WoW Forever’s new two-part character names have already produced exactly the sort of behaviour Blizzard probably expected from a system that gives World of Warcraft players twice as much room to be creative.
Some players have now lost access to the Forever beta over inappropriate character names, but Senior Game Producer Tom Ellis says the number is extremely small: 0.18% of names reviewed resulted in removal from the beta. Less serious naming violations instead received forced name changes.
That distinction matters, because several players subsequently claimed they had been removed over relatively mild joke names. According to Ellis, Blizzard manually reviewed the affected accounts and found that the names being shared publicly were often not the names that actually triggered the removal.
Blizzard Says Every Removal Was Reviewed Manually
The issue started after Blizzard announced that some players would lose beta access for violations of World of Warcraft’s existing naming rules. The Forever naming filter was not fully ready for the game’s new dual-name system, so Blizzard manually ran character names through its normal moderation process and then reviewed the resulting cases by hand.
Ellis later said members of the team went through the list again after complaints appeared on Reddit and social media. According to him, the public examples frequently omitted another character on the same account carrying a more serious name.
That is an important detail because Blizzard can see every character created on an account, not merely whichever one a player chooses to show in a screenshot or forum post. The company also says the naming standards themselves have not changed for Forever. Names serious enough to trigger removal from the beta would already have violated World of Warcraft’s existing rules.
Most Bad Names Apparently Just Get Renamed
Not every questionable name resulted in somebody being thrown out of testing.
Ellis specifically distinguished between names that earned a forced name change and the smaller group that resulted in beta removal. That makes the 0.18% figure more useful than simply saying Blizzard “banned bad names,” because it suggests the harsher action was reserved for the more serious cases.
The community reaction has been predictably calm, measured and absolutely not several hundred posts arguing about where exactly the line should be drawn. Blizzard’s forums already contain lengthy discussions questioning both the moderation process and individual cases, while others support the decision to enforce the same standards used elsewhere in WoW.
Forever’s Two-Part Names Create More Room for Trouble
The timing is particularly interesting because WoW Forever is replacing traditional single names with two-part character names. Characters effectively receive a first name and second name, with the complete combination forming their regional identity inside Forever’s larger realmless population structure.
That creates far more legitimate naming possibilities. It also gives players two boxes in which to discover that moderation rules still exist.
Our complete guide to what is new in WoW Forever covers how deeply the naming change is tied to the game’s new infrastructure. Forever uses larger ruleset-based populations rather than traditional realms, so two-part names help create enough unique character identities across an entire region.
0.18% Is Tiny, but the Message Is Pretty Clear
The headline number is probably the most useful takeaway.
If Ellis’ figure is taken at face value, 99.82% of names did not result in removal from the beta. This was not a mass purge of ordinary character names. Blizzard says the tiny fraction that did cross the line was manually checked, and the company is not introducing a special new set of Forever naming standards.
The new naming system gives players more freedom than WoW has traditionally offered.
It does not, apparently, give them immunity from making terrible decisions with it.
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