I Was Wrong. So Very, Very, Wrong.
by Christopher Linton 
Jan 18th 2006 at 3:57PM
After the heated reaction by some readers to my previous post about selling
accounts, I was confused so I decided to talk to Blizzard directly to get final clarification on the subject. They
responded to my email suprisingly rapidly, and were very helpful in clearing up any confusion that I had.I was wrong when I stated that it was within the player's rights to sell their account. The EULA, which I drew my conclusions from, only applies to the actual physical game manuals and disks. Useless though it might be, anyone can attempt to sell those items to their heart's content.
The Terms Of Use governs WoW accounts and everything associated with them, such as gold and items. The TOS states that accounts cannot be bought or sold.
My confusion stemmed from the EULA's repeated reference to "the Game", "the Game Client", and "Service". "The Game" doesn't include the account, merely the physical items in the box, but I didn't make that connection.
Anyhow, I made a mistake, but I hope that my continued research into the topic and succesful attempt to get a definitive answer will atone for my offense.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Claire Jan 18th 2006 4:39PM
That sounds confusing. No problem, Chris. I think it was very humble of you to come back with an apology like you did. I don't think that most people would have done that. All is forgiven. : )
boneyard Jan 18th 2006 4:51PM
that was about what i expected they would say, it's indeed not really clear. and it's often abused by people saying they are in their rights when selling accounts. but often that is just to make the buyer feel safe / legal.
Baron Samedi Jan 18th 2006 5:57PM
BTW, I wanted to point something out that may have escaped notice: in the Blizzard Terms of Use Agreement which you click through when creating an account, Section 8 speaks specifically of "Selling of Items". To quote a pertinent section:
"So Blizzard Entertainment does not recognize any property claims outside of World of Warcraft or the purported sale, gift or trade in the "real world" of anything related to World of Warcraft. Accordingly, you may not sell items for "real" money or exchange items outside of World of Warcraft."
Further, Section 11 specifically speaks of "Ownership". Therein, Blizzard lays claim to basically all aspects of the game, *including* accounts and everything attached to them:
"All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to World of Warcraft (including without limitation any user accounts, titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialogue, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, "applets" incorporated into World of Warcraft, transcripts of the chat rooms, character profile information, recordings of games played on World of Warcraft, and the World of Warcraft client and server software) are owned by Blizzard Entertainment or its licensors."
An interesting (and probably unintended) side effect of this is that Blizzard, by claiming ownership of user accounts, is legally liable for anything illegal that occurs in-game. For example, if two characters plan a bank heist or drug deal or terrorist attack, or even (more realistically) use the game to broadcast defamatory or hate-crime speech, Blizzard - by explicitly claiming ownership of the accounts and in-game transcripts - is clearly fully liable as if they were a co-conspirator in the execution of the crime. AOL had a similar problem on their hands with this back in the day because of the wording of their TOS, and they changed it after getting dragged into court. They lost, and that set a precedent.
jakk on the blackrock server Jan 18th 2006 6:17PM
np
RighteousDork Jan 18th 2006 7:06PM
Don't worry about it man. If anyone's giving you flack over it, tell them to take a flying leap of Hyjal and get off your back. I know this stuff with selling accounts and items has been going on for a while but it's definitely a weird gray area in terms of legality. Brings up all kinds of issues about ownership and what exactly does your $15 entitle you to. Blizzard just comes out and stamps a big NO on it but I haven't heard about anyone being sued yet. And even if this was pursued, I'm sure selling virtual gold online ranks pretty low in priority for most of your law enforcement agencies.
Ristic Jan 19th 2006 12:28AM
In response to #4, I don't think that blizzard would go so far as to sue anyone or take legal action of any sort, (espicially because many WoW players reside outside of the US - myself included) but the accounts in question would be deleted by blizzard if they ever found out they were sold for RL funds. It beats me however to find out how they would ever find out...
In the case of gold farmers, blizzard could buy a small amount of gold and shut down whoever mailed them the gold but that doesn't help anyone because these guys have tons of chars on every server.
Windshadow Jan 19th 2006 3:15AM
What I do not understand is how folks selling accounts get away with it unless the acconts have only been used with pre pay cards .
after all Blizzard knows the name and CC number on all but those few paycard based accounts and so they know when the CC number and name on it changes... I just do not get why they do not shut any account that goes to another persons credit card... or am I missing something obvious? Gold and item sales I can see would be a lot harder to police
boneyard Jan 19th 2006 5:05AM
the enforcement is a whole different issue, it doesn't get done much. it's more that if blizzard ever wants to do something they can without problems. from other mmorpgs i saw accounts could change hands easy enough, but once a dispute arose about it, it was banned.
also blizzard doesn't suddenly come out and say it's not allowed, they have always said that.
in the end it isn't a grey area, it's totally black.
Aenara Jan 23rd 2006 4:32PM
#7 the issue there could occur when a "child" grows up and moves out or has to take responsibility. Example: you have a person (these are not real people) Fluffy Marshmellow whose step father Leather Wallet paid for his account. Fluffy turns 18 and gets a credit card, and Leather says Fluffy has to pay for his own account now. Marshmellow and Wallet are two different names, but Fluffy never sold his account, he just started paying for it.