The new contract is aimed at making players nicer to each other.
World of Warcraft has introduced a new "Social Contract" aimed at making people nicer to other gamers while playing the MMO. It first appeared in the PTR a couple of weeks ago, and now it went fully live with the release of patch 9.2.5 on May 31.
The "Social Contract" appears after installing the update and it reads that "every player deserves to have a world where they feel safe in." As a part of the contract, players are asked to be friendly, play as part of a team, help those in need, and whenever possible answer newcomers' questions in the chat.
The contract also has restrictions including hate speech, in particular when it comes to players' race, gender, and gaming skills, harassment, threats, abusive language and behavior, and spamming and advertising. If players violate any of the contract's rules, their account is said to be suspended.
Players must accept the contract in order to continue the game – otherwise, they'll have to close the MMO.
The World of Warcraft community has long been known for its toxicity issues. The new contract seems to be Blizzard's first attempt to solve this problem. However, it remains to be seen whether the company will undertake other measures against the subpar behavior of the players.
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