Accounts with the Same Last Name and Different First Name

[BinaryMuse]

Greetings,

I just got into multiboxing (yesterday actually, with the tremendous help of this site). I got my wife a WoW account a while back, she wanted to try it. She decided it wasn't her thing and I decided I wanted to use the account to dual-box. All of the information is the same, except the first name. I called Blizzard to confirm whether or not this would be alright.

The customer service rep said that, although account sharing is a strict black and white "no," within a family environment, assuming we're logging in from the same location, there should be no problem. This is what I imagined, seeing as my wife and I have joint legal ownership of... well, stuff, and I would imagine that this inlcudes the WoW accounts.



I thought perhaps this information would be useful to someone else. Thanks!

[Tidomann]

Sadly, Blizzard does not see it this way. All the accounts MUST have the same first name I believe because, I'd imagine if all actions are taken from one source, how can that source be you and your wife at the same time? It's a bit of a grey area. It is not certainly defined in sharing accounts. If you and your wife both played the accounts at the same time, while utilizing keyclone, would this be legal? No one really knows, and as I've asked this question before, it does not really belong on the forums as it flexes and questions blizzards TOA.

Just take it like this.. If you ARE multiboxing multiple accounts, even if they are your wifes, even if she is at a computer while you are sending commands via keyclone, the gm's will still see this as two seperate accounts being multiboxed, and you will get banned. In further dealing with recovering your account, you may bring up those facts, and it will be questioned whether your accounts will be returned. Take this warning now.

The account sharing information is great however :)

[Vyndree]

The customer service rep said that, although account sharing is a strict black and white "no," within a family environment, assuming we're logging in from the same location, there should be no problem.

The customer service rep was giving you bad information. He was essentially saying that you could "slip under the radar" given the right circumstances, but he should have no means encouraged or even suggested that you do so.

As a solo-boxer, it is very easy to "slip under the radar". You rarely get reported (unless you do something stupid), you don't gather attention, and that sort of thing. As a multiboxer, you get reported daily -- people want to find any way they can to ban you -- you stick out like a sore thumb -- and we've even had GMs admit that they enjoy watching us play.

This topic has been exhausted already.

If your name is not on the accounts, you don't own them. It doesn't matter if you were the only person playing on the account. The original account owner should NEVER share their account information. You should NEVER play on an account that isn't yours. Blizzard can ban anyone who shares an account for any period of time. Blizzard can ban anyone who HAS, in the PAST, shared an account for any period of time. Blizzard polices this proactively (through the use of checking IP changes, etc) and retroactively (every time you are reported -- REGARDLESS of what the report was for).

See these threads for details and links to the ToU/Eula:
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=24229#post24229
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=78169#post78169
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=75284#post75284
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=74121#post74121
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=82456#post82456
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=65734#post65734
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=80803#post80803
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=82893#post82893

[BinaryMuse]

This topic has been exhausted already.I apologize, it becomes apparent I did not do my research on the forum -- just got a bit excited at the customer service rep's words.

[Vyndree]

This topic has been exhausted already.I apologize, it becomes apparent I did not do my research on the forum -- just got a bit excited at the customer service rep's words.

CS reps, like everyone, are human and make mistakes.

Personally, if you remember the customer service rep's name, I would have a very strong talking-to to his supervisor. While he may have thought his advice innocent, I'm sure you would not be too happy to find one of your accounts banned later down the line.

[Mosg2]

[Stabface]

/fail

Long story short if you ever have a problem with your accounts then you'll have a very hard time getting it all straightened out.
Essentially you are dealing with Contract Law here which is pretty strict stuff.

[Binaryzero]

Had a chat with Blizz a few days ago about this, the ONLY reason it is "allowed" to happen is differences in names, (i.e. his example was William, Bill, Billy, Will, Willy and so on). The rule is very clear that is is not supported between accounts you do not own. (see the forums to understand what I mean by own, I mean legit Blizz own; all names match and so on.)

[Mosg2]

It bothers me a little bit that you would classify my comments as "instructions on how to exploit the paid character transfer system". Explaining how the system works is a far cry from spreading how-to's for hacks.

[Doubleo7]

Holy censorship Batman!

[Basilikos]

Explaining how the system works is a far cry from spreading how-to's for hacks.

In this context, it was a bad idea from the get-go.

[Stormweasel]

I´ve been trying to raise this issue over e-mail customer support for the last few weeks and getting the usual e-mail copy and paste for standard info giving so going to call when I´m home.

Here´s my issue though. I never use my real name on internet forums but imagine this:

Matthew Jones
Matthuw Jones

Call it a typo on the first name. Will that get through the account transfer, are they THAT rigid about it?

To complicate things slightly, the one that´s got one letter wrong doesn´t match my passport. If I ever had that account hacked, would my passport scan with the one letter wrong be unacceptable to Blizzard?

[Basilikos]

They're likely going to go on a case-by-case basis here. Bottom line, though, if you're not the creator of an account, you'll be wise to just stop using it.

[Carnage]

Nvm

[Mosg2]

Stormweasel:

I'm not gonna' give you the long of it (Don't want to get censored like a 10 year old) but the short is that yes, in that case as long as all

Basilikos:

So... Spreading correct non-hacking information at the wrong *time* is a bad idea? What planet are you from?

[Basilikos]

So... Spreading correct non-hacking information at the wrong *time* is a bad idea? What planet are you from?

Apparently, the information you posted contained information that could be used, regardless of your intent, to circumvent rules and policies. While it is not wrong, as you accuse me of claiming, it was in poor taste considering the way this thread was going.

[Basilikos]

Explaining how the system works is a far cry from spreading how-to's for hacks.

Not all exploits are hacks. Finding ways past policies is certainly an exploit. No one is accusing you of having done anything wrong. This thread was taking a bad direction from the get-go and it didn't help to have information lying around that could be used to further some people's nefarious purposes.

[Draz]

Stormweasel:

I'm not gonna' give you the long of it (Don't want to get censored like a 10 year old)

Maybe you should say it and be lucky enough to get a spanking from Vyndre(sp?)!?

[Vyndree]

Explaining how the system works is a far cry from spreading how-to's for hacks.

I've spoken with Mosg2 privately, and it appears that his post was written in a way that was easily misinterpreted.

I believe what he wants to say, and what we all are saying, is that you may transfer between accounts THAT YOU OWN as long as the name matches. This is because Blizzard knows that many of us use nicknames ("Bill") instead of full names ("Robert") on some of our accounts. However, it should be noted that you may NEVER, EVER, EVER transfer between two accounts that do not share the same owner (i.e. your wife's account, your cousin's account, your sister's or brother's account, etc).

See the below threads for clarification on account ownership and transfer of ownership between minors and parents.

http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=24229#post24229
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=78169#post78169
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=75284#post75284
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=74121#post74121
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=82456#post82456
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=65734#post65734
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=80803#post80803
http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=82893#post82893


The issue has been answered exhaustively, and tempers are starting to rise. Apologies to Mosg2 for misinterpreting his post. The censorship in that case is regrettable, but the post was (and continued to be) ambiguous enough to be used in a way that asurps the WoW rules. Keep this in mind the next time you press "post" -- make sure you're always very clear when clarifying WoW policies -- none of us want to see anyone get banned for misinterpreting what we write.

[Vyndree]

Here´s my issue though. I never use my real name on internet forums but imagine this:

Matthew Jones
Matthuw Jones

Call it a typo on the first name. Will that get through the account transfer, are they THAT rigid about it?

To complicate things slightly, the one that´s got one letter wrong doesn´t match my passport. If I ever had that account hacked, would my passport scan with the one letter wrong be unacceptable to Blizzard?

Stormweasel, I apologize for having to lock this thread when you are asking a legitimate question that hasn't completely gotten answered yet. Feel free to start up a new thread if you need more discussion on this.

That being said, the paid transfer system is DESIGNED to work when people accidentally type in a nickname or whatnot. You should be fine transferring characters between these accounts.

HOWEVER, you also have the option of updating the information with Blizzard since it sounds like it's a easily recognizable typo. They will likely require a notarized form of ID be faxed to them to prove that your name does closely match the typo'ed name on the account. This way you never have to worry about getting in a sticky situation since they can update your information to the correct, non-typo'ed version that matches your ID.

I believe people have more success speaking to Blizzard over the phone than via email. If you can't get a hold of them, ping over on the official Customer Service forums and one of the GMs can look into whether or not your e-mail arrived safely at its destination or can advise you on alternate ways to get this done. :)