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US sanctions lock Iranian gamers out of World of Warcraft

33 points by ValG 14y ago

belorn 14y ago
"A post to Blizzard’s message board by a company employee also noted that rules meant Iranian players would not be getting refunds.". Isn't that the same as stealing? They are taking money in exchange for an service they do not provide.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- noarchy 14y ago
  There's probably something buried in the terms of use that they'll claim allows for this very sort of scenario. If these players lived in North America, they might be able to find a legal remedy, but they're in Iran.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
I wonder if anyone realizes just how severe a provocation it is to cut off a WoW player cold turkey like that. Seems like a pretty strange sanction though. Hopefully Iranians aren't paying for Twitter access. Such a strange world we live in these days.
SoftwareMaven 14y ago
This seems completely bass-ackwards. If we want to get Iranians to "come to the light" that is US policy, one of the best ways to do that is to actually have them interacting positively with people in the United States. Furthermore, while I can (sort of) understand not having US money filter into Iran, I can't understand why there is any problem with Iranian money filtering into the US. Every dollar out of Iran is a dollar less the regime has to "fight" its idealogical war. There are days I get really tired of the letter of the law being the only possible interpretation. When I sympathize with my Iranian brethren trying to get into a raid because their gear is sucky blue crap, it becomes one of those days.
- tlb 14y ago
  It's a plausible theory that cultural engagement with Iran might work better than sanctions. However, you can't have some people doing one and some doing the other. For better or worse, after trying various other things without success, the Administration has decided on sanctions. For sanctions to be effective, they have to hurt enough to force the other side to compromise. Weakening sanctions for any reason just draws out the conflict longer.
- mewmoo 14y ago
  Every dollar out of Iran is a dollar less the regime has to "fight" its idealogical war. What war? They haven't started a war in more than a century. Probably more. Seriously is there a war going on I don't know about?
  - Blara 14y ago
    I think you forgot the Iran Iraq war. Not sure who started it but it was a war.
    - mewmoo 14y ago
      Not forgetting it. It was started by Iraq.
- eupharis 14y ago
  Trying to legally define what is and is not a valid financial transaction coming in and out of Iran is a fool's errand. There's these things called commodity markets, and most everything is a commodity (more or less liquid) that can be bought and sold. Including WoW accounts, WoW gold, etc. If you wanted to launder, say, oil revenues into completely respectable US financial holdings.... And just think: due to these new restrictions, many Iranian players could get into a whole new world of encryption, non-Iranian VPNs, non-Iranian bank accounts, etc., etc. Which could have very positive political ramifications for the US down the line. Say what you will about America or Germany or whomever in the western world, but I can still write here "Obama is an idiot" or "Merkel is a crook" or "The American Government should be destroyed, the Constitution should be abolished, and the ancient Corinthian Oligarchy should be enacted in its stead" or whatever and still sleep like a babe without any fear of repercussions. It's far from a perfect freedom, but it's better than the alternative.
gandalfar 14y ago
Does this also mean that they can't play Diablo 3?
lotharbot 14y ago
Two things of note: 1) This isn't a result of US law changing. This is a result of Blizzard responding to an already-existing law which probably wasn't intended to have this particular effect. 2) Blizzard could potentially do some real good for the world (and get some good PR in the process.) I hope they have some sort of maneuver up their sleeve other than just cutting off Iranian players.
coldarchon 14y ago
The war against Iran is taking place during the elections, all presidents did this to activate the patriotism and get reelected. Who wants his kids to play a game with other kids which ask them why their daddy is bombing them? "Oh wait, I can't follow you into this dungeon, I can hear bombers - ... - USER DISCONNECTED"
tsotha 14y ago
In other news, Iranian economy booms as US sanctions lock Iranian gamers out of World of Warcraft...
- maayank 14y ago
  Or youth on the streets protesting their government, after not being able to escape anymore into a fantasy world
cloudsteam 14y ago
I thought this was an onion article I was dissapoint
norswap 14y ago
Ass move from the US government aside, what baffles me here is how uncivil Blizzard can be. I mean, could it really have hurt to say "we are very sorry, but we were forced into it"?

33 points by ValG 14y ago

"A post to Blizzard’s message board by a company employee also noted that rules meant Iranian players would not be getting refunds.". Isn't that the same as stealing? They are taking money in exchange for an service they do not provide.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
noarchy 14y ago
There's probably something buried in the terms of use that they'll claim allows for this very sort of scenario. If these players lived in North America, they might be able to find a legal remedy, but they're in Iran.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

I wonder if anyone realizes just how severe a provocation it is to cut off a WoW player cold turkey like that. Seems like a pretty strange sanction though. Hopefully Iranians aren't paying for Twitter access. Such a strange world we live in these days.

SoftwareMaven 14y ago

This seems completely bass-ackwards. If we want to get Iranians to "come to the light" that is US policy, one of the best ways to do that is to actually have them interacting positively with people in the United States. Furthermore, while I can (sort of) understand not having US money filter into Iran, I can't understand why there is any problem with Iranian money filtering into the US. Every dollar out of Iran is a dollar less the regime has to "fight" its idealogical war. There are days I get really tired of the letter of the law being the only possible interpretation. When I sympathize with my Iranian brethren trying to get into a raid because their gear is sucky blue crap, it becomes one of those days.

tlb 14y ago
It's a plausible theory that cultural engagement with Iran might work better than sanctions. However, you can't have some people doing one and some doing the other. For better or worse, after trying various other things without success, the Administration has decided on sanctions. For sanctions to be effective, they have to hurt enough to force the other side to compromise. Weakening sanctions for any reason just draws out the conflict longer.
mewmoo 14y ago
Every dollar out of Iran is a dollar less the regime has to "fight" its idealogical war. What war? They haven't started a war in more than a century. Probably more. Seriously is there a war going on I don't know about?
- Blara 14y ago
  I think you forgot the Iran Iraq war. Not sure who started it but it was a war.
  - mewmoo 14y ago
    Not forgetting it. It was started by Iraq.
eupharis 14y ago
Trying to legally define what is and is not a valid financial transaction coming in and out of Iran is a fool's errand. There's these things called commodity markets, and most everything is a commodity (more or less liquid) that can be bought and sold. Including WoW accounts, WoW gold, etc. If you wanted to launder, say, oil revenues into completely respectable US financial holdings.... And just think: due to these new restrictions, many Iranian players could get into a whole new world of encryption, non-Iranian VPNs, non-Iranian bank accounts, etc., etc. Which could have very positive political ramifications for the US down the line. Say what you will about America or Germany or whomever in the western world, but I can still write here "Obama is an idiot" or "Merkel is a crook" or "The American Government should be destroyed, the Constitution should be abolished, and the ancient Corinthian Oligarchy should be enacted in its stead" or whatever and still sleep like a babe without any fear of repercussions. It's far from a perfect freedom, but it's better than the alternative.

gandalfar 14y ago

Does this also mean that they can't play Diablo 3?

lotharbot 14y ago

Two things of note: 1) This isn't a result of US law changing. This is a result of Blizzard responding to an already-existing law which probably wasn't intended to have this particular effect. 2) Blizzard could potentially do some real good for the world (and get some good PR in the process.) I hope they have some sort of maneuver up their sleeve other than just cutting off Iranian players.

coldarchon 14y ago

The war against Iran is taking place during the elections, all presidents did this to activate the patriotism and get reelected. Who wants his kids to play a game with other kids which ask them why their daddy is bombing them? "Oh wait, I can't follow you into this dungeon, I can hear bombers - ... - USER DISCONNECTED"

tsotha 14y ago

In other news, Iranian economy booms as US sanctions lock Iranian gamers out of World of Warcraft...

maayank 14y ago
Or youth on the streets protesting their government, after not being able to escape anymore into a fantasy world

cloudsteam 14y ago

I thought this was an onion article I was dissapoint

norswap 14y ago

Ass move from the US government aside, what baffles me here is how uncivil Blizzard can be. I mean, could it really have hurt to say "we are very sorry, but we were forced into it"?