Blizzard Entertainment, developers of hit MMORPG
World of Warcraft, have officially apologized to a player in the game over a warning one of the game masters issued to a player for recruiting members to a gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender-focused guild.
The developer sought to make amends to player Sara Andrews, who was threatened with a ban for recruiting on the grounds that it was insulting speech. The GM informed Andrews that her use of the term "GLBT" was in violation of Blizzard's policies, despite her using it to refer to her guild as "GLBT-friendly."
According to In Newsweekly, a GLBT newspaper, the company will be holding sensitivity training seminars with its GMs in North America, Europe, and Korea to prevent similar incidents in the future. The company will also be adding a guild-specific chat channel to the game, so that players can advertise their guilds away from the game's general chatter.
"I would like to believe that this has always been Blizzard's policy and that this entire issue could have easily been avoided by better training of Blizzard's various representatives, especially as applies to sensitive issues such as race, religion, and sexuality," said player Dan Brewer. "My guild and I anxiously await the clarifications of the ToS that have been promised. I sincerely hope that they live up to our expectations and we can continue playing as we wish in a diverse fantasy realm."
