August 29, 2012

Iran blocked from World of Warcraft

by Gareth Mankoo

Blizzard’s hallmark multiplayer game has changed the face of gaming in the world. So it goes without saying that World of Warcraft is a rage, not only in the Western world but in nations such as Iran. However, the game’s developer had to cut access to its online module, to all players in Iran. They’ve had to bear this brunt because of the company’s “tightened up procedures”. So, what seemed to be a minor glitch (when players in Iran couldn’t log on) turned out to be a permanent dismissal of their capabilities. So what did they do this? It comes to pass that US economic sanctions and trade restrictions restrict Blizzard from doing business with people living in certain nations.


Now I sit back and visualise the number of complaints that could be clogging mail servers at Blizzard. It’s one thing blocking features of a game from an eager crowd of people and another, denying an excellent game such as this from an entire nation’s population.

[BBC]