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by Mike Schramm 
Oct 8th 2008 at 4:30PM
GuamPDN.com ("Guam's complete source!") has an article up by Duane George, who tells his story of woe: he got banned from the game for suspected Arena win trading, and had to deal with 72 hours without the game. Blizzard, obviously, doesn't provide any information on how many players get banned from the game, and it would be even harder to determine the number of false positives out there like Duane: people who didn't do anything wrong but end up getting banned anyway. We've heard stories here of course, but this is a tough area to investigate by its very nature.For Duane's part, he does say that he plans to stay out of Arenas and stick to battlegrounds, so you'd think that if there were a ton of false positives like him who were turned off from the Arena experience because it wrongly got them in trouble, Arenas wouldn't be nearly as popular as they are. But of course we don't know -- there's no oversight on Blizzard's part (and you could argue that there shouldn't be anyway, since it's their game), not to mention that they've got the right, according to the Terms of Use, to ban anyone at any time for any reason without notice anyway. If they were really going overboard, you'd expect them to be losing customers, and that's not the case yet.
Fortunately, this wasn't a permanent ban, and while he did apparently lose some Arena rating and the gear that came with it, his character wasn't too much the worse for wear. A 72-hour ban isn't too big a deal, so Blizzard probably hands those out with much less consideration than a permanent ban anyway. But we're sure Duane isn't the only case out there -- as small as the number may be, there's almost definitely other players like him, banned for doing nothing wrong at all.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, PvP, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Jasmeralia Oct 8th 2008 4:56PM
Well, you could always leave any matches that have you fighting against people you know. That makes it less likely to end up flagged for inspection like this guy was.
Lakuaz Oct 8th 2008 5:03PM
>Arenas wouldn't be nearly as popular as they are.
Arenas are not popular.
Oh, and blizz is really bad telling you why you got banned.
My friend got suspended for 2 days without given reason, he was later told by a GM that it was a safety measure.
He had been keylogged and blizz found out.
Just saying, sometimes theres a good reason blizz is just bad letting you know the reason.
Jasmeralia Oct 8th 2008 5:06PM
One more reason why I bought an Authenticator.
Sayce Oct 8th 2008 5:02PM
"It's either a false positive, or more corruption."
That's so true... the big bad Blizzard is just as bloated and full of corruption as many national governments.....
Please... give me a break. This is a company that makes a game that you obviously love, or you wouldn't be playing it. There is no reason for there to be corruption. They're making money hand over fist and have way way too many other things to do than try to pick on you.
Yes, it does seem that if Arenas are their new love obsession, that they ought to find a way to regulate them without punishing innocent parties... but what does Blizzard gain by punishing and innocent PAYING customer?
This game is a constant work in progress. That's always going to be the mantra chanted behind all of the problems. And some of their solutions aren't going to please you. Oh well. If you want to have your own say, start your own company and develop a multi-billion dollar a year MMO and make up your own rules and piss off other people.
Osi Oct 8th 2008 5:12PM
You have played Warcraft, right?
Sayce Oct 8th 2008 5:16PM
For years.
Listen, I get it. I know there are things done that aren't right.
And I know it sucks.
But it's a game. When it gets taken sooo seriously and every little infraction and slight is viewed as an issue requiring civil litigation... it takes the fun out of it.
I just think it's silly to assume that Blizzard is out to get us all. They love this game as much or more than we do. And yeah, the love the money too... but don't be so cynical that you can't believe that they love doing something for the love of it more than the money. That's a sad way to view the world.
Todd Oct 8th 2008 5:02PM
He probably kicked the crap out of the wrong Blizzard employee in the arena, and that employee laid the smack down.
Ghel Oct 8th 2008 5:05PM
Just chiming in to say they do catch innocent people in their dragnets, and they're not the least bit apologetic about it. I got a false-positive 72-hour ban in March 2007, for the offense "Unauthorized Account Access Policy Violation - Account Sharing". Basically means that I was supposedly letting someone else play my account (friend, sibling, powerleveling service) in order to powerlevel my characters.
I've never given my password to anyone nor allowed anyone else the use of my characters, but my protest fell on deaf ears and I ate the 72 hour ban and, as far as I know, I'm still at "Final Warning" status.
It's possible I had a keylogger and some gold farmer logged on my account from a different region of the world, but I've also heard of travelers trying to play on their laptops from a hotel room getting the same shitty treatment I got.
audioSE Oct 8th 2008 5:09PM
As others have said, no one's offered any proof that this was indeed a false positive. Duane could be pulling this out of his rear, and we'd be none the wiser. All we have to go on are his claims of innocence. I think it's a pretty big presumption on WI's part to arbitrarily declare him right and Blizzard wrong.
Irshalthra Oct 8th 2008 5:12PM
Seems to me we have one half of the story here. Quite easy to blame "big brother", but let's remember that Blizz has the communication between all parties. The ban was placed by one CS and I would bet it was reviewed and upheld by another.
While I admit Blizz can be a great whipping boy, I reserve jumping to Duane's defense due to an inability to know the facts.
Celton Oct 8th 2008 5:23PM
I was banned for a week because Blizzard claimed my account was comprimised. I had to fax them a form with my id proving it was me. When I got my account back, nothing was missing and my character was in the same place as when I logged out. I've never shared my account with anyone or even logged in from a different IP address. To this day I have no idea why I was banned. It was totally out of the blue. It was pretty annoying and frustrating too. Their emails are very vague.
Mike Oct 8th 2008 5:27PM
I know someone who's account was hacked, the person who jacked it transfered his toon with a stolen credit card that was rejected and after all this was straightened out and Blizz transfered his toon back to the proper server, gave most, but not all of his belongings back, reset his reputations and THEN proceeded to give him a 72 ban for transfering a toon with a credit card that was rejected and told him this would be his last warning and his next strike would be a perma ban AND THEY KNEW HIS ACCOUNT WAS HACKED, WTF!?!?!?!? Explain that one Blizz.... And yes I have seen the e-mails as the guy is a RL friend.
Thrashnak Oct 8th 2008 7:29PM
Accounts payable bans are handled by a different department. He could have easily called Customer Support and spoke with someone directly and had it cleared up. In my experience, Blizz has been very cooperative with customer support in cases where bans/issues were not the players fault.
I've had a guildmate get falsly banned for supposed "account sharing" or using power leveling services and had the "last warning" removed as well as being reimbursed for their three day ban. I've also had a guildie have similar experience to yours and had everything cleared up with a call to CS.
Lemons Oct 8th 2008 7:55PM
account sharing is a bannable offense? wtf does that mean? So...if two people are playing the same toon or something and Blizz somehow catches wind of it they'd get their account banned?
tanek Oct 8th 2008 5:31PM
From Duane's story:
"Blizzard determined that our matches constituted "win trading," which basically means one team losing on purpose to another team so the other team gets more arena points and a higher rating, and thus access to better arena gear."
This not the only way to be caught "win-trading". While the term does come from the scenario described by Duane, the application of it has expanded. Specifically, in this case, I would think Blizzard has evidence that the two guild teams (even if both sides were playing to win) talked about queuing against each other at the same time to play matches. Again, this can be actioned as win-trading even if both teams were still playing to win and had not pre-determined the outcome.
Plus, the repeated matching of teams with what is described as so obvious a gear-gap when there were (as told in the tale) other teams to play against does make for a few warning signs.
I can't say one way or another who was in the right here, but I have seen borderline cases that have been overturned, so unless one chooses to go with the "vindictive GM" theory (which I do not), I'd think there is at least some evidence on the side of Blizzard.
gton Oct 9th 2008 2:34AM
well, usually blizz just does nothing when you get screwed over by another player.... i'd be surprised if they took action without a serious reason
I once sent three mails about someone abusing arenas, i and i didnt even get an answer to those
Tuhljin Oct 8th 2008 6:46PM
"Corruption?" Seriously? What benefit is this "corrupt" employee getting from issuing temporary bans? Who's giving him money under the table? Have you any logical reason whatsoever to believe that some employee is "out to get you?" I highly doubt it. Stop being paranoid.
Lemons Oct 8th 2008 7:49PM
I agree, any employee that has the privelage to work for Blizz probably doesn't want to lose their job by doling out random bans to random players. If any player were to call them on it I'm guessing they'd be cleaning out their desk.
...Unless they're given absolute power in the matter, then they might just do it cause they're bored :P
Gimmlette Oct 8th 2008 6:47PM
One thing not noted is the ability of people to report you for behavior. I've had friends get a 3-hour ban because they had "words" with someone or beat them in a duel. Sometimes, it seems the GMs would rather ban someone and have you fight it out with them than do the investigation of the claim. To be sure, they are probably overwhelmed some days and I certainly wouldn't want the job of sorting through screenshots to determine what may or may not have been said. And most of those I know who were banned have shrugged and done something else. A few have fought it.
But I'm with a lot of the posters here in saying we only have Duane's side of the story. It would be nice for Blizzard to say, "You have been banned for 'x' infraction of the ToS." Then you'd have something to go on. "Methinks the 'toon' doth protest too much."
Melzurian Oct 9th 2008 1:04AM
There is no "your side of the story" or "screen shot checking" when it comes to harassment cases. Blizzard has logs of chat on their servers, they take the report, thank the player, then check the logs and see what really happened. Sometimes they will also/only ban the reporter if the logs show they were in the wrong.
Sounds pretty fair to me.