Heh no - I got stuck zoning into maraudon and had to put in a ticket to get him extracted. When I tried to log in later I got stopped by a dialog box that said my name was invalid.
I spent the last few days trying to dispute it, since it isnt in the rules anywhere that you can't have accented characters. Gavin thinks the GM got pissed off because he couldnt figure out how to type in the ü.
I saw this happen to someone about 6 months ago. They only change your name if the character is brought to their attention for some other reason. I can see reasonable reasons for disallowing high ASCII, but it's illegal without there being any rules against it.
EULA Section 3A: "A. All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Game and all copies thereof (including, but not limited to, any titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialog, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, character inventories, structural or landscape designs, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, storylines, character likenesses, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, and "applets" incorporated into the Game) are owned or expressly licensed by Licensor. The Game is protected by the copyright laws of the United States, international copyright treaties and conventions, and other laws. All rights are reserved. The Game may contain certain licensed materials, and the licensors of those materials may enforce their rights in the event of any violation of this License Agreement."
Naming policy: "Below are guidelines to help you determine whether or not the name you have chosen is appropriate for your character, guild, or pet. Hopefully, we encompass all manner of barred names; however there may be inappropriate names which do not fit into any of these categories. We reserve the right to evaluate each incident on a case by case basis, and in extreme cases, take action beyond what is detailed here"
and...
"Blizzard reserves the right to change any names we deem inappropriate..."
I've never disputed that they had a legal right to change the name. Legally, they can delete all of your stuff and rename your characters after smurfs if they feel like it. The rights they spell out in the EULA protect them when they ban a person from the game.
My criticism is of their management policy. If you want people to keep off the grass, put up a sign, or better yet, a fence.
Many of their policies stem from their publisher being paranoid about lawsuits. Tittlywink was previously named Titmouse; the GM forced a name change because it contained the word "Tit," which might have offended someone. $5 US says that you would get banned for calling someone "niggardly" in front of a GM.
That said, now I've got a warning on my account for breaking a hidden rule. If I break some other hidden rule in the near future, do I get marked as a repeat offender and banned? (rhetorical question).
That all said, other than quitting, there is nothing I can do about it. I'd rather just play.
"I've never disputed that they had a legal right..."
You haven't?
"...but it's illegal without there being any rules against it..."
BTW, I agree with you completely... It doesn't make sense for a company to be a jerk to its customers. That said, my customer experience with Blizzard has been excellent thus far.
I'm starting to believe Jay/WiFi's interpretation of the situation... You got into it with a GM, didn't you... You called him names. You pretended to be a pirate.
OR
You meant to call him niggardly but made an unfortunate misspelling...
"Illegal" in a sense of breaking internal rules, vs. "illegal" in the sense that I go to jail and become someone's bitch. "Legal right" in the sense that in court, they would pull out a hardcopy of the EULA and win.
I don't think this kind of asshattery is a company policy; I think it's one GM with near-absolute powers, a chip on his shoulder, and almost no oversight.
9 comments:
WEAK
Heh no - I got stuck zoning into maraudon and had to put in a ticket to get him extracted. When I tried to log in later I got stopped by a dialog box that said my name was invalid.
I spent the last few days trying to dispute it, since it isnt in the rules anywhere that you can't have accented characters. Gavin thinks the GM got pissed off because he couldnt figure out how to type in the ü.
I saw this happen to someone about 6 months ago. They only change your name if the character is brought to their attention for some other reason. I can see reasonable reasons for disallowing high ASCII, but it's illegal without there being any rules against it.
Illegal?
EULA Section 3A:
"A. All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Game and all copies thereof (including, but not limited to, any titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialog, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, character inventories, structural or landscape designs, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, storylines, character likenesses, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, and "applets" incorporated into the Game) are owned or expressly licensed by Licensor. The Game is protected by the copyright laws of the United States, international copyright treaties and conventions, and other laws. All rights are reserved. The Game may contain certain licensed materials, and the licensors of those materials may enforce their rights in the event of any violation of this License Agreement."
Naming policy:
"Below are guidelines to help you determine whether or not the name you have chosen is appropriate for your character, guild, or pet. Hopefully, we encompass all manner of barred names; however there may be inappropriate names which do not fit into any of these categories. We reserve the right to evaluate each incident on a case by case basis, and in extreme cases, take action beyond what is detailed here"
and...
"Blizzard reserves the right to change any names we deem inappropriate..."
All that said, what do they in Europe? Anglicize every name?
I don't even want to think about double-byte languages...
ahh, ok, so maraudon is a character name filter!!! So if you had never filed the ticket you'd still have günther?
any mac users out there know how i can get a "gunther U"?
I've never disputed that they had a legal right to change the name. Legally, they can delete all of your stuff and rename your characters after smurfs if they feel like it. The rights they spell out in the EULA protect them when they ban a person from the game.
My criticism is of their management policy. If you want people to keep off the grass, put up a sign, or better yet, a fence.
Many of their policies stem from their publisher being paranoid about lawsuits. Tittlywink was previously named Titmouse; the GM forced a name change because it contained the word "Tit," which might have offended someone. $5 US says that you would get banned for calling someone "niggardly" in front of a GM.
That said, now I've got a warning on my account for breaking a hidden rule. If I break some other hidden rule in the near future, do I get marked as a repeat offender and banned? (rhetorical question).
That all said, other than quitting, there is nothing I can do about it. I'd rather just play.
err?
"I've never disputed that they had a legal right..."
You haven't?
"...but it's illegal without there being any rules against it..."
BTW, I agree with you completely... It doesn't make sense for a company to be a jerk to its customers. That said, my customer experience with Blizzard has been excellent thus far.
I'm starting to believe Jay/WiFi's interpretation of the situation... You got into it with a GM, didn't you... You called him names. You pretended to be a pirate.
OR
You meant to call him niggardly but made an unfortunate misspelling...
"Illegal" in a sense of breaking internal rules, vs. "illegal" in the sense that I go to jail and become someone's bitch. "Legal right" in the sense that in court, they would pull out a hardcopy of the EULA and win.
I don't think this kind of asshattery is a company policy; I think it's one GM with near-absolute powers, a chip on his shoulder, and almost no oversight.
"Wiggardly?" I don't get it.
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