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The latest patch 5.4 newsThe Martin Fury scandal: Karatechop reveals all
by Lesley Smith 
Apr 30th 2009 at 6:33PM
WoW Insider: Who are you?
Karatechop: I'm Karatechop, the Guild Leader of The Marvel Family on Vek'nilash-US.
There are postings on the net where someone purporting to be Karatechop says they work for Blizzard. I'm assuming this is not the case?
I'm not an employee of Blizzard. I'm not a hacker, I'm just a person who had a pretty tight regular group of people who liked playing WoW.
How did this whole thing start?
One of my guild members, Leroyspeltz, had his account hacked back in December. He was an Officer at the time and whoever hacked his account ravaged the guild bank, which happens. Once Blizzard was able to rescue his account, he noticed several of his toons were gone.
When you say gone? Are we talking deleted or transferred?
According to him, some were deleted and some were transferred to other accounts, but at the time he assumed they had been deleted. He opened a ticket with Blizzard back in December I believe and they never responded.
Things just sat there until sometime in mid-March. We had a looting error in 25 man OS . As the guild leader I handed an item to Leroy by mistake so he immediately opened a ticket so the item would go to the proper player. They resolved that problem then they asked him for more information on this problem he had reported months ago that hadn't been solved. He received some emails from Blizzard detailing what they were sending him, and when he logged in on April 19th all of his characters were back.
So what happened next?
All of them had in-game mail from Blizzard and lots of random items. He had no idea why he was getting them. Most of them seemed to fit Blizzard's usual M.O. for restoring hacked account, tons of low level stuff, stacks of Silverleaf and the like. Blizzard has rarely restored any toon I've seen hacked to its former glory. They seem to give you some random stuff and just leave it in one of these multiple in-game mails. On his level 13 warlock, I believe, was Martin Fury.
When he realized he had Martin Fury and shared that information with you, why not open a ticket immediately?
I was unsure of what it was exactly. Sure, we read the stats, but we didn't even contemplate a ticket.
Why not?
It was in-game mail from Blizzard. We just assumed it was something they sent him. We didn't think it was real. I honestly thought it was something Blizzard gave to one of Leroy's alts for four months of ignoring the problems with his account.
So when did you first use Martin Fury?
On April 20th the guild was in a 10-man Ulduar run. Leroyspeltz was not in my Ulduar group at the time when he opened the mail. We were on Ignis and I brought Leroy into the group. We tried it and it worked.
And you didn't consider this cheating or worry that a GM might notice? You didn't worry you might get into trouble?
No, it came from Blizzard. We were laughing about it. After killing Ignis we went out and reset the raid to heroic. We went back in and killed Flame Leviathan
How many charges did the item have?
When we got it, Martin Fury had 100. We used it fourteen times.
So when did things go wrong?
We had used it on Malygos and 25-man OS earlier in the week and, again, this wasn't, for me anyways, a way to get loot or achievements. This was purely a comedy thing for me. It was funny. We went back to Ulduar with twenty-two people and made several legitimate attempts at Flame Leviathan. This is where I feel really bad. Some of the people we had with us didn't know we had Martin's Fury. Then we engaged and used the item, it was a riot!
I was unable to play over the weekend and didn't check in with my friends. When I tried to login on Tuesday is when I had discovered my account was banned. That's when they started to let me know that we had achieved some world's first, which was also never my intent.
So you hadn't achieved any world firsts?
Some of the people wanted full clears, but I didn't want to take that away from the guilds who had worked so hard to get there. I didn't think we had world firsts, but some people have claimed we had. I also wasn't worried about hiding anything as, again, it was an item sent to us by Blizzard.
Did Blizzard get in touch with you? No GMs mid-instance?
No. They claimed to have sent me an email once I found my account was banned, but this didn't happen either. I had to jump through the hoops to reset my email address with my account banned and open a web form questionnaire.
And your account is still banned?
Yep.
And, during any of this, you never took screenshots?
I'm not that type of player. We never took screen shots that often of anything. We didn't record encounters. Again, it was a group of friends who just had a good time playing the game together
Do you think it's fair that you've been banned?
No, I don't believe banning is fair, especially since this would be my first infraction in the 4+ years I've played the game. But it's Blizzard's game and they are the ones calling the shots, so fair is relative. Up until the bans, I honestly didn't think I was destroying the World of Warcraft.
You must have thought that this item didn't belong in a player's hands even if it came from Blizzard?
I thought it odd, but with the charges I wasn't sure.
Do you expect to get your account back?
No.
Do this bother you? Has it put you off WoW?
Yes, I loved that game. I was never bored with it, I had 159 days of my life on that character.
Are you going to reroll?
I don't believe so. I think I'm going to try something else. Again, this being my first infraction on any level whatsoever it seems like they overreacted. Where they really failed was that they locked the accounts of all my guildies who were online at the time. Not people who had any of those raid IDs mind you, but everyone.
Did many people on your realm know what was going on?
No. Not even the whole guild just the people on the runs. Actually it wasn't even all of them. As I said before I tricked 3 or 4 of them, I thought it was funny.
Who else has been banned as a result? Was it just you and Leeroy? Was it other folks in the raid or your guild?
Everyone in the guild who was online had their accounts locked for twenty four hours, regardless of whether or not they were in the run.
How are they reacting to this?
They aren't happy. Some are upset at me, but most of them have my back on this. We didn't hack the game. We were given a 'You Win' button and it was something we used.
Well thank you for speaking to us.
Thanks for taking the time.
Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Interviews
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 37)
Karilyn Apr 30th 2009 7:25PM
"I am completely disgusted with any of you who think he has done anything wrong here. Blizzard is completely wrong on this issue if what he says happened is true. Shame on all of you for being such self righteous asses."
I don't believe for one moment that his story was true.
"I swear officer, the car was just sitting there with the keys in it, I thought it was free for me to use. I swear I wasn't stealing it."
He's playing innocent, and it's rather laughable at best. He KNEW he was breaking the rules, and knew that he was breaking them in a big way.
Any sympathy I had for him, was abolished when he started lying about how he didn't know he was doing anything wrong.
Deb Apr 30th 2009 7:30PM
and this folks, is exactly why Blizz gets an F from the BBB.
WoWie Zowie Apr 30th 2009 7:30PM
disagreed
1) look at the context. his friend had 4 months of service paid for that wasn't working. this COULD have been a "i'm sorry"
2) this came FROM BLIZZARD itself. he did not hack the system. he did not alter anything outside of the rules. he obtained this item fairly. he did NOT break the EULA
3) he's obviously a dedicated, loyal player who i'm positive would not intentionally break the EULA and risk banning if he knew otherwise.
blizzard messed up, and he paid for it
he did not mess up
this wreaks as blizz setting an "example" to others for not reporting to them when they mess up badly.
now i, like the next guy, would LOVE to see justice done. that is not fair and it would infuriate me if he got to keep all those achievements.
but justice would be this: take away his achievements and his loot from the date specified.
problem solved.
i'm upset that blizz made an example this way
Kerrek Apr 30th 2009 7:32PM
Well, I think that we can all agree that this interview made KarateChop seem like a decent guy, and the comments section unequivocally makes SaintStryfe look like a douchebag.
Posi Apr 30th 2009 7:37PM
So when did you first use Martin Fury?
"On April 20th the guild was in a 10-man Ulduar run. Leroyspeltz was not in my Ulduar group at the time when he opened the mail. We were on Ignis and I brought Leroy into the group. We tried it and it worked"
F'n little cheaters. Oh.... it came from Blizzard, we thought we were supposed to use it. Lamest excuse then tries to lay the blame on Blizzard saying they don't follow up on GM tickets. Ban them for life. If I saw someone in my guild blowing through achievements in Ulduar, I would be quizzing them and if I found they were using an item like this i would tell them to stop immediately and report it to Blizzard. This guy is a sorry excuse for a guild master.
Reuben Apr 30th 2009 7:41PM
What it comes down is that this is a game that people play $15 a month to enjoy. I'm not complaning about that, but the fact is that this guy poured money and time into his character and gets punished for Blizzard's mistake. Should he have used it? No, probably not, but he did nothing serious with it. I think that some punishment is in order, but not this. This "flying off the handle" on Blizzard's part does not look good at all.
hold up Apr 30th 2009 7:41PM
I would absolutely love for you to be in a guild where one of the members is caught violating the ToS and then you get banned. Love it. I would giggle as I read the WoWinsider post "SaintStryfe banned for associating with questionable players."
Or even better yet, I hope Blizzard programs a bug into one of your characters ability and by using that ability you violate the ToS and get banned. Then you could come and wine on WoWinsider how you "didn't know it was bugged" and everyone would write their comments about how your a cheater and deserve everything you get.
You and Blizzard take WoW way too seriously. At least they are making money off of it, your just a fanboy.
I hope all the guild members who did not participate in the raid and still got banned sue Blizzard for wrongful banning, defamation of character, emotional scarring, violation of their own EULA and unlawful seizure of goods.
thain Apr 30th 2009 7:47PM
I love the high and mighty responses. "Oh your a cheater you shouldn't have used it!".
He was send an item in the mail from blizzard. If you looted Martin Thunder from Yogg Saron, would it be legit then? What about an Elwyn Bunny. With the multitude of joke items and whatnot it is obvious that there are times in which Blizzard has a sense of humor in game.
What is several toons gone for several months worth?
Would I have used the item?
No, because I know that in its soul, blizzard is a soulless company, and it would consider it cheating and ban me and anyone near me.
Was he breaking the EULA?
No, he was using an item sent to him by a GM for the intended affect the item said.
Did he think what he was doing was wrong?
I don't know, you don't know, only he does.
Who was at fault?
Blizzard, specifically the GM for giving out the item, but as a company you are responsible for accidents your employees commit because of lack of safeguards.
Karatechop, for acting recklessly with an item that at bare minimum should have been worth asking a GM about.
Double at fault? In auto world it means you split the bill and go your separate ways. In Blizzard's world it means they ban the person who made them look bad (and a multitude of others who might not have even known what was happening). And people say karatechop is the one corrupted by absolute power.
Jay in Oregon Apr 30th 2009 7:59PM
Narceas:
"How did he break the EULA? Can you cite specifics?"
I can do better than that. I can cite the actual specifics of the Terms of Use (not EULA) that Blizzard listed in his ban letter.
"Reason for Action: Terms of Use Violation - Abuse of Game Mechanics
• Using or exploiting errors in design, features which have not been documented, and/or 'program bugs' to gain access that is otherwise not available, or to obtain a competitive advantage over other players;
• Anything that Blizzard considers contrary to the 'essence' of the Game."
It could be argued whether or not using a godmode item that was sent to you in error is "exploiting an undocumented feature" or whatever, but the last one is pretty self-explanatory. If Blizzard decides you are cheating, they can ban you. Full stop.
LandMineHare Apr 30th 2009 8:10PM
SaintStryfe: Hmm...
(i) Using or exploiting errors in design, features which have not been documented, and/or "program bugs" to gain access that is otherwise not available, or to obtain a competitive advantage over other players;
I don't see him using/exploiting any errors in design, or bugs, or undocumented features. Using an error in GM judgement isn't listed.
(iii) Anything that Blizzard considers contrary to the "essence" of the Game. "
The essence of the game is to kill bosses. How you kill them isn't explained.
Brananvil May 1st 2009 12:47AM
so what part of the EULA are you saying it violated? Did it hurt anyone or anything?? I get hurt more from whispers from gold vendors. If that EULA was that strict why do blizz gm's show up in crazy gear? are they above their own rules?
Tuhljin Apr 30th 2009 8:27PM
Manatank: "I am completely disgusted with any of you who think he has done anything wrong here."
And I am completely disgusted at all of you that think . And I also think you're incredibly gullible if you buy this guy's story 100%. Thinking it was a joke item that didn't actually work, sure, maybe, for a while. Not thinking it was wrong to keep using it when it's quite obvious that it works?
The comments here and their associated up/downratings are sure evidence of the lack of ethics of WoWInsider's collective reader base, as an average. Disgusting.
SaintStryfe Apr 30th 2009 8:38PM
Erin: Tempted? Sure. But I have a head on my shoulders that tells me it's a bad idea.
Lerang: GOld farming is a bannable offense. There Ninjaing is a social activity, which while deplorable, fits under 9.C of the ToS. And blizz does their best against actual hackers and keyloggers.
skreeran: Without knowing the numbers, I can't say if it was moral or not. But if it took a year to pay off, it might have been significant. I can't say. Thanks to your family for the sacrifice BTW, sorry you have to have such concerns when your father is a wounded vet.
Zeplar: The Zombie event was the most fun thing Blizz has done in ages. No one was hurt by it, just mildly inconvenienced.
jeremy_lucia_mason: Was at work. Now am home and am Playing. :-)
ita a game: Ninjaing is a social problem. See ToS, section 9 part C.
WoWie Zowie: 1) Have you ever hear of BLizz giving God mode buttons for customer service lapses? 2) Way I heard it, he was sent it from a friend who was from Blizz. 3) he's dedicated and loyal enough to exploit the game. Blizz made a minor error. He had a huge gaping moral failure. And I'd be more sympathetic if he just admitted his error rather then playing dumb.
Kerrek: I don't doubt I'm a douche bag. However decent people don't exploit the game.
Reuben: There are rules with consequences. He violated rules, he pays consequences. Simple a that.
hold up: I wouldn't. I have an awesome guild. Just me and some friends. I take this seriously becuase I really, really hate cheaters, and this guy is cheating. Oh, and there's language in both the ToS and EULA that says you can't sue, I'm fairly sure.
thain: well there was no damage, but he violated the rules. There's a clear policy for banning people who work exploits. This was an exploit.
I'm calling this my last word on the topic, since I could be on here replying all night. This is not very interesting any more. I hope he stays banned and I hope he's learned not to be foolish enough to get free godmode.
Ancro Apr 30th 2009 8:51PM
Stryfe is entirely in the right here, although he/she is using dialogue that I might not use myself: Karatechop and his guild used an obviously bugged item (i.e. sent to them in error) to exploit the game design (using GM tools in a way not intended for use by anyone other than the design team) without attempting to contact Blizzard (Karatechop indemnified himself in this article by saying that they didn't even consider it).
It is the right of all players of the game to respect and defend the integrity of the product they pay for every month. While they may not have direct control the game, fury over the misuse of utilities within the game to unfairly reward one group of players over another is entirely fair. It sickens me that the morality of the internet allows players to not see what he [Karatechop] did wrong and would have done the same in his place.
Trasken Apr 30th 2009 8:54PM
I agree with SaintStryfe.
Hopping invisible walls is considered an exploit abuse of the game and it's a mistake on blizz's part. This is exactly the same thing. Sure, they sent him the wrong item. But he should have reported it right off the bat.
Honestly, I assume Karatechop was like 12 or something not to realize it was a mistake.
That's like finding a guy beaten on a street and taking advantage of the situation and mugging him.
Blizz made an honest mistake and it was taken advantage of.
Honestly, I feel a banning was completely in order. If not for what was done, then for the sheer stupidity of thinking "Oh, this IWIN button must be legit!"
If anything, I applaud Blizz's decision. And this is coming from a player who was perma-banned on an earlier account (newbie + questionable addons = not good)
Saint Apr 30th 2009 9:20PM
I don't think he was entirely in the wrong or in the right. He got super mega ultra weapon and used it to get a laugh. Should have used it in BT or Sunwell Plateau.
But it comes down to this, Blizzard is embarrassed of themselves for goofing up. So they go Gestapo on it and ban everyone associated with the event. Wouldn't surprised me if WoWInsider gets shit from Blizzard for even covering this in such detail.
It disgusts me with how stark black and white some of yall's morality is. He didn't hack the system, he just used something that was given to him for a joke. He shouldn't have used it on Ulduar, or even Naxx. But a lifetime banning over this? For shame Blizzard.
I've never contemplated closing my account more than this before. It's not even that they banned Karatechop either. It's the blind banning of his guildies.
Isn't the point of Ulduar to show that you don't use a sledgehammer to do a scalpel's job? Wouldn't a slap on the wrist, removal of achievements and gear have done much more?
Alex Apr 30th 2009 9:23PM
He took the item and used it to make an unfair advantage. It would be a different story if right when he got it, he opened a ticket and waited until it was gone.
He exploited something that wasn't meant for him.
Tuhljin Apr 30th 2009 11:14PM
typo fix: My post above should start "And I am completely disgusted at all of you that think he's completely innocent."
Croe Apr 30th 2009 11:29PM
Personally, while I think you're asking for trouble using something like that, being banned for life is a bit of an over-reaction.
Yes, perhaps he could have handled this better. He didn't. People screw up. It happens. It wasn't used maliciously and I'm sure he didn't use it with the intention to screw Blizzard over or anyone else.
I'm sure many of us at one time or another have thought about what it would be like to get such an item.
SheldonLock Apr 30th 2009 11:58PM
And the fact that Blizzard fucked up and gave that one guy that item is his fault too? Rethink you shit, Einstein. If a GM gave Leroyspeltz that item, then the GM messed and they shouldn't be punished. Besides, I'd like to see what YOU'D fucking do if you got the exact same item. And I can tell you this, you wouldn't open a ticket about it.