Blizzard frowning on in-WoW protests?

Some Burning Crusade players are very unhappy that the Warrior and Shaman classes for the expansion are unfairly unbalanced as to be weak-a**ed. They are even unhappier that Blizzard‘s not doing anything about it, despite their calls. So they intend to conduct their version of the Million-Man March, called the Gnome March.

Their plan: in the afternoon of December 6, players can create a Gnome Warrior or a Dwarf Paladin (for the Shaman cause), and march from the gates of Ironforge to the gates of Stormwind. They don’t intend to crash servers or disrupt other people’s playing, but just to gather and march to show their disapproval of how weak they feel the Warrior and Shaman classes are in BC.

Blizzard doesn’t seem pleased nonetheless. Although they did ban the WoW forum member who came up with the idea, some believe that was probably because he spammed his protest message across so many boards. But this reply by a WoW forum mod felt kinda jarring, to say the least: “Anyone caught participating in this event or any event with the sole purpose of disrupting the game play for others will be punished.“

We can’t blame Blizzard for being concerned if this protest movement would snowball into something that COULD disrupt game play, just as peaceful protest movements in real life can snowball into something that causes millions of dollars in property damage and even loss of life. On the other hand, we won’t be surprised if someone starts printing up WoW‘s version of the First Amendment and starts plastering it all over the forums and the game to voice his own disapproval of Blizzard’s response.

And to think this began because Burning Crusade beta testers and Blizzard are having a communication problem. Not exactly good governance practice in the real world OR in the virtual world, whether you’re Blizzard or a WoW player.

Some Burning Crusade players are very unhappy that the Warrior and Shaman classes for the expansion are unfairly unbalanced as to be weak-a**ed. They are even unhappier that Blizzard‘s not doing anything about it, despite their calls. So they intend to conduct their version of the Million-Man March, called the Gnome March.

Their plan: in the afternoon of December 6, players can create a Gnome Warrior or a Dwarf Paladin (for the Shaman cause), and march from the gates of Ironforge to the gates of Stormwind. They don’t intend to crash servers or disrupt other people’s playing, but just to gather and march to show their disapproval of how weak they feel the Warrior and Shaman classes are in BC.

Blizzard doesn’t seem pleased nonetheless. Although they did ban the WoW forum member who came up with the idea, some believe that was probably because he spammed his protest message across so many boards. But this reply by a WoW forum mod felt kinda jarring, to say the least: “Anyone caught participating in this event or any event with the sole purpose of disrupting the game play for others will be punished.“

We can’t blame Blizzard for being concerned if this protest movement would snowball into something that COULD disrupt game play, just as peaceful protest movements in real life can snowball into something that causes millions of dollars in property damage and even loss of life. On the other hand, we won’t be surprised if someone starts printing up WoW‘s version of the First Amendment and starts plastering it all over the forums and the game to voice his own disapproval of Blizzard’s response.

And to think this began because Burning Crusade beta testers and Blizzard are having a communication problem. Not exactly good governance practice in the real world OR in the virtual world, whether you’re Blizzard or a WoW player.