World of Warcraft players call for removal of references to Blizzard ex-employee named in harassment lawsuit

After a two-year investigation, the state of California has filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard alleging that discrimination, harassment, and ‘frat boy’ culture affected women who worked for the company (a spokesperson for Blizzard denied the allegations). The filing names former senior creative director of World of Warcraft Alex Afrasiabi, saying that, “Afrasiabi was so known to engage in harassment of females that his suite was nicknamed the ‘Crosby [sic] Suite’ after alleged rapist Bill Crosby [sic].”

Afrasiabi quietly left Blizzard in mid-2020, but his work remains visible in World of Warcraft where multiple characters and items are named after him and characters he played in EverQuest. Most prominently, there’s a questgiver in Stormwind City named Field Marshal Afrasiabi, and a quest called The Great Fras Siabi involving an NPC of the same name in Stratholme. There are also references to his characters Kariel and Foror spread over various items and lore entries.