Blizzard, Trans Clans, and the Evolution of Online Harassment Policy
The recent launch of Diablo III’s Reaper of Souls expansion and the accompanying version 2.0.1 patch finally brought support for clans and communities to the nearly two-year-old game. That new feature’s introduction brought with it a naming controversy that has led Blizzard to once again respond to an issue over its policy regarding banned “offensive” terms in its games.
The latest controversy began when player Lucian Clark tried to create a clan in the game “for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals who would like to play the game together in a relatively safe space of like identified individuals.” As Clark explained in a blog post, he found that clans that contained the prefix “tran” or “trans” in their names were explicitly blocked by the game, despite the fact that “gaymer” clans could be created without a problem.
Blizzard says that the “trans” naming block was unintentional and that it is taking steps to fix the issue. “‘Trans’ was not intentionally prohibited; it was an oversight on our part due to outdated content in one of the source databases we pull from for the game,” a company spokesperson told Ars. “We’ve been working on making the necessary corrections since this was first brought to our attention last week—should be finalized [Tuesday].”
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