Do you think they'll go too far?

[Sagenod]

"In-game Changes. We have heard the input from employee and player communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content."

Aside from everything else going on, which has no direct relation to the content of World of Warcraft itself, this is concerning to me. What content in game is inappropriate and needs to be removed?

Edit: I should have done a little more reading. The statement in the blue post was vague but I agree with Afrasiabi being removed from game. I only hope it ends there and we don't have some sort of transformation of the game at the behest of potential bad actors.

Current thread warnings:
This thread is also starting to derail - let's focus on the aspect of what may be changed and/or removed from WoW and not ringing in real-world or identity politics and outright forbidden topics.

[Calfredd]

Everything Afrasiabi (spelling) has been replaced; quest names and item names have been changed and npcs have been completely replaced.

[Aloie]

"In-game Changes. We have heard the input from employee and player communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content."

Aside from everything else going on, which has no direct relation to the content of World of Warcraft itself, this is concerning to me. What content in game is inappropriate and needs to be removed? Share your examples of you have any.

I could be wrong but I believe they’re mostly just talking about removing NPCs that are made after that Alex whatever guy. I could be totally wrong though.

[Skirdus]

It's a very vague statement so we'll have to wait and see.

At best, it's just the Afrasiabi stuff. At worst, all female characters are now forced to wear burqas at all times

[uuuhname]

Everything Afrasiabi (spelling) has been replaced; quest names and item names have been changed and npcs have been completely replaced.

that's really it, I really doubt they are going to do much besides scrub the game of all these names.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

I guess the real question is how far does it all really go. Right now we know about the king of the beasts and maybe a lieutenant or two but.. the truth is.. we may find out their is a whole lot more going on here and a whole lot more names might be added to this list. I hope not. But.. honestly.. this looks like its been a pretty deep pool for a while.

[arkanon]

Absolutely, 100%. There is zero doubt in my mind they will go totally overboard with things, based on other sectors of the industry and their response to similar issues.

[EyelessCrow]

The only changes blizzard are capable of doing subtly is hiding harassment and punishing accusers...apparently.

[Nnyco]

Good riddance, afrisabi that creep had it comming for a long time now.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Short term will be just white washing the influences of people like afrasiabi. Mid term we will probably see them changing how they let people add npcs to the game (less references, self-inserts), which might actually be good as it might stop their meme bullshit. Long term is difficult, once the firing phase is through and we know what corpo scumbags replace the current dude-bro scumbags, we will probably see more sweeping changes in alot of ways. I doubt these will end up improving things

[arkanon]

The only changes blizzard are capable of doing subtly is hiding harassment and punishing accusers...apparently.

LOL. Obviously not a laughing matter, but this did make me chuckle, because its painfully accurate. I worked for the largest company in the country, and their ability to overreact and introduce blanket policies at every opportunity never failed to surprise me.

This is the company that became infamous for someone turning a corner and bumping into someone else carrying coffee, so they banned walking with any cups of liquid. A senior manager was blowing on some papers Infront of his face in a meeting, and got a tiny 2mm papercut on his lip, so they banned paper from meetings - everything had to be on a whiteboard, or digital.

[MoanaLisa]

It's going to be cosmetic changes mostly. Perhaps a quest here and there and some quest text might be modified a bit. They're not about to change the entire game—even if they could—for this. Whatever changes will be at the far margins of what's called content.

Frankly if they discontinued the use of insider references completely it wouldn't hurt the game at all, might make it better. If you bump into real world references every 100 yards it can throw you out of the game.

[Syferite]

LOL. Obviously not a laughing matter, but this did make me chuckle, because its painfully accurate. I worked for the largest company in the country, and their ability to overreact and introduce blanket policies at every opportunity never failed to surprise me.

This is the company that became infamous for someone turning a corner and bumping into someone else carrying coffee, so they banned walking with any cups of liquid. A senior manager was blowing on some papers Infront of his face in a meeting, and got a tiny 2mm papercut on his lip, so they banned paper from meetings - everything had to be on a whiteboard, or digital.

Is your company run by TikTokers?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I expect they'll probably remove anything vaguely considered "misogynistic". The prostitutes/harem/sex slaves in Black Temple and Hellfire Citadel might get cut. Female NPCs that are considered "sexualized" might get censored. The Steam Romance Novels might get removed be removed. Given how Garrosh's voiceline in Silverpine reprimanding Sylvanas was censored, I guess we might hear a lot of voicelines redone. Old models of Sylvanas and Jaina that have their bellies showing might get replaced. Maybe they'll put Inquisitor Whiteman in a skirt? Or would that be considered misogynistic? They'll probably put pants on her or something.

[ohwell]

I could be wrong but I believe they’re mostly just talking about removing NPCs that are made after that Alex whatever guy. I could be totally wrong though.

I mean I can think of a man who did worse things to women that now suddenly has murals and statues across the US within the past year or so and yet we're so worried about removing one douchebag's reference in WoW.....

[Sentynel]

Oh yeah, absolutely.

[tomolak]

Do I think they will go too far? No. I KNOW they will go too far.

[Luxeley]

Yes, it is very alarming. As far as I know there haven't been any complaints about the content in WOW, players in WOW - YES, content - no. The fact they even bring this up strongly suggests they are going to go extremes. The good news is, they probably "lack the resources" to undergo sweeping changes with current in game content.

[Easyclassictopkeklel]

Who really cares though. WoW will most likely never recover from this...if they change parts of the game to kiss the ass of the "woke" community it will just fasten the downfall. All this woke sht is ruining games, tv shows and especially for guys like me comics etc. But I gotta give to DC that "I am not starfire" is such a shitty comics, that its almost worth reading it. But I am sick and tired of companies ruining stuff I used to love...I won't be angry anymore and just move on to the next thing. Also, FU Kevin Smith.

[Ascius]

The thing is we all know they'll go too far and I think at this point I don't care.

And the point of scrubbing all mentions is not change, but hiding stuff in hopes no one discovers it. If they really cared for more than just activism, they'd wait for a trial and if it's judged guilty, just throw those NPC's into the stockades. But now they're just hahaha nothing to see here, it doesn't exist.