Comments on: 'World of Warcraft' bans raise players' ire

Some players of the popular online game think the publisher is banning first and asking questions second when it comes to alleged terms of service violations.

[khuss66]

Lack of Communication

My own personal experience involves 2 suspensions and 1 banning. In all cases, Blizzard failed to communicate the infraction properly.

In the case of my (and other guildmates) bans, our first indication of any "wrongdoing" was upon attempting to login. The account you are trying to access has been banned..Blah..blah...blah.

I go to my email, "You've been banned for cheating" What cheating, I ask. My phone calls to customer service are refered to an email address, those emails go unreplied, FOR TWO WEEKS. I contact GM's on my other account, they refer me to the same email addresses.

Finally after TWO WEEKS and 30+ emails, my account is restored, with no appology, no extension of service for time payed but not played.

I email regarding WHY and they offer no explanation, or supposed offense. They dont even address the issue of I PAYED AND WAS NOT ALLOWED TO PLAY. I contact billing support, after 2 hours, they are unwilling to give me credit.

The temporary suspensions were something like this:

<22:52:13> <GM-Blizzard_Jerk 224> We have come to the conclusion that your name is in violation of our End User Licensing Agreement and will be issuing a temporary ban of your account. Please review the EULA at www.worldofwarcraft.com/EULA.html for more information.
<22:52:13> <GM-Blizzard_Jerk 224> An notice will be sent to your email account on record detailing the corrective action.
<22:52:14> <GM-Blizzard_Jerk 224> If you have any comments or feedback on the service provided to you today, please contact [e-mail]
<22:52:15> You have been suspended

In both cases I didn't even have enough time to scroll up and see what had been said. it was a flash of pink text, and a ban. I only know what was said because of a partial screenshot I was able to take, and the follow up from the email, which didn't arrive until well after my temporary ban had ended.

BLIZZARD CUSTOMER SERVICE: 0/10
BLIZZARDS ABILITY TO ALIENATE DEDICATED, LONGTIME CUSTOMERS: 10/10

[jlmorg1]

hacked then banned

WOW banned my account after I was hacked. All 13 characters were stripped of all venderable goods. I tried to log on and could not get in. Someone had somehow gotten in and changed my password. I worked for about an hour trying to get the password changed. Finally the web site allowed the password to be changed.

I have sent repeated emails to Blizzard to all of the posted email addresses. Blizzard refuses to allow me to speak on the phone or correspond via email with anyone from the team [e-mail]. I spend over an hour waiting on the phone to speak with an account representative.

I finaly got to speak with April. April refused to let me speak with a manager. She refused to transfer my call to the appropriate department.

April explained that if my car was stolen and was used in a bank robery, the police would arrest me and comfiscate the car, just like Blizzard has done to my account.

After 3 days there is zero contact from the wowaccountadmin department. All of the other departments replied to my emails within a day.

Evidently this department is so undermanned, and so overworked by their failure to protect the accounts of their account holders from hacking that they can not cope with the volume of complaints.

The email they sent me said that "The bottom line is that we want World of Warcraft to be a fun and safe environment for all players."

Having your account hacked and all of your characters stuff stolen. Report this. Start recovering from the hack. Then get banned by the account admin department who refuses to allow any human contact.

I have never been denied access to a manager in any company I have ever done business with.

I feel a class action law suit coming on.

Just how many thousands of accounts are being hacked? Just how many loyal customers are being banned after being hacked?

The people who designed the automation that bans accounts have screwed up. The people who designed the manpower for the department that deals with this problem have screwed up. The people who designed the software that is supposed to protect your account from hackers have failed. The customer service of Blizzard in this regard is the worst I have ever seen.

[jlmorg1]

Class action law suit request

Blizard costomer service sucks. I want a refund of all software costs. $50.00 an hour for all of the time spent building the characters, for every person banned after they were hacked. Accounts reinstated. All characters returned to thisr previous state prior to being hacked. An apology.

Further, I want account service personel to be required to speak with customers on the phone when we complain about being banned.

[hazardjsimpson]

RE Class Action Suit

"Blizard costomer service sucks. I want a refund of all software costs. $50.00 an hour for all of the time spent building the characters, for every person banned after they were hacked. Accounts reinstated. All characters returned to thisr previous state prior to being hacked. An apology.

Further, I want account service personel to be required to speak with customers on the phone when we complain about being banned."

So.. You want $50 an hour for your gameplay time? I doubt you even make half that an hour while working your JOB. I'd love it if you did file this suit, seeing the look on your face when you're literally RIDICULED into public shame will be oh-so-gratifying.

Next time, don't cheat, and you won't get banned.

[sdbob]

Link to Gamers Reunion discussion

http://gamersreunion.wordpress.com/2007/01/22/diary-wow-banned-the-world-aint-want-me-to-play-wow/

[Sgiathatch]

yep

i bet they do, as most ppl will do just that - go out and buy a new copy of the game as well as the expansion that just came out, so that's an extra $60 for Blizzard everytime they ban someone and won't reactivate it. as far as i can tell Blizzard is just out to make as much money as they can from ppl, so this would be a perfect way for them to get more from the player population they have currently.

[chaceb]

irony defined

A friend got his account banned for using a power-leveling service. I got my account banned, well, because, ummm, Blizzard is not sure, they felt that I needed to be banned.

Anyway, I raised all kinds of hell with Blizzard to get my account back, after all, I really did nothing wrong. Well, unless you consider chatting in-game with an apparent "powerleveled" toon.

My friend wrote a nicety nice letter to Blizzard saying, "You got me, sorry won't happen again. You were right in banning me".

Guess what, he got his account reopened, took 10 days, but he got it back. My account is on the permanant ban list, and Blizz told me so.

Long story short....

Suck up to Blizzard and they will reward you. Fight back and you will get slammed.

Not the kind of Customer Service I want in a game.

[Tylerthedruid]

I was quoted in this article

I recently was surfing found that your article about WoW's summary bans on March 22, 2007 featured a comment I made on a forum under my normal username 'tylerthedruid'.

http://www.gamecheck.org/story.asp?ID=180646&Title='World%20of%20Warcraft'%20bans%20raise%20players'%20ire

Well, to wrap up the story, I actually did receive my account back by complaining through the BBB! I did not recieve a letter from Blizzard telling me that my account was reinstated. I discovered that my account was available to by played when trying to show a friend that I had been banned, only to discover they subtly reactivated the account. I sent them an email about it, and they claimed they had informed me of course. Perhaps my email's junk filter was what.

I didn't so much mind the tardiness of the email as much as I minded the way that they handled me and the arrogant way they treated the BBB arbitrator. The Defendant for Blizzard did not address me in second person as is normal during a BBB dispute, nor did this person speak to the Arbitrator. I was referred to as 'customer' (not 'the customer') at all times. No evidence, nor even a non-vague reference to the reasoning behind my ban was mentioned. Eventually, Blizzard defaulted on the dispute with the BBB and my complaint will remain as a tiny black mark on their permanent record with the BBB since they chose not to dispute my claim.
--------------
"Initial Response - Posted 3-13-2007


Customer has been in contact with the Account Administration Department via email which has responded to his inquiries. After a thorough investigation, we have found that the registered user of the account has shared account login information and allowed others to access the account. At Account Administrations discretion the World of Warcraft account has been reopened and placed on Final Warning. This information was relayed to the customer on 7-17-2006. For further information, please review the World of Warcraft Terms of Use at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/termsofuse.shtml.

Initial Response Summary


Blizzard has amended the decision to close the customers account and instead have issued a final warning.
"
-------------
My account was not even hacked - which still confuses me. I still have not seen any evidence from Blizzard indicating that I shoudl be banned. I feel like I've been treated like an animal and have decided it would be wise to no longer deal with Blizzard entertainment. Blizzard happily kept the prepaid money for the subscription time that elapsed over the period of the ban; which raises another ethical flag in my eyes.

Blizzard reversed the ban upon realizing that they goofed up, yet continues to insist that they are correct - perhaps this works on most false positives, the player is so thankful for having the account reopened that they just stop pursuing Blizzard for their mistakes.

[inachu]

Blizzard often belittles those in their forums

Their tech support forums are the worst I have ever experienced.

[redmaxblower]

Yes they do!

They act like high fallutin smart ass pricks...the only thing worse than the GM's are all the head bobbing drones that keep chirping the same "it's the rules" crap...as if Blizzard were God.

[inachu]

Blizzard often belittles those in their forums

Their tech support forums are the worst I have ever experienced.

[WheelerCub]

Down the drain...

Personally, I have felt that Blizzard was heading down the drain when the majority of their original developers left because of "creative differences". The company didn't bat an eyelid and they sent the message of "Out with the old, in with the new" to many old and loyal fans of their body of work.

The big problem with this specific case of corporate attitude is that the core group who left were the creative teams responsible for the Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft series. Leaving Blizzard to develop with corporate drones.

Fortunately for those of us who look for a certain level of sophistication in our games, there are alternatives. Many of us have found homes in intelligent games such as Lord of the Rings online which has implemented all the good parts of WOW and other MMOs into one amazing experience, and then there's Guild Wars for those who want an excellent free MMO. Finally, for those of us who can't get enough of that old Diablo experience, Hellgate London is coming out in June which many fans of the old series have aptly named Diablo 3000.

[WheelerCub]

Down the drain...

Personally, I have felt that Blizzard was heading down the drain when the majority of their original developers left because of "creative differences". The company didn't bat an eyelid and they sent the message of "Out with the old, in with the new" to many old and loyal fans of their body of work.

The big problem with this specific case of corporate attitude is that the core group who left were the creative teams responsible for the Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft series. Leaving Blizzard to develop with corporate drones.

Fortunately for those of us who look for a certain level of sophistication in our games, there are alternatives. Many of us have found homes in intelligent games such as Lord of the Rings online which has implemented all the good parts of WOW and other MMOs into one amazing experience, and then there's Guild Wars for those who want an excellent free MMO. Finally, for those of us who can't get enough of that old Diablo experience, Hellgate London is coming out in June which many fans of the old series have aptly named Diablo 3000.

[Ex WoW Player]

Blizzard bans efficient leveling

My account also got banned for "sharing". My 16-year-old son and I share an account, which is specifically allowed by the World of Warcraft Terms of Service. We decided it would be handy to have a high level character on a second account to occasionally help out our main characters with quests and such. So I set up a second account and, over spring break, my son and I powerleveled a new character we created on that second account. My son would get up early and level the character during the day and I'd level him after work and stay up as late as I could. After a week of this kind of intensive leveling, Blizzard banned the account. I have repeatedly tried to explain the situation to Blizzard account reps, but they won't listen. My son and I are so disgusted with Blizzard, we decided to cancel our main WoW account and switch to Lord of the Rings Online. With 7 million customers, I'm sure Blizzard doesn't care about one the loss of a couple of accounts, but I just can't justify supporting a company that treats its customers so badly.

[WheelerCub]

I hate that stuff

The in-game messages for this stuff are really annoying

[WheelerCub]

TESTING GL _ DL

testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing

[WheelerCub]

GL - Test

testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing

[WheelerCub]

test 5/21/2007

another test

[power2me]

Friends accounts banned same reason

My friends accounts were banned last week for the same reason. Account sharing. Blizzard posted on their forum the following: Playing from multiple locations is not a violation of our Terms of Use, Skylz, you may play from different locations many play as they travel, I would avoid bending time and space though that can cause some issues.

"Playing from multiple locations is not a violation of our Terms of Use, Skylz, you may play from different locations many play as they travel, I would avoid bending time and space though that can cause some issues. "

" am sorry if you felt that no warning was provided as I said earlier certain offenses warrant instant closure for most others we try to provide a warning to the account. I should point out that we did provide a warning though; it is called the Terms of Use, everyone agrees to abide by it when they create an account and at every patch."

Blizzard says its more invasive than that in other posts. See my post to their forums at
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=114915204&sid=1&pageNo=1

[redmaxblower]

Blizzard MAKES MONEY by banning

They ban you for cheating...in a game no one can win...
They ban you for speaking your mind...in a public forum...
If someone reports you...you are guilty...no investigation...no trial.
The fact is that they want people banned. They know that the poor soul who gets banned only goes out and buys another copy of the game and signs up for another account AND...wait for it...MAKES THEM MORE MONEY.

[cherokee_187]

Baned from world of wwarcraft

myseft and sisters accout was also baned from playin wow, to this day we still do not know what we have done, and we get no responce back from blizzard nor the phone calls helped us... we have been playing for years just for fun building up new toons to play when we want, buyin items aout of the AH,,, we have never sold or traded accounts and went by the rules and out of the blues both of out account have been cloes and baned with out a word from blizzard WHY... I want a class action lawsute on blizzard as well for all the time I spent playin and building my toons up ...........

[nexus13]

Blizzard EU/US WoW - Playing God

Allow me to paint a picture, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has come accross this.

I am originally from the Uk and now live in Australia. I have been an avid gamer for many years and have spent a great deal of time (Approx 14 months) playing world of warcraft.

During my time in the Uk I was signed up to the Eu servers - specifically Aerie peak, over this time I had created numerous characters, 5 in total (70 warlock, 50 warrior, 22 hunter, 24 paladin & 12 mage) During this course of gaming I made the move from th Uk to Oz (March 2007) and was required to update my contact details for subscription purposes. I had sent no less than 3 emails to Blizzard requesting the change clearly stating that my email address had changed as the recorded address was no longer active. Each time I received an email stating (We have sent an email to the recorded email address to confirm who you are) please re-read and point out the obvious error here - How can I read an email that I can't get? Anyway, I digress, time passes and as such I request that my characters be transferred to the US servers, the reason being Blizzard US support Australia players, EU Blizzard do not! After several days of waiting I get a response stating that although characters are transferrable between realms, they are not between countries (I'd love to know how this is different).

Some time passes and I'm playing WoW and for whatever reason one evening can no longer log in, I query the website to find that I have been suspended, I enquire further and am told that an email has been sent to my recorded email address with the details (Refer to above as for the reason why this doesn't work). Thus I had to wait for the suspension to be lifted (72 hours) I think nothing more of it and 7 days later I come accross the same problem, can't log in. I enquire further but this time I have been banned permanently and to this day I do not know why and Blizzard refuse to respond to the emails.

I decide there is nothing more I can do other than start playing on the US servers, I purchase a new copy of the game, WoW & the expansion Burning crusade, go through the procedure of setting up a new account and begin the process of creating characters all over again (This was 3 weeks ago)

Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work this out but I know the game quite well, I have started another Warlock and am currently at lvl 43, you would think as I know the game well I know exactly where to go to level quickly and get decent loot. Clearly Blizzard believe otherwise as I have been accused of exploitation and have been issued a final warning (Never received a 1st warning never mind a final) and a 3 day suspension.

So tell me this, what gives Blizzard the right to play god?

I alreaady have an action against Blizzard Europe, does this mean I take them both on, they seriously need to review there terms and conditions, we pay for the games, we subscribe to there servers and they kick us off at will, ban and ask questions later.

Ridiculous & furious.

Anyone else had problems like this?