They have their council discord in that regard. However that was mainly an PR thing anyway.
I mean thats gonna happen even on Discord servers. Even in a more polite matter but you will always, without exception, have this occurance unless you do infact create an echo chamber (which is absolutely useless in regards of feedback).
Like lemme create a discord thats solely about flaming Ion. Will it be peaceful? Yes. Will it be constructive? BWuahahahahaha…no.
Its PR. Same as the council. And their law agreements are badly written.
Before you stick your noses into people’s discords I would prefer you get your own house in a far more better order than it is now, especially your OWN forums.
Yes. You know what I’m talking about.
Hmm. If only I could show you the reasons for one of my bans recently but obviously it’s against ToC, but if you want to see it I can be contacted on Discord at Souldefiler#9471, or if you have Kretias or Afenton on your discord they will be able to tell you as well.
i don’t feel like i should talk about this since it’s updated and seems like the final thing , it doesn’t involve me or my country anyway. goodluck with fixing all these complaints but seems like you missed the whole point. wow’s pr team needs new people (hire me)
I only run a couple of fairly small discords (both of which would qualify, but we’re talking 100+ not 1000+ members), so probably not what they’re aiming for anyway, irrespective of what they’ve said.
But both those discords are MY discords … not Blizzards. If they want to come and poke around … I have no objection whatsoever. If they asked for community discords where they could randomly join, even anonymously if they wished, to ask questions and get a feel for them, I’d be up for putting my discords up on that list.
If they wanted to be given a “trusted” role on those discords, up to a point, I’d be okay with that too.
But this whole 16 page one-sided “contract” is not something I’m up for. I’ve spent the time and effort, over years, getting my discords how I like - I’ve been an active part of the guild leader community for over a decade, I’m not going to cede control of that to a company that, over the years, has proved that they’re not quite as trustworthy as we’d like, even if it’s just to an information-scraping bot.
And honestly, I’m not sure why they would think it was a good idea. No-one puts bots on their servers unless they trust them and actually get some benefit from them.
And we all know that its very possible to misunderstand or misread text written down. We have people from all over Europe and the US on my discord servers … I’m fully aware that it’s very easy to type something that gets misinterpreted. And Blizzard do like to get a little heavy-handed at times. (and, conversely, sometimes not heavy-handed enough!).
Sorry, but I still do not see me and other servers joining this.
I understand the company needs to protect itself, but this is all -too much-, and incredibly out of touch with the communities you expect to reach with this.
All this is so unnecessary. If you want to have connections with Discord Servers, this is not the way to do it.
Below are my personal thoughts on the matter and does not necessarily represent my community.
Throughout the years, as well as currently, we have had Blizzard representatives ranging from CM’s to Devs to President and everything in between taking part in our community. This has been seen as mutually beneficial, as a lot of the feedback that the devs have been able to absorb have made the game better and relieve a lot of pain points. This is our shared goal, to have the game be as good as it can and it aligns very well with what Blizzard stands for. Gameplay First, Commit to Quality, Every Voice Matters, Learn & Grow among others.
They have also participated in general non-WoW related discussion as humans. Being able to share their passions, problems and enjoyment.
We have welcomed them and we would welcome any other person who wish to join our community in good faith.
Reading the announcement post, it gave the feeling that Blizzard wanted to do more outreach and give more of they employees the opportunity to communicate transparently and being a part of the community that share the love for the game.
However; then comes the agreement letter. The changes to the agreements have been gone through by one of our lawyers. And the agreement is fine. My gripe is that it shows such a lack of comprehension as to why our communities actually exist, what we who run these huge communities have as our own goals. How extremely many man hours go in 100% voluntarily in order to spark interest, guide new players, condense feedback and create amazing memories around this game that we all have dedicated so much time towards.
I hope that you will do your Q&A that was mentioned earlier. And these are my main questions, from the point of view of a Discord Partner Community Server over a hundred of thousands members.
Could you lay out your goals with this initiative? What would constitute success and what would constitute failure.
Is having the Member signing the agreement really a necessity, considering both the Discord ToS as well as the incentive of remaining a community that Blizzard employees would want to keep engaging with?
Is this initiative even targeted at our type of servers? The huge Class communities, Secrets, Reddit, Recruitment, Event etc. That have long standing positions, some for decades, where there’s no monetary incentive but all driven for the enjoyment and health for the game and for the community and humans. Or is it mainly targeted towards content creator discords who are assumed to use this opportunity in order to further their content creator careers?
While I do see the benefit of the sentiment software. Being able to see how a change affects the mood with a particular group of people. And the fact that it’s already employed in other social media sites. I would still want more agency to decide what content it can read. Not just “private” sections, but also non-WoW related channels. Preferably it would be totally optional, if Blizzard wants to be as active and as much a part of the community that they indicate outwards then those active participants would be able to gather this sentiment among themselves. You will need to convince us that adding the bot would align with our community goals and not be a trade-off.
You have the opportunity to move back towards being a part of the playerbase. Embracing your inner geeks and create so many more avenues to clear up misunderstandings, to promote your vision and motivations, to engage the community and become engaged with it. Come join our communities as equals to share and partake in discussions about this life impacting game. Stop trying to present this as a business opportunity where we feel marginalized.
Just as long as you’re singing to their tune. They ignore the forums, block you for harassment after inviting you to contact them on twitter, but now they asking for a high seat in external communities and the only thing they’re offering in return is their presence, something we barely feel at all except when there’s a forest fire of their own making which immediately needs to be extinguished.
It’s not even a question of legality and I’ve already lost count of how many times they’ve tried to circumvent laws which supersede their own terms of use. You’re surrendering autonomy for nothing.
As with the latest incident over at OW forums, are they going to start banning chatters asking why the Pride event isn’t available in their region, despite living in a country where same sex couples might enjoy certain protection under the law? First players were mad over gay content, but by evening everyone became angry because there was no explanation given over why they were excluded (literally mad over 4 rainbow flags lol).
Instead of wasting time creating a one-sided 16 page document, what should have happened instead was to offer official promotion, exposure and endorsement to communities if they agree to uphold an additional set of rules, which would no doubt make it more friendly and welcoming for everyone. If they fail at any point and refuse, simply delist them from your own website, there is no need to sue anyone into submission if they happen to look at the hand holding the whip with resentment and disgust.
Off the top of my tongue; absolutely no profanity, hateful content, no suicide stuff etc. I am not a PR wizard but at least I know how to connect with people in a certain manner so they don’t feel being manipulated.
I have limited knowledge of the law but seeing A BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER being mentioned in the second paragraph is a cause for concern. For our European friends who are not very good at English, waving means to forgo or to give up a right, so at start you’re already throwing out your rights in the thrash can over something which should in an ideal world be worded as a partner agreement. The word arbitration screams how uncomfortable they are in bringing up any disputes to the court of law because the law might not be on their side. Technically, my 90yo grandma could be appointed as the arbiter and abide by whatever rules she wanted, laws would merely serve as guidelines while carrying out a judgement. Will this person be someone from your own family or an individual who the big billion dollar company has stuck their claws into? What did you expect?
The user above me said it best - engage the community as equals.
Just adding my two cents - after this update I have decided not to apply with my Discord. Reasons:
Not providing a synopsis when changing a legal document is aweful. Governments do that all the time to obfuscate changes. This has the same bitter aftertaste.
You have not made any substantial changes. All points I criticized (see my previous post) are still exactly the same.
You have toned down a little bit what you ask for, but you have not made any clarification on what you offer. What you give as part of this agreement is still non-contractual, vague promises. The power imbalance has not changed at all.
I’m going to save my suggestions and wishes because I lost trust in you doing something cool here. And that is really my key point: Trust. It’s a two-way street. You have burned a good amount of the trust you enjoyed, at least from my side, and you can’t pretend that didn’t happen. For me, you’d first have to make up for that, before even starting to propose a new solution for a collaboration.
Yesnt. It technically exists but if you mean mine then the invites are currently restricted. As in the link that was posted on the forums at the start had been disabled by me.
