Blizzard are suspending and banning players for criticising and interrupting the in-game Black Lives Matter protest in World of Warcraft.
The Black Lives Matter protests are now beyond being international. Some gaming communities are role-playing Black Live Matter protesters in their favourite online videogames to show support for the movements. People who do not participate, or criticise the role-play experience are being banned from World of Warcraft.
Anti-social introverts who want to show their support for BLM but are too shy (or too lazy) to join the actual protest have decided that merely changing your profile picture to a black square and adding the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag to their bio just isn’t enough. They are now protesting in their favourite videogames.
Sadly, these protests are effecting game-play as large groups of players occupy popular areas in the game and block off people from getting to their locations.
Bruce, a longtime World of Warcraft fan, called out the in-game Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters for griefing but, instead, Blizzard decided to punish him by ‘suspending’ his account for 100 years.
World of Warcraft player receives 100 year ban for ‘interrupting in-game BLM protest’.
Griefing, according to Wikipedia, is the act of chronically causing consternation to other members of an online community, or more specifically, intentionally disrupting the immersion of another player in their gameplay.
Furthermore, Blizzard stated that this decision will not be overturned unless Bruce can somehow prove that his account was compromised during the period of the violation; which they claim is for ‘disrupting a in-game Black Lives Matter protest.’
Bruce’s suspension for “trolling and interrupting an in-game Black Lives Matter protest” ends on December 21st, 2120.
Do you think that Bruce deserves a 100 year suspension for interrupting a World of Warcraft in-game Black Lives Matter protest? Let us know in the comments below.