Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell at Blizzard

January 27, 2006

Here’s an odd one; Blizzard has cited a World of Warcraft player for Sexual-Orientation Harrasment because she was recruiting for a GLBT guild. Blizzard has a policy against “both clear and masked language which insultingly refers to any aspect of sexual orientation pertaining to themselves or other players.” But the person in question was not being insulting. Blizzard’s reasoning, as reported by In Newsweekly:

While we appreciate and understand your point of view, we do feel that the advertisement of a ‘GLBT friendly’ guild is very likely to result in harassment for players that may not have existed otherwise. [ Blizzard of GLBT gaming questions]

So: Blizzard has started forcing GLBT members into the closet to prevent them from harrassment? This strikes me as a bad precident; are they going to insist that people not reveal other details about themselves in order to prevent harrassment? I’ve seen some highly racist comments online—are blacks going to be asked to keep their race quiet? I’ve also seen some highly sexist comments online—are women going to be required to masquerade as men?

Or is Blizzard just actively anti-gay?

“Many people are insulted just at the word ‘homosexual’ or any other word referring to sexual orientation,” Blizzard responded to Blatzheim in an e-mail. [ Ibid]

Perhaps so; it certainly seems to me as though Blizzard is on the side of those who think “queer” is an insult.

Via BoingBoing.

Posted in World of Warcraft