Blizzard introduces Silence Penalty for repeated WoW potty mouths

Bad mouthing other players too many times in World of Warcraft will soon render you silent.

Blizzard has unveiled ‘The Silence Penalty’ for those who are reported multiple times under the Spam or Abusive Chat categories”. If upon investigation Blizzard is concerned, the offender’s chat privileges will be severely reduced.

Those hit with the penalty will be unable to talk in instance chat (such as raids) or auto joined global chat channels. They will also be blocked from creating calendar invites and events, from sending in-game mail or invitations and from creating or editing premade group listings.

They will retain the ability to whisper to friends, to reply to all whispers and to chat in parties or raids with invited players. They will also still be allowed to create parties and raids, share quests and sign-up for premade groups. Chat in channels with a global moderator will also be permitted.

The duration of the penalty is extended with each repeat offense, too.

The first time a player is silenced, their chat will be restricted for 24 hours,” Blizzard explained. This duration will double for each silence penalty received after the first, and there is no maximum. This means that players who receive multiple silence penalties may find themselves unable to chat for a very, very long time.

Silenced players will be receiving a notification when attempting to send a message to a channel in which they have been restricted.

By using the in-game report tool to identify players who may be engaging in inappropriate interactions within the various channels, you’ll be helping create the type of community we all want to take part in.”

The Silence Penalty will be introduced in the pre-expansion patch for Legion.