Blizzard Entertainment bans Aspergers kid for 'harassment'

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I can give more details later but the short version is there is an aspergers kid with a bipolar best friend. When the bipolar friend got mad at the aspergers kid, she would trigger his OCD and get him banned. This was done until the asperger's kid was permanently banned from WoW. The bipolar friend would later apologize for her episodes and picking on the aspergers kid but rather than being understanding and unbanning the aspergers kid, Blizzard sent lawyers after him. Blizzard further bullied, provoked and antagonized the aspergers kid and then blamed him, belittling him for his obvious mental disability. This has been happening for over a year with Blizzard continuing to bully the aspergers kid. His life has been a total wreck since the incident, and shows no signs of improving; he spends 8+ hours a day calling Blizzard to no avail.

- Please ask questions to know more about the story. I want to get the word out about this.

How does OCD get someone banned?

I've only had bad experiences with bipolar friends. It's hard to not get them mad.

Asperger's is "not a mental disability".

Also, apparently lawsuits won't work, but would the power of the internet work?

It's just a game. I mean, I got bored with it after only six months, I've never understood how people got addicted to it. I mean, you just feel like another schmoe, just like in real life, because EVERYBODY is an adventurer in azeroth, so it isn't anything special. I hope his social life improves as a result.

I'm curious, too.

He was someone special in this game. Very high ranked, rich, the leader of a guild... Even had a 'world first'.

This is just my opinion and I may take some hate for this but Aspergers is like a double edged sword. It is both an advantage and a disability at the same time. The duality of it is what makes it different from other 'disabilities' which are strictly negative. I hope this can be agreed upon or at least take the heat off me calling it simply a disability.

and to answer the popular question: How does OCD get someone banned?

Here's where I'll elaborate for you some:

What the bipolar friend would do is start a discussion or argument outside the game (skype, phone, im, etc) and then abruptly end it leaving the helpless aspergers person fixated and obsessed over what was so abruptly ended. The aspergers person is then forced to message the person in the game to continue the conversation or discussion or worst of all 'problem solving'. Where the aspergers person becomes so obsessed with the situation at hand that it absolutely must be resolved or more must be known often leading to a lot of 'why' questions because something is so very misunderstood and wrong. "Why is this happening? Why act like this? Weren't things okay a second ago? Did I do something wrong? Please tell me what's going on? etc"
The above was just the hook. Then in game the bipolar friend would go on to ignore the aspergers person repeatedly and report them for harassment. In reality, it was the bipolar person exploiting a known weakness of the aspergers person (and she couldn't help it either when her rage takes over). She would be able to do this without fail 100% of the time if she ever got mad at the aspergers person. He would get banned for 'harassing' her when it was actually the opposite going on - he was the victim of her manipulation.

I'm willing to elaborate more on anything so people understand what's happening.

This wouldn't happen to be your own personal experience, would it?

I'd get bored with it in 20 minutes. But still, a lot of people get addicted to it.

This kind of thing is why I'm very sensitive to a person who repeatedly abruptly ends a conversation. I will stop all contact and wait for the person to contact me again, because I will not have a harassment charge against me.

I play a mmorpg but I barely talk to people in it. I have a short friend list and keep my friend chat off a lot. I talk so little in public that sometimes people think I'm a bot. I'm probably better off this way.

Something happened to me a few years ago, but it wasn't WOW-related. I just refer to said person as "B**chy B**ch" (the bipolar person).

Did the bipolar friend try to defend the autistic friend and take the blame for it herself?

If he was breaking the rules, AS is not an excuse.

However the other player should have been banned to.

It seems to me like the bipolar person was the one doing the harassing. And bipolar disorder doesn't excuse it, either. If you're manic, you might not be thinking straight, and you might not be able to inhibit your behavior very well; but you don't lose your entire sense of morality. Treating somebody like crap when you're manic is still a choice. There's no indication that this person had any delusions that made it seem okay to them.

I don't think they're going to let the AS guy back into the game, though. That's just the way those things go.

She did take some of the blame when she was in a better mood. She sent in tickets and called Blizzard saying that she provoked and instigated the issue etc. Blizzard refused to listen. She did however put a lot more effort into getting the AS person banned than getting him unbanned.

[quote='beneficii']This kind of thing is why I'm very sensitive to a person who repeatedly abruptly ends a conversation. I will stop all contact and wait for the person to contact me again, because I will not have a harassment charge against me.[/quote]

It's very very hard for him to do this. Especially when they incite a rage and/or are discussing a special interest of sorts - denying that even. It's very easy for the AS person to become obsessive and unable to stop even though they realize and know what the bipolar person is doing. It could also be mentioned that this particular AS person actually seeks out and enjoys the company of others (but is very bad at interacting with others). And also that this particular AS person has very few 'real friends' and at the time considered this bipolar person to be their only 'real friend' who didn't betray them like the others.


In response to Callista I want to say her morality core was incinerated but that's just a portal reference. What would happen is the bipolar person would have a mood swing and become extremely malicious and angry. No, it's not ok but she wasn't very much in control either - involving an authority is what made things messy.

It's very very hard for him to do this. Especially when they incite a rage and/or are discussing a special interest of sorts - denying that even. It's very easy for the AS person to become obsessive and unable to stop even though they realize and know what the bipolar person is doing. It could also be mentioned that this particular AS person actually seeks out and enjoys the company of others (but is very bad at interacting with others). And also that this particular AS person has very few 'real friends' and at the time considered this bipolar person to be their only 'real friend' who didn't betray them like the others.


In response to Callista I want to say her morality core was incinerated but that's just a portal reference. What would happen is the bipolar person would have a mood swing and become extremely malicious and angry. No, it's not ok but she wasn't very much in control either - involving an authority is what made things messy.[/quote]

I have no in-real-life friends and have bad issues with social interaction as well and obsessiveness, but I also apply the stopper to certain predefined things I see from others to protect myself. Perhaps he wants to consider that?