# Blizzard Corp. caves to stupid people. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 14, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559 "2005-07-14T18:56:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/41 "2005-07-15T01:10:56Z")
> [@Una Persson](#): > > According to my English Fierra (and the Compact Oxford English Dictionary), it is. Ah hah! Then I blame the Brits. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/42 "2005-07-15T03:19:01Z")
I’m not really terribly upset over this, though. It’s kind of stupid, yeah, but the model in the game doesn’t look anything like a Maine Coon in anything but (vaguely) color, so replacing it with a black tabby is fine with me. Besides, I’m quite happy with my li’l white kitten (which cost me freakin’ 60 silver…Little Timmy better be going to Stormwind University with my contribution to his tuition fund…). ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/43 "2005-07-15T10:27:17Z")
Really, really, really stupid question for y’all … Exactly what ethnic group does “coon” slur? I honestly don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/44 "2005-07-15T10:34:10Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > Exactly what ethnic group does “coon” slur? I honestly don’t know. Black people - which makes the change to “Black Tabby” fairly amusing as well. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/45 "2005-07-15T10:36:12Z")
**BlackKnight** , I might be mistaken, but I think it’s a slur against people of mixed ethnic origin, or maybe black people. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/46 "2005-07-15T10:46:46Z")
Adding, I think it’s pretty stupid to cave like that though. The Maine Coon is an actual breed, and it got its name by settlers who mistook the large bushy tailed (often tabby marked) cat for a raccoon. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/47 "2005-07-15T10:48:12Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Was coon even a slur in non-english speaking European nations? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in Britain… > > In any case, I don’t see why Europeans wouldn’t have heard about the breed. It’s not any rarer than other breeds, I wouldn’t think. It’s certainly not in Australia. We even have a brand of cheese called “Coon” cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/48 "2005-07-15T10:55:16Z")
Oh, cute… reminds me of that time I wrote a pond with beavers for a MUD, and then someone from Virginia came by and turned them into otters. 1. Beavers are considered fine animals by anybody except Virginians. Ugly as all Hell out, but it’s cute to watch them build stuff. 2. They are a symbol of Engineering in many countries, official mascot of the “engineers college” and the Military Corps of Engineers and things like that. 3. A lot of English-as-second-language players learned a new bad word that day. 4. If you’re going to take out of the language any word that may be used as innuendo, we’ll never be able to talk about food again. 5. Otters don’t build dams and don’t live in artificially built island-caves in the center of the artificial lake thus created. Guess _this_ E-s-l will add “coon” to the list of four-letter words… sheesh… those pioneers really needed to get laid more often! ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/49 "2005-07-15T11:01:03Z")
You gotta consider, sailors mistook manatees for mermaids, so what do you expect? 😉 The thing is though, Maine Coons are [BIG](http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bigcat2.asp#photo), not the size of most domestic cats, and they are bushy, and if the cat in question also had a stripey tail, I can see how from a distance, it could be mistaken for a raccoon. ---
**Author:** ![Cynical\_Optimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Cynical\_Optimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cynical_Optimist)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/50 "2005-07-15T13:05:11Z")
Maine Coon or Black Tabby: Which is more offensive? Einey meiney miney moe… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/51 "2005-07-15T14:15:38Z")
I wonder if Blizzard using Black Tabby as the new name wasn’t intentional. That is, they can’t make fun of paying customers overtly, but the name change is a subtle jab. Personally, I think that’d be giving them too much credit, but I don’t know WoW’s development team that well. It’d be hilarious if it were so, though. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/52 "2005-07-15T14:27:51Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Heh. I know where to find it on [this map.](http://www.saveourshoreline.org/SOS_NorthAmerica1.gif) I’m having a little more trouble finding it on [this map.](http://www.shadowsedge.org/mapwowworld.html) Well, they haven’t named the Privince north of the Eastern Plaguelands yet, and if you look at it’s shape, it _kinda_ looks like Maine… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/53 "2005-07-15T14:44:00Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Well, they haven’t named the Privince north of the Eastern Plaguelands yet, and if you look at it’s shape, it _kinda_ looks like Maine… Actually, I believe that area is Quel’Thalas, the original homeland of the Blood Elves and the former site of the legendary Sunwell. It has no name on the game maps because it’s still in development. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/54 "2005-07-15T15:12:40Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Actually, I believe that area is Quel’Thalas, the original homeland of the Blood Elves and the former site of the legendary Sunwell. It has no name on the game maps because it’s still in development. Well then, they _could_ make it Maine, home of a tacturn people overrun by hordes of rampaging Quebecois. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/55 "2005-07-15T15:26:34Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Well then, they _could_ make it Maine, home of a tacturn people overrun by hordes of rampaging Quebecois. 🙂 Les Orques! I hear there’s an annoying old female gnome along the coast named Jessica who keeps following characters around accusing them of murdering townspeople. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/56 "2005-07-15T18:40:39Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Besides, I’m quite happy with my li’l white kitten (which cost me freakin’ 60 silver…Little Timmy better be going to Stormwind University with my contribution to his tuition fund…). Kitten hunting is quite a cash crop. I got 2 of them and sold one for 2g and 1 for 2g 60s. If timmys going to college my charachter Ednamole (Gnome/Warrior/Enchanter/Engineer) looking for a mansion in the hamptons on the markup. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/57 "2005-07-15T18:49:22Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > While I agree that, generally speaking, it’s far better to fight ignorance than to cave to it, in a way I can understand this company’s decision. They’re in the business of producing and supporting a game. In that regard, they only have so many resources to go around, particularly in man-hours dedicated to customer support. I’d imagine that they’d like to direct those resources towards issues that are germaine to the actual playing and functionality of the game itself. If, after a period of time, they find that they are over-burdened with having to respond to ridiculous complaints about a non-technical aspect of the game, it simply makes sense to eliminate the source of the complaints, so as to free up resources for more important company business. While there will be some initial blowback from the decision, eventually it will die off, as will this particular time-stealer for the company, and they can get back to providing support on real issues to their customers. Problem solved. hmmmm hours spent while programers remove and replace relevant code, or spend 15 minutes creating a patch message explaining that Maine Coons are a breed of cat and not some random racist furball. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/58 "2005-07-15T18:59:35Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > hmmmm hours spent while programers remove and replace relevant code, > or spend 15 minutes creating a patch message explaining that Maine Coons are a breed of cat and not some random racist furball. Actually, knowing a little about coding, most likely they only had to change one entry, that of the cat’s name, and anything and everything that referenced that object’s name immediately began referencing Black Tabby instead of Maine Coon. That is, presuming it’s coded properly. Some of those MMOGs are absolute messes. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/59 "2005-07-15T19:10:33Z")
> [@BayleDomon](#): > > Actually, knowing a little about coding, most likely they only had to change one entry, that of the cat’s name, and anything and everything that referenced that object’s name immediately began referencing Black Tabby instead of Maine Coon. > > That is, presuming it’s coded properly. Some of those MMOGs are absolute messes. Heh. I never thought of that abbreviation before. Otherwise I would have made the MMOGgie joke long before this… ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559/60 "2005-07-16T07:37:33Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > “ChinkyKikeSpick McNiggerWop” Isn’t he opening at the Hollywood Bowl next week? The point that there is no Maine in Azeroth would be more valid if the game didn’t also contain Siamese cats and Alterac Swiss cheese. Oh, and Zerglings. I heart my Zergling! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blizzard-corp-caves-to-stupid-people/312559.md?page=4)