[WoW] Account sharing, when is it ok?

[magwo]

Does anyone know for what kinds of scenarios account sharing is allowed?
If I'm not mistaken, it is allowed to share accounts within your immediate family, right?

For example, can I have my girlfriend (basically wife) play one of my shamans as healer?



Personally I think these rules are pretty dumb.. just greedy policies on Blizzard's part. More money for them, at the expense of the customers, in a situation where they basically have a monopoly on the genre.

[shaeman]

The policies are that it is okay to share accounts with members of the same household.

(by that I would say it was people in the same physical household - i received a temporary ban when I was working away from home and disconnected an account my children were on at the time.. The ip addresses were different and I guess they did see they were physically far apart). EXplaining the situation resulted in reinstatement and confirmation that members of the same household can play the account.

I know there is a lot of hate for blizzard, people calling them greedy etc but I think blizzard are actually very generous - They allow us to create multiple characters across mulitple servers, and provide hours of entertainment for not a lot of money. I couldn't rent 3 DVD's for the price I pay for hours upon hours of entertainment a month (although as a multiboxer I increase the costs without being able to play more than I did before, but I do multiply the possibilities and enjoyment)

It is a business after all, and a business is about making money, but they have a vested interest in keeping their customers happy. (otherwise we would all move to some other game))

In answer to your original question, if you live with your girlfriend then it would be acceptable to let her play your account.

I believe my playing of accounts that resulted in the ban would also be considered within the terms of policy, but I think I fell foul of automatic tracking of ip connections to an account used.

[Binaryzero]

you can only share with a minor child, spouses can not share even though the law sees us as one person. If you are going to box make sure all accounts are in YOUR name. Search the forums here there are several people who have had some or all accounts banned for using a GF/Wife/Sibling/friend's account. Do not risk your accounts and buy fresh ones when you box.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html

[Drizzit]

The policies are that it is okay to share accounts with members of the same household.

This is not correct. The only time that account sharing is ok is if the person is a minor. Also, you can only have 1 minor per account. So if you have 2 minors then you would need 2 accounts.

[magwo]

Thanks.

Edit: I still claim that this is just pure GREED on Blizzard's part. Monopoly leads to a shitty situation for customers, and don't give me that AoC crap. :)

[shaeman]

thanks for clarifying that - I've currently got 3 accounts (will go to 5 at some point) and two kids, so I'm within the terms and conditions of their policy (even if it is impossilbe for them to determine how many kids I've got and which ones I'm letting play :)

[Sarduci]

Thanks.

Edit: I still claim that this is just pure GREED on Blizzard's part. Monopoly leads to a shitty situation for customers, and don't give me that AoC crap. :)The best way to change policy is to vote with your feet and stop paying them money.

[Heenan]

I wouldn't call this greed. They are covering their ass... i.e. if your gf gets pissed and leaves you they don't want the hassle of changing account information (which stems from their account selling policy). It makes sense that every adult should have their own account. Period. Plus, those are the rules, so if you don't want to abide by them then there are plenty of other entertainment options.

Children are different since they are under your care... you are making their decisions for them. When they become of age they would need to purchase their own account too.

[Binaryzero]

thanks for clarifying that - I've currently got 3 accounts (will go to 5 at some point) and two kids, so I'm within the terms and conditions of their policy (even if it is impossilbe for them to determine how many kids I've got and which ones I'm letting play :)As long as they are all in YOUR name your fine. The name on the account is what they use, but as has been pointed out before, many different IPs on an account can cause issues also.

[daviddoran]

The policies are that it is okay to share accounts with members of the same household.

(by that I would say it was people in the same physical household - i received a temporary ban when I was working away from home and disconnected an account my children were on at the time.. The ip addresses were different and I guess they did see they were physically far apart). EXplaining the situation resulted in reinstatement and confirmation that members of the same household can play the account.

I know there is a lot of hate for blizzard, people calling them greedy etc but I think blizzard are actually very generous - They allow us to create multiple characters across mulitple servers, and provide hours of entertainment for not a lot of money. I couldn't rent 3 DVD's for the price I pay for hours upon hours of entertainment a month (although as a multiboxer I increase the costs without being able to play more than I did before, but I do multiply the possibilities and enjoyment)

It is a business after all, and a business is about making money, but they have a vested interest in keeping their customers happy. (otherwise we would all move to some other game))

In answer to your original question, if you live with your girlfriend then it would be acceptable to let her play your account.

I believe my playing of accounts that resulted in the ban would also be considered within the terms of policy, but I think I fell foul of automatic tracking of ip connections to an account used.Interesting. It makes sense that only one person can OWN the account, and if I could let my wife PLAY the account, that would be nice, if I ever talk her into playing... I know that with a single account, there'd be no way to tell who was ACTUALLY sitting in front of the computer, but with multiboxing, if suddenly one of my characters gets controlled independantly, would that look suspicous and get me a ban? Or if I had a friend over, and he wanted to take control of one of my chars?

[Binaryzero]

To give the final answer to the question, when is sharing an account OK... never!

[Eteocles]

What fur said; as stupid as it is sometimes, not even married couples are allowed to share; ONLY 1 Parent/legal Guardian and 1 Minor Child can "share". I wish they'd allow a little more leniancy but with 10 million players, 9million of which are mouth-breathing fucksmudges who click on "LOLMAXSTATHAX" links or buy plvling thinking they'll "PWN EVERY1 NOW LOLOL" it's what they have to do to protect themselves lol

[Binaryzero]

To give the final answer to the question, when is sharing an account OK... never!

You, an adult, can share your account with one minor child dependant (meaning the child is legally your problem).

if in doubt, go ask blizzard on the customer sevice forums. dual-boxing forums is NOT the appropriate place to ask these types of questionsRight see my post above but there was also people saying spouses can share, so my point is "when in doubt, don't"

[magwo]

The best way to change policy is to vote with your feet and stop paying them money. Not so easy when they are in a monopoly situation. They don't have real competitors at the moment, which gives customers no power whatsoever.

[Hokusai]

The best way to change policy is to vote with your feet and stop paying them money. Not so easy when they are in a monopoly situation. They don't have real competitors at the moment, which gives customers no power whatsoever.
From my point of view, and I am sure many others, this comment is totally wrong, I would assume, like many other WoW players, that WoW is your first online game of this type, and that you have not played any of the others. There are lots of alternatives, some good, some bad, some old and some new. If you want to play them you can, if you want to play a decent game, then your options are more limited.

WoW's success, whether good or bad, does not prevent you from not playing if you do not want to. I have played many of these types of games over the years, the only thing I don't like about WoW most of the time are the players, not the game. Claiming that they have a monopoly, when what they have is just a large amount of market dominance is incorrect. 'Play' Second Life if you want an alternative 'game' which has as many subscribers, remember that you in part are paying for massive bandwidth, hosting and maintenance costs and further costs of development too, for a pretty nominal amount each month. That is nothing to be sneezed at.

While their rules may seem to be stringent to some, it's not an uncommon rule amongst online games in general, whether people like it or abide by it or not.

[Vyndree]

Interesting. It makes sense that only one person can OWN the account, and if I could let my wife PLAY the account, that would be nice, if I ever talk her into playing... I know that with a single account, there'd be no way to tell who was ACTUALLY sitting in front of the computer, but with multiboxing, if suddenly one of my characters gets controlled independantly, would that look suspicous and get me a ban? Or if I had a friend over, and he wanted to take control of one of my chars?

Be careful what you're asking for here.

Are you asking the community to help you figure out how to account share with your wife without getting banned? Or your friend?

While discussing what is and isn't against the Terms/EULA is ok (for clarification), if you are confused about the rules you should really speak directly to blizzard. None of us want to get anyone banned, but we are human and do make mistakes so it is typically best to get it straight from the horse's mouth (i.e. Blizzard). If you are asking the community to help you figure out how to sneak around the rules, you'll want to revisit the community guidelines ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Board&boardID=31') which is found at the rules ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Board&boardID=31') menu tab on the top of every page.


On a personal note, I agree with some of the other posters here. If you don't agree with the terms of use regarding account sharing, you should not click "I agree" and you should vote with your consumer dollars.


I'm closing the thread because you got the appropriate answer -- you may ONLY share your account with your ONE minor dependant child. If you are confused regarding this policy, you should review the Terms of Use at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/termsofuse.html, the EULA at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/eula.html or the official Blizzard customer service forums. Also see this useful Blizzard Support website article on account sharing ('http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=20576').

This is the ToU section you will want to pay attention to:

You agree to these Terms of Use on behalf of yourself and, at your discretion, for one (1) minor child for whom you are a parent or guardian and whom you have authorized to use the account you create on the Service.

3. Establishing an Account.
You may establish one (1) user account (the "Account") on the Service for each Authentication Key you receive from Blizzard. To establish an Account, you will be required to provide Blizzard with certain personal information and the Authentication Key provided to you by Blizzard. Your failure to supply accurate information to Blizzard when requested, or to update that information as it changes, shall constitute a material breach of this Agreement.
During the registration process, you will be required to select a username and a password that are unique to the Account (collectively referred to hereunder as "Login Information"). You may not share the Account or the Login Information with anyone other than as expressly set forth herein.