wow Afrasiabi In-Game Content Being Removed, Some Remains

[Starym 3,374]

 

As the WoW team mentioned in their statement, they have been removing references "that are not appropriate for our world". While we've noticed the /spit emote change on the BCC PTR, most/all of the other content removal seems to be centered on references to Alex Afrasiabi, who was talked about in the Activision Blizzard lawsuit. Today we'll take a look at some of the things already removed from the game and some that remain, as the removal seems to be an ongoing process.

First off we have many references already removed, with the Fras Siabi and Foror names being replaced by Ezra Grimm and Nostro. There's many more items, NPCs etc. related to the two names above and others, which you can check out over on Wowhead. The most notable NPC change, however, is the one that received immediate retribution from players when news of the lawsuit broke, as Field Marshall Afrasiabi is now Field Marshall Stonebridge. For a longer list of some of the items that have been removed, check out Wowhead's article here.

Source: Wowhead.

However, it seems the work is still ongoing, as there are some references that have not been addressed yet, or some that didn't quite go through completely, like the below. You can see the while the NPC's name remains problematic, it is actually changed in the chat window when he speaks:

Source: MrGraffio.

While many references to Fras Siabi have been removed from Stratholme, like the mini-boss, quest etc, at least one remains:

Source: Thekingchem.

And then there's this very specific one, which might have even gone completely missed if yuvalal hadn't spotted it, as Foror is mentioned in a conversation between two NPCs in the Escape from Durnholde Keep/Old Hillsbrad Foothills Caverns of Time dungeon:

Source: yuvalal.

Clearly the removal of references is still ongoing, and even the ones missed above may already be removed from the game when you read this, as Blizzard have a lot of them to go through.

[Skayan 48]

Holy *filtered* just how many references did this guy had

[Resnar 37]

4 hours ago, Skayan said:

Holy *filtered* just how many references did this guy had

as much as cases apparently 

[Borgoff33 62]

i understand taking text/names related to this guy out i just really hope they dont start PCing the hell out of quest text/books that will really suck (example: it used to be Alexstrasza was raped then they switched it to "forced to breed")

[Raffinaddi 17]

1 hour ago, Borgoff33 said:

i understand taking text/names related to this guy out i just really hope they dont start PCing the hell out of quest text/books that will really suck (example: it used to be Alexstrasza was raped then they switched it to "forced to breed")

You'd think people against rape would approve of showing these issues - not changing them to make such a horrible thing sound nicer. Reality is disgusting, and removing it is only harming the issue of rape.

Imagine if someone removed references to death, because they were against people dying. ??

[Raffinaddi 17]

Perhaps this is a lesson for Blizzard, to not put in references to living people.

[ORCSMASH 27]

I'm very curious as to whether they are going to remove and/or change references to Afrasiabi in future reprints or the digital versions of WarCraft novels. I know for a fact that Afrasastrasz was named in at least two novels and I'm pretty sure Fras Siabi is mentioned, albeit in passing, in another.

[Arcling 575]

17 hours ago, Skayan said:

Holy *filtered* just how many references did this guy had

It says something about his ego. I don't think any other dev had as many references as he had.

 

5 hours ago, ORCSMASH said:

I'm very curious as to whether they are going to remove and/or change references to Afrasiabi in future reprints or the digital versions of WarCraft novels. I know for a fact that Afrasastrasz was named in at least two novels and I'm pretty sure Fras Siabi is mentioned, albeit in passing, in another.

Possible, if there is some re-release coming, otherwise not. It's such a minor thing and not many people are going to see it.

Edited July 31, 2021 by Arcling

[MVPanties 0]

8 hours ago, Kakistocrat said:

You'd think people against rape would approve of showing these issues - not changing them to make such a horrible thing sound nicer. Reality is disgusting, and removing it is only harming the issue of rape.

Imagine if someone removed references to death, because they were against people dying. ??

This is such a confidently bad take. 

Victims of sexual violence shown such content can make traumatic memories worse. That’s why shows/movies often put up a trigger warning.

Just showing an issue for the sake of plot, does not mean it make positive contributions toward the issue. Examples: showing domestic violence does not decrease domestic violence, you’re just showing it.

Let’s break the myth that just showing sexual violence for the sake of story would be beneficial towards the issue. This does not mean never ever use sexual violence as a plot, realize just “shining a light on the issue” is meaningless without how to get real life assistance. Recall “13 Reasons Why” - showing self harm left many feeling like the show was glorifying the issue.

The whole imagine removal of death is such a slippery slope fallacy - sensitivity towards death and sexual violence are different issues.

[roo 27]

so basically blizz is removing a hated person's name from the game?  That is silly.  Best to remove all references to any live person.  Some of the game's sexual innuendoes need to be removed also, such as in Pandaria one gets the quest to water Gardener Fran's different veggie spots and is told to "go water my big melons" (and they are not melons but Jade Squash!).  I wonder when Blizzard will do that?

Edited July 31, 2021 by roo

[Pandabuffel 81]

33 minutes ago, roo said:

  Some of the game's sexual innuendoes need to be removed also, such as in Pandaria one gets the quest to water Gardener Fran's different veggie spots and is told to "go water my big melons" (and they are not melons but Jade Squash!).  I wonder when Blizzard will do that?

I just had to check the quest out for how much is true about this. They're indeed squashes so I have to give you that, though one might see melons in those things. But I think it's a fairly innocent innuendo IF meant as a innuendo at all. She also says to water her big carrots and bright spinach, so she's already adding adjectives to other stuff too. If thinking about it long enough big carrot might've been just as much an innuendo. Also the exact sentence she shouts is "Go water my Huge Melons, further down the path!" which looks like they're even adding extra information and steers it away from being an innuendo. If anything, this definitely wasn't the best example for your case. Sometimes a description is just a description, and with this quest it's not too clear for me. If this is an innuendo, then there are thousands of other things that can be seen as an innuendo too. Heck, almost everything can if ones mind is dirty enough.

That being said, I don't know about the other cases you're talking about. They might still very well be too over the top, but I can't judge that without knowing about them.

[ORCSMASH 27]

5 hours ago, Arcling said:

Possible, if there is some re-release coming, otherwise not. It's such a minor thing and not many people are going to see it.

True. but all his in-game references were small things not many people will see either. I'm all 'good-faith' here; it just seems odd that they'd even scrub out all the Furor references, which you had to research to know was him, but not touch other related media.

[Arcling 575]

3 hours ago, ORCSMASH said:

True. but all his in-game references were small things not many people will see either. I'm all 'good-faith' here; it just seems odd that they'd even scrub out all the Furor references, which you had to research to know was him, but not touch other related media.

Fras Siabi was probably the most recognizable. There were even some more, apparently named after his Everquest characters, they even changed these.

[roo 27]

12 hours ago, Pandabuffel said:

I just had to check the quest out for how much is true about this. They're indeed squashes so I have to give you that, though one might see melons in those things. But I think it's a fairly innocent innuendo IF meant as a innuendo at all. She also says to water her big carrots and bright spinach, so she's already adding adjectives to other stuff too. If thinking about it long enough big carrot might've been just as much an innuendo. Also the exact sentence she shouts is "Go water my Huge Melons, further down the path!" which looks like they're even adding extra information and steers it away from being an innuendo. If anything, this definitely wasn't the best example for your case. Sometimes a description is just a description, and with this quest it's not too clear for me. If this is an innuendo, then there are thousands of other things that can be seen as an innuendo too. Heck, almost everything can if ones mind is dirty enough.

That being said, I don't know about the other cases you're talking about. They might still very well be too over the top, but I can't judge that without knowing about them.

Innuendoes can be unintentionally made without realizing it and it doesn't require a dirty mind to see them.   Take care. 

Edited August 1, 2021 by roo
added