WoW Forever: an offensive name can cost you beta access

On 19 September a player wrote on Blizzard's forums that their account had been suspended from the WoW Forever beta. They say that when they tried to log in, the game told them the account was suspended from the beta, with error code WOW51900338, that no email had explained why, and that the usual appeal page for account actions said no action had been taken on the account. Later in the thread they said their character was named after a controversial historical figure, and that in the past a questionable name had meant being kicked from the game and made to pick a new name at the next login, not a suspension.

Blizzard customer support member Vrakthris replied the same day. He wrote that the player should have received an email giving the reason, including the name chosen for their beta character; his records show that such an email was sent, and he advised checking the spam or junk folder. Character names must follow Blizzard's naming policies in the beta too, he wrote, and breaking them may lead to beta access being removed. To the argument that the beta is there to show Blizzard what the new name system needs fixed, he replied that this is not a matter of adjusting anything: Blizzard knows what bad names are and knows people create characters with them all the time, there is a reporting option for them, and some slip through because nobody reports them.

Vrakthris added that the choice of a first and last name gives room for a lot of creativity, but the policies still apply, and the WoW Forever development team is trying to deal with the names brought to its attention. The beta is mainly run by Blizzard's quality assurance and game development teams, so enforcing the rules there is mainly their job. Anyone who thinks a mistake was made can submit an appeal. He said none of the examples he had seen so far looked appropriate, though the decision is not his, and then closed the thread. In a separate thread on 21 September, about another tester who lost beta access, Blizzard support member Jafaaeleath wrote that an appeal through Blizzard's support site is the only option.

Names work differently in Forever. The game has no realms, so every character has 2 names, a first name and a last name, and the full name must be unique within the region. In an article on 21 September Blizzard wrote that names must still follow the in-game code of conduct for names, and that the system can judge both parts together, so splitting a restricted word across the 2 names will not necessarily make it valid.

In the same thread, 5 other players say they were locked out of the beta too: some say they are not sure why, and 2 suggest it was their character's name. On 24 September a tester on Blizzard's European forums wrote that their beta account had been suspended overnight with no email, and says their character's name was not offensive; by that evening nobody from Blizzard had replied. Vrakthris's reply was posted on the American forums, but it speaks about the beta and its naming policies in general and does not mention any region. Blizzard has not said how many testers have lost access, or whether the removal is permanent.