Date sent: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 20:49:18 UT
From: policies@playnet.com
To: chet@Oldmanmurray.com
Subject: Important Notice about your Game Name

Attention Playnet.com subscriber,
The WWII Online Game Name "nazisbob" that is registered to your account is
not valid under our Terms of Service.
Please follow the link provided below to change your WWII Online Game Name.
Failure to do so within 5 days will result in the assignment of a new WWII
Online Game Name.
Please note, this Game Name change does NOT effect your login information
to Playnet.com or WWII Online.
Change your Game Name here
If you feel your WWII Online Game Name is not in violation of Playnet.com's
Terms of Service, please gryf@playnet.com

I am confused. I thought nazisbob was my login and my actual in-game name was evilnazi.   I can't be sure.  After your last patch, your game has gone back to being a computer rebooting simulator for me.

If this is my login - it doesn't even appear anywhere.  But good to see while you are yet to implement the promised persistent online world including ranking, player advancement, and naval warfare, you were able to get the name policy program running.


Here is your Naming Policy:

Names used on the Playnet service can vary from the ordinary to the fantastic. However we do ask that common sense be used while creating names for accounts.

The following types of names are unacceptable for use:
Profane, racist, obscene or rude names including swear words (all languages), obscene anatomical references, racial slurs as well as homonyms or “733t” versions of those words
Word combinations that when read aloud can be offensive
Proper names from history (Hitler, Goring, Churchill, Etc.)
Playnet employee names or callsigns (Rafter, Mo, Snail, Gryf, Killer, Etc.)
Trademarked names from other products or services
Any name that violates the spirit of the above rules

My name was Nazisbob. It is not profane or racist. It's not a proper name like Hitler. It's not even a homonym for Hitler, like Himmler.  I don't think it's one of your employee's names. Is it? Do you have a Nazi Bob working for you? Is it trademarked? Is Nazi Bob a brand of men's clothing in Germany? I thought it was clear - but please inform me if it is found to be otherwise. 

Also, I'd like to lodge an official complaint that one of your employees, "Killer", has a handle that could be insensitive to the families of children who have been killed.  "Mo" - another employee's callsign - is a derogatory term for homosexuals.  This is in especially bad taste, since, as you may remember, the main characters of your game made gays wear pink triangles while other undesirables were forced to display various dehumanizing badges such as yellow moons, orange stars, green clovers, and blue diamonds.

I don't think I am violating the spirit of global warfare in any way. Do you mean to tell me there were no Nazis in Germany during WWII? If I had picked a nickname like TankMan, that would be generic without reference to the country I was playing for.  Since going in I knew I was going to play the German side, I wanted a name that reflected that.   Because let's be honest, I bought your game because I wanted to kill some stinking Jews.   I was disappointed to see you did not include any concentration camps or Jewish ghetto areas in your game. I was going to write you and request those additions in the next patch.  I know you are striving for a realistic war game - what would Germany have been without the genocide starting with their occupation of Poland?  I saw Schindler's list - one of you is lying about what really happened in WWII.  Since you guys got all the different gears on the tanks right, I'm thinking it's probably Spielberg - he is a no good Jew after all.

And here I thought we were kindred spirits! You chose to make a game that glamorized one of the ugliest moments of mankind's recent history. With 6 million Jews, countless gays and gypsies killed directly by the Germans and even more Russian civilians killed by the war, I thought we were together.  When you make a game that features a real world event that had over 56 million deaths, I thought you had some balls.  I thought you loved hate, death and violence as much as me.  I had no that idea merely choosing one of the most common American names and the ruling political party of Germany at the time would upset you so much.  Is it that there were no Nazis named Bob?  Are you striving to keep the realism even in the naming policy?   What if I had named myself MarineBob?  I haven't gotten a notice about my in game name, evilnazi, is that okay?

With all this uproar over a Columbine game which only features the deaths of 15 students and faculty, I thought you were men among men to stand up and take the onslaught of outrage you knew would follow the release of your game.  If making a mod that only reenacts the basic layout of the Columbine scene creates public outcry, I was sure creating a world filled of hate and blood of millions would get someone's panties in a bunch.  Since no one has been outraged at the release of your game,  have you decided to get soft?

When I read the box while installing and then played the game, I  got excited.   I was sure we were alike - were both lying son of bitches!  There are no ships in the game, no persistent world, most of the weapons are missing.  If you had the balls to lie on the box and then on your website, I surely thought you would have the balls to include all of the excitement of WWII in the game.  Rounding up civilians, mass graves.  Where is the ethnic cleansing?  Will there at least be rape camps in the Pacific Theater?

When an objectionable name is discovered a member of the game management team will then notify the player who has the account that they have an objectionable name and ask for replacements for it. If there is no response within two days then the account will be made inactive until a suitable name has been decided upon by the player or 90 days elapses. If the account remains inactive for 90 days or more the account will be deleted along with all privileges earned through gameplay.



Considering you have yet to implement any advances, privilege, ranking, or any persistent world features in your game yet, even though it has been out for over a month, I am not that worried about this last bit.

Chet

PS - If you are going to assign a name for me, can you give me a cool hippie name like sunshine?