“Blizzard Bans Iranian Players” or “Here is a Question Blue”
Via Joystiq, Blizzard confirms that players in Iran have been denied access to Blizzard servers to play any of their games. This is allegedly part of a larger strategy to make the company, based in the US, more compliant with US laws and regulations. The US currently imposes various economic and political sanctions on Iran because of its controversial nuclear program. As such, Blizzard is refraining from engaging in any trade or economic activity with residents of the country.
Can you imagine how many WoW players just put their fists through their monitors?
This is probably smart move, but there is a part that really annoyed me. Big Blue is unable to provide “refunds, credits, transfers, or other service options to accounts”. For a company that made a hundred billion and stupid thousand dollars from its games, it seems strange to me that it was OK to take money from people when they were buying your games. Was that not engaging in economic trade with Iran and its residents? If that too was wrong, shouldn’t you return said money? Note that I am not trying to support the dickhead regime that believes the holocaust didn’t happen, just saying it isn’t really the players’ fault.
A refund probably counts as sending money to that country, which is forbidden.
I’d expect that Blizzard is just following the advice of their lawyers, and trying to avoid getting fined.
I am not debating the semantics of trade, nor am I suggesting that they trade the money back now. I am just saying it is not the players’ fault, and saying “we will allow them to play if the bans are lifted” isn’t good enough.