World of Warcraft in the 'net's traffic patterns

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-22-2009 @ 7:16PM

t0xic said...

"...certainly Blizzard has much more detailed information on when people log into the game (and where they go when they do)..."

We like to talk about all of the really great statistics that Blizzard must have (since their servers are really just giant databases). Why is it that we assume Blizzard has enormous statistical tracking capability, but we never assume that Blizzard would have the same capability at auditing transactions such as:

- Buying/selling of over-priced items on the AH (gold selling/buying)
- Wholesale selling off of all gear across multiple toons on the same account (hacked accounts)

Maybe these are simple examples. I'm guessing they could get very specific in their audits and automate very basic checks to find trouble-signs. Instead of an end-user reporting that they've been hacked, an automated e-mail from Blizzard notifying users of suspicious activity on their account (sent to the original e-mail address, assuming it has recently been changed or linked to a battle.net account).

Off on a tanget, I know... It just seems like a double-standard to me.

10-22-2009 @ 7:35PM

t0xic said...

To carry that out a step further, what percentage of all account hacks occur after business hours on Friday night? One would think you could build a staffing model justifying more people on the weekends with that data alone.

Every account hack I've heard about from friends (including my girlfriend) happens at the beginning of the weekend, and it isn't resolved until early the following week (giving the hacker at least 2-3 days of unfettered account access). All of this info is in those databases if they want to dig it out.

They staff people to clean up the mess. They should staff people to prevent the mess from happening in the first place.

I have an authenticator on my account. I tell everyone I know to get one.

I may be a little bitter about this =)

10-22-2009 @ 8:18PM

ziggler said...

i remember a post in the official forums were a Gm totally owns a player who claims he had just bought the epic flying skill, but now couldnt use it, and that Gm even went as far as too show transcripts of the guild chat conversations that player had about buying the mount but not having the money for the flying skill. they do keep track of pretty much everything, the problem is, you cant process that amount of data easily.
(sorry for my poor english)

10-22-2009 @ 9:56PM

Snark said...

I found it.

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=285262381&sid=1

10-23-2009 @ 9:14AM

Thebum said...

They do check those databases regularly t0xic. I've received a 3 hours suspension because blizzard were worried that I had been hacked, and I don't think had sent a ticket about me as I didn't do anything at that time that would have annoyed anyone. So they must have been monitoring the logs or something.

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