![[UPDATED 8 JUNE] Introducing the Community Discords Program!](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/blog_header/hs/HSQA2Y4HX7KG1683296776986.jpg)
Apply to the new Community Discords Program, and you can get your community closer to the latest news and updates coming to World of Warcraft.
EU only? Realized that eu folks donât like the current lottery design of wow and subs are shrinking?
Edit: contract seems like you just want to gather free data for business analysis from your customers. So I will hope class discords stay independent from this garbage suggestion
15 Likes
Or, they heard everyone complaining that EU gets ignored and decided to try something that gives EU players a bit of a voice too 
You just need to sell your soul to Blizzard and have a discord channel with 100+ members 
1 Like
This is the most out of touch thing Iâve seen from Blizz yet. The âguidelinesâ is a 16 page legal contract that lets them sue you if you talk negatively about the company, the game, and/or their partners.
Theyâll be harvesting personal data and may demand YOU harvest and provide personal data as well. Oh and the âno talking negativly about Blizzard and coâ agreement? If I read it right that extends to AFTER the contract is terminated. No more negative talking about the game or Blizz might sue you 
But some ârewardsâ that they wonât define in detail and can also deny you or TAKE BACK at a whim is totally worth it.
Also thereâs a part that says âno union involvementâ. Being very open about not wanting to let people protect themselves and their rights as workers there.
I think Blizz just went and kicked off their next big scandal all on its own.
26 Likes
Hello, this sounds like a nice initiative. However I have some questions.
My Discord has over 100k members. And Iâm in discussions with other communities of similar size. My first question here would be, are we considered to be within the target group here? Or is this primarily aimed towards a lot smaller communities?
Secondly, me and the leaders of the other large discord communities are very interested in having this part a lot more clarified:
Install and maintain on the Server Clockwork Rocket or any other sentiment
tracking software requested by Blizzard from time to time and grant Blizzard permissions (as
instructed by Blizzard from time to time) to such software;
This Server Clockwork Rocket isnât clarified anywhere. What it does, what personal data in would scrape.
Nor how this would be comply with GDPR and how servers such as ours with over 100k members would get explicit opt-in consent if this âsentiment tracking softwareâ would actually gather any data.
Thirdly, I do kind of wish this was handled a bit more openly. The language used in the announcement is much different from the language used in the agreement. And how much liability is placed on the Program Member. Especially since the agreement is deemed accepted as soon as we apply. We feel that most of the ârewardsâ such as Dev Q&A and routes for feedback could be done with a much less constricting agreement.
It would be lovely if we could get some sort of clarification on how this would affect our members if we do indeed agree on all points.
//Rosvall, Admin at Ravenholdt - WoW Rogue Class Community
8 Likes
I take my like on the Blizzard post back. I did read through the first few paragraphs of the contract and I think some sections are not even legally allowed within EU laws.
I think this program is dead before it was even alive.
Edit: For some reason my like on the post is âlockedâ and I canât take it back. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!
13 Likes
Through the Community Discords Program, Discord server administrators can obtain community managers presence in their server, support for self-organized events and giveaways, occasional Dev Q&As, additional paths to provide feedback, and some other perks.
Ah. Yes. Iâve seen that before in other games.
Usually ends up with there being players and âplayers with privilegesâ.
1 Like
why just eu countries listed in here ? what about non-eu europeans ?
Although this sounds nice, and I am glad Discord servers are being recognized for once, this agreement is extremely concerning.
You basically canât say anything Blizzard does not like, or you risk getting sued? And we have to add a bot to our servers, which you barely explained anything about besides that itâll harvest data?
If you REALLY want to support WoW Discord Communities, treating us like some sort of company is not the way to do it. This support you are offering is on top of even more negatives, that only someone that read the entire agreement would know.
How about you ditch that lengthy agreement, treat us like people (not a company) that love your game, and would like your support in providing further community content? (Maybe actually join some of our Discords by your own accord, and not because âyou applied to the programâ? Wild idea!)
Because for me, a 21 year old with an 18k Mount Collecting Discord; this sounds more terrifying than helpful. I would like to not be sued if I make an âdeveloper badâ joke with some friends on my server.
Treat us like normal people, damn
19 Likes
Love the community boosting side and engagement. yet this all seems to be very stone-fisted approach.
The whole part of:
- Talk good about us, get rewards.
- Talk bad and we will do everything that is not illigal in your juristiction to make your life a living hell.
Ye. Legal-language or not, it makes this whole project smell of corporate stink.
It all sounds like an idea given by someone with good intentions, then sent to the legal department and was standardised into what it is now.
I guess we should give them some good-faith. Trust in the ones that is running with the idea. Yet, trusting corporations to work with a good-faith mantra seems wobbly at the very least.
12 Likes
So basically âlet some of our employeesâ have privileges on your discords to collect data while forcing rules on you and ignoring you completely with any matters you might have.
I mean, they have close to 0 activity on their own forums lol, how do they leverage that they will bring anything positive in discord?
13 Likes
Sounds very similar to a Hearthstone program for streamers to opt into. You can never say anything bad about Blizzard or its partners ever again (That got changed in the hearthstone one).
Sounds very shady.
Also, just read that Discord will be forcing name changes on everyone soon as they change their naming format to an @abcdefgh style. That wonât cause confusion, Iâm sure.
6 Likes
Sounds like some super shady, most definitely illegal in the EU, AI-based software that basically monitors everything thatâs being written, to determine how happy people are with Blizzard/WoW.
9 Likes
I really like that idea - that they show interest and support in our discords without demanding us to agree to those terms or installing a bot. It would be nice and rewarding!
It feels like it goes unnoticed that we already did and are still doing quite a bit for Blizzard/WoW by creating communities that allow us to enjoy the game and content even more. Be it by discords to help with farming items, to discuss lore, to coordinate roleplay or promote events we create; some for years without any support.
So in fact, some of the admins and owners of the discords they are looking for are running those successfully for years without any support from Blizzard. Why should anyone agree to those terms that just demand but offer very little in return?
As far as I can see the ones that profit most from those agreements arenât the discord owners.
2 Likes
Itâs been bothering me all night this, so Iâll try to write a bit of constructive feedback.
This project, while it may have been well intended, has the vibes of a guy with a lawyer walking into a non-profit free to join bookclub and going âweâll grace you with our presence if you sign this contract that severely limits your freedom to speak your mind, lets us spy on you, and carries the risk of us taking you to court. We MIGHT give you something in return, but thatâs up to us.â.
Itâs not something that appeals, and it comes off as very appealing, itâs downright spooky and feels like a trap. Itâll most likely ACT as a trap for those that do apply for it, because frankly youâd have to either be dumb to accept those terms OR you didnât read them properly and youâll get shafted for it.
I can only speak from my own experience, which involves smaller discords aimed at roleplay, art, or just hanging out with people sharing a hobby. I run a couple of servers myself, including a RP hub server with close to 100 members, a server aimed at promoting art, and a guild server or two.
None of these get even close to touching upon real life laws. We have a rules list in most of the servers. It goes something like:
- Donât be rude. Respect others.
- Always post a source to the art youâre showing off in the art channels.
- Keep things to their intended channels. Art goes in the art channel, emotes into the emote channel etc.
And itâs generally that simple. Some bigger servers flesh the rules out more to be extra clear so thereâs no room for misunderstanding, but -usually- it doesnât get anywhere even close to looking like legal jargon. And no one is getting sued if they break a rule. They might get a verbal warning, and if the mods or server host thinks youâre being a little bit too much of a prick, they might kick you out or ban you. Again, no legal stuff involved.
Most community discords Iâve been in also doesnât earn money from being run. If itâs a streamer discord they might get donations on stream, which goes through youtube or twitch or whatever other platform they use. Same with artists who might use discord to sell commissions or get donations. They might link to Patreon or Kofi. The donations doesnât go through discord.
We donât use Discord like a company. Itâs a hobby in most cases, run by people who feel up for the task of organizing a space so a lot of people can hang out together. We certainly donât hire lawyers to help us navigate law and stuff when dealing with our discord servers.
To sign a 16 page contract that mentions taking it to court and suing people if some agreements are broken, Iâd say get a damn lawyer, cuz thatâll have real life legal consequences. Someone hosting a RP community discord to find who else plays funny elves in that one funny elf city isnât going to pay for a whole actual lawyer for that. Not unless they intend to make money from their discord and WoWâs content, which I think is actually against the ToS.
Hells, one of the âperksâ with this program listed for the Discord hosts side is a way to give more direct feedback, but the contract states that you canât say anything negative publicly about the game or the company. Feedback thatâs just praise and cheering isnât useful. It doesnât help. If youâre not allowed to speak about the negatives (which is often done with the hope that itâll be fixed), whatâs even the point?
To sum it up:
The project feels like a wildly unfair trap to sue people or just straight up spy on them. Thereâs no guaranteed rewards. It looks like something thatâd be actually dangerous IRL to join, and I donât think a lot of people are willing to go that far over their hobby.
What I think would work better:
Just join some discord servers. Maybe ask the hosts to make a specific channel or two, like âFeedbackâ or âwhat weâd like to seeâ. Talk to people. Promise nothing but hear them out, vibe with them, maybe join a player hosted event or two to see what people enjoy and get some inspiration for what the game could provide to bring even more joy.
If things go well and folks are willing, maybe THEN you can start writing up some more official piece about a partnership. I think for sure there could be benefits to both sides if Blizz got more involved with itâs community, but it needs to be done on a more casual level if your target is hobby players who do this for fun.
6 Likes
Jesus christ blizzard, im not sure you could be more shady, creepy or ominious if you tried.
Hi fans, we see youve built nice communities, let us come in and root through your panty drawers. The lawyer and the bruiser in the background? Nothing to worry about, honest!
Dodgy creeps. Maybe spend a little more on pr and a little less on legal if you want to sell this stuff.
8 Likes
I have to smile how anything positive WoW/Blizzard does, has to be twisted into a negative.
*edited to include quote
Funny yes. How anything that can be positive about it, is turned into negative by whatâs in that contract.
3 Likes
Iâm not a fan of everyone crapping over Blizz for everything, but this feels warranted.
Hey, let us come on your servers, install spyware, reserve the right to legal action for things we donât like and award you (unspecified!!! stuff) at our discretion.
Whats not to like?
Also, why arenât they doing this in the US? - Hint - itâs not to be nice to Europeans.
7 Likes
Hope you are talking about the contract. Because itâs not twisted by us. Itâs just a negative approach of blizzard itself
5 Likes