World of Warcraft™

*Edit: Appreciate the kind thoughts, my wife is fine now, we aren't rushing to the hospital, just to make sure things are ok at a doctor. I seem to have flamed a fire of trolls who troll other trolls so I will edit this post. Kids need to take responsibility for their own actions and can't blame a rock singer BUT I feel Blizzard needs to address the bad attitude in the community on the behalf of some factions. To address further concerns, the incident did not take place near the convention centre; rather a fair distance away on our walk back*

I originally planned to contact Blizzard privately to let them know what I am about to say but seeing some community managers support the actions of those who led to this event I'm going to share with everyone because quite frankly I feel they won't even care.

So my wife and I flew to America for a holiday, but mostly to attend Blizzcon for the first time (we've been playing since '09) and overall had a good time; it was clear that alot of work had gone into this event. It will however be our last.

We're quite into the game, my wife especially loves her night elfs. I won't advertise the site but she ordered a shirt with a moonglade background and a night elf on it to wear to Blizzcon.

Leaving the event 2 young guys probably in their early 20s came up behind us and pulled on my wife's lanyard seemingly trying to break it off and shouted 'alliance b****' at her. It did not break lose and instead my wifes' head and neck were jolted downward. They took off running and I knew there was no way I could catch them. I wanted to go to a police station but neither of us were familiar with the area or America for that matter so she just wanted to go back to the hotel to rest her neck.

We put ice on it and had her lay down and not move it but she complained about headaches the whole next day and her neck was very stiff. It is better today but she will see our doctor as soon as we return home.

I didn't let her see me but I cried a little that night (Having read the forums she now knows but apparently it's 'sweet'). I'm a big guy, I can handle myself, but my wife is the sweestest most innocent person I know, wouldn't hurt a fly and to see her be attacked like that over what faction in a game she loves was just too much.

As you can imagine I was furious at first, upset then furious and whilst I've calmed down a little I very much intend to let people know what happened.

Now whos fault is it? I appreciate the support but feel that the community has the wrong idea. Blizzard did not cause this to happen, it was entirely the actions of two kids BUT I feel that blatant alliance bashing creates ill-will in the community and this should stop

I didn't catch his name at the time but now know him to be 'samwise'. First he alienated alliance then directed our attention to a screen on stage where I saw a man launch into a hateful diatribe aimed at the alliance. His exact words now that I have found video footage were

'f*** the alliance, f***ing die you f***ing emo c***suckers'

I could tell me wife was uncomfortable in the audience and there were numerous people around us shouting 'f*** the alliance' although it appears to have either been editted out or not caught by the recorders of the video. When you have some fairly large guys in a dark environment, close to you shouting such stupid things and a maniac on screen on stage going off about the alliance, to be a small woman with a night elf shirt must be quite unsettling.

Then 'samwise' identified the man on screen as 'the unofficial ambassador to the mighty horde'. At the end of the rather poor performance, I believe it was this samwise again said 'alliance suck'. For a company who has a sticky on their forum against real life threats, I hardly see how showing a video calling those who play alliance 'emo c***suckers' and wanting us to 'f***ing die' is approrpriate. Can you imagine how fast I'd be banned if I said the same thing on here?

This anti-alliance sentiment is nothing new sure you're alienating a large % of your player base but if you don't care, I don't care and I haven't until the last few days when it had real life consequences. Then I see CMs jump to the defense of this shameful display by repeating the claim that it is 'just a game'. A spit in the face of anyone concerned and basically a 'umad?'. We all know that punks, after spouting abuse that they mean, say 'it's just a game' to disarm any retaliation.

Have fun with the game, spark a bit of rivalry between the factions but don't whip the crowd into a 'f*** the alliance' frenzy while asking that we die and calling us c***suckers. That was shameful. Samwise should be ashamed, and so should all those who organised that disgusting display. So too should those from Blizzard who defend it.

To my wife, what happened can't be taken away by your retort that 'it's just a game'.