Banned! /cry

[atomik]

I attempted to log in last night to discover my 'mini boxes' banned. All of the trial accounts (plus my existing main account) were in my name, I was using keyclone, no additional software or hardware automation gadgets were being used. 1 mouse, 1 keyboard, 1 pc. The email said 'violation of TOS' and something about 'exploitation'. I wonder if it had anything to do with creating the accounts under the 'recruit a friend' option? Anyways I've emailed them to clarify whether it was the account creation or multiboxing or something else? Hopefully they will reply by tonight and I will have more answers on how to proceed with multiboxing ... so I won't get banned in the future.

*oh my existing main account was unaffected
x3 shaman - lvl 14 - in limbo
x1 shaman - lvl 14 - missing his 3 buddies

[Otlecs]

There's always more to these things than meets the eye.

It'll be interesting to see what they come back with. Post the full text of the various emails when you get a chance - minus your account information of course.

We all know that multiboxing isn't against the ToS, and Keyclone isn't illegal - there's more than enough Blue posts around to confirm both of those facts.

If you're being entirely honest in your initial claims, then I expect this will have a happy ending.

[puppychow]

You aren't running Innerspace or anything like that, right? Recruit-a-friend shouldnt get you banned, since you can't get past level 20 with it anyways. Maybe someone saw you and reported you as a bot, but the GM should have been able to check you are in fact not botting.

Thats one thing I hate about WoW, for no reason at all you can get banned and there is sometimes almost nothing you can do to fight it.

[Basilikos]

OP: Contact Account Admin via email. This will take a few days, but keep a cool head. If you did nothing wrong, the ban will be reversed in a few days.

[atomik]

Nope, no "innerspace", I even disabled all of my addons to lessen screen clutter (4 windows on 22" monitor is already cluttered). I will post emails when I get a response.

TY for responses.

[mickske]

I really hope this never happends to me. Even though I know I'm not doing anything wrong, it's just such a pain in the ass to get in contact with Blizzard support and have them fix everything.

I hope everything works out fine for you. It would be awesome if you post all the mails you send and recieve in this thread for future references. :)

[kadaan]

Just seems fishy that you'd get banned at level 14, most likely before someone even had the time to report you. It's definitely not recruit-a-friend, and I doubt it's because you were multi-boxing. There must be something else they detected that you're not aware of.

[Drizzit]

did you pay your bill?

[Bena]

Maybe they thought you were a gold spammer and overacted?? If
there's nothing wrong on your end they'll give them back to you.

[Vyndree]

GMs are human, therefore they are not infallible. They do make mistakes. Follow the directions in your e-mail, which likely says to appeal through accountadmin@worldofwarcraft.com

If you do a search for "unbanned", you'll find a couple others who were mistakenly banned for one reason or another, and were restored after they appealed and were re-investigated:
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=6201&highlight=unbanned

I got a email this morning saying that multiboxing was allowed and they apoligize for any inconvience and these two GMs will be taught about multiboxing so this dosen't happen in the future...

So all in all i got banned, then talked to a bud, unbanned and a apoligy... Just a wierd experience all together...

http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=85631&highlight=unbanned#post85631

lol, so they gave me my account back and said that keyclone is a legal 3rd party program. sigh, i love blizzard. Must have been some new admin or something, idk.

Also, be sure to do a scan of your computer for any viruses/keyloggers. It is possible you were banned when it was really a hacker in control of your accounts. Granted, I find this unlikely because you mentioned a trial account -- and there's restrictions on trial accounts -- but it's possible nonetheless.

In addition, I've also reported myself back when I first started multiboxing, to let the GMs know that I was a multiboxer and to ask if they could put a flag on my account so other GMs would know as well. Since then I have never been whispered by a GM (unless I ticket them first) and I know I've been reported a multitude of times.

[Nyalria]

Hopping on your coat tails, I too had one of my accounts recently banned. I play two accounts on the same computer. One got banned, the other is fine. I use absolutely no software for my dual-boxing. Banned Friday, immediately sent them a polite email. Got a response today saying that after reviewing everything I was still banned, so another email has been sent. They will not say what the violation was, so I asked at least for a date of violation. I know I've not willingly done anything wrong, but maybe there's something on my computer that's messing things up, and I'd really like to figure out what. Whole thing is quite frustrating though. Two 70s, 20000g worth of gold and materials on that account. =(

[Basilikos]

Also note that logging-in your accounts on machines you don't know anything about is not a good idea. This applies especially to that one theoretical 'friend' we all have that would never do this.

[atomik]

pay my bill? - yes, main account is set for recurring 6 month billing, as for the other 3 accounts they were still on the 10 day trial.
post emails - as soon as I get a response
possibly reported at botting? - I know there was one guy harassing me for an invite a couple of days ago, he could have reported me out of spite. For the most part nobody has given me grief over multiboxing, just lots of the standard questions.
different machines - I've only used one pc since I started multiboxing, previousl I used my laptop for solo play, but now only from the desktop.

So, should I have reported myself to GM's before I started? Would this be a good idea for new multiboxers?

*not freaking ... yet

[Jorai]

thank god i am on Akama, where people are complete assholes but the GM"s at least know what MB'ing is due to the rocks, the fembots, and others. still, i am sure i am not immune to this and hope all goes well for you. if everything was legit you are sure to get your stuff back. please let us know how it turns out.

[Stabface]

I'd double check your account info, maybe you typo'd something during account creation?

[Frosty]

10 day trial over?...Time flies when you're having fun! :P

[kadaan]

Hopping on your coat tails, I too had one of my accounts recently banned. I play two accounts on the same computer. One got banned, the other is fine. I use absolutely no software for my dual-boxing. Banned Friday, immediately sent them a polite email. Got a response today saying that after reviewing everything I was still banned, so another email has been sent. They will not say what the violation was, so I asked at least for a date of violation. I know I've not willingly done anything wrong, but maybe there's something on my computer that's messing things up, and I'd really like to figure out what. Whole thing is quite frustrating though. Two 70s, 20000g worth of gold and materials on that account. =(*wave* ;)

[yarr]

hmm, are you sure you hadn't been hacked?

[Meathead]

Well good luck man hope your accounts were all in the same name as in first name and last name.

[Bollwerk]

I used the "Recruit a Friend" for 3 of my accounts and never had a problem. All 5 of my accounts are in my name. Exact same contact info and billing info. As long as you meet this criteria, there should be no reason you can't get your accounts restored. Just make sure to NEVER let any friend play one of your accounts. Period.

[caffiend86]

Actually I've heard of trial accounts getting banned for multiboxing. One of my buddies wanted to try out multiboxing and so he made a bunch of trial accounts to give it a go. A GM talked to him, told him it wasn't allowed on trial accounts and banned his trial accounts. Blizz obviously doesn't have an issue with paid accounts, but their stance may be different if your not paying for it...

[Talamarr]

Actually I've heard of trial accounts getting banned for multiboxing. One of my buddies wanted to try out multiboxing and so he made a bunch of trial accounts to give it a go. A GM talked to him, told him it wasn't allowed on trial accounts and banned his trial accounts. Blizz obviously doesn't have an issue with paid accounts, but their stance may be different if your not paying for it...

This would be a very major policy and one I had not hear of before. This one needs confirmation.

EDIT:


You know you've been playing to much WoW when your Girlfriend's pants are a rare drop.

LMFAO!!! awesome!

[Korruptor]

Actually I've heard of trial accounts getting banned for multiboxing. One of my buddies wanted to try out multiboxing and so he made a bunch of trial accounts to give it a go. A GM talked to him, told him it wasn't allowed on trial accounts and banned his trial accounts. Blizz obviously doesn't have an issue with paid accounts, but their stance may be different if your not paying for it...Interesting.

When I started MB'n I used 3 trials with my 2 original accounts. I reported myself when I started, no one said anything about using trials being against ToS and I've had many good conversations with GM's.

[atomik]

All of the accounts were in my name. The only thing is maybe I left out my middle initial ... actually just checking my main account I noticed the city was 'Scarborough' instead of 'Toronto' (which I used to register the trial accounts). That's probably why, different city. Still no response from Blizzard yet. Wonder if I will still be able to get those accounts back? or in the event they don't, will I be able to create new trial accounts?

*note - Scarborough is a suburb of Toronto (I'm in Canada btw)

[Tidomann]

Hey buddy, canada ftw.. I live about 30 minutes from you :)

good luck with your accounts

[Skuggomann]

I shall fech my stick and poke some one!

[atomik]

long story short, I got my accounts back. Thank you all for your support. See emails below.
------------------------------------------------------------------
***Notice of Account Closure***

Hello,

This is a notification regarding the World of Warcraft account **************. Access to this account has been permanently disabled for exploitation of World of Warcraft through associated accounts which have been closed for intended exploitation. While we try to be as lenient as possible in our assessments of the results of exploitation investigations, reoccurring trends in exploitative endeavors on your accounts have ultimately lead to their closure. The recurring subscription on the account has been disabled to prevent further charges.

As a result, this account will no longer be able to access any aspect of World of Warcraft. This action has been taken in accordance with the Terms of Use (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html) and our game policies (http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01712p). According to the World of Warcraft Terms of Use, to which all players agree when installing World of Warcraft, Section 5, Paragraph C [Rules Related to Game Play] states that you may not do anything that Blizzard Entertainment considers contrary to the "essence" of World of Warcraft.

Any disputes or questions concerning this account action can only be addressed by Account Administration. To learn more about how Account Administration is able to assist you, please visit us at http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/21505.

Thank you for your time and understanding of our position in this matter. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Regards,

Nalost
Account Administration
Blizzard Entertainment
--------------------------------------------------
Hi, I just want to clarify why this account has been closed. Is it because I emailed myself a trial activation code via the 'recruit a friend' option or because I was multiboxing. I started up the trial accounts to see if my existing hardware could handle the load and when finally I got them up to level 14 I was planning running RFC to see what kind of performance issues I would have to deal with and then I find out my boxing accounts have been closed. I didn't want to purchase new accounts until I determined whether a new machine would be required. Please clarify.
Thanks, Atomik
--------------------------------------------------
Greetings,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding the World of Warcraft account you are using. We understand your point of view and have thoroughly reviewed this issue. As a result, the account action has been removed from the account and all involved parties have been addressed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Please feel free to contact us with any further questions or concerns you may have. Thank you for your time and patience in this matter and your continued interest in World of Warcraft.

Sincerely,

Claudisto
Account Administration
Blizzard Entertainment

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Excellent! Great present for the end of the week. :)

[Dorffo]

yay!

[Basilikos]

As a result, the account action has been removed from the account and all involved parties have been addressed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

I hope that means the Blizzard employees that erred have been graciously corrected and are now bigger people for having responded appropriately.

That's not sarcasm, either - I honestly hope they learned a thing or two and can now function better in their positions.

[blast3r]

just in time for the weekend. i sure wish they would tell you exactly why they banned you. weird.

[Dooz]

Noice! Grats man. I was kind of bummed when I read that your accounts were banned, and then all the speculation that came afterwards. It made me search for other posts. I allow my kids to play on my accounts, and my name is not EXACTLY the same on all of them, even though the last name, billing addy, email and first letter of the first name are all the same. My kids have multiple 70's and I don't want to risk them having to start over, even if the risk is minimal. So just a few hours ago, I bought 2 new battlechests so i could transfer a couple of doozes to accounts that match my name EXACTLY. I can't transfer one until Aug. 7 so I wont be MB'ing my shammies until then.

My reason for telling everyone this is... I learned a lot about policy by following your "Banned /cry" thread. Even though this subject has been covered in other threads, I didn't know enough to even think that what I was doing could have caused a ban. I'm thankful for the post.

[konraddo]

I am not currently playing on the US server. But when I did some time ago, I opened a number of free trial accounts for multi-boxing purpose, and they all got banned in 1 to 2 days. However, I bought a real account and do dual-boxing and both accounts were still safe when I decided to leave the server for personal reasons.

Perhaps, they are just banning free trials to get rid of Asian spammers.

[Kayley]

I am not currently playing on the US server. But when I did some time ago, I opened a number of free trial accounts for multi-boxing purpose, and they all got banned in 1 to 2 days. However, I bought a real account and do dual-boxing and both accounts were still safe when I decided to leave the server for personal reasons.

Same happened to me a long time ago, I got no reason for the ban. Purchased accounts and it was fine - not had a single problem.

[puppychow]

I guess we can infer that trial accounts don't get much GM investigation, any reports basically result in a ban. I did create 3 new trials when I started multiboxing last month, but I immediately upgraded them with my retail keys since I knew my PC could handle 5 windows no problem. Refer a friend gives 30 days on your main account for each one, and the trials add 10 extra days to your playtime (so 40 days with retail key before you have to pay monthly fee).

[gankzer]

Grats. I've been on the receiving end of plenty of those first emails - nice to see that follow-up email so now I know what it looks like. :whistling: Lotsa "game manipulators" use the trial accounts for the risk free no cost time period - so yeah the trial accounts get little investigation if reported. Again - glad this turned out good for you.

[ImaHealer]

Congrats!

and in a word

Vindication!

this situation is PROOF that
1 Multi Boxing is Legal
and
2 Legal Multi-Boxers are Vindicated when the PROOF is brought to light

again congratulations and enjoy your Weekend!