Words are indeed tools, powerful tools. Throughout your travels in Azeroth, you will be using these tools to achieve your goals, whether those are finding the perfect group to help you with a quest or getting a great price on that dagger you've had your eye on. As anyone who has hit their thumb with a hammer well knows, tools can cause great pain when used incorrectly. Words are no different.
As stated in the World of Warcraft Terms of Use, Blizzard reserves the right to evaluate each incident on a case-by-case basis. The action we take may be more lenient or more severe than those listed under each category. One major factor in considering what action to take is to consider the number of people who are exposed to the language. We have broken this up into three categories.
- Public We consider language to be public when said in the "General" and "Trade" channels as well as with the "yell" command and the “say” command. Since comments in these forums are visible to the largest number of players, we take harassment in these channels very seriously. Abuse of language in these mediums will receive at least the penalty listed below, if not additional repercussions in accordance with the World of Warcraft Terms of Use.
- One to one or One to few This group includes private "whispers", player-created chat channels (protected by passwords). Though we enforce all rules in these forums, the number of people affected will be taken into consideration, and penalties may not be as harsh as stated below.
- Guild chat Since your participation in guild chat is "at will," we take a much more lenient stance in these forums. Only the most severe harassment (i.e. Racial/Ethnic, Extreme Sexual/Violence, Real-life threats) will be considered.
Below are guidelines detailing what language we find to be inappropriate and the action we will take for the use of such language. We have tried to encompass all manner of offensive language; however, there may be inappropriate language that does not fit into any of these categories - this will be left to the discretion of the Customer support.
In a general manner, no illegal activity will be tolerated in World of Warcraft, neither encouraging such activities, nor providing for any means or support to attain or attempt to attain such goals.
Highly Inappropriate
Language which falls under the following categories is deemed to be highly inappropriate. Clarification on what constitutes each category can be found by clicking on the links below.
Though we have varying tolerance for repeated or extreme abuse of each category, any language that violates one of these categories will most likely:
- Be temporarily or permanently suspended from the game
Moderately Inappropriate
Language which falls under the following categories is deemed to be mildly inappropriate. Clarification on what constitutes each category can be found by clicking on the links below.
Though we have varying tolerance for repeated or extreme abuse of each category, any language that violates one of these categories will most likely:
- Be given a warning
- Be temporarily or permanently suspended from the game for very specific cases
Other Categories There are two other categories of harassment that are not necessarily related to the language used, these are listed below.
- Physical harassment.
We have taken great strides to ensure all physical harassment (i.e. stealing resource nodes, kill stealing, training) is addressed or being addressed by the development team. Forms of physical harassment in the game will not be addressed by the GM staff, but instead with a development resolution, if warranted. This however does not include abusing game mechanics/exploiting to cause another player grief or distress.
- Ongoing harassment.
Harassment takes many forms, and is not necessarily limited to the type of language used, but the intent. Repeatedly targeting a specific player with harassment, either physical or verbal, can lead to more severe action. The idea behind this is to prevent any one player from consistently being made uncomfortable in the lands of Azeroth.
IMPORTANT
- Repeatedly violating any area of the Terms Of Use, including the areas detailed above, will often result in temporary suspension from the game.
- This policy is not language-restrictive. Language that falls under this policy will always be subject to the repercussions listed, whether they are inappropriate in English or any other language.
The bottom line is that we want World of Warcraft to be a fun and safe environment for all players. World of Warcraft is an MMORPG, and the key words are "Massively Multiplayer." In playing this game, you will encounter thousands of other players who share different experiences and come from vastly different backgrounds. While a certain name may not be offensive to you, consider the fact that that same name may have a completely different effect on someone else. We've done everything we can to make this a great game but now it's up to you, the players, to breathe life into the world. Choose wisely my friends.
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