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"Pepe has done an informal but (as he says) \"real FREAKIN interesting\" little study of supposedly inappropriate names via the Armory.  Blizzard's naming policy, as you'll know if you've ever run afoul of it, is pretty stringent-- you're not allowed to create obscene names at all (obviously), names based on real-life or well-known sources (so no trademarks or references to celebrities or Blizzard employees-- Legolas is completely out), harassing words or phrases, or \"partial or complete sentences.\"Now, you can't really argue with most of that.  The obscene stuff is a given, of course, though where Blizzard gets their criteria for obscene is anyone's guess-- one of my guildies had an undead warrior named \"Skinflayer\" that Blizz forced him to rename (he renamed it to Tenderheart, actually).  And the copyright and famous names seems a little silly, but it's most likely just Blizzard covering their backside-- you never know what copyright holders will do when it comes to user-created content.  But harassing phrases?  No l33tsp33k? How can Blizzard possibly track this stuff?The fact is, as Pepe points out very effectively, that they can't (except on Blizzard employees, strangely enough).  Reported names, of course, will probably get a message that they must be changed, but there's no way that Blizzard actually examines the rolls name by name to figure out which are compliant with the ToS and which aren't.  The problem, then, becomes who gets punished and who doesn't, and what whims that comes by.  While I'm with Blizzard on the player bans, I'm not with them on this one-- either they need to stick to their naming policy or change it.  As Pepe shows, just a few minutes of Armory browsing yields hundreds of \"violations.\"  I've included all of Pepe's links after the break-- be warned that some of the names are in fact obscene according to Blizzard's policy, and thus might be offensive to some of our readers.These are the categories under which names are inappropriate:Racial/Ethnic/National172 characters named Chinese*http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=chinese&amp;amp;searchType=characters55 characters named Aznhttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=chinese&amp;amp;searchType=charactersExtreme Sexuality/Violence40 characters named Labiahttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=labia&amp;amp;searchType=characters45 characters named Tigolebittieshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=tigole&amp;amp;searchType=characters41 characters named Namblahttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=nambla&amp;amp;searchType=charactersSexual Orientation89 Fruitcakeshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=fruitcake&amp;amp;searchType=characters62 Fairyshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=fairy&amp;amp;searchType=charactersObscene/Vulgar54 Sinepshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=sinep&amp;amp;searchType=characters95 Anigavshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=anigav&amp;amp;searchType=charactersHarassing or Defamatory97 Yousuckshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=yousuck&amp;amp;searchType=charactersBlizzard EmployeesBlizz seems to do a STELLAR job w/ this one. Couldn't find one Mikemorhaime, Robpardo or Chrismetzen! Thanks for protecting us from those, Blizz!Trademarks81 Scopeshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=scope&amp;amp;searchType=characters29 Microsoft*shttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=microsoft&amp;amp;searchType=characters341 Googleshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=google&amp;amp;searchType=charactersPure Gibberish127 Asdfghshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=asdfgh&amp;amp;searchType=characters433 Qwertyshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=qwerty&amp;amp;searchType=charactersLeet or Dudespeak39 Lollerskateshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=lollerskates&amp;amp;searchType=characters173 Roflcoptershttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=roflcopter&amp;amp;searchType=charactersTitles659 Knight*shttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=knight&amp;amp;searchType=charactersReal World References79 Parishilton*shttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=parishilton&amp;amp;searchType=characters43 Tyrabankshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=tyrabanks&amp;amp;searchType=characters53 Keanureeveshttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=keanureeves&amp;amp;searchType=charactersPartial or Complete Sentences135 Johnthe*shttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=anigav&amp;amp;searchType=characters178 Mikethe*shttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=mikethe&amp;amp;searchType=characters42 Mikeis*shttp://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#search.xml?searchQuery=mikeis&amp;amp;searchType=characters"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/06/patchwork-enforcement-on-the-naming-policy/>