World of Warcraft Reminds Players to be Nice to Each Other
World of Warcraft now has a social contract against toxic behavior. The game has always had some core toxicity issues. Now, Blizzard has added this new feature to remind players to be friendly to others.
“Azeroth is a living world full of people like you—other players with different backgrounds, cultures, experiences, and histories who have all come together to play World of Warcraft,” the contract read. “Every player deserves to have a world that they feel safe in.”
However, ticking off “I agree” on a tiny box is most likely not going to bring any major changes to the game’s toxicity problems. Fans feel like it is more of a gentle reminder or a stern warning. Still, it is nice to see that Blizzard is doing something about it—although not that seriously. It does suggest that the World of Warcraft community may soon see more enforcements against crappy behavior.
Devs actually introduced the social contract in the PTR a couple weeks ago. It was only with this week’s Patch 9.2.5 that it fully went live. It seem standard fare. Blizzard just wants players to be nice to one another and to behave appropriately. The contract also goes over some unacceptable behaviors, such as spamming, harassment, hate speech, and general abusive language towards others.
World of Warcraft’s social contract is pretty much the sort of thing that is usually found deep into a game’s Terms of Service. Now, however, Blizzard gave it its very own spotlight. It is not such a major change nor is it too strong of an enforcement, but some players have their knickers in a twist about it. Still, it is worth noting that majority of the World of Warcraft community seem either receptive or just apathetic to the change.
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