# So... Which is the Axis of Evil? The Horde or the Alliance?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-is-the-axis-of-evil-the-horde-or-the-alliance/439044>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [February 25, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-is-the-axis-of-evil-the-horde-or-the-alliance/439044 "2008-02-25T04:14:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-is-the-axis-of-evil-the-horde-or-the-alliance/439044/1 "2008-02-25T04:14:27Z")

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Apparantly, there are vast terrorist plots to make us all stupider through Barrens chat or… something… I guess.

> **[U.S. Spies Want to Find Terrorists in World of Warcraft](https://www.wired.com/2008/02/nations-spies-w/)**
>
> Be careful who you frag. Having eliminated all terrorism in the real world, the U.S. intelligence community is working to develop software that will detect violent extremists infiltrating World of Warcraft and other massive multiplayer games,...

I really think it’s just an excuse to get the FBI and CIA official clearence to play WoW at work.

Note: I understand the rationale, but still the premise doesn’t cover the obvious points of humor

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**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-is-the-axis-of-evil-the-horde-or-the-alliance/439044/2 "2008-02-25T04:50:20Z")

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Keylogger!

😛

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**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-is-the-axis-of-evil-the-horde-or-the-alliance/439044/3 "2008-02-25T05:34:29Z")

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[QUOTE=Max the Immortal]  
Keylogger!

😛  
[/QUOTE]

:smack:  
Woah careful with that joke, it’s an antique! (And incidentally… so was this one)  
😛

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**Author:** ![Pixilated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aeb1de/32.png) [@Pixilated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixilated)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-is-the-axis-of-evil-the-horde-or-the-alliance/439044/4 "2008-02-25T05:48:33Z")

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hey - I’d volunteer to do this for free - all they have to do is train me on what to look out for and pay my subscription!

For the Horde, of course!  
-we are not evil, we are just misunderstood.

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**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-is-the-axis-of-evil-the-horde-or-the-alliance/439044/5 "2008-02-25T08:44:58Z")

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I noticed this part of the article:

> [@](#):
>
> The cultural and behavioral norms of virtual worlds and gaming are generally unstudied. Therefore, Reynard will seek to identify the emerging social, behavioral and cultural norms in virtual worlds and gaming environments. The project would then apply the lessons learned to determine the feasibility of automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world.

Studying the the cultural and behavioral norms of an online RPG? That sounds like the modern equivalent of doing some in depth research using the Necronomicon. They don’t specify where they’re doing the study so I’d recommend that everyone stay away from bell towers and other handy sniper locations until this is done.