World of Warcraft, that exquisitely designed casino with elves sucking in
billions of man-hours from all across the globe. And they deserve it. If
you've never played it, I'd suggest getting yourself a 10 day trial just to
see what a really well designed and easy to learn interface is.
Except...
The character creation provides you with simple, graphical options. Buttons
for race and class. A few selectors to determine what your character looks
like. A representation of what your potentially fearsome character will look
like. Some handy helpful text explaining the consequences of your choices.
And a text box to type in your name.
What's in a name? In WoW everything. There's so little to customize about
your character that the only thing which sets you apart from others is your
nome de slash. Maybe it will be "Fire Tosser" the gnomish wizard. "Rick
Drywall" the beefy human warrior. Or maybe the stalwart paladin, "Lancelot de
Loot".
Names. People have several names. A first, a last, maybe a middle. Maybe
more if you're spanish. You innocently type in "Hiro Protagonist" and click
"Create" only to find your new creation to have the name "Hiroprotagonist".
Shit, toss him in the bin and start the process over again.
Yes, in WoW you're not allowed any spaces or non-alphanumerics in your name.
There's perfectly good reasons for this restriction, but they fail to mention
it in character creation. Worse, they don't stop you when you do type a bad
name, it just silently "corrects" your "mistake". In such a wonderfully
designed game with over 3 years of continual development and upgrades you'd
really think they could put in:
warn_user "Sorry, no spaces allowed in names" if /\s+/;
