Blizzard’s most popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft, is getting some attention from the gay and lesbian community. Too bad it’s not good attention for Blizzard, as it concerns a guild in the populargame that was open to gay/lesbian members playing the online game. Blizzard warned the creators of the guild that they would be forced to ban their accounts if they didn’t close the guild. SaraAndrews, creator of the guild, says that it isn’t violating any policies and that someone is just out to get them at Blizzard.
But Blizzard contests that Andrews is violating the terms of agreement for World of Warcraft. A Blizzard spokesperson claims that the company is just trying to protect the players from discriminationand abuse of other online players. “We encourage community building among our players with others of similar interests, and we understand that guilds are one of the primary ways to forge thesecommunities,” the company said in a statement. “However, topics related to sensitive real-world subjects–such as religious, sexual or political preference, for example–have had a tendency to resultin communication between players that often breaks down into harassment.”
As expected, gay and lesbian advocate groups are hitting back, saying Blizzard are the ones being discriminatory and have no reason to get rid of the guild. The main cause for concern to Blizzard wasthat Andrews was promoting the guild inside the virtual world of WoW. The company suggested that she should take her recruiting to forums outside the virtual world and keep them there. There is noword yet on whether or not Andrews has been banned from the game or if the guild has been shut down.
