Warning email from Blizzard

[Refrigerator]

Hello {name edited out},Account Name: REFRIGERATORRealm/Server: Beta ServerOld Character Name: DafukafuNew Character Name: KalionOffense: The name you selected for your character has been deemed as inappropriate and has been changed. For further information, please view the World of Warcraft naming policy and Terms of Use Agreement: (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/policy/naming.shtml) and (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/termsofus...l).Details: ***Offline Only***As a temporary resolution, the character name has been changed.  If you are not satisfied with this name, please submit a GM petition stating your character name had been changed by a GM when you were offline, and we will try to accommodate you with a new name to the best of our ability.**********The actions detailed above have been deemed inappropriate for World of Warcraft by the In-Game Support staff of Blizzard Entertainment. As a result, this Beta Test account has received a warning.Be aware that additional inappropriate
Kindan
Game Master
Blizzard Entertainment
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com

If you reply, please include all previous text and files related to this e-mail.Customer satisfaction is a top priority here at Blizzard Entertainment, and we would like your feedback on the level of service you have received. Please feel free to provide such feedback at the following web address: http://www.blizzard.com/support/?id=eSurve...HAW.CA&n=Kindan

Now this is just bizarre. They tell me my name "Dafukafu" is inappropriate, although it doesn't violate any of the rules or regulations they listed there. I just made it up, and used it because it sounded like a suitably 'shamanistic' name. Then they also tell me that my beta account is now on probation for doing that. This really rubs me the wrong way.

Any ideas here on why this would happen? They don't even tell me which rule I've violated.

I'm pretty sure this email isn't a fake, despite the cut off bits and bizarre formatting, because they know my account name and real name. I'm not in a position to check to see if my character name is changed just yet but I will update as soon as I find out if this is for real.

I haven't sent them a reply email yet, or my opinions about their "customer satisfaction", as that might be an unwise idea right now. :angry:

[JustAGuy]

It's most likely the "fuk" in it. They've probably got some sort of substring logic and noticed the "fuk" and concluded that you've emulated a profanity in your moniker. Perhaps the "u" as well. Put them together, and what do we have? Hmm...

[Ruvanal]

Alos it can be a matter of where some would end up placing the pauses in saying the name. On another look at your characters name, I could see some as placing the emphasis on this break up: Da-fuk-a-fu. There are some that would definately take some form of offense at such type of name. This may not have been what you intended or meant, but there is no easy way to convey that only through the printed text as it stands.

edit: BTW, I had personally been placing an emphasis as Dafu-kafu so I had not taken any real notice of a different interpetation of the name prior to this.

[Bolty]

I too had interpreted your name as Dafu-kafu. I can see how it might look like something somewhat offensive (the "fuk" part), but I agree this is too far.

Blizzard's naming policy is one of the things they're beta testing. You should write in with an unemotional, rational debate over the naming policy suggesting that it might need shoring up a bit, and it nailed a false positive in your case. As long as you don't write in with a "WTF iS yOuR pR0Bl3m, A$$hol" email and base it in constructive criticism, maybe you'll get a response and a tweak to their methods.

-Bolty

Edit: when are they going to edit my char named BoltSimpson? :)

[--Pete]

Hi,

I'll second Bolty's suggestion that you e-mail them a comment. If you do, be sure to point out to them your intended 'pronunciation'. Their take on it (Da fuk a fu) is the normal way it would break down. What you intended (Da fu -- ka fu) (I assume a pause between the second and third syllable, which is the only way I can make it work) is really two words. If Blizzard were to adopt a fuller set of symbols (adding at least an underscore) you could have named your character 'Dafu_Kafu' which would have eliminated the problem before it ever came up.

Whether or not you want to bring that up in your letter to Blizzard is up to you. However, if no one points out problems with their restrictive symbol set, they will not change it and the problems will continue.

Good luck.

--Pete

[Refrigerator]

Wow, I hadn't even thought of the Da-fuk-a-fu possibility. When I created the name, it was meant to be Da-fu-Ka-fu, like most of you thought it was. I typed them an email this morning, and... well, here it is:

Hi,

    I originally intended this name to be Dafu-Kafu or Dafu_Kafu, but due to the naming restrictions, had to settle for putting them together, as you can see.  I did not in any way intend this name to be offensive or rude, and at first did not even SEE how it could be interpreted as such.  I assume you are pronouncing the name as Da-fuk-a-fu, where I was pronouncing it like this:  Da-fu-ka-fu. 
    I think your naming policy is stretching a little bit too far in this case, as the 'fuk' in the middle of my name is purely coincidental.  In searching for people with rude or inappropriate names I think it may have found an offense that really wasn't there, and could use a little bit of tweaking to help future cases like this. 
    For example, anyone naming their character 'KungFuKing' would be accused of an inappropriate and offensive name under this method.  While I agree it isn't a very good name anyways, the person who made it certainly isn't trying to be rude or vulgar.  If you could add hyphens or underscores to the naming system, a lot of problems like this would be solved before they happen. 

    As I said before, my original name was meant to be DafuKafu, or Dafu_Kafu, not Da-fuk-a-fu.  I believe my name is not inappropriate or rude enough to be changed.  I ask that you reconsider this decision knowing I had no intentions of offending anybody in any way, and that the appearance of 'fuk' is purely a coincidence. 
    If you really worry that someone might read it as Da-fuk-a-fu, then try DafuKafu, which will encourage my original pronunciation.  Capitals CAN make a huge difference, for example:   "daFUKafu" and "DafuKafu". 

Thank you for your time,
{name edited out},
Refrigerator


Also, you might want to make some changes to whatever sort of system made this email to me.  There is very weird formatting in places:

<<<
Hello {name again!},Account Name: REFRIGERATORRealm/Server: Beta ServerOld Character Name: DafukafuNew Character Name: KalionOffense:
>>>

and it's completely cut off at the end:

<<<
As a result, this Beta Test account has received a warning.Be aware that additional inappropriate
Kindan
Game Master
Blizzard Entertainment
>>>

which doesn't help me be aware of what additional inappropriate SOMETHING would incur.

Thanks for your input, all of you, which helped me write this email. I'm pretty sure you can see the parts that came almost directly from this thread :lol:

EDIT: Along with my text, I also sent along their email at the top of the letter.

[--Pete]

--Pete

[MongoJerry]

If you really worry that someone might read it as Da-fuk-a-fu, then try DafuKafu, which will encourage my original pronunciation.&nbsp; Capitals CAN make a huge difference, for example:&nbsp; "daFUKafu" and "DafuKafu".&nbsp;

Bingo. This was going to be my suggestion. Perhaps you can get the GM to change it to that.

[LavCat]

I should not be surprised that I have seen charater names that push or break almost all of Blizzard's guidlines. When I first came to Goldshire, I found JesusChrist dead in the street. In my opinion the stated naming policy is reasonable, but it seems to be inforced in a lax and arbitrary manner. My paladin's name would probably be banned if some Blizzard employees had larger vocabularies.

[Refrigerator]

Well, I won't get to see Blizzard's response for a few days because the family is going camping. So, see you all on monday!

[Guest]

They are needed(at least on some servers) to keeep out dumb names. But their will always be those names that are interpreted fifferenly by real people leading to problems.

I remember a guy in DAoC once had a huge silly name like"Mufuubufubufubufuu" It was obviously made because it looked stupid and would annoy people but didnt violate the letter of the law. The CSR did change the name eventually, but it show the problem that real people have to make decisions sometimes and real people make mistakes.

[Refrigerator]

A negative.

Hello {Name},I have reviewed the action taken against the REFRIGERATOR account regarding the name change of the character Dafukafu to Kalion. Sadly, I do have to inform you that the action taken against you will stand as will the name change as they were done in accordance to our current policies.&nbsp; Reason for this while you may not have intended for this name to be vulgar in any way the fact is the way the name looks and can be perceived as Da fuka fu which comes out as "The #$%&er Fu" as such the name was reported to us and changed with a warning accessed to the account in question as per our policies. While again this may not have been your intent we can not over look how it may possibly be viewed as other people in game.&nbsp; Please take some time to review our Policies section of the World of Warcraft Beta website, specifically, the Naming Policy (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/policy/naming.shtml). Please take note on the section referencing Obscene/Vulgar names. We thank you in advan
Vaylin
Account Admin Team
Blizzard Entertainment
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com

Well, maybe I could just get KafuDafu. It's pretty much the same thing, and it's not vulgar, *doublechecks* I think. :lol:

[Artega]

Sounds a whole hell of a lot like they didn't even read your email.

[Ajax]

nt

[Refrigerator]

...But it also sounds like they cannot/will not change position on this. I ended up getting my name changed this evening to KafuDafu, anyways.

Kind of a touchy naming policy if you ask me though...

[Roane]

I hate to say it, but as a GM, you kinda have to be a jerk about these things, or at least strict. For every guy that's nice, like you, and honestly didn't mean anything bad, there's another trying to pull a fast one. I used to sit there watching the new character creation scroll when I GMed for a pay-mud, and you'd not believe the things people came up with (well, maybe you would) or the fast ones people tried to pull.

That being said, if I'd been the GM, and you had no previous bad history on your account, I'd probably have rescinded the official warning and just left a note on the account, in case something happened later, and otherwise been satisfied with the name being changed.

[Archon_Wing]

So if some random joe finds a name to be offensive, it must be changed? :(

The policy needs to be tweaked out a bit, imo.

[Roane]

Some random joe can appeal/report your name and claim they find it offensive. I believe, however, that it would have to actually contain something that a semi-reasonable person could see as profanity, racism, etc., to get changed. We all pointed out the potential fuk problem in Refrigerator's name. It wasn't, perhaps, readily apparent initially, but we all see the problem now even if we know there was no ill intent.

And as they've said, the policy is as much in beta as anything else in the game. It probably does need some tweaking. As with anything like this, send in a /suggest if you think it's too far, and then write them a clear, rational, fairly unemotional email or post.

And on top of that, there's judgement calls to be made by the GMs handling each individual case, and GMs are human, and can fall a little too far on the side of strictness or liberalality. As they grow more experienced, there will be less problems with judgement calls on policies that can never be completely defined.

[Magicbag]

From my experience in the MMO Dark Age of Camelot, this is pretty standard. They have a system in place based on player appeals. If 5 players appeal your name, they review it and most likely change it. There is no debate.
-MB