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Alex Afrasiabi

Alex Afrasiabi

Alex Afrasiabi (alias Furor, or Valnoth on the forums) is the former Senior Creative Director[1] for World of Warcraft. He was terminated by Blizzard Entertainment in June 2020 following internal reports of sexual misconduct dating back to at least 2013.[2] In 2021, Afrasiabi was named in a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard regarding his and others' behavior while employed.[3]

History[]

ElinkIcon-wowusValnoth
Valnoth's avatar
Role Lead World Designer

Alex was once leader of a EverQuest guild named Fires of Heaven[dead link] (now a World of Warcraft guild on Hyjal-US). He was hired on 14 March 2004 at Blizzard as an Associate Quest Designer[4] for World of Warcraft and rose through the ranks over the years to become Senior Creative Director.[5] He created many signature quests such as the Thunderfury questchain,[6] Bingles' Missing Supplies, Mor'ladim, and the tribute mechanics in Dire Maul. He also oversaw the creation of the Death Knight starting area in Wrath of the Lich King.

Following Wrath of the Lich King, Afrasiabi transferred to the Project Titan team. Titan was ultimately canceled and Afrasiabi rejoined the World of Warcraft team until he was terminated from Blizzard in June 2020 for sexual harassment.

Credits[]

In-game references[]

There were many references to Afrasiabi, and his characters Furor Planedefiler and Kariel in Warcraft, usually referencing "Foror". "Tigule" is a reference to Jeffrey Kaplan, whose alias is Tigole. Afrasiabi and Kaplan were both members of high-end EverQuest guilds, explaining the many references to "Tigule and Foror". These references were either changed or outright removed following Afrasiabi's allegations of misconduct becoming public.[7]

Fras Siabi
Kariel
Foror
Other
Testing items

Virtually all of these references (except most of the testing items) were renamed in July 2021, after it was revealed that he had a history of sexually harassing coworkers during his time at Blizzard. This has also sparked a policy for Overwatch to stop naming characters after Blizzard employees,[8] though it's not hard to imagine that this will likely apply to all Blizzard franchises.

Notes and trivia[]

  • Afrasiabi is Iranian-American.
  • The first quest Afrasiabi designed in World of Warcraft was A [15] Bingles' Missing Supplies.[4][5]
  • Afrasiabi remembers "freaking" about having to create some of the early quests in Elwynn Forest. He felt like he had to create something amazing and decided to name the quest giver "something awesome", resulting in Falkhaan Isenstrider.[4]

References[]

 
  1. ^ Blizzard on Social Media. Blizzard Entertainment. Retrieved on 2014-05-20.
  2. ^ Inside Blizzard Developers’ Infamous Bill ‘Cosby Suite’
  3. ^ DFEH vs Activision Blizzard 15 (2021-07-21). Archived from the original​ “47. In a blatant example of Defendant's refusal to deal with a harasser because of his seniority/position, Alex Afrasiabi, the former Senior Creative Director of World of Warcraft at Blizzard Entertainment, was permitted to engage in blatant sexual harassment with little to no repercussions.”
  4. ^ a b c World of Warcraft 2019-08-21. WoW® Classic with Creators. YouTube. Retrieved on 2019-08-21.
  5. ^ a b World of Warcraft 2019-09-23. WoW® Classic with Creators Episode 5: Alex Afrasiabi. YouTube. Retrieved on 2019-09-23.
  6. ^ Did somebody say Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker?
  7. ^ A Message from the World of Warcraft Team (2021-07-07). Archived from the original on 2021-07-07.
  8. ^ Overwatch on Twitter (2021-08-26).​ “A message from the Overwatch team.”

External links[]

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