The Blizzard Player Code Of Conduct For Dummies. Part 1: Names

It’s become incredibly clear to me in the last few months on Bloodhoof that nobody knows exactly what the Code of Conduct says.  Lots of players say that they know, but a lot of times when you check the actual Code of Conduct, they’re wrong.  So I’m going to write one mother of a long blog post and go through it piece by piece.  I’m going to take all the legalese and big words, and chop it up into small manageable pieces.

Before we get to the actual meat of the Code of Conduct though, we have to realize one very important thing.  Blizzard doesn’t have the time or inclination to patrol the streets of Ironforge or Orgrimmar and have people listen to the chat channels and hand out suspensions.  Maybe it’s happened a handful of times since the game launched, but just like real life Blizzard’s “law enforcement” is complaint-driven. Blizzard knows that a handful of people exist who will always look out for the greater good, and they depend on those people.  You can probably commit a minor Code infraction and carry it on for a very long time if nobody complains.  The flip side of the coin is that the complaint system is anonymous and you will never know who blew the whistle on you if it ever happens.

Section A – Names

The first section of the Code deals with what you’re allowed (and not allowed) to call your guild or character.  Please remember this is not the actual Code, it is my easy-to-understand paraphrase of the rules as they appear.

1. You can’t impersonate a GM or another Blizzard employee.
2. No names of a sexual, offensive, vulgar, obscene, or racial nature or otherwise offensive in any way.   Yes, it says any way.  If you make a cool name that you don’t think anybody will understand, and somebody figures it out and complains… you’re in trouble.
3. You can’t use a name that somebody else has legal rights to.
4. No names of famous people.
5. You can’t use a name that is trademarked or service marked — whether it’s registered or not.
6. No deities or religious figures.  You can’t name your toon Jesus, Buddha or Virginmary.
7. You can’t steal a name from Blizzard’s content.  HEY LOOKIE HERE!  Do you have any idea how many people could get slapped for this one?
8. No names related to drugs, sex, or criminal activity.  That one’s pretty self-explanatory.
9. Names that comprise a complete or partial sentence.  They give examples of “Inyourface” and “Welovebeef”.
10. No gibberish!  No rolling your face over the keyboard to make a name.
11. They once again make a specific rule about pop culture icons.  No Batman.  No Britneyspears.
12. No “leet” or “dudespeak”.  Like “Roflcopter”, “xxnewbxx” or “Pwnyou”.
13. Any kind of name with any kind of a title in it.

Was that as painful for you as it was for me?  I have at least four toons that are illegal by the letter of the law.

I was going to do the whole code today, but that’s gonna be a long post.  Tune in tomorrow for our look at chat rules.  I promise you, it will change your life!