Hey Gang,

Mist here, Blizzard have made a house call on one of my characters for naming violation, see the details below. i know i'm probably asking for it, but i'm damned if i'm taking it lying down.

Mist




Greetings XXXXXX,

Account Name: XXXXXXXXX (edited out-Mav)
Realm: Terenas
Character Name: Daemonics

Account Action: Warning

Offense: Naming Policy Violation - Racial/Ethnic/National
This category includes both clear and masked names which:
• Have any negative racial/ethnic connotations
• Have any negative national connotations

The name selected for this character has been deemed as inappropriate for the
World of Warcraft by the In-Game Support staff of Blizzard Entertainment. Upon
your next log-in, you will be prompted to select a new character name.

For further information, please view the World of Warcraft Naming Policy and
Terms of Use Agreement: (http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01722p)
and (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/termsofuse.shtml). For any concerns or
disputes on this matter, please E-Mail WoWAccountAdmin@Blizzard.com
mailto:WoWAccountAdmin@Blizzard.com and our Account Administration team will be
happy to assist you. Be aware that additional inappropriate actions may result
in further disciplinary action, leading up to or including account closure. We
thank you in advance for respecting our position.

If you feel that you may have any additional names on your account that violate
our Naming Policy, please submit an In-Game Petition with the name(s) in
question. Doing so may prevent further actions on your account. Should you have
any other names on your account that violate our Naming Policy and they are
reported, the names will be changed and your account may incur further
penalties. We will allow you a 7-day grace period to notify us of any potential
naming violations on your account. Please take this opportunity to inform us of
any further naming violations on your account so they can be resolved without
further penalties to your account, by submitting an In-Game Petition on one of
your characters that does not violate our Naming Policy.



Safe Travels,

Armanistis
Game Master
Blizzard Entertainment
www.worldofwarcraft.com



Customer satisfaction is a top priority here at Blizzard Entertainment, and we
would like your feedback on the level of service you have received. Please feel
free to provide such feedback at the following web address:
]http://www.blizzard.com/support/?id=eSurve...[edited]

MY REPLY

Hi,

I am the player of character named "daemonics", i've been sent a email saying i have to change my name under Racial/ethical or national reasons, i've looked at the links provided but i cant see why this name is either Racial, ethical or Nationaly offensive.

Daemon, see below.

The words daemon and daimon, sometimes dæmon, are Latinized spellings of Greek δαιμων, used purposely today to distinguish the daemons of Greek mythology, good or malevolent "supernatural beings between mortals and gods, such as inferior divinities and ghosts of dead heroes", from the Judeo-Christian usage demon, "a malignant spirit that can seduce, afflict, or possess humans." The Greek translation of the Septuagint, made for the Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria, and the usage of daimon in the New Testament's original Greek text, caused the Greek word to be applied to a Judeo-Christian spirit by the early 2nd century AD. Then in late antiquity, pagan conceptions and exorcisms, part of the cultural atmosphere, became Christian beliefs and exorcism rituals. The transposition has recently been documented in detail, in North Africa, by Maureen Tilley (see Links).

You used Demons for the Warlock Class, it's used on the Demon trainers and the game includes many "demon" npc's & mobs....if my usage of the name "Daemonics" is offensive then the WHOLE "Demon" theme is, and if it's that big a deal for 1 person to be pulled up for it then the whole game is becoming to Burecatic.

If you still must make me change the name them i hope you'll also be changing all characters using the same term in different way, i know for a fact that there is a character "Demonics" since i tried that first. if this is where it starts where does it end?

A loyal WOW gamer looking for a fair deal.

P.s. if ppl find simple names like this offensive then they shouldnt be playing fantasy games in the first place.

XXXXXXXX


Edited out personal info -- Mav

Ouch, that's a harsh call, but a very good response. Best of luck getting your name back, although I wouldn't be holding my breath.

I have heard of instances where naming violation calls were made incorrectly (it seems to be one of the hazzards of PvPing) and later rectified, so there's reason to hope.

Meh, good luck to you, this is ridiculous.

All that effort wasted on pulling a standard fantasy name, gogo fix the goldspamming please...

take care
Tarabulus

Clearly, the Blizzard GM who set this up just wants the name for HIS warlock....

If I were you Mist, I'd XXXX out the account name listed at the beginning of the post.


*hugs*

I got the personal info edited out, I think.

On the armory:

"Daemonics" gets 3 hits.

"Demonics" gets 515 hits.

"Daemon" gets 1033 hits.

"Demon" gets 79 hits.

"Demonic" gets 1549 hits.

"Daemonic" gets 279 hits.

Interesting. I suspect it's not the word "Daemon" that's got a bee in their bonnet. It looks like it's this specific variant. I wonder if some imbecile got the idea that "Daemonics" is intended as a play on the word "Ebonics". But then why 515 "Demonics"?

As I understand it, Blizz doesn't go out trolling for names, they tend to have them pointed out. So likely someone got a little chuffed at you, and called Blizz down on your name. For some reason, the GM didn't actually look at the name that was the source of the complaint. I don't see why they'd have you change it.

That's my understanding as well. (Terenas stalwarts will remember when Kabapoo had his name reported. ) Same thing happened to a warrior on Stormscale: had his name reported, the email was sent, he changed his name upon login, sent in a ticket and email and had it changed back. Took some time though.

I remember Kabapoo, and Donking (though that was quite obviously against the TOS). The Short Bus guild having to change their name was pretty borderline, and Daemonics is definitely very borderline.

thanks for the support all,

Sent an in game email to a GM last night, listing all my characters names, and none of them are to be changed atm, jury still out on daemonics, the GM said a couple were borderline, being the onse with 3 words, ie Walksinwoods, but he didnt see any need to change them.

Will let you know what happends with "D"

Mist

p.s. thanks for blanking the account name, didny think about it at the time, was too pissed off.

It is chucklesome to think that they are worried about the feelings of those who are ethnically demons

Very annoying to have it happen though and of course absurd. Good luck getting the decision reversed

Awww man that sucks - I liked that guild name! They seemed like a fun group of PvPers too.

It's also a cool album by the band Filter

Edit: ablum indeed

Logged in today and no prompt to change the name, looks like i won, though it'll be a couple of days before i'll stop worring about it, but in the mean time it looks like the 2nd GM i spoke to has sorted things out.

Mist

Good for you!

/cheer

Although I have started wondering if I offend all Americans by naming my character after the capital of Libya

take care
Tarabulus

no, you would only offend most americans if you pointed out they didn't know the capital of libya.

thanks, I'll do that then

take care
Tarabulus

I have dealt with one name change. Raneofterror - one of my son Rane's toons (he's never left mulgore :-). I wish they'd go after the gold farmers and spammers with the same enthusiasm. I'm not in favor of the "sentence" rule anyway. Many historical genres have naming schemes, such as, Eric the Red, Joan of Ark, etc.