I believe the esteemed gentleman is being facetious. It may be my arid sense of humor that aided my detection of his sarcasm.

Text is difficult, without clever, little emoticons to convey inference or tone.

What rights were affronted?

As far as I can tell the only reason this is getting any press is that she is in the adult film business. That is an affront to women.

Why doesn’t Amber help all players that are legitimitally banned “set the record straight” What makes this one special?

Because this is more than just a banning. This is an affront to women’s rights, equality in the workplace, and pornography as respectable a job as being a doctor (when it comes to women), all because some internet jerks like me with no sense of humor got their chauvanism on apparently.

You shouldn’t apologize, Hellfire. The article was pedestrian. The talking points are mostly about sex, because Mia and Amber made it so, and because our culture doesn’t tend to extend itself beyond such points. Men and women are both perpetrators.

At the core, it is a simple bureaucratic ruling by Blizzard, regarding the state of an account. An account’s real name should be the same as an account holder; amen. Whether or not you agree with such arbitration, the rest of the matter is pomp and circumstance; It is what you impose on the scenario.

That, for me, is what tells the most.

Having read the article again, after a few days (perspective and all), I find my dustpan isn’t big enough to sweep up all of the dropped names. I smell the familiar scent of superficial marketing and of journalism that simply doesn’t bother to ask incisive questions, but rather promotes through publication.

I asked Amber, in a previous comment on this blog, if she was being sexist. Her replies have not assuaged my sentiments.

Why doesn’t Amber help all players that are legitimitally banned “set the record straight” What makes this one special?

Hindsight, as they say, is always 20/20.

Mia’s real mistake, in my eyes, is that when she became famous she didn’t approach Blizzard and say “Okay, I’m a shmuck, please help me change my char’s name because..” I bet she’s learned her lesson!

She broke the TOS. She admits to breaking the TOS. She was banned for breaking the TOS. Happens everyday. *yawn*

How does her race, sex, or profession factor in? Why is that an issue?

That would be in reference to both the author and the subject.

I appreciate that Blizzard is the big kid on the block now, but they arn’t quite the government yet, and as such, your ‘civil liberties’ in relation to playing don’t particularly exist. It’s their sandbox, and they have the right to say who can play in it. Frankly, I can see some justification in removing someone who is indirectly making a connection to another product and profiting by it.

She’s far from the first notable woman in this particular line of work to make a name for herself in the gaming world. Asia Carrera was moding up UT with self likenesses back when the only way we enjoyed warcraft was with fleets of peons. Epic handled the situation differently, mostly by saying nothing, but then again, Asia wasn’t producing Unreal porn (or was she?).