Guild Wars 2

So, my guild’s name was Hardcorepwnograhpy (mispelling intended). And today for some reason that no one knows of, it was changed to “Math”.
NO notification
NO option to change it
And now we are wondering in the first place why was it changed??? In the past we had tried to change it because of the mispelling, and ANet told use that our name was “Unique” and now they change it without notice? WHY?!??!

Here’s why:

When creating a Guild Wars 2 display, character, guild, or pet name, you are encouraged to select a name that reflects the theme of the game. The guidelines listed below outline the types of names that you may NOT use, and apply to display, character, guild, and pet names.

We do not permit names that:

Have offensive racial, ethnic, national, or cultural connotations
Include hate speech or bigoted slurs
Reference sexual acts or real life violence
Are pornographic
Make inappropriate references to human anatomy or bodily functions
Reference illegal drugs or activities
Reference religious or historical figures
Reference real-life people
Reference names of copyrighted or trademarked characters, materials, or products
Use misspellings or alternative spellings of names that violate any of the above rules

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-naming-policy/

The thing is, our guild leader has an ORIGINAL email from an ANet dev, explaining to us that our name in no way offense anyone.
Hard core pwn- Defeating other players
Graphy- Field of study
This is pretty much what he said.

You can only contact CS and plead your case. Good luck.

Submit a ticket stating your case, and reference the name of the ArenaNet representative, date of the message, ticketnumber (if applicable) and copy the text as well.

While I understand what YOU meant by the guild name, you can see why others might read it as “Hard Core Pornography” and be offended, right?

Welcome to the days where everything is ‘offensive’ and everyone makes a “Straw Man” to fuel their soft, narcissistic egos. I hope the next generation past the Millennials does something constructive with their lives.

Had a friend who had the name “pwn star” and was apparently super offensive to someone at arena net. I think the person who looks into what is offensive and what is not is going a little overboard or gets offended by everything.

Let’s take the facts claimed by the OP as given: the guild has had the name forever and they have an email from someone at ANet that said, in their view, the name was acceptable. Why would their name be changed at this time?

1. Someone reported the guild name as offensive OR (more likely) someone reported one or more of its members for verbal abuse or the like.
2. In investigating the report, a support person saw the guild name and, following the various decision trees given them, rated the name as potentially inappropriate.
3. Per policy, they consulted with colleagues who agreed.
4. None of the people in the chain were aware that there was an email from another colleague about the guild name — user accounts might be flagged to include such information, but guild names are probably not (if they are associated with an account, it’s probably only with the founder’s).

How might this be fixed? There is only one way: create a support ticket. I recommend it be done by the owner of the account who received the email.

It’s still possible the name change will stand. Perhaps the first employee was wrong to say the name was ok. Perhaps application of the policy quoted above has changed.

Personally, I think “Pwnography” is a clever wordplay for a competitive WvW or PvP guild. I would permit it, but then again, I don’t work for ANet.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Let’s take the facts claimed by the OP as given: the guild has had the name forever and they have an email from someone at ANet that said, in their view, the name was acceptable. Why would their name be changed at this time?

1. Someone reported the guild name as offensive OR (more likely) someone reported one or more of its members for verbal abuse or the like.
2. In investigating the report, a support person saw the guild name and, following the various decision trees given them, rated the name as potentially inappropriate.
3. Per policy, they consulted with colleagues who agreed.
4. None of the people in the chain were aware that there was an email from another colleague about the guild name — user accounts might be flagged to include such information, but guild names are probably not (if they are associated with an account, it’s probably only with the founder’s).

How might this be fixed? There is only one way: create a support ticket. I recommend it be done by the owner of the account who received the email.

It’s still possible the name change will stand. Perhaps the first employee was wrong to say the name was ok. Perhaps application of the policy quoted above has changed.

Personally, I think “Pwnography” is a clever wordplay for a competitive WvW or PvP guild. I would permit it, but then again, I don’t work for ANet.

Thanks for the feedback, but tbh I find it stupid that names that are reported for being “offensive” are instantly changed and not researched or looked upon. So that trolls can go out reporting people and get there name changed.

Our guild master had sent a support ticket to ANet with the reply of the ANet dev stating that our name was fine. But, to our ‘surprise’ they replied to my ticket first (the one i submitted didn’t have any proof of the message sent by the ANet dev). They sent me a copy & paste message telling me that “Math” is our consequence for us breaking the rules.

I hope we either get our name back, or at least be able to change it withour own choosing… [HARD] Math…… REALYY!!!?

This really seems sudden, we had this guild almost since launch -.-.

Name are not instantly changed upon report. An agent or agents evaluate the name, and if they find it inappropriate, take action. It really isn’t about intention, but more about how the name may be perceived in the general public. Sorry for your loss.