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Blizzard recently seems to be enforcing their anti-discrimination policy about Sexual Orientation by discouraging players from having their characters publically possess an alternative sexuality in World of Warcraft, preventing in-game groups that are supportive of GLBT players/characters from advertising.

The article is here.

Some of these quotes are pretty interesting, in showing how the company is approaching minority sexualities among players and characters.

Blizzard’s stance was clear that recruiting for a guild using “GLBT” was inappropriate as, the company said, it may “incite certain responses in other players that will allow for discussion that we feel has no place in our game.”

Also…

“Many people are insulted just at the word ‘homosexual’ or any other word referring to sexual orientation,” Blizzard responded to Blatzheim in an e-mail. “Also to discriminate against other players, such as not allowing any heterosexuals into the guild simply because of their sexual orientation, could cause extreme offense to a large percentage of our players and should be avoided.”

Honestly, I wonder if forming a guild of all gay characters is any different from forming one of only elves. Should that be considered racial discrimination? In-game, maybe, but something that’s retricted by an anti-discrimination policy?

By clamping down on characters’ sexualities, Blizzard seems to be trying to prevent sexuality from being one of the big issues of WoW, avoiding anti-gay witch hunts or whatever. Or maybe they’re just being big poo-heads.

In any case, these kind of situations will probably keep coming up, blurring the lines between player and character and, eventually, you’ll probably see 1st Amendment or anti-discrimination lawsuits involving online roleplaying personae.