Greetings random World of Warcraft Admin,
Before I start the appeal I will supply you with the information of my account as well as the grounds for my, what I consider, ludcrious banning. Here is the information:
Account Name: GORAGESU
Realm: Magtheridon
Character Name: Rageface
Account Action: 72 Hour Suspension
Offense: Harassment Policy Violation - Obscene/Vulgar
This category includes both clear and masked language which:
• Is crude and offensive in nature
• Is an inappropriate reference to human anatomy or bodily functions
• Is pornographic in nature
Details (Note - Times are listed in Greenwich Mean Time, GMT):
4/26/2006 3:35 (GMT) - Rageface says "its fucking lame"
The 72 hour (3 days) suspension does not fit this violation. I will break down why:
1. The statement "it's fucking lame" is not harassment because who is it harassing? The word it's does not target a specific person, but rather an entity. That entity could be a piece of grass in the game for all we know. If I were to report every person who said the infamous "F" word you would have to double your staff size. For this single fact alone it should nullify this punishment, let alone the complaint, completely.
2. A profanity filter exists with-in the game. I am aware it is not good to swear but still if people do not want to read such text why is their profanity filter unchecked? Allowing someone who has their profanity filter off to report another person to the GM is complete hypocrisy. It basically says to me that people are going around looking for people to slip up and say a swear word, and then report them to a GM and enjoy a few laughs afterward. I do not know about you but I do not enjoy the thought of someone laughing at my expense just because I choose to have a vivid vocabulary. Bottom line: if you cannot handle vulgar language then you should have your profanity filter on. This is very comparable to a parent sueing a television production because they show sexual material, while they sit on their couch and choose to watch it. It's a horrible policy and is one which I hope you will fix in the future, because I doubt I am the only being screwed by it.
3. The statement "it's fucking lame" is not pornographic in nature.
4. The statement "it's fucking lame" is not an inappropriate reference to the human anatomy, human body parts, or human actions.
5. The statement "it's fucking lame" is not crude or offensive in nature because to the human eye you cannot specifically tell me who this statement is directed at, and for your information it was not directed at a player in the game, but something very different and if you check the context of the statement you will see that, but the GM who handled this issue seems to have completely overlooked that. Not that he can decide if it was or was not about a person.
I am not asking to have no action taken against myself. Ban me for 3 hours or 6 hours -- I do not care. But 3 whole days because someone who has morbid curiousity has decided to disable their profanity filter and has exploited your illogical policy on swearing? I hope this punishment can either be taken off my record or be greatly lessened.
Sincerely,
Richard "Rageface" Bishop
Owner of every single Blizzard game to date and Blizzard fanatic for more years than I can remember