YAANT - Yet another account name thread (no accounts locked)

[Fuzzyboy]

So i fessed up and wrote customer services. I thought I'd share the story so far with the forums if anyone should be in a similar situation.

I used to play multiple accounts, though not at the same time and actually had five when I started multiboxing (although 2 of them was non-BC accounts). The accounts werent in my own name due to the fact that I thought this wasn't allowed (this is a LONG time ago, but afaik stupidity isn't conflicting with the policy). Anyway I now have five accounts, two of which are in my own name, one in my ex-gf's name (though she never played) and two with random silly names (such as mr cookie monster etc). I tried to start them all up again using the same credit card (also in my name) but two of the five accounts were put on hold at the time of payment.

I talked to customer services who asked me to document that I was the owner of the two silly-name accounts by mailing photoes of the original box etc., or I wouldn't be able to pay with my credit card. The name in the gf's account wasnt locked. I talked to customer services some more and had the silly-name accounts opened up to use gametime cards to pay which was fine, so I did that seeing as the accounts were really old and I didn't have the original boxes anymore and thus no authenticity keys.

So now all my accounts are open AND blizz are aware that I'm playing them although three of them are not in my name. Anyway, once approved I started playing and now my dear shammies are level 70. Realizing what a massive honor grind I have ahead of me I've become a bit unsure of what to do. On one hand blizz are already aware that I'm playing the accounts and that I'm the owner although theyre not in my name (I have the email correspondance to prove this) - however they can choose to ban me for whatever reason and I'd hate to lose all that playing time, especially losing 5 70'ies with WotLK coming up.

So I decided to write customer services again, making them aware of the issue and explaining the situation once again - saying that I can provide whatever documentation but not the auth-keys and ask them to either change the name of the accounts or to give me a written approval. I expect neither to happen, hehe. Anyway, I fessed up and I'm still awaiting their answer (accounts are still unlocked) and I'll be updating this thread in case anyone should be in the same situation.

Oh btw, I'm on EU-servers if that's of any importance.

[Sarduci]

Customer Service Rep 1: Dude, this nut job is turning himself in for breaking the EULA.
CSR2: No way.
CSR1: Yeah, it's kinda weird.
CSR2: What ya gonna do about it?
CSR1: Nothing. Leave him alone. Obviously he's f'ing crazy. He leveled all the way to 70 first.

[Oatboat]

roffle

[Fuzzyboy]

haha :P

I'm not too worried - after all they let it slip the first time :P

[succulent]

I had a slightly similar situation when I started. I already had two accounts, one I made in my sisters name because I assumed you couldn't have multiple accounts for some reason. When I started boxing and understood the reality of the Eula, I simply bought another copy of WoW, made a new account in my actual name, and transferred over the one character on that account I cared about. Blizz apparently had no problem with this (account was always billed to me etc).

So, you could always do this. Make new accounts in your proper name, and just xfer over your toons.

[Stickman1971]

I had a slightly similar situation when I started. I already had two accounts, one I made in my sisters name because I assumed you couldn't have multiple accounts for some reason. When I started boxing and understood the reality of the Eula, I simply bought another copy of WoW, made a new account in my actual name, and transferred over the one character on that account I cared about. Blizz apparently had no problem with this (account was always billed to me etc).

So, you could always do this. Make new accounts in your proper name, and just xfer over your toons.Eh..slight problem with this.

When transferring between accounts, the last names have to match, and you have to enter in the answer to the secret question. I'm assuming the OP doesn't have a last name of "Monster" and I HOPE he doesn't have the same last name as his ex-girlfriend, unless of course he's from West Virginia (A JOKE, please... I'M KIDDING). Therefore he might have some serious issues with his two (random name) accounts. The ex's... if the GMs get pissy about it... he's probably screwed.

Your transfer worked because (I'm assuming) you and your sister share the same last name, and since you created the one for her, already had the secret question/answer that is asked when transferring toons to a different account.

[succulent]

When transferring between accounts, the last names have to match, and you have to enter in the answer to the secret question. I'm assuming the OP doesn't have a last name of "Monster" and I HOPE he doesn't have the same last name as his ex-girlfriend, unless of course he's from West Virginia (A JOKE, please... I'M KIDDING). Therefore he might have some serious issues with his two (random name) accounts. The ex's... if the GMs get pissy about it... he's probably screwed.

Your transfer worked because (I'm assuming) you and your sister share the same last name, and since you created the one for her, already had the secret question/answer that is asked when transferring toons to a different account.Ah yes, this is the case. The only difference between my two accounts actually was the first name on it. But I still xferred my toon over just to be safe.

Well, if OP knows the security question, maybe he can still xfer his toons :)

[Stickman1971]

If the last names on the two accounts do not match, he will not be allowed to transfer them over... period.

It's pretty cut and dry, unfortunately. There is a separate post about this, I can't remember where it's at, but I believe it's in the New Members section of the forums.

[Fuzzyboy]

Stick is right - there's no transferring unless the names are the same. Also, what they originally did was close the access to pay with CC. They were kind enough to reopen the option to pay with gamecards - even after they were made aware of the name-issue, so I'm doing that still. Howevere, even if the names did match, you can't transfer toons with the CC option disabled since you can't pay for a transfer by gametimecards :)

Of course, I should have thought of this before I started levelling and just bought some new accounts, but 1-70 is not really a lot compared to the honor grind I have ahead of me and I had a blast levelling my toons, so it wouldn't be a disaster having to start over, although I'd definitely prefer not to. I'm not too worried about it though, since they didn't do anything the last time they were made aware of it. When I talked to the customer service the first time I explained the whole situation and they simply opened up the two accounts for payment by gamecard and offered to change the names if I could provide auth-keys (which I can't since I only have 2 of the original boxes).

[Fuzzyboy]

Hello,

Thank you for your email. However the issue in this case is that an incorrect first and last name has been registered to the account <accountname>.

As you state in your email that you cannot provide all the information necessary to correct these details we regret to inform you that we will not be able to help you any further and that we will unfortunately not be able to remove the credit card restriction.


Thank you for your understanding.



Regards,

Aechlyria
Blizzard Europe Entertainment
Payment Support
http://eu.blizzard.com/support ('http://eu.blizzard.com/support')
Please retain all history if you reply to this mail. They didn't answer the question about if I could continue playing them and not worry about getting a ban - this is a very weird situation, I was kind of expecting them to either ban the wrongfully named accounts or simply tell me that it was ok. All of the accounts are still unlocked ?(

[HPB]

If you're looking for a big "Your accounts are safe and you'll never be banned reply", you won't get one. Even though you've talked to Blizz staff before, you can still be banned at any time. I'd cut my losses, roll a few new toons on new, legitimate accounts. Boost them up fast to join my team and THEN start rep grinding.

[Aradar]

If you want to get risky with it you could buy a new account with a matching fictitious last name to your current fictitious name, transfer the 70 over and then have the name on the account changed to your correct name since you will have all the required documentation. I wouldn't suggest this trickery, but if you feel gutsy...

[Fuzzyboy]

Aradar: Actually, that's not a bad idea but the chars can't be transferred off since they closed the creditcard option (that's why I'm using gamecards for the fake-name accounts). Thanks for the idea though :)

[Fuzzyboy]

If you're looking for a big "Your accounts are safe and you'll never be banned reply", you won't get one. Even though you've talked to Blizz staff before, you can still be banned at any time. I'd cut my losses, roll a few new toons on new, legitimate accounts. Boost them up fast to join my team and THEN start rep grinding.Actually that's pretty much what I was looking for :| Or at least a word from blizz that the accounts can still be banned - it seems they're avoiding answering my question.

[Vyndree]

If you're looking for a big "Your accounts are safe and you'll never be banned reply", you won't get one. Even though you've talked to Blizz staff before, you can still be banned at any time. I'd cut my losses, roll a few new toons on new, legitimate accounts. Boost them up fast to join my team and THEN start rep grinding.Actually that's pretty much what I was looking for :| Or at least a word from blizz that the accounts can still be banned - it seems they're avoiding answering my question.

Did you break the rules? Yes.
Can we promise that breaking the rules won't get you banned? No.
Can blizzard promise that breaking the rules won't get you banned? No.

They aren't avoiding the question. The question is clearly answered in the ToU -- which you accepted upon opening each account, and on each patch.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html

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.

That IS your answer. Breaking the rules can get you banned. The only way not to get banned for breaking the rules? Create new accounts, and don't break the rules.

It's a sucky answer, but it's the right one.

Blizzard might let one slide, but that doesn't mean they can't change their minds tomorrow... or the next day... or the next. You broke the rules. It's their choice whether they want to make you live up to the consequences of your actions -- today, tomorrow, next month, next year...

Honestly, I'd be grateful at this point that blizzard would even allow you to send them proof of ownership/purchase via the original paper account key. They do not owe it to you to change the name on the account, because they were not the ones who screwed up. Despite the fact that, written in their ToU, using inaccurate account information breaches their agreement, they're lenient enough to verify this information and give people a second chance. However, they weren't the ones who messed up and put the fake names in there. They're not the ones who lost the original account key and documents. It's really not their fault if you can't prove that you used a fake identity and that you are, indeed, the real account owner. They can't do that, because it would begin to open up a whole new can of worms with account stealers who would use the leniency in policy to claim that the accounts they steal are actually theirs. So I personally agree with this policy -- I don't want hackers changing the names on the accounts I own.

If you are concerned about getting banned, then your best recourse would be to create new accounts, in your legal name, and play them according to the rules.

[Fuzzyboy]

Did you break the rules? Yes.
Can we promise that breaking the rules won't get you banned? No.
Can blizzard promise that breaking the rules won't get you banned? No.

They aren't avoiding the question. The question is clearly answered in the ToU -- which you accepted upon opening each account, and on each patch.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html




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.That IS your answer. Breaking the rules can get you banned. The only way not to get banned for breaking the rules? Create new accounts, and don't break the rules.

It's a sucky answer, but it's the right one.

Blizzard might let one slide, but that doesn't mean they can't change their minds tomorrow... or the next day... or the next. You broke the rules. It's their choice whether they want to make you live up to the consequences of your actions -- today, tomorrow, next month, next year...I appreciate your candour but it's actually not quite as simple as that :)

Basicly, what I was trying to do was to establish knowledge on Blizzards part so they could choose to ban me right here and now or let me play, to some degree constituting sort of a tacit agreement (I'm not sure if "tacit" is the right term). Allow me to give an example: Under other circumstances, assume that I buy a bicycle agreeing before the time of purchase that should I use it to drive on dirt roads I will forfeit my warranty (this would be conflicting with consumer law in most civil law countries, but for the sake of the argument...).

Now, suppose that I used it to drive on dirt roads anyway and while doing so run in to the store clerk/owner/mechanic who sees me and see me riding the bike on the dirt road. Due to our original agreement he may now choose not to repair my bike under the warranty should it break, but if he does chooses to fix under the warranty, knowing I rode it on the dirt road, he won't be able to refuse fixing it under warranty the next time it breaks (you could probably argue that he didn't have to if the next break-down was due to riding on a dirt road, but that's another matter). This could apply to the situation on hand.

Of course all this doesn't really matter since I would never ever dispute Blizzards decision in a court of law, but my point is that the case isn't as clear cut as you suggest (mind you that being a citizen in a EU country and being a consumer in legal terms would mean that the applicable law on the contract would be the law of the consumers country of residence). I never asked anyone (but blizzard) to promise that I wouldn't get banned - I simply shared the information I had and the case with the multiboxing community.

Can blizzard promise that my previous breach of the rules won't get me banned? Of course they can. Will they? Hardly. Keep in mind that I'm not actively breaking the rules - I did it when creating my account and possibly up until I explained the situation to Blizzards customer service by withholding the information that I had breached the rules. I'm not asking them to promise that breaking the rules won't get me banned, but rather that my previous breach of the rules that they're now aware of won't get me banned in the future. Of course they don't have to give that promise to me and they probably won't, but that's not really the point.

So yes, the CS team is avoiding the question as they didn't answer it. While the rules are stated in the eula/tos/etc that is simply a starting point for the evaluation. Were I a CS-representative I certainly wouldn't answer the question either, but again, that's not the point.

Yeah, breaking the rules can get you banned, in fact (well, in theory), not breaking the rules can get you banned as well ("BLIZZARD MAY SUSPEND, TERMINATE, MODIFY, OR DELETE THE ACCOUNT AT ANY TIME WITH ANY REASON OR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE") - the real question is whether my original breach WILL get me banned. Should Blizzard chose not to provide this information (as I expect them not to) I WILL create new accounts and level up more huggable shammies (in fact I already purchased the accounts).

Anyway, I digress - my point is that in contractual terms, letting the information I provided to blizzard (twice) "slide" actually could mean (in theory, since I wouldn't dispute a ban) that they would have to let it slide tomorrow, next month or next year :)

[Fuzzyboy]

Honestly, I'd be grateful at this point that blizzard would even allow you to send them proof of ownership/purchase via the original paper account key. They do not owe it to you to change the name on the account, because they were not the ones who screwed up. Despite the fact that, written in their ToU, using inaccurate account information breaches their agreement, they're lenient enough to verify this information and give people a second chance. However, they weren't the ones who messed up and put the fake names in there. They're not the ones who lost the original account key and documents. It's really not their fault if you can't prove that you used a fake identity and that you are, indeed, the real account owner. They can't do that, because it would begin to open up a whole new can of worms with account stealers who would use the leniency in policy to claim that the accounts they steal are actually theirs. So I personally agree with this policy -- I don't want hackers changing the names on the accounts I own.I'm not saying that they owe it to me to change the name of the account. It simply isn't relevant since I don't have the original boxes anymore. In fact I couldn't care less if my name is on the account or not (also note that the names of the accounts are obvious fake ones, that they've always been paid with by my credit card and always been registered to my address and my email which is the same address/email/credit card I use on my non-fake-name accounts) - but of course I do care if I get banned.

I simply wanted them to take a stand on the matter and either allow me to continue playing or stating that the original breach will get me banned sooner or later. Obviously I'm expecting the latter since I've already purchased the new accounts, but I figured the worst I could expect from asking was that the accounts were closed and better now than after 200k of honor points :)

[Fuzzyboy]

What do you know - miracles do happen (see below). I kept one of the boxes for the CDs in case I needed to reinstall and it turned out to belong to one of the fake-name accounts. Also, I got my word that the accounts wouldn't be banned - /CHEER:

Hello,

Thank you for your e-mail.

This authentification key is indeed used on one of your accounts. We should be able to correct the contact information on this account as soon as you provide the requested pictures.

The other accounts won't be banned, but the credit card payment option will remain restricted for security reasons.


Thank you for your understanding.


Best regards,

Blizzard Entertainment Europe
Aghadron
Payment Support
http://eu.blizzard.com/support

Please retain all history if you reply to this mail. "

[Elias]

Good to hear that :)