Get the latest Age of Conan news and views at Massively!

Blizzard's forum policy against foreign languages

This post on the official forums, like many others in languages that aren't English, got closed down. Why? Because it's a policy of Blizzard that they do not "offer foreign language support" on the forums (although, in looking through the Forums Guidelines, I can't see anything that officially says that). At any rate, the rule is no language but English on the official forums, and Timbal is sticking by that policy.

And it's not just Spanish-- I've seen this come up on the EU forums as well, when someone posts in French or German. Why is Blizzard so opposed to players posting in their native language? Of course, as Timbal says, not everyone can know every language, but Timbal knew enough Spanish to realize the original thread (called "server latino") was asking for new realms. And this is 2007-- is it too much to ask for one Blizzard forums employee that speaks Spanish, or in the EU, French or German? They may not know enough to actually answer the questions in that language, but they should know enough to police players who are speaking in that language, maybe in a special foreign language section of the forum.

Now, also according to forums policy (but also not listed in the "guidelines"), you're also not supposed to request new realms, so even if the thread was in English, it would have been closed anyway. And if someone speaking a foreign language is somehow being obscene, that doesn't belong on the forums either. But it's unfair for people who have legitimate questions or requests and want to posit them in their native language to be shut down by Blizzard automatically. Nine million people play this game, and it's very likely a large number of them don't speak English as their native language-- for Blizzard to completely ignore them on the forums is a poor decision.

Update: Our terrific commenters point out that there are French, Spanish, and German forums for the EU servers. But the fact remains that Blizzard closes, without second thought, any thread started in a foreign language on the US servers.

Related Headlines

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)


RESOURCES

Blizzard Events
BlizzCon (195)
Worldwide Invitational (112)
Class Columns
(Druid) Shifting Perspectives (48)
(Hunter) Big Red Kitty (39)
(Hunter) Scattered Shots (23)
(Mage) Arcane Brilliance (45)
(Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It (53)
(Priest) Spiritual Guidance (28)
(Rogue) Encrypted Text (34)
(Shaman) Totem Talk (53)
(Warlock) Blood Pact (32)
(Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors (57)
Gameplay
(Arena PvP) Blood Sport (28)
(BG PvP) The Art of War(craft) (27)
(Casual) WoW, Casually (21)
(Guild Leadership) Officers' Quarters (65)
(Professions) Insider Trader (65)
(Raid Healing) Raid Rx (20)
(Raiding) Raiding 101 (2)
(Raiding) Ready Check (31)
(Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage (46)
Hybrid Theory (21)
New Players' Guide (4)
Tank Talk (7)
AddOns and UI
AddOn Spotlight (92)
Macro Anatomy (14)
Reader UI of the Week (28)
Reader WoWspace of the week (31)
The Creamy GUI Center (15)
Lore and Stories
Around Azeroth (540)
Ask A Lore Nerd (11)
Barrens Chat (12)
Know your Lore (60)
Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn (14)
WoW Moviewatch (533)
Features
15 Minutes of Fame (28)
About the Bloggers (29)
Ask WoW Insider (64)
Azeroth Security Advisor (4)
Breakfast topics (743)
Build Shop (36)
Forum Post of the Day (35)
Gamers on the Street (25)
Guildwatch (83)
He Said She Said (5)
Illusionary Tactics (3)
It came from the Blog (29)
Phat Loot Phriday (94)
The Colosseum (1)
Two Bosses Enter (61)
Well Fed Buff (28)
World of WarCrafts (28)
WoW Crossword (3)
WoW Insider Show (72)
WoW Rookie (42)
[1.Local] (15)
Classes
Death Knight (123)
Druid (330)
Hunter (309)
Mage (189)
Paladin (326)
Priest (263)
Rogue (190)
Shaman (298)
Warlock (205)
Warrior (231)
News
Account Security (30)
AddOns (264)
Analysis / Opinion (3331)
Blizzard (1723)
Bugs (223)
Burning Crusade (383)
Contests (237)
Economy (199)
Events (480)
Expansions (685)
Fan stuff (951)
Features (691)
Forums (304)
Guilds (512)
Hardware (47)
Humor (826)
Interviews (173)
Lore (328)
Mounts (149)
News items (1663)
NPCs (221)
Odds and ends (1755)
Patches (1181)
Podcasting (81)
Ranking (56)
Realm News (307)
Realm Status (252)
RP (179)
Rumors (71)
Virtual selves (704)
WoW Insider Business (312)
WoW Social Conventions (160)
WoW TCG (59)
Wrath of the Lich King (531)
Strategy
Achievements (11)
Alts (124)
Arena (279)
Battlegrounds (168)
Bosses (373)
Buffs (136)
Cheats (75)
Classes (346)
Enchants (37)
Factions (173)
Guides (418)
How-tos (430)
Instances (706)
Items (910)
Leveling (317)
Making money (198)
PvP (804)
Quests (386)
Raiding (798)
Talents (172)
Tips (603)
Tricks (236)
Walkthroughs (93)
Media
Comics (89)
Fan art (52)
Galleries (216)
Machinima (619)
Podcasts (54)
Polls (71)
Screenshots (692)
Races
Alliance (125)
Draenei (67)
Dwarves (22)
Gnomes (48)
Human (22)
Night Elves (55)
Horde (126)
Blood Elves (73)
Orcs (32)
Tauren (54)
Trolls (28)
Undead (28)
Professions
Alchemy (85)
Blacksmithing (64)
Cooking (78)
Enchanting (84)
Engineering (114)
First Aid (19)
Fishing (63)
Herbalism (53)
Inscription (20)
Jewelcrafting (90)
Leatherworking (67)
Mining (52)
Skinning (33)
Tailoring (74)
Retired
Pimp My Profile (1)
(Engineering) Hoof and Horn Research and Development (17)
Azeroth Interrupted (24)
Back In The Day (3)
World Wide WoW (8)
/silly (14)

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Powered by Blogsmith

    Featured Galleries

    Achievements UI
    World of WarCrafts: Cataclysm's Edge
    Valeera Sanguinar
    New Grim Guzzler content in patch 2.4.3
    Stormwind Docks
    World of WarCrafts: Conjured Picture Frame
    World of WarCrafts: Banner of brutality
    Scarlet Crusade Tabard T-shirt
    Reader UI of the Week 6/29/08

     

    Most Commented On (30 days)

    Recent Comments

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: