The quiet cover up of an Alliance player getting assulted at Blizzcon

[dyllyn]

So, a couple of thugs apparently attacked a lady in a NE t-shirt at blizzcon, shouting "alliance b****" at her while yanking on her lanyard.

Here's the original post: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3424466214

The odd thing is that when i tried to extend my sympathies to the husband (I play alliance) I got "this thread is post capped", except it's only 1 page long and has like 15 posts total. No blue acknowledgment is one thing, i don't expect blues to comment on such things, but quietly locking the thread and hoping it goes away is another thing all together.

This isn't the place to comment on Horde Vs Alliance, so I won't. I'm putting this here to point out that Blizzard is happy to let the more extremist members of the horde run riot, and then for Zarhym to more or less ENDORSE it is ridiculous: http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/2...zz-at-blizzcon

In any other company, letting someone get on stage and yell death threats and obscenities at half your playerbase would be a huge public relations disaster. Blizzard isn't even trying to apologise to anyone. Samwise did it, but you don't have a Blizzard rep standing up and saying "this shouldn't have happened". Instead, let's just sweep everything under the rug.

I'm not letting them. I hope you read the original post.

[Deleted]

Didnt the say sorry for the acts at blizzcon? Im pretty sure there was a 20 page post about it.

[Deleted]

Didnt the say sorry for the acts at blizzcon? Im pretty sure there was a 20 page post about it.

Not just one

And yeah - assault comes under the legal heading. Not the customer relations one. As in, nothing for Blizz to do but get security on them and then hand over to the local authorities. But hey, that doesn't sound so sensationalist now does it. Dammit, I used that 'logic' stuff again. Sorry OP.

[Deleted]

Oh man its sad that this happened but Blizzcons ..corpsegrinder? joked anyway.

Coward kids, propably play undead male rogues in game.

[Deleted]

Not just one

And yeah - assault comes under the legal heading. Not the customer relations one. As in, nothing for Blizz to do but get security on them and then hand over to the local authorities. But hey, that doesn't sound so sensationalist now does it. Dammit, I used that 'logic' stuff again. Sorry OP.

I'm sure it wouldn't sound sensational at all if the national press got on to a story that Blizzards fantasy factional warfare was spilling over into real life. There is a PR element to this at least.

[Deleted]

I'm sure it wouldn't sound sensational at all if the national press got on to a story that Blizzards fantasy factional warfare was spilling over into real life. There is a PR element to this at least.

This just in! Two gamers pulled someone's Lanyard! Police told them to 'stop being idiots', sources say! More at 12!

Yes, it's something that they could be concerned about - but equally, it's not a WoW topic, and I wouldn't blame them for locking it - in what way is it related to the WoW forums?

Might as well say 'A guy wearing an Alliance Hoodie knocked over a 7-11! News at 10!'

See? Yeah, faction pride, whatever - Still not an issue for Blizzard, tbh, and the best thing for them to do with it is treat it as two morons picking on someone at a con - i.e. with security.

[Aydinx2]

So, a couple of thugs apparently attacked a lady in a NE t-shirt at blizzcon, shouting "alliance b****" at her while yanking on her lanyard.

Here's the original post: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3424466214

The odd thing is that when i tried to extend my sympathies to the husband (I play alliance) I got "this thread is post capped", except it's only 1 page long and has like 15 posts total. No blue acknowledgment is one thing, i don't expect blues to comment on such things, but quietly locking the thread and hoping it goes away is another thing all together.

This isn't the place to comment on Horde Vs Alliance, so I won't. I'm putting this here to point out that Blizzard is happy to let the more extremist members of the horde run riot, and then for Zarhym to more or less ENDORSE it is ridiculous: http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/2...zz-at-blizzcon

In any other company, letting someone get on stage and yell death threats and obscenities at half your playerbase would be a huge public relations disaster. Blizzard isn't even trying to apologise to anyone. Samwise did it, but you don't have a Blizzard rep standing up and saying "this shouldn't have happened". Instead, let's just sweep everything under the rug.

I'm not letting them. I hope you read the original post.

I myself find it disgusting that they would let that man speak in public at their convention.
I don't care if it's just a game, the fact that this happened proves otherwise.

[Nexiv]

So, a couple of thugs apparently attacked a lady in a NE t-shirt at blizzcon, shouting "alliance b****" at her while yanking on her lanyard.

Read what the guy posted, it wasnt at Blizzcon, it was out in the street some distance away while they were walking back to their hotel or whatever. Does it suck that she was assaulted because she was wearing a nelf t-shirt? of course, but there are idiots everywhere in the street, they probably would have been targetted no matter what.

[Aydinx2]

See? Yeah, faction pride, whatever - Still not an issue for Blizzard, tbh, and the best thing for them to do with it is treat it as two morons picking on someone at a con - i.e. with security.

It is Blizzard that was promoting the faction pride (more like hate) at blizzcon.

[Flutterguy]

They probably lock the threads because at this point it is a legal matter.

[Porimlys]

No proof it ever happened, they didn't file a report, it's just one post on the forums.

If it did happen: Shame on the people who did it, but it's not Blizzards fault. These "blizzard hates my faction" squabbles are getting unbearable at this point, so many people are cultivating the worst kind of attitude to approach this game with, I hope it stops soon.

[Deleted]

It still boggles me how seriously some of you kids can take this whole alliance vs horde thing

[Flutterguy]

I was at Blizzcon and I didn't hear anything about any kind of assault. With as much as 30,000 people there at one time, everyone would have known about it unless it happened away from the ACC. If it happened away from the ACC, it wouldn't even be a matter for Blizzard and if it happened at all, it's still an issue for police.

I doubt it happened and I'd like to amend my previous theory and assume the threads are being closed because they know better than to let something like that even get rolling when it may be based on a lie.

[Deleted]

It is Blizzard that was promoting the faction pride (more like hate) at blizzcon.

...well, yeah. Otherwise you don't get the sense of competition. Given that apparently this happened outside the damn con, it's nothing at all to do with them. Do football teams apologise for the behaviour of their fans? Is it their fault for fostering 'Team Pride'?

Perspective, guys. Yes, Blizz is the devil, obviously - but not everything that happens that is remotely related to the game/world/lore is their responsibility.

[Shâréz]

Still not an issue for Blizzard, tbh, and the best thing for them to do with it is treat it as two morons picking on someone at a con - i.e. with security.

Considering the drama they created with the Alliance-hate; a story about someone being assaulted by two people at Blizzcon who yelled "alliance bitch!" should be treated seriously by Blizzard. They were morons, there is no doubt in that. But you cannot ignore the fact that what was said at Blizzcon very easily encourages morons to do stuff like this. I wouldn't say that they should make some kind of official statement about it, but the least they could do is have a blue post in that thread saying something along the lines of that it should be handled by the legal system, not them - and then lock the thread, rather than limit the post count to prevent people from bumping it.

[Bluemli]

Potential Clusterfark for PR-Dept...Not really surprised this is being blown way out of proportion. This is the USA, after all...

[Deleted]

Considering the drama they created with the Alliance-hate; a story about someone being assaulted by two people at Blizzcon who yelled "alliance bitch!" should be treated seriously by Blizzard. They were morons, there is no doubt in that. But you cannot ignore the fact that what was said at Blizzcon very easily encourages morons to do stuff like this. I wouldn't say that they should make some kind of official statement about it, but the least they could do is have a blue post in that thread saying something along the lines of that it should be handled by the legal system, not them - and then lock the thread, rather than limit the post count to prevent people from bumping it.

Conisdering the drama that a bunch of the players made about it, in response to a sarcastic event, and that this is more drama caused by players.. I can see why they'd be concerned, but I still don't see how it's anything that belongs on the forums, honestly. It's not about the game, and if it really did happen outside of the con, it's even less something that they need to be discussing.

Again - I see why you think it's a big deal for them, and I imagine they'd be concerned about it, but it's really nothing to do with them. Blizzard didn't sponsor the morons, or tell them to do it. Spin the 'hate concert' all you want, it's not a motivation to go batter alliance players.

[Linzo]

Whether or not that actually happened (I'm leaning towards not), It's a police matter.

[Yig]

This is ridiculous. A game with teams is going to have ribbing and rivalry. Some morons possibly assault someone, and you want to blame anyone but them?
This spin doctoring is out of control. If this actually happened in reality the media would be all over it, just as you spin doctors are. This is beyond pathological.

---------- Post added 2011-10-27 at 05:07 AM ----------

Considering the drama they created with the Alliance-hate; a story about someone being assaulted by two people at Blizzcon who yelled "alliance bitch!" should be treated seriously by Blizzard. They were morons, there is no doubt in that. But you cannot ignore the fact that what was said at Blizzcon very easily encourages morons to do stuff like this. I wouldn't say that they should make some kind of official statement about it, but the least they could do is have a blue post in that thread saying something along the lines of that it should be handled by the legal system, not them - and then lock the thread, rather than limit the post count to prevent people from bumping it.

Let's see a shred of evidence. This is exactly the sort of rumor you would expect to be spread after this event by someone looking to stir up more drama. That you think one anonymous poster posting an anecdotal account warrants a public response from a company seems naive.

[Zaelsino]

No proof it ever happened, they didn't file a report, it's just one post on the forums.

This.

The chances of this being a troll are staggeringly high. Chances are, one of the CMs saw this poster was some sixteen-year-old troll trying to stir the pot, slapped him with a ban, and killed the thread. If it was some legitimate disaster, trust me - they'd have deleted it to save face and kindly urged the poster to contact the police.

I'll keep this open for now, but try to keep that in mind. On the off-chance this is legitimate, it's revolting... but on the colosally higher chance that it's a troll, it's just plain pathetic.