Entire Nations Ban-Hammered from World of Warcraft

With World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria causing much stirrage worldwide, at least one group of gamers won't be able to join in: Iranians.

Basically, if you play WoW and you live in Iran (other countries are also affected) then get yourself a good anonymous VPN that can make it look as if you play in the USA or even the UK.^{^*}. Because if it appears that you are in Iran, you'll be banned. You won't get a refund either.

Blizzard explains that it's not its fault, "What we can tell you is that United States trade restrictions and economic sanction laws prohibit Blizzard from doing business with residents of certain nations, including Iran. Several of you have seen and cited the text in the Terms of Use which relates to these government-imposed sanctions. This week, Blizzard tightened up its procedures to ensure compliance with these laws, and players connecting from the affected nations are restricted from access to Blizzard games and services.

"This also prevents us from providing any refunds, credits, transfers, or other service options to accounts in these countries. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes and will happily lift these restrictions as soon as US law allows."

Source: Blizzard

^{^* Absolutely don't do this because it's probably illegal and you'll be taken to jail... forever if the Feds get you, which they will.}