I don’t know how they think attacking the citizens directly is going to affect politics, maybe the whole world should start boycotting America, refuse to ship anything to them refuse to buy anything from them and refuse to do any business with them, I mean there market has dropped significantly over the past few years, they are trying to impose their laws and even laws that are not allowed in there country on others. I say just cut them out until they can play fair, as for this guy, very simple, pirate as many games as you want, if they want to take your money and not supply what you have paid for , whatever the reason, just play for free, i am sure that there will be more people working on hacking there servers for free play on torrented games and i would not be surprised if it is working really soon. Sanctions are crazy in my opinion. i remember living in South Africa under sanctions, more tech was developed in S.A than there ever would have been without sanctions, they developed and marketed some very advanced weapons and the unemployment level was very very low, the country was it’s most prosperous during the sanctions, now if only they could have removed the crap laws that caused sanctions but kept the sanctions in place i suspect S.A would be growing very very fast and be in the top 10 world powers rather than falling back into third world territory.

It really does seem like a dick move on Blizzards part, but I don’t think tightening of the embargo really had much to do with it.

Read this on Ars, http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/08/no-refunds-for-iranian-world-of-warcraft-users-blocked-by-us-embargo/

But I’d like to point out this other bit of information.

On August 14, a week or so before gamers began experiencing difficulties logging on, a conference was held in Iran for the launch of the Islamic Revolution Game Designers Community. At the event, a brochure from the Iranian government’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance cited World of Warcraft as an “example of the means [by] which western propaganda is used to poison the mind of [the] youth population in Iran.” Alongside an image of the game was a list of reasons, translated by a Tehran journalist for The Verge, including, “promotion of superstition and mythology,” “promotion of violence due to too much violence,” and “demonstration of inappropriate clothing and slutty outfits for female avatars.”

So while there definitely is some issues that are strange, and probably undemocratic, at the same time it seems like Blizzard got the first move in, so to speak, and “remembered” about the embargo to avoid the situation with this other group.

Doesn’t that assume economic sanctions will never work, to assume they’ll always exist?

I am not excusing their actions, and I agree with you.

I am however pointing out that it was a convenient excuse to pull down the gates and get out of dodge while the getting seemed to be good. Hence why they accepted new accounts even though they knew they were going to be terminating them.

Hence why they allowed pre-orders with no refund policies to continue but with the promise ‘once the government lifts the ban, you’ll get your accounts back’ – IE don’t blame them, they are just as much the victim as you all are! Just wait patiently for a policy that has been around for nearly, oh between 10 and 60 years to be cleared up and go away, then come play with us again. Check back in another decade.

Only small portions of economics were cut. They are detailed in the resolution. They have nothing to do with gaming.

Maybe the US Government doesn’t want them to know how great freedom is?!

I agree with you on this.

And I feel it was a misdirect. But to clarify my own post, I should have included a portion of the quoted text that appeared immediately prior to the previous block quote above.

Tellingly, the post also made mention of suspicions that Iran was planning on blocking access to the Battle.net games portal anyway, saying, “Blizzard Entertainment cannot speak to any reports surrounding the Iranian government restricting games from its citizens.”

Sorry to have erred and not place it there to begin with.

They can always go live in their homeland. If they call it their homeland then thats their home, instead of exploiting all the opportunities in America and then sending everything back “home”

Blizzard has ZERO to do with it. They were ordered by the US gov’t to stop trade with the citizens of that country.

“Is Cuba enriching uranium capable of being used in nuclear weapons?”

You miss the point. Cutting off all connections with the “people” simply alienates them and encourages them to support their government. I knew many young Iranians/Persians when I lived in London in the seventies – they’re really no different from you or me… well maybe more open-minded and worldly than you.

It’s back as a minor glyph that cuts Hearthstone’s cast time in half while the paladin is bubbled (sadly, the glyph is learned in the Pandaria tier of inscription, so no one can get it until the full expansion release).

Ridiculous.

How about properly targeted sanctions? Do the mad mullahs in Iran play WoW? No, they are focused on their religious doctrine. Target the actual bad guys. Leave the innocent bystanders alone. When is USA going to learn, hit your enemies, be nice to your friends. Doing it wrong gets you more enemies and less friends.

This is yet another example of bureaucratic incompetence and intransigence. BTW, Blizzard refusing to refund players, whose money they have taken and who are now getting no service, is pathetic.

“Syria…and Damascus”. Isn’t Damascus IN Syria?

Now people of iran get block cuz of the government policy ?! And usa says. We have no prob with people in iran ?! Its another great policy of USA to fuk Iranian gamers and to be honest, Iran government dont give a fuk about this so whats the fukin point of this block ?!

Oh sanctions on online gaming are older than this. The UK has had one on Lebanon for years, but I’m not quite sure what they’re trying to achieve here. Maybe being constantly called a noob drives Lebanese people to terrorism I don’t know.

Maybe they are keeping these sanctions and removing them because Iranian scientists will be discouraged from their bomb building endeavors by their comparative noobishness to their WOW friends, because you know, f**k logic.

my previous comment is directed at Ezekial smucker, and I’d like to add that you such and incredibly naive idiot Ezekial. Fuck you.