Civilian

A civilian (aka civies or civs) was a type of NPC that would garner a dishonorable kill ("DK") if killed during PvP combat in the pre-2.0 honor system. The civilian status would appear in their description when the pointer was moved over them. Their names would also have a white background when targeted. The number of civilians one killed would affect one's rank.

Many complaints had been raised since their existence because it almost completely destroyed town/city raiding; one Dishonorable Kill could destroy weeks of work for high ranking players.

The civilian tag was added to the game by Blizzard in an effort to stop high level players camping quest NPCs or vendors without penalty, as this could become a major source of grief for lower level players on older servers.