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Friday, March 23, 2007
Leveling fast a bannable offense?
The latest World of Warcraft story hitting the news is about Blizzard being heavy-handed with banning people. CNet reports about the boy who was playing night and day to catch up with his friends, and got banned for "powerleveling". The problem in cases like these is that there are 8 million players in World of Warcraft, and only a limited number of customer service representatives, so any appeals against having been banned take quite a while to get handled.
People have been banned for leveling too fast, coming into contact with gold or items that have been obtained fraudulently, and for logging on the same account from many different locations. While these things can be indications of terms of service violations, they can also be completely legit and innocent. For example the guy who logged onto his account from IP addresses all over the world was just a frequent business traveler, and not sharing his account for powerleveling. The method to ban people first and wait for them to appeal and prove their innocence is questionable. But it is an obvious consequence of not having enough people to look into each case more closely, and using an automated dragnet to search for suspicious behavior instead.
- posted by Tobold @ 8:04 AM Permanent Link
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I really do wonder just what Blizzard does with all that money. Either way, the word is that Blizz opened a new customer service facility in Austin, so maybe they'll get things more sorted with that place.
On a different note.. if you're afraid of getting banned for playing too much... then you probably do play too much
On a different note.. if you're afraid of getting banned for playing too much... then you probably do play too much
This makes me nervous. Ill probably get banned soon. My job envolves traveling all over europe and I often spend the night at the hotel logging on to wow. Shame on me!!
It's funny that they ban players who log in over multiple IP's. Simply because when my account was hacked and my character virtually destroyed, the couldn't even "verify" that the hack even occured.
I told them to check the IP addresses because I've been playing over the same one for nearly a year and they ignored me. Sometimes it just makes you wonder.
I told them to check the IP addresses because I've been playing over the same one for nearly a year and they ignored me. Sometimes it just makes you wonder.
# posted by 
: 23/3/07 11:39
: 23/3/07 11:39
We had a guildie away for several weeks, and when he returned we learned that Blizzard had suspended his account, with no explanation. My guess is it was due to something like this, since he has a ton of high level characters including a Shammy, because he has a lot of free time and uses it to level them.
A bit silly to be banned for something like that, and not even being given an explanation or an apology (and refund for the days lost)... :\
On a side note, I'm wondering if they actually bother checking someone's account's behaviour after someone reports the player for supposedly being a bot. As the other day I was immensly lagged (so I'm guessing my 'walk around path' was weird), and leveling my hunter and a guy nearby just stared at me, I'm guessing wondering if I was a bot. :P Oh well, nothing like a future no-explanation ban to confirm it, heh.
Sophia the Healadin
A bit silly to be banned for something like that, and not even being given an explanation or an apology (and refund for the days lost)... :\
On a side note, I'm wondering if they actually bother checking someone's account's behaviour after someone reports the player for supposedly being a bot. As the other day I was immensly lagged (so I'm guessing my 'walk around path' was weird), and leveling my hunter and a guy nearby just stared at me, I'm guessing wondering if I was a bot. :P Oh well, nothing like a future no-explanation ban to confirm it, heh.
Sophia the Healadin
# posted by : 23/3/07 12:35
: 23/3/07 12:35
I've travelled and not gotten banned, so have many people. I've never heard a legitimate business traveller getting banned. But I've heard plenty of other stories.
I don't think they ban solely based on different IPs within the same day. But more like, you are suddenly logging in from the other side of the planet, then back home.
The funny thing is for every story like this there are 50 stories of people reporting bots, even taking videos of them, and Blizzard doing nothing for months.
I don't think they ban solely based on different IPs within the same day. But more like, you are suddenly logging in from the other side of the planet, then back home.
The funny thing is for every story like this there are 50 stories of people reporting bots, even taking videos of them, and Blizzard doing nothing for months.
# posted by : 23/3/07 14:26
: 23/3/07 14:26
One of our guild officer was banned like that. He gave some golds to his brother. His brother wanted to buy his lvl 40 mount. Problem is, he sold it on ebay "just to see how much he could get for it"...
Super Blizzard banned our guild officer for gold selling and his brother is still able to play when he's the one who sold the cash...
Blizzard is a big money compagny now. Dont try to get support at all for anything important, they just dont care.
(btw, our banned friend tried everything possible to get his account back. The last thing was to call them directly by phone. As an answer, they told him to talk to their lawyers...)
Super Blizzard banned our guild officer for gold selling and his brother is still able to play when he's the one who sold the cash...
Blizzard is a big money compagny now. Dont try to get support at all for anything important, they just dont care.
(btw, our banned friend tried everything possible to get his account back. The last thing was to call them directly by phone. As an answer, they told him to talk to their lawyers...)
# posted by : 23/3/07 14:35
: 23/3/07 14:35
Funny that all of these banning stories are second-hand. Certainly if I were breaking the EULA (selling gold, buying powerleveling, etc...), and if Blizzard banned me, I'd lie and say it was "my brother" who sold the gold, or I was on a business trip, or some other excuse to put the blame on Blizzard.
@changed
Look, I know that person in RL and know he's not lying. Do you really think someone with 2 lvl 70 (almost 3), who is guild officer, who plays with his friends for 2+ years and who really dont have RL money problems would try to get a ban for a little 200g on Ebay??? Common...
People are not all liars you know....
Look, I know that person in RL and know he's not lying. Do you really think someone with 2 lvl 70 (almost 3), who is guild officer, who plays with his friends for 2+ years and who really dont have RL money problems would try to get a ban for a little 200g on Ebay??? Common...
People are not all liars you know....
# posted by : 23/3/07 15:45
: 23/3/07 15:45
It would almost be a good thing for me if my account got banned. I'd hate loosing two level 70's and a 60, and all my 30-50 alts, but it would be a good way to quit wow. If you have a bad addiction to wow and you need to stop just get yourself banned, then there is no chance someone could revive your toon. WOOT WOOT>!@$!
Though that is weird one got banned and not the other (or both), I don't think anyone was saying he was lying. What was meant was it doesn't even matter whether he's telling the truth when you consider how many other times have people said "it wasn't me it was my brother"? Is Blizzard really supposed to interview and listen to every single kid whining about his brother and try to figure out who is telling the truth?
I actually booted someone from my guild for that reason, he was too selfish and a ninja, it happened once and he said it was his brother. A month later it happened again and he got booted.
I actually booted someone from my guild for that reason, he was too selfish and a ninja, it happened once and he said it was his brother. A month later it happened again and he got booted.
# posted by : 23/3/07 19:41
: 23/3/07 19:41
If you see it that way... (well, at least Blizz seems to see it that way)
Next time you give some golds to a guildy to help him a little, make sure you tell him : "Please, dont sell that money on the net cause Blizz will ban me for your actions".
Never farm for too long at the same place cause they'll ban you for exploitation!
Dont play too much cause they'll ban you for powerleveling!
Dont travel and play around the world on your portable cause they'll ban you for ... donno... travelling? lol
Dont make too much profits with the AH, they'll ban you for AH farming?
lol
Blizz has too much players now. Its ok to make sure people are not cheating. They just dont seems to care if they waste ligit players while banning some chinese farmers. Sad but it seems to become a reality in WoW.
Next time you give some golds to a guildy to help him a little, make sure you tell him : "Please, dont sell that money on the net cause Blizz will ban me for your actions".
Never farm for too long at the same place cause they'll ban you for exploitation!
Dont play too much cause they'll ban you for powerleveling!
Dont travel and play around the world on your portable cause they'll ban you for ... donno... travelling? lol
Dont make too much profits with the AH, they'll ban you for AH farming?
lol
Blizz has too much players now. Its ok to make sure people are not cheating. They just dont seems to care if they waste ligit players while banning some chinese farmers. Sad but it seems to become a reality in WoW.
# posted by : 23/3/07 20:58
: 23/3/07 20:58
"(btw, our banned friend tried everything possible to get his account back. The last thing was to call them directly by phone. As an answer, they told him to talk to their lawyers..."
Sorry, but your friend is full of crap. He either did something for a legitimate ban or he doesn't want to come back and just made up a story.
If they really referred him to their lawyers, it was probably a standard CSR response when a whiny brat calls up and threatens to have daddy's lawyer sue them.
Sorry, but your friend is full of crap. He either did something for a legitimate ban or he doesn't want to come back and just made up a story.
If they really referred him to their lawyers, it was probably a standard CSR response when a whiny brat calls up and threatens to have daddy's lawyer sue them.
Or else you could be completely wrong and as a knee-jerk reaction wholeheartedly support blizzard for being azzhat nazi's about their own eula which clearly defines whats legit and what isnt.
Or maybe your right, and flaming on someone who has no reason to lie on a random forum about even if it appears he was simply elaborating in detail about "another" situation in which blizzard might have a dark cloud among their "great" customer service.
I say ban anyone that doesnt play this game casually, simply because that would be everyone but myself and im completely extroverted by nature...
Or maybe your right, and flaming on someone who has no reason to lie on a random forum about even if it appears he was simply elaborating in detail about "another" situation in which blizzard might have a dark cloud among their "great" customer service.
I say ban anyone that doesnt play this game casually, simply because that would be everyone but myself and im completely extroverted by nature...
I was having a think the other day about "player power" in WoW versus the size of Vivendi.
If we guess at 8 million WoW players, and each of them put 1 Euro into "Wow Players Union" company. This company, if it bought Vivendi shares (currently about 30 Euros) would then own little more than 0.02% of Vivendi.
Not enough methinks to pitch up at the shareholders meeting and demand Blizzard reverse the Priests nerf !
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If we guess at 8 million WoW players, and each of them put 1 Euro into "Wow Players Union" company. This company, if it bought Vivendi shares (currently about 30 Euros) would then own little more than 0.02% of Vivendi.
Not enough methinks to pitch up at the shareholders meeting and demand Blizzard reverse the Priests nerf !
# posted by : 26/3/07 11:15
: 26/3/07 11:15<< Home
