Guild name Changes

Well I've not noticed a thread about this yet and I know several people are talking about it. However I felt it might be a good idea to at least mention it as a warning to certain guilds.

Recently on Argent Dawn several guilds have been forced a name change for using names that have any relation to Blizzard lore.

I've not noticed it hitting Defias Brotherhood yet, but I am worried that a few of our realms guilds may get hit with this soon. I've no idea whats causing years of ignorance to naming policies, to suddenly be enforced with a brutal and uncaring approach. I do acknowledge that use of Blizzard lore in game names is a violation of the naming policy, but it's a rather big slap in the face, especially considering some of the guilds will have been around for a good few years.

For reference a few posts from the Blizz eu forums. I plan to check out a few other forums and some of the american ones to see if the same thing is occurring there

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8574737718

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8606940757

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8607060722

What other ways would there be for Blizzard to be tackling this issue, besides this alleged 'brutal' way and the years of neglect you already pointed out has tradtionally been the alternative before it?

I for one am glad to see this development, if only because it could be a sign for increased strictness in Blizzard enforcing their naming policies more broadly. I would love for Blizzard to finally crack down on Defias Brotherhood's many ridiculous OOC names that have been grating on me ever since I rolled my characters here.

Reasons enough for me to abandon my jaded apathy and try reporting bad names again!

I'd assume some jackass over there, likely a non-roleplayer, is reporting the guild names to Blizzard and requesting them changed. The blue post on the matter says they don't actively search the guilds out but once reported, "we must act."

I suppose I could understand it from a Blizz standpoint if /who Darnassus was giving back 50 guild results and they didn't want that, but I hope that doesn't hit DB. I <3 my Stormwind Regiment.

I can report a GM has just appologized and returned my name to normal as well as restoring Stormwind Infantry to its original guild name.

Hopefully it was just the result of a new zealous GM on a spree.

Thelos wrote:What other ways would there be for Blizzard to be tackling this issue, besides this alleged 'brutal' way and the years of neglect you already pointed out has tradtionally been the alternative before it?

I for one am glad to see this development, if only because it could be a sign for increased strictness in Blizzard enforcing their naming policies more broadly. I would love for Blizzard to finally crack down on Defias Brotherhood's many ridiculous OOC names that have been grating on me ever since I rolled my characters here.

Reasons enough for me to abandon my jaded apathy and try reporting bad names again!

Exactly this. I report bad names whenever I see them.

The thing is, the only forced changes I've read about in these cases have been for things that share/somewhat share the name with an in game faction or character.
Which isn't really OOC names.

(I still think that Anduin should be rather common in Stormwind and Uther in Lordanron)

Edit:
"Include names of World of Warcraft realms, zones, or names of major characters from Warcraft lore"
https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/naming-policy
I'll never 100% get this line as innapropriate. "Stormwind 57ths Infantry Regiment" is imo a rather good guild name. Far better than "The hyperactive dungeon destroyers" as an example. Same as there are likely, as stated above, a lot of men named after heroes (Even if I can understand the Lore Characters bit, te zones etc bit I do not)

Should the Dwarves we worried, I ponder?
Considering the fact The Three Hammers are named after the current ruling body of Khaz Modan, although the official lore refers them as Council of The Three Hammers and not just The Three Hammers.

Gilran wrote:Should the Dwarves we worried, I ponder?
Considering the fact The Three Hammers are named after the current ruling body of Khaz Modan, although the official lore refers them as Council of The Three Hammers and not just The Three Hammers.

Half the guilds on just the first page of the Registry forum should be worried.

They renamed a guild called btw.

"Doomhammers Legacy" would be reportable and changable according to the rules. Which imo would be a pretty killer PvP or Raidguild name.

Blizzard will not pay as much attention to DB because it is less populated. The biggest cause for concern in this is that the rule-set that is down on RP realms is enforced by each GM individually.

In the past, GM's could interact with roleplayers, and they did, there are screenshots of them RPing with SGE members or showing up in Northshire, so on and so forth, there was a rule put in place to forbid them from interacting with players, that was the only rule that was put in place and wasn't open to interpretation.

Rule enforcement especially on the retarded rp policy that's ope to interpretation is lack luster. It's also more likely a group of people working together to report names as that's how these things get noticed [or via a ticket].

In either case, DB really doesn't have that much to fear right now. Most of the local realm retards have moved to PVP realms or AD so there's nobody to go around reporting things. On top of that, most guilds aren't named after factions, Stormwind Regiment is literally the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

tl;dr Not a problem DB will face.

Cerik Ironforge wrote:
In either case, DB really doesn't have that much to fear right now. Most of the local realm retards have moved to PVP realms or AD so there's nobody to go around reporting things. On top of that, most guilds aren't named after factions, Stormwind Regiment is literally the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

I'm not so sure. Depending on how draconian the GMs on any given shift are, there's a lot that's named (both intently and accidently) after Blizzard created places, NPCs or concepts. Looking at the first page of the registry forum (I know some of these are defunct by now):
Reliquary
Kingdom of Stromgarde
The Circle of Ysera
Stormwind Regiment
Sin Belore
The Ironforge Guard
Stormwind Merchant Union
Shatterskull Marauders
Darkspear Tribe
Stonehammer Clan
The Circle of Blackwald
Kingdom of Lordaeron
Remnants of Lordaeron
Shadowmoon Clan

Also, this doesn't only affect already existing guilds, but also guilds to come.

Well, for them to take notice someone has to report the name.

I see your point, but more than 50% of those guilds don't exist.

Kingdom of Stromgarde are inactive.
Sin Belore are on AD.
The Ironforge Guard is a sub-branch of TTH and not a guild.
Stormwind Merchant Union is inactive/does not exist.
I don't see why SSM would get a name change.
Darkspear Tribe - fair point.
Stonehammer Clan are inactive.
Circle of Blackwald are gone.
Kingdom of Lordaeron is Hand of Damnation.
Remnants of Lordaeron are inactive.
Shadowmoon Clan does not exist any longer.

In reality, it will only affect a few guilds (if at all) but yes the problem is that there is no single line for GM's, so it's all up to interpretation. This really.

Cirenah wrote:Depending on how draconian the GMs on any given shift are

But if you look at how little care DB has been given, especially the RP policies, and the RP community by GM's/Blizzard then it correlates into how much of a shit they give as to what's actually even going on here.

You have to write a ticket, those automatic reports rarely get acknowledged [at least in my experience].

I've heard someone mention they are scanning for the names, no idea if thats true or how it works.

I think a few missed my point of this post. I made it as partly an advanced warning to many of our fellow roleplayers that it "might" come our way, which will unfortunately mess up a lot of long established/well known Rp guilds. While a name change is hardly the end of RP, it will be a little disruptive and unsettling for some of us.

It does however seem it might be a vicious attack on the RP community on Argent Dawn, however, I was given to understand it would take several reports before a GM takes a look into something like that.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8607060722

Stormwind Infantry has had their name restored.

A blue post on the matter: link

If it's brought to our attention that a character or guild name goes against our naming policy, we must unfortunately enforce the policy.

I say unfortunately because I know many of those affected recently are long-standing guilds who have existed without issue until now. We don't generally go looking for guilds that are breaking the rules, but once it's been brought to our attention, we must act.

When you create something with a name that goes against the naming policy, you're taking a risk right from the start that your name may be changed at some point. Sorry, I know this isn't much of a consolation for those of you who have found yourselves in re-named guilds after years.

At the same time, please understand that making multiple tickets or forum posts isn't going to help the situation. One well-presented thread with constructive thoughts is enough to get your point across.

http://gyazo.com/cb35e94549d9a776b0c73149f63afe6a

On Stormwind Infantry.

Amazing.

That gm was cool as heck.

"Issues with the scribes at the castles"