All they're asking for is your blood.
by Elizabeth Harper 
Mar 19th 2007 at 6:35PM
I'm not sure whether we should file this under "I'm glad Blizzard doesn't do this" or "I wish Blizzard would do this!" but Chinese gaming company Moliyo (who run the MMO Cabal Online) is offering banned players an interesting method by which to reactivate their accounts. What do you have to do? Simple! Donate blood, and they'll unlock your banned account within three days. And if you're an active player, you can receive a special game account for participating.This is, to my knowledge, a completely unique way of going about reinstating banned players -- while supporting a good cause. And asking players to donate blood is no more time-consuming than Blizzard's usual procedure for restoring stolen accounts, which requires notarized documentation proving your identity. (And will still likely take several weeks for Blizzard to investigate and restore any missing property, which doesn't always happen.) Perhaps Moliyo's way is easier in the long run -- though, being a needle-phobic, I'll stick to the usual customer service queues.
Filed under: Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
freehugz Mar 20th 2007 11:29AM
^ Regular blood donor. I think this is a great idea to at least get donating blood into people's heads. However something like this would be really easy to fake.
Burning Adrenaline Mar 19th 2007 6:55PM
Of course we know the MMO Gaming Cabal is really a vampire-run front. I give them a week before Blade takes down their little operation.
Natali Mar 19th 2007 6:55PM
Uhhh, what if you can't donate blood because you have a condition like HIV? No gaming company has the right to have that kind of information, and neither should you have to be forced to tell them you can't adhere to their t&c of reinstating your account. Massive breach of privacy.
Chris M Mar 19th 2007 7:05PM
QUOTE-
...is offering banned players an interesting method by which to reactivate their accounts.
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They're offering a method, likely an alternative to the queues. If you've got HIV, and/or can't/won't donate, don't. They don't force you to play either; if you got banned, all the more reason.
Chris
Gorgas Mar 19th 2007 7:06PM
I demand an in game nurse hat or medic's mask for my donation.
feadin Mar 19th 2007 7:08PM
weird if you ask me
shugoran Mar 19th 2007 11:50PM
Chinese. Government. No further comments.
Tigraine Mar 19th 2007 8:12PM
Sorry, but reinstating banned accounts for blood is among the worst ideas I've heard of lately.
Yea, blizz is gonna coordinate with hundrets of Medical Centers to track your Blood Donation.. I don't see that happen.
Also, why in the hell should they re-activate your account if you got banned? I mean, you don't get banned for normal playing. And ppl who get banned for cheating, botting, whatever should stay banned.
For all of those who got hacked or something, 2 weeks of WoW Vacation is never a real loss, just an inconvenience.
Kabe Mar 19th 2007 8:57PM
I think it's a good idea in terms of collecting blood. Hospitals often have only enough blood supplies to last them a week at most, if not only a single day in high-traffic areas. Especially in the coming summer months the need for donated blood is crucial.
In terms of feasibilty, it's pretty crazy. In China, where I doubt blood donation is as prevalent as it is in the US (which says something, considering that blood donation falls far short of where it could and perhaps should be in America), tracking such things might be possible if the company were to sponsor a specific blood drive for that purpose. It would just be too hard to orchestrate in the US, I think.
A friendly PSA for you all - PLEASE consider donating blood and/or platelets! A cancer patient can use the platelets from up to eight pints of blood per day just to survive; a trauma victim can use upwards of ten. Your donation is an easily given gift which could save a life.
bobpwnsjones Mar 19th 2007 9:13PM
I could be using that blood to sell for money to buy crack.
or pay my subscription for WoWcrack.
whatever
Galipan Mar 19th 2007 9:20PM
I agree with #7...#8 you're an idiot. I don't know if it's true or plausible...I think it is awesome, Kabe is right. Just a bit of blood can make a huge difference, I speak from experience.
JJ Mar 19th 2007 10:06PM
I'm all for creative blood drives, but could be seen as, well, extortion, of a very invasive nature. There's a reason you're not allowed to get paid for donating blood or organs: because it preys on people in desperate need of money. Of course this situation is not as dire as offering money for organ donation, but it's the same principle: holding a reward over someone's head in exchange for a blood 'donation'. There is something very wrong with, say, some 10-year-old kid being banned because his computer got hacked, and being told that he's only allowed to play again if he gives blood.
I would like a bit of clarification here, though: what is their normal process for reinstating banned accounts? Is this the only way for reinstatement, or is it just a new shortcut? If you have the option of just waiting for the company to reinstate you through the normal channels, rather than donating blood, can the company proove that they will give just as much time and effort to processing the 'normal' requests as they did before? Or will you be penalized for not being a 'good citizen'?
This article is a very benign situation in the grand scheme of things, but I don't like the idea that a money-making company can make this sort of request, even if it's for a good cause. Blood donation is a remarkable gift, to be given out of the goodness of your heart, but no one has the right to force you or even unfairly pressure you--it's a personal decision. If you're a person who would like to give blood anyway, and just needed a little extra incentive to get your rear in gear, this is a very cute and creative idea to save lives. The question is, when does a gentle push in the door become a shove? I don't know where that line is.
onetrueping Mar 20th 2007 7:23AM
I'd like to know where you got your information vis-a-vis blood donation and money, particularly since there is a blood plasma center that pays upwards of 300 dollars for two plasma donations in a month just down the street.
gnomepower Mar 19th 2007 11:35PM
This all sounds altruistic, but one could argue that it unfairly discriminates against people who aren't allowed to give blood. After all, blood banks continue to refuse to accept donations from gay donors, operating under the dangerous fiction that HIV is still somehow a "gay disease." But more generally, this would prohibit players with a wide variety of medical conditions or social backgrounds from reactivating their accounts and could almost be characterized as WoW eugenics.
Elizabeth Harper Mar 20th 2007 2:03AM
From what I've read, this was a one-time thing in support of a specific blood drive, not an every day thing. Just Moliyo offering an unusual sort of encouragement to participate.
RogueJedi86 Mar 20th 2007 3:57AM
I like the idea. Maybe drop the whole "give blood to get unbanned" angle though, to stop abuse of the system(some exploiter/cheater getting unbanned every few days because he keeps giving blood). But otherwise, I like the idea. The motivation for giving blood may be a bit selfish, but at least it's benefiting others. Would someone who needs blood really refuse it because it came from someone who donated for selfish reasons?
As for those who have blood diseases, or don't want to give blood, you can try to petition to get unbanned through customer service. And if they'd drop the "get unbanned by giving blood", there'd be no problems there, since you'd have to go through customer service for bans. And with processing time, it'd still take a few days for them to do the blood donation thing, so it wouldn't be some instant process. But basically, I can agree on if it would give discounts of some sort relating to the game. Maybe knock off a dollar or 2, or a free month once a year for giving blood.
BloodNova Mar 20th 2007 7:38AM
its as simple as this.
there is a major blood shortage over there.
this is just a publicity stunt to get more saturation for the blood drive.
I think its a good idea in that it gets more people to donate blood, but a bad idea in that its reward is to reinstate banned players.
If they were banned, there should have been a good reason.
A blood drive with a different MMORPG reward, say like a epic combat pet or Epic flying mount for the reward.
This would target the entire population of a game, rather than just the people who had been banned (i would assume a signifigantly smaller population)
BloodNova
Barthilias
Laukidh Mar 20th 2007 11:47AM
I sort of like it, but I'd be concerned that people would lie about their eligibility so they could donate.
Karl Mar 20th 2007 12:58PM
"You get blood from a stone." I know enough of you that are pretty much rocks...I think this would fail.
/sarcasm off
Okay, being serious now. A little strange, but anything to help out those in need is fine by me...
Krianna Mar 20th 2007 4:25PM
I use to give blood regularly-- my ship helped in Indonesia after that Tsunami, I'm on a five year ban now-- and I'd really like to ask you folks to give. It's easy, they usually have cookies afterwards, and you're saving lives.