Guild Wars 2 has only just officially launched, but ever since the headstart began on Saturday, ArenaNet has been busily suspending users whose names or behaviour violate policy. Many users who have been suspended have taken exception to their punishment.
So ArenaNet has taken to Reddit to answer users’ innocent and not-so-innocent questions.
Several players with innocuous names questioned why they were suspended, only to be told that while their names were all right, their behaviour was not. The ArenaNet representatives then shared some of the more choice racist, homophobic, and abusive language with the world, to prove the point:
Name: OK Chat — Not Ok: “This isn’t Africa, you don’t adopt black kids.”
Name: OK Chat: Not ok — Neurologic: “the worm IS fucking hard if you’re a fucking mentalpatient no we fucking dont you can take a keep with 5 people if you’re not a fucking dickhead”
The name’s fine. The chat? No so much: Bixx: Get out of here you gag faggot.
Name: OK Chat: Not ok — “i AM A DOG YOU NIGGER”
There were some so bad that ArenaNet would not publicly repost the content: “Name: Ok Chat: Not ok. (The Holocaust “jokes” were just ugly.)”
Players who had rolled the characters “Adolf Critler” and “verybigballsackk” accepted their suspensions with good grace, and full knowledge that they deserved it.
On the other hand, some players did indeed find that the fault was not their own. ArenaNet’s response to several was to reply, “Your account was hacked. Please contact Support so they can help you out.” Gold sellers, it appears, are already out in full force.
ArenaNet has deliberately focused on creating an inclusive, welcoming game community, and a big part of doing that is keeping the worst behaviour out of public chat channels. But they do have a sense of humour. The official ArenaNet response to a query about the acceptibility of “Winston Charrchill?” “I am SO sad I did not think of that.” And now I kind of am, too. If you’re planning to dive into Guild Wars 2 this week, it’s worth having a look at the official naming policy first. And don’t be a jerk in chat.
Suspensions for Offensive Names and Inappropriate Behavior [Reddit]
Leave a Reply