feel that the banning of the name "dopeman" is justified as the thing that comes to most peoples heads when someone says "dope" is that of an illegal(in most places) drug. I feel that this is different to such a name as "speedman" because the most common use of the word "speed" is for the "rapidity in moving, going, traveling, proceeding, or performing" (thanks dictionary.com). When you made the name "dopeman" I assumed that you made the name in the context of the illegal drug and that is the reason why I voted that banning the said name was not unreasonable.
A kid sees your name while playing starcraft and goes to his parents and asks "mommy whats dope?" and she says "its a drug that can be harmful to you". Not satisfied with this explanation the child goes to school and asks the other children, one very knowledgable child tells the curious child about how his big brother does dope and if he wanted to meet up with him. Curious child meets up with said person, tries it for the first time, gets addicted, ruins life, dies.
A different child sees "speedman" while playing starcraft and then thinks "Wow speedman, he must be super fast like Sonic The Hedghehog, awesome" and continues to voidray rush him.
Obviously this is exaggerating a little but the justification is there in my opinion.
TLDR; I think that choosing said username indicates lack of thought on your part when creating a name for yourself.
On May 21 2010 03:45 Risu wrote: I feel that the banning of the name "dopeman" is justified as the thing that comes to most peoples heads when someone says "dope" is that of an illegal(in most places) drug. I feel that this is different to such a name as "speedman" because the most common use of the word "speed" is for the "rapidity in moving, going, traveling, proceeding, or performing" (thanks dictionary.com). When you made the name "dopeman" I assumed that you made the name in the context of the illegal drug and that is the reason why I voted that banning the said name was not unreasonable.
A kid sees your name while playing starcraft and goes to his parents and asks "mommy whats dope?" and she says "its a drug that can be harmful to you". Not satisfied with this explanation the child goes to school and asks the other children, one very knowledgable child tells the curious child about how his big brother does dope and if he wanted to meet up with him. Curious child meets up with said person, tries it for the first time, gets addicted, ruins life, dies.
A different child sees "speedman" while playing starcraft and then thinks "Wow speedman, he must be super fast like Sonic The Hedghehog, awesome" and continues to voidray rush him.
Obviously this is exaggerating a little but the justification is there in my opinion.
TLDR; I think that choosing said username indicates lack of thought on your part when creating a name for yourself.
you're kidding right? not even funny
Risu is secretly on the blizzard censoring team...get him!
What I said was just to point out the differences of "Dopeman" and "Speedman". Dopeman is a bad name choice however way you look at it. I don't know how you would justify calling yourself Dopeman, it is not a funny or creative name by any stretch of the immagination and thinking for a second before he made that name would of stopped him getting banned.
On May 21 2010 06:53 Risu wrote: What I said was just to point out the differences of "Dopeman" and "Speedman". Dopeman is a bad name choice however way you look at it. I don't know how you would justify calling yourself Dopeman, it is not a funny or creative name by any stretch of the immagination and thinking for a second before he made that name would of stopped him getting banned.
What kind of name is Risu? I used Dopeman for years in SCBW and in WC3, never got banned.
Risu is Japanese for squirrel, originally I was called Ferithan which is a character from a book (cannot remember which) which i shortened to Rith, Japanese people would pronounce Rith as Risu and thus born my name.
On May 21 2010 06:53 Risu wrote: What I said was just to point out the differences of "Dopeman" and "Speedman". Dopeman is a bad name choice however way you look at it. I don't know how you would justify calling yourself Dopeman, it is not a funny or creative name by any stretch of the immagination and thinking for a second before he made that name would of stopped him getting banned.
ID's aren't for being funny or creative. Their only function is to tell people apart from other people. Dopeman works fine.
the degree of censorship is both ridiculous and hypocritical...stim has a picture of a syringe with rines going "aaaah thats the stuff" while becoming faster and stronger.... to me that is going to make a child more curious about drugs than a username as mild as "dopeman"
edit: maybe I should write to blizzard and suggest that instead of stimming, marines and mauraders chug red bulls or energy drinks to move and shoot faster...that would probably make the game more successful since it will offend less people right?
Its a fine policy. And it's fairly irrelevant as to what we decide as a community because the fact that the policy exists isn't going to harm the demand for their game by much, if at all. They make their game more "compatible" for all ages which is probably a bigger target group than the people who will "Not play SC2 on principal because it won't let them have drug references, etc" in their name. Honestly, I don't really find Dopeman offensive, and its probably a stretch on their policy. But their policy is in their best interests, so its probably never going to change.
the vary next game i played after reading this thread was against an opponent call jewgasser. guess they slipped through.
might as well chime in i guess.
so in this game i can -burn people alive -use a needle full of stim making the marines say "ahhh" when you do it. -play a religious zealots that kill others for their god.
but you can't say dope?
dope is also slang for cool or hip.
on the other hand maybe blizzard is just testing the beta to see if banning is bugged.
i would have to say that there ToS is messed up. they have taken away lan so we can't play as dopeman at home. they wont let us play as dopeman in asia or russia (iccup) where it is not considered offensive either.
by my 5th game playing the beta i had to turned the chat censer off because i could never tell what anyone was saying when i played.
I read through all the posts, and some were really funny ('BigNickDigger' really made me laugh, I'm so going to use that one :D). Offensive nicknames should be censored, I agree. But who determines what's 'offensive'? Offensive to whom? And what about ambiguous nicknames, such as 'BenDover' or 'FagotSlayer'. Would you ban those names on BNet 2.0? Speaking from my experience, part of the fun in WC3 is trash talk because, when it happens, it makes the game personal. You're no longer playing to merely win, you're out to get revenge. Censoring trash-talk makes the game feel sterile. And again, who gets to determine what is 'trash-talk'? Now, I've seen this line
It's a privilege, not a right
several times in this thread and elsewhere and I think it deserves to be explained properly. I'll be concise, I promise :D Everything revolves around property. You either own something and you have rights (permanent and inherent) or you are a limited-access user and you have privileges (temporary and granted). Now read section 8b at this link: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/termsofuse.html?rhtml=y (go on, I'll wait :D) Who owns your account? Blizzard. Do you have any rights? Nope.
But, but, but I bought the game...?
Nope.
But, but, but, this isn't fair...
Nope. That section is quite common in every EULA, but in SC2's case, you can't opt-out of BNet 2.0 - it comes bundled with SC2, and thus EULA becomes enforceable on you, whereas before that was not possible. If you buy SC2, you must use the 'Service', you must make a nickname that adheres to Blizzard's vague naming conventions, you must consent to your chat being monitored and/or recorded (same link, section 11e), you cannot make more than one account per CD-key and you cannot use the game offline if your CD-key gets banned, in which case your SC2 DVD becomes a 60$ frisbee. Oh, and there are other restrictions. Sounds fun, doesn't it? :D SC2's BNet 2.0 is the wet dream of every DRM advocate. In conclusion, I will not buy SC2, and there are many reasons for that, but the foremost is, when I saw the gameplay videos, I deeply felt that this isn't it, this has nothing to do with StarCraft, and that Blizzard has become a faceless corporation and uses the familiar name of StarCraft to lure you into the depths and do with you as it wills. P.S. Maybe I went overboard with the end, but I wanted a dramatic finish :D
On May 20 2010 01:25 iCCup.Nove wrote: Another problem that no one seemed to address is where should blizzard then draw the line if they allowed names such as dopeman to exist? It's obvious names such as fuck.you or any racial slurs deserved to be banned. The policy may be strict but that's the way I think it should be. Not because they are trying to 'keep the children safe' or maintain face but because people online will CONSTANTLY push the boundaries of any rules that you set.
If dopeman is ok shouldn't drugman be ok? Drugman may not even refer to illegal drugs it could be a name someone who works in a pharmacy likes. Rxman in my opinion is an acceptable ID to have while Drugman is not. Give someone an inch and they'll take a whole mile.
The questioning of such language censors on a game with 'killing' and 'light drug usage' is a strong argument to have but as I previously stated they have to draw the line somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if there was cursing during the campaign. Such as Raynor saying 'Damn'. This however doesn't mean that Damn.Damn is an appropriate name to have.
It's wrong that they banned you from beta and it's likely that instead of banning you post release you'll probably get notified of a name change.
And as I previously stated, you probably fucked up somewhere and BMed the wrong person who then reported you. Blizzard isn't just looking for excuses to ban people from their beta.
StimPack
The newest versions of the Marine Powered Combat Suit and Firebat Heavy Combat Suit feature an in-field chemical delivery system filled with a powerful mixture of synthetic adrenaline and endorphins coupled with a powerful psychotropic aggression amplifier. When activated, the StimPack provides the user with greatly increased speed and reflexes. Some tissue damage may result. Side effects including insomnia, weight loss, tremors, grand mal seizures, mania/hypomania, paranoiac hallucinations, severe internal hemorrhaging and cerebral deterioration have all been declared nominal and well within Confederate acceptable safety margins.
(Starcraft instructions manual)
Thank goodness that evil Dopeman never got the chance to give the poor marines any of his heavy stuff.
That section is quite common in every EULA, but in SC2's case, you can't opt-out of BNet 2.0 - it comes bundled with SC2, and thus EULA becomes enforceable on you, whereas before that was not possible. If you buy SC2, you must use the 'Service', you must make a nickname that adheres to Blizzard's vague naming conventions, you must consent to your chat being monitored and/or recorded (same link, section 11e), you cannot make more than one account per CD-key and you cannot use the game offline if your CD-key gets banned, in which case your SC2 DVD becomes a 60$ frisbee. Oh, and there are other restrictions. Sounds fun, doesn't it? :D SC2's BNet 2.0 is the wet dream of every DRM advocate. In conclusion, I will not buy SC2, and there are many reasons for that, but the foremost is, when I saw the gameplay videos, I deeply felt that this isn't it, this has nothing to do with StarCraft, and that Blizzard has become a faceless corporation and uses the familiar name of StarCraft to lure you into the depths and do with you as it wills. P.S. Maybe I went overboard with the end, but I wanted a dramatic finish :D
i guess the only thing we can do is submit to blizzards governess in this situation and us our CD keys as our name. it is the only safe name to use.
On May 22 2010 23:38 xylon wrote: i guess the only thing we can do is submit to blizzards governess in this situation and us our CD keys as our name. it is the only safe name to use.
Nice try, however, if WoW's naming restrictions apply, you can't have a 'gibberish' name. Even if you decided to suck up to Blizzard and make an account named 'iloveyoublizzard', you can still get into trouble because Blizzard is the name of a company, and again, that's prohibited under WoW naming rules :D My idea is to provide you with information that will help you understand how this works, and there is a really good reason why EULAs aren't written in plain english, but in a language that uses similar words but gives them a different meaning, and that is called legalese, the language of the law society. Bill Clinton said:
It depends on what your definition of the word 'is' is
and people laughed, but that right there is legalese. Every single word is redefined, the words need not mean what you think they mean, and the total result may shock you.
I used the ID Sieg.heil last patch, and I even had a guy in my division named MeinFuhrer. We managed okay thankfully :D
But yeah, I really don't think Blizzard is too serious about this, OP was just unlucky enough to be chosen and made an example of. It's likely that this thread is only bringing the attention towards the warning that Blizzard made, which is exactly what they wanted to achieve. Hell, it may even have made matters worse, as now there's quite a few posts in here, reactivating the OP's account would only be an admittance that they were wrong and we are right, which would encourage more borderline names.
I was a mod on a big MMO and i found in this situation it was much better to ask them to change the name than outright ban. Most were very understanding that someone had complained and that we were bound by our own rules. Strange that they didnt even give you that chance, maybe bnet doesn't easily enable them to force a name change. Saving embarrassment by a ban maybe?
As an aside nobody seems to care what your nick is in the FPS's ive played are they more relaxed or are MMOs/RTSs more uptight.
On May 20 2010 20:50 Perfect Balance wrote: Their new policies are quite ridiculous.
The word "lust" means "want" in swedish, so every time I ask a friend if he wants to play a game I'm forced to write: "Do you have the intention to enter a game?" It's really annoying.
Then, if I want to end something, I can't even write "slut", which means "end" in swedish..
As you can imagine, starting and stopping games is quite a challenge for us..
On May 20 2010 20:50 Perfect Balance wrote: Their new policies are quite ridiculous.
The word "lust" means "want" in swedish, so every time I ask a friend if he wants to play a game I'm forced to write: "Do you have the intention to enter a game?" It's really annoying.
Then, if I want to end something, I can't even write "slut", which means "end" in swedish..
As you can imagine, starting and stopping games is quite a challenge for us..
Why don't you disable the chat filter?
But shouldnt chat filters be language specific? I am so glad we are being protected from such evil words as "lust" though. Though I am going to remember the Swedish for slut for future reference :D.
On May 22 2010 12:41 greendestiny wrote: And what about ambiguous nicknames, such as 'BenDover' or 'FagotSlayer'. Would you ban those names on BNet 2.0?
On May 21 2010 02:20 Hawk wrote: This is basically just a challenge for all you suckers to get a little original and come up with something really offensive that passes the filter. GOD FORBID YOU USE YOUR LITTLE CORRUPT MINDS
On May 21 2010 02:20 Hawk wrote: This is basically just a challenge for all you suckers to get a little original and come up with something really offensive that passes the filter. GOD FORBID YOU USE YOUR LITTLE CORRUPT MINDS
Poofda works, so does Testicle Cancer. BoD
Those nicknames are dope!
Dopeman 'worked' too. Because it was his name. The ban would have come later after complaints...
It makes perfect sense if you see things thru the eyes of Blizzard.
They cater to kidiots and 12 years olds from WoW now and thus anything even remotely suggesting profanity/illegal stuff/morally debatable things has to be BANNED, DESTROYED and SANITIZED.
To hell with the long-terms blizzard fans who are now all in their mid 20's early 30's and can handle trash-talking online (wow big surprise), long live the retards who want everything to be bleached right down to usernames that COULD, MAYBE offend some overly sensitive kid or his psychotic mom someday...
this isn't silly at all, blizzard want their customers to be happy and if one of them is going to be offended by this it's possible for many others to be offended since so many will play this game. just don't be naive about things like this and you'll get along. Being revoked does suck.
To this extent, revoking access for a name like "Dopeman," is kind of silly. I agree that there should be a set of words that shouldn't be in an id, but beyond that (small) set you should have freedom to call yourself what you want. There can be obvious exceptions to this, like changing the id of that hip badass 14-year-old going by "N1GG3RK1LL3R", but if it's not immediately and/or extremely offensive then it should be allowed.
On May 24 2010 08:46 stroggos wrote: this isn't silly at all, blizzard want their customers to be happy and if one of them is going to be offended by this it's possible for many others to be offended since so many will play this game. just don't be naive about things like this and you'll get along. Being revoked does suck.
More users offended by 'Dopeman' getting banned than there could have possibly been people offended by his name. Blizzard is political correctness gone mental.
Blizzard, if ur reading this(WOW u guys must really like feedback lol), WARN THEM AND MAKE THEM CHANGE THEIR NAME AND HAVE IT APROVED OR ATLEAST 1 week ban or something! Not just permanent ban from start!
It's the BETA. I'm willing to bet money that they are only being so harsh because it's the BETA. Once the game is officially released, they will obviously start with a warning, because they don't want to anger potential customers.
Yes, banning during Beta can lead to losing potential customers, but Blizzard isn't here to mess around with people who use inappropriate names. They're here to test their game. You guys agreed to their terms, and they can do whatever; they're not going to spend the time to warn people if all that really matters is testing the game.
I agree that the beta is a privilege, but remember they are trying to sell a product and make it better/functional. If supporting a game with a limited user count is too challenging, how can the customer expect anything better upon full release when millions are playing?
They are not being harsh. This guy must have angered someone important personally to get banned. As mentioned by numerous people in this thread that have played 500+ games in each beta phase with horribly offensive names, you really have to try to get banned out of it like this. :O
EPT
If the kids choose to go online and play, then all bets are off to what happens in that game session. ![[image loading]](http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6085/wwwte.jpg)
