Blizzard Launching Community Council for World of Warcraft

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Blizzard is in the process of launching a player-led Community Council for World of Warcraft, which will allow more direct communication between the MMOs developers and its players.

As revealed on the World of Warcraft website, the Community Council is being set up with the goal of making the voice of all WoW players heard. Applications to join the council are now open, and part of the process requires stating your areas of interest and expertise within World of Warcraft. This is to ensure the developers hear from a cross section of players across casual, hardcore, competitive, and other gameplay styles.

"Player feedback impacts all aspects of the game, and with such a wide range of opinions, playstyles, and interests out there, gathering and understanding feedback is more important than ever," said the World of Warcraft Community Team in the announcement. "To help further our efforts in this area, we’re introducing the WoW Community Council. This program will add another venue for communication between players and WoW developers. Our goal is to gather more detailed feedback on all aspects of World of Warcraft from players around the world with a wide range of backgrounds and interests."

The announcement explains that the Council will have access to a new forum, which will feature topics started by Blizzard developers and share experiences from council members. Responses from the devs will be posted in those forums, which will be viewable by the entire community. Additionally, private discussion channels will be available for Council members to discuss topics between themselves, and direct interaction between members and Blizzard staff will be "encouraged".

Community councils such as this are not uncommon, particularly among games with high populations. However, at 17 years old, it's surprising that Blizzard has only just decided to implement the idea in its MMO, which at one point was the most dominant game in the genre.

For more from WoW, read our report on how raid boosts are a common practice, and how a veteran WoW designer left Blizzard after becoming unhappy with the game. You can also check out our review of the most recent WoW expansion, Shadowlands. For further information on the ongoing Activision Blizzard legal issues, take a look at our story on the company's new zero-tolerance harassment policy, and how the lawsuit could be the death blow for World of Warcraft.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.