I'm Haddock, a dwarf hunter from Dun Morogh!
Well not really. I'm Nima. I'm 25 and I'm from Iran. I come from a country that has been isolated from the rest of the world for the past 40 years. But some of us found a way to join communities greater than any other nation in the world. We are gamers.
I was 12 or 13 when we got internet connection thanks to one of those noisy old Dial-Up routers. It wasn't long after that when I heard about Garena. A platform where I could play my favorite games like Warcraft 3 or AoE 2 with real people around the world! I still remember playing a long ass AoE 2 game against someone from Brazil where we had to take dinner breaks (well, it was lunch for him I guess), or all the salt in Dota against Russians for no reason. But the most important thing that I remember was being part of a community that I truly felt welcome in. Even my real life friends were gamers. And that's how I found out about a game called World of Warcraft. My best friend's uncle used to play it and we would go over to his house to watch him play, because we couldn't afford it. We had to pay for the game and monthly subscriptions? There was no way my parents would spent that much money on video games! So I grew up dreaming that I would play this game someday.
When I went to college and started to make some money, World of Warcraft was the first thing I bought. It wasn't the game I remembered from all those years ago, but I still loved it. And overtime I fell in love with almost every Blizzard game. Hearthstone, Starcraft, Diablo and Overwatch. I made a lot of friends from all over the world playing these games, and I've spent a lot of money buying and supporting my favorite games over the past couple of years. When WoW Classic was first announced, it was a dream come true for me. I was so excited to play this game that I quit my job a few weeks before it's launch (I was planning to do so for a while xD. That was just the last push). And when I finally entered the server, it was greater than I could've imagined. People were so friendly and nice. I felt like I was part of a moment that would last in history. A community that was all about nostalgia, fun, and love. Qualities that are hard to find for us in real life right now. Because, as I said, I'm from Iran.
Over the past few years our situation has gotten worse. With growing tensions and more and more sanctions, life is becoming harder and harder for us. We are isolated from the rest of the world and games are one of the few ways that we feel connected and welcome.
But there were some scary rumors a couple of weeks ago. Gamers in Iran heard that blizzard is restricting Iran IPs from accessing the shop. If it's true, I won't be able to buy new games, new Hearthstone packs, or worst of all, I wouldn't be able to buy game time. I still haven't seen any official news about this, but I still don't want to risk it and try to use VPN while playing.
I was born in Iran, But maybe I am from Dun Morogh. I belong in a community greater than any borders and walls. I wish those rumors are false, but if not, please don't take this community away from us Blizzard! And for the rest of you Azerothians, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone reading this, I wanna say thank you for being there for gamers from Iran. We love you.
submitted by
CapHadd0ck to
classicwow
