Blizzard apologized!

Yesterday I wrote a piece about the Blizzcon incident where, before a musical performance, a video of Cannibal Corpse singer George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher was played. This video featured some homophobic language directed towards Alliance players. At the time I wrote this article, the band had issued a vague apology along the lines of “we just meant it all in good fun”, but no official statement was made from Blizzard.

This has since changed. Mike Morhaime, President of Blizzard and one of the members of the band, has issued an apology. His apology acknowledges that the slurs used in the video was unacceptable–was “counter to the standards we try to maintain in our forums and in our games”. He praises the diversity in the Blizzard community and regrets the offense that was caused.

This is an excellent apology–unlike the original apology from the band, Morhaime is apologizing for what he actually needs to apologize for. That he takes responsibility for what went on at the event shows that he recognizes that the entirety of the event is part of Blizzard’s branding. I am inclined to accept this apology.

This all being said, Blizzard now has the responsibility of learning from its mistakes. It must use this “error in judgment” to better conduct itself in the future. If anything good comes out of this incident, it is a message to the games industry that their customers are a diverse crowd, filled with people of different ages, genders, sexual orientation, races, etc. And that it must avoid excluding any of these groups. Not only is it morally wrong, it’s just bad business.

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