Blizzard Issues Apology For Gay Controversy in World of Warcraft
- February 08, 2006 18:48 PM PST
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Blizzard has backed down from its policy concerning gay guilds in World of Warcraft.
Blizzard, it seems, is backing down.
According to In Newsweekly, Blizzard has reversed their previous verdict on a case in which a player was cited for advertising a World of Warcraft guild as "GLBT friendly."
Blizzard has sent the cited player an official apology letter in which Blizzard's global community manager expresses regret for the incident, describing it as "an unfortunate interpretation of our current policies." The manager also mentions that these policies, which govern what is and isn't acceptable behavior in the World of Warcraft community, are "currently under review."
The letter also promises to erase the warning from the player's account, and takes pains to apologize for the "way our staff characterized your conduct." The full letter is available on In Newsweekly.
As a result of the controversy--which has recently drawn fire from Lambda Legal--Blizzard has also pledged to conduct "sensitivity training" for their community managers worldwide.
The In Newsweekly piece also contains an update from Blizzard's chief operating officer, who explains that the programmers will add a dedicated guild recruitment channel, a place in which players can advertise the guilds of their liking.
This most recent message stands in contrast to Blizzard's prior responses. Just a week ago, Blizzard community managers and public relations staff responded to the controversy by noting that "political, sexual, or religious preference[s]" were considered prohibited topics in the game.
