WoW Forever: Blizzard issues forced renames in the beta

Just before midnight UK time on 24 September, Blizzard developer Fwoibles posted a statement on Blizzard's forums about character names in the WoW Forever beta. Blizzard says it is in the process of issuing forced name changes to beta characters that break its character naming policies. It has also removed beta access for some players whose names were, in its words, “far outside” its Code of Conduct. The statement does not say how many characters or players are affected.

According to the statement, Forever's first and last names have given players new room for creativity and personal touches, but some “took this opportunity to reveal too much about themselves” and will no longer take part in this beta. Blizzard says the World of Warcraft team takes the safety and inclusiveness of the game very seriously, and that these actions were carried out directly by the development team, with each one reviewed individually.

On appeals, the statement says the customer service team cannot and will not assist with any. That differs from what Blizzard support staff told testers who lost beta access over their names in the days before, when they said anyone who thought a mistake had been made could appeal through Blizzard's support site.

Blizzard also says its system for enforcing naming standards will come online “very shortly”. It asks testers not to “test” that system, and warns that anyone who does risks action against their account and losing beta access. The statement ends by asking players to keep character names respectful and within policy, and points them to Blizzard's Code of Conduct on its support site. The beta runs until 21 October.

On 25 September, Blizzard developer Fwoibles, a senior game producer on World of Warcraft, gave a figure on his personal social media account, whose profile says its posts are not endorsed by Blizzard: 0.18% of names in the beta cost their owners beta access. He wrote that none of the names that led to a removal would ever have been allowed in any version of WoW and that each would have earned a suspension, and that no new naming standards have been set for the Forever beta. He added that Blizzard's naming filter was not yet ready for two-part names.