Battleangel

Not breaking news perhaps but Rob Malda, aka CmdrTaco, of Slashdot fame, got his screen name (”CmdrTaco”) revoked in World of Warcraft because it violated Blizzard’s hoity-toity policy.

Slashdot - My Azgalor Paladin is running through Stormwind when I get a message from a GM proclaiming that my account is in violation of Blizzard policy and I must change my nickname. I try to find out more information, but I am kicked from the game. I have been CmdrTaco since April, but when I log in, I choose the new name: Violated. This experience has brought up a host of feelings on matters of virtual identity and virtual worlds.

First of all, the reason that my account is in violation is that my name contains a title prefix. It took dozens of inquiries to get that explained. ‘Cmdr’ is the problem. I’m told that since the game has an internal honor system with titles, my name is not allowed. Never mind the fact that ‘Cmdr’ is not one of their titles. Never mind that countless other titles abound in the game: Mr, Sir, Sensei. Am I in violation of their policy?

Blizzard proves again and again what a bunch of twats they are. It’s not just the price, the B-Net story, the harassment of emulated server devs and the spyware. The main fault REMAINS to be the commercial online lynchpin of WoW. They strive to create a sanitized virtual community because their business model depends on it in a roundabout way. And so it begins.

In a way, virtual worlds and social gaming like WoW, EQ and the lot are dark prophecies of what a highly commercialized future could be like. Not just in the wired world but increasingly so in the physical reality as well. Just look at marketing surrounding big sporting events like the Olympics for instance, when a nightmarish corporate bubble forms and engulfs civil society, removing everything that is deemed unmerchantable, nonconformist or unclean. A taste of things to come.