Blizzard files lawsuit against gold spammer
by Dan O'Halloran 
May 26th 2007 at 1:00PM
We knew Blizzard implemented filters with Patch 2.1 to reduce in-game spam from gold sellers. But we didn't know that they are taking the fight into the real world as well.Eyonix has reported that Blizzard has filed a lawsuit against one of the gold spammers who have caused us so much in-game grief. If the seller does not stop its in-game spamming of whispers and non-stop in-game mail spam, Blizzard is hauling them to federal court. Yes, that's right, federal court.
And in case you are still getting whispers from gold sellers after the latest patch, Blizzard has a new solution for you. Right click on their name on your chat screen. A list of commands will appear. Click on "Report Spam." This will not only report them automatically to the GMs, it will block all further whispers and mail from that player. No more trying to report intentionally hard to spell names.
Filed under: Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Thijz May 26th 2007 1:23PM
Nice, I like the report function
mihn May 26th 2007 1:38PM
And now trails account cant whisper full account players without those players whispering them 1st :)
RogueJedi86 May 26th 2007 1:46PM
Best use of WoW money, good job Blizz. And a lawsuit like this doesn't even have to go through international law. When you login the first time(and after every major patch), you have to agree to the Terms of Service/EULA. So Blizz could easily file the suit against these guys for just "Violating the Terms of a Legal Agreement", or whatever the legal term is for it. I'd like to know the full details though.
Very much a precedent too, an MMO company filing a lawsuit against gold companies. As seen in the follow-up post:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=106771592&pageNo=3&sid=1#56
It's also a scare tactic, to discourage other companies from continuing what they do. Which I approve of. First 2.1 removed almost all in-game spam, then Blizzard follows it up with a lawsuit. Seriously, BRAVO BLIZZARD!
K Whitt May 26th 2007 3:40PM
I am highly amused by a lot of the kibitzing in that thread on the WoW forums regarding to this lawsuit. I think it would be obvious the reasons that they are chose Peons4Hire to throw the book down. Firstly, they have the most vociferous, obnoxious, massive amounts of spam in game via tells, yells, zone chat and direct mail. This in and of itself amounts nearly to harrasment with the constant inundation by an organized group. Secondly, it has been shown that on occasions, the Peons4Hire site has had exploits to attempt to install backdoors and keylogger suites on systems. Just visiting them to see what all the angst was about, or doing analysis of prices from server to server, could net you a compromised machine. This is downright malicious and, in several countries, very illegal. Thirdly, they do not have the massive financial backing of IGE or some other entities, yet are well known enough to the goldfarming community (and the WoW community) to make notice if they got hid hard.
The interesting things will be if Peons4Hire actually responds to the suit. Likely Peons4Hire is a company that is another country and therefore is not required to respond to a federal subpeona or lawsuit filed against them. Of course, them not responding also allows Blizzard to win by default, thereby starting a legal precedence against in-game spammers, and possibly against gold-sellers in general. With this precedence in place, they can avail themselves of operations that may be in the US in order to crush them legally. They may also gain the leverage to actually take on a larger player such as IGE and its many games it services. I am not a lawyer, but follow law a good bit. Feel free to poke holes in my theories.
On another note I used to not mind them (Peons4Hire) as much when they role-played. It alleviated the annoyance they caused a slight bit. However, their "marketers" stopped doing that. That was when I really started getting annoyed by them (and subsequently got mods to help fight it on my own terms/time)
Not telling you my name May 26th 2007 4:08PM
what's even gold spammer anyways?
Mirathis May 26th 2007 6:10PM
Interesting article, but I take note of the "intentionally hard names to spell." Honestly, I don't think that much thought was put into it. It might be a convenient happenstance that those names are hard to spell, but in all honesty, It's random characters that almost guarantee getting a name on the first try. And beyond that, there very well could be some sort of automated system fueling it.
Granted, the WoW client takes notice of most automated situations, but one that it can't and won't flag on is Apple's Automator. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's a automation program for just about anything on a mac. You can write in Apple script, preform functions in most applications, and more importantly (through plugins) mimic keyboard input. The whole character creation process could be completly automated through Apple Script, and as long as it was run through Automator, WoW isn't going to bat an eyelash.
I've used it on occasion to keep me from logging out while I'm in the shower or making dinner so I don't lose that 120 water that a mage was kind enough to give me. It's as simple as setting it to sit me down, wait two minutes, stand me up, wait two minutes and then repeat the process.
While again, it might be a little far fetched to think that all the goldfarmers are using macs, the point is, I don't think they are intentionally making hard names to spell. It's a matter of getting a name, quickly, that will get them logged in as soon as possible.
Memzer May 26th 2007 10:12PM
What I find interesting is that there has been little to no praise for the new anti spam measures Blizzard have put into the game. Since the patch has gone live I've had only one gold selling message on any of my characters, and it was extremely simple to report.
Kudos to Blizzard!
Savok May 26th 2007 11:18PM
#7, probably because it took several server reboots to appear.
Still, everytime I use the report button I giggle like a school girl, in guild chat no less. And yes, it's been very effective, best thing Blizz has done in years.
bwest0526 May 27th 2007 12:16AM
Okay here is what I worry about with the new Reporting system Blizz has installed.
Scenario: You are on a PVP Server, or really ANY server and you get ganked or corpse camped, maybe you run into a mouthy 14yr old that is taling trash and ticks you off. What is keeping you from "reporting" that person as a Spammer, granted you can "ignore" them like I mostly do, but then they are also getting reported for "spamming" which really isn't the case but you nailed em to the cross for either ganking you and you didn't like it, or camping your corpse, or even being just plain rude, not actually Spamming you and therefore (and I am assuming here) they could possibly lose their account.
That to me just really doesn't seem fair. I mean granted I dislike those kinda people too, but that is part of the game, even if it is roleplaying, but I would never want to intentionally get someone banned just cuz of it. There are people out there though who would. The spam reporting could possibly do that.
Just my 2cp worth...
bwest0526 May 27th 2007 3:05AM
I might add that I can not believe the people out there trying to sell Gold and PLing services, I did a google search and came up with "World of Warcraft Gold BuyingPage 1 of 170,821 results" That is PAGES! Why do people purchase this stuff?! it kills the game economy, it kills the real reason we all play it (for the fun of it--which really, it isn't all about the mathmatics of the game; although some will dispute that statement! LOL).Not to mention I personally dispise people who have to "cheat" at a game in order to be all that is all of the game, I guess I just grew up on different morles that taught you to earn what you have not expect it given to you and not have to work for it yourself, not to mention the whole respect factor. Well lemme end this now before I get on my soap box about all that! Again, please for the love of the game itself, DO NOT PURCHASE YOUR GOLD FROM ANYONE! EARN IT!!!
athena99 May 27th 2007 9:28PM
I imagine Blizzard would ignore any reports of spamming from other factions - as it's hard to spam to someone you can't speak to. As well from what I understand, the person's account is banned only temporarily while Blizzard investigates, and only after the person has been reported spamming repeatedly. The only people who may be temporarily banned, yet aren't spammers, are just people who are just being _really_ anoying. Can't say that would bother me :)
RogueJedi86 May 27th 2007 10:40PM
Yeah, too many people on my server aren't giving praise. They keep talking about SpamSentry, even though Blizzard has clearly surpassed SpamSentry in dealing with spam.
bwest0526 May 28th 2007 2:18AM
@11 yeah, I know that opposite factions would have a hard time, meant more like reporting someone just for that fact but now I see the new thread/blog on here and got that link to the FAQ on the Squelching...
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/faq/squelch.html So now I have a better understanding of how it is supposed to work. Hopefully, it works as planned!
Theserene May 28th 2007 12:28PM
Way to go Blizzard!
Although the people whining on the forums about how 'cruel' they are being in suing a poor little company amuse me. Methinks these people are annoyed about having to find somewhere else to buy their gold from...
Juliah May 29th 2007 7:19PM
Hooray, Blizzard! Thank you!
Krianna May 30th 2007 2:30AM
11 and 9-- you can spam other factions. By making a macro of an emote or /yell and mashing it until it messes with normal game play. That, too, is spam-- and against the EULA for a long, long time. *grin*