World of Warcraft causes riots in the streets
by Ben Zackheim 
{ Feb 1st 2005 at 10:05AM }
The Argent Dawn server of World of Warcraft saw a protest a couple of days ago. The players were trying to draw
attention to some warrior class issues that the game seems to have. What that means, exactly, is elusive. The gathering
managed to get a lot of people banned, since protests that disturb the peace are considered a no-no in WoW. The masses
appeared to have blocked a bridge, effectively cutting off an area of the game. That's one way to make sure no one
sympathizes with your cause. The link below will take you to a general description of the event, with some screenshots.
But be sure to check this page out for some
more amusing details.
[via Blues News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
LINES @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
It felt good being part of that "raid". We gathered to let blizzard know about our issues with the warrior class. We successfully crashed the server as well... hehe
Frank Fink @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I really enjoy playing World of Warcraft, but I think Blizzard is being to controlling with how the game is played.
I really like the idea of protesting in the game, it makes it seem like so much more of a community. I think that if you are running a online persistant universe, you should hope people become so involved that they plan things other than killing monsters.
just my 2 cents...
Ron Scott @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
The nature of the protest is not that they blocked a bridge. Character models in WoW don't have clipping--you just walk through other player characters. What they did was they all gathered in the Auction House/Bank/Mail area of the main Alliance town of Ironforge, which begins to seriously lag if too many people are there at once. This caused the server to overload and crash (not really 100% sure what the actual specific technical nature of the crash was but it was undoubtedly because of the protest.)
Ledce @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I think that everyone responsible needs to be banned for such an ignorant and childish stunt. You didn't hurt the Blizzard at all, what you did was cause your fellow players to be unable to play. How many of those responsible actually played on that server? Probably none of you cowardly little punks. If you want something changed protest by canceling all of your accounts and go play a competing game, I hear EQ2 is nice.
Chris K @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Blizzard's servers are always overloaded. This is a problem with THEIR systems.
If a hundred people decided to log on and run a scavenger hunt in Ironforge, would they have banned them, too? What if they hadn't gathered on the bridge, but merely logged on and sat in various places throughout the town? This would have crashed the server just the same.
If these people were out to specifically crash the server, they could have done it without arising suspicions. And if a mere hundred logins can kill a WoW server, I fear it won't be long before groups of griefers (disaffected HL cheater clans, maybe?) create a character on each server, and bring them down round-robin.
Blizzard suspended these people to set an example of anyone who would complain. Between setting policy to prevent people from selling/trading their in-game possessions and suspending people for what should have been a harmless demonstration, Blizzard has shown that they are very customer hostile. I am seriously reconsidering my WoW account.
Ledce @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Bullshit, the only hostility towards customers is other customers crashing their servers on them intentionally. It isn't a matter of unintentionally crashing the server, that was the entire goal of the gathering. People made characters from all types of other servers with the specific intent of griefing the people on the chosen server. They were banned for griefing other players, not because they complained. In game items should be bought and sold with in game currency, policies against making money from being a crafter in game and enforcement of said policies is something that all MMO games should have.
If you don't like the game don't fucking play, don't get pissy because you feel wronged and decide to take out your petty revenge on other players. That's about on par with shooting up a school because the principle suspended you for a week for fighting, the only difference is that you can't even touch the "faculty" in WoW, just the other students.
Chris K @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Whoa, that's some venom!
Were you there? What kind of griefing did they do? The fact that 100 people logging on simultaneously can crash the server is a pretty pathetic statement about Blizzard's servers. I don't condone DOS attacks, but this was not a DOS attack, it was a protest.
As for the in-game item selling, that's just your opinion. I maintain that it should be "legal". And in other MMORPG's, it is. Blizzard is trying to skirt the issue of twinking rather than design the economy properly.
I do like the fucking game, as you might say. I'm not taking out revenge. HOWEVER, I don't like Blizzard's policies, and I might just put my money where my mouth is, if they keep it up.
Just what are you so upset about?
polvo @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Has anyone thought that maybe Blizzard took the servers down themselves to stop the protest?
The servers can't really be overloaded with that low amount of users. If they are then their server sucks.
Chris K @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Their servers do suck! ;)
To be fair their problems mainly come from grossly underestimating user counts, but there is an additional problem that the more popular servers can't handle their load at peak hours.
Compound that with the lack of a feature to move users between servers, and nobody is going to throw away their high level character to move to a newer, lesser populated server.
I can't believe Blizzard hasn't fast-tracked a player moving utility. It would easily solve their lag problem with no interaction from them, assuming all of their servers can handle the aggregate load.
John @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Uh, maybe I am nieve cause I play a hunter, and a paladin, but what is the problem with Warriors?
FG @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I personally do not think wow is worth the funds to play online ..this idea was good to stand up to them finally some people stands up to blizz to let their ideas known, and eveyone knows blizz will not stand for this they want your $180.00 a year so they can dictate your gaming and boss you around..They will not get my money with this game any longer
wow is not worth the money to have them treat me like a child with game balances that will take them 8 months of coffee breaks to fix..
Cody @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I have been playing WoW for only one month, but in that time most of the negative comments about Blizzard here are true. Their servers suck, you pay for them and Blizzard doesn't care. If you have an issue they will be happy to copy and paste an answer from a database in an email for you. That's about all the support you will get. If you complain you will be banned or warned. Real servers can take on over 100,000 connections at once without slowing down or crashing. Blizzard does not run true servers, they are running cheap systems. They would rather pocket the monthly subscription fee you give them instead of actually using it to fund WoW. I don't see myself playing this game for more than 3 months. It's simple not worth the money to me. I am just going to play it long enough to partially justify wasting $60.00 on the game itself.
This is the last game I buy from this "company", as they are seriously going down hill.
Bob @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
It does indeed seem like Blizzard failed to do any kind of serious testing of their systems or software before publishing. I had to go through 5 different computers before I found one that the game would successfully install and run on.
After pulling some teeth, I finally got it installed on my son's machine, and he was able play the game enough to get a level 11 character. However, I applied the 1.3.1 patch to his installation last night (he hadn't played in a while), and the game now crashes all over the place.
The game is enjoyable to play, but they have some serious issues with the way the installation was designed, and the compression they use on their game files. I develop software for a living, and it seems pretty obvious that there was no serious testing done to this product before it was released. The thinking appears to be that, since it ran fine on the machines they used to develop it, it should run fine everywhere else. They should have consulted with some more mature MMORPG companies before releasing. This was just
amateurish.
(Oh, and to the poster who likened the protest to a school shooting: Are you really that fucked in the head? This is a PRODUCT and a SERVICE that we are PAYING for! We have the RIGHT to complain and expect something for our money. What in HELL does that have to do with a school shooting, you moron?)
Will @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I think this is all pretty laughable, Im sorry.
I honestly think Blizzard closed the server themselves, theyre not stupid. As for this game being rubbish? I doubt it, anyone with the misinformed opinion to say that this game isnt very good hasnt played so many MMORPGS, if you have and still hate WoW, get back to your other game, retard.
Just stop playing? You had a trial period of a MONTH on your account, you didnt have to carry on did you? It shows a very immature and childish account of people today in that when they have the choice to own something, with the further choice to give it up, even amongst so many complaints, people will still continue to OWN it, with the foolish idea that if they shout loud enough, the ORIGINAL PRODUCT they signed up for will get better. If it does, clap hands, if it doesnt, grow up and learn to accept that the world doesnt revolve around your petty nuances, and STOP PAYING!
gamerspt @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
ok i wouldn't have said this 24 hours ago, but the WoW administration is beginning to piss me off too, last night i try login and it says "You have been suspended, please check your e-mail for details" so i go and check my e-mail... NOTHING.. The only thing i can conclude that they coulda suspended me for was me yelling /YELL HORDE FUKIN SUCK and i looked at their penalty volcano at their site and it said Warning | 3 hr suspension | 72 hr | closure
its been over 3hr's now and i still cant get on, and i got no e-mail, this is fuked up