Yep, she really did. It is a long, sad tale, but here goes:
Until yesterday I had 5 WoW accounts. All mine from start to finish. I started out with three accounts in the first few months of WoW but upgraded to five about 8 months ago. When I upgraded, I figured I'd save some money by using the "Recruit a Friend" option. However, since everything to do with that option seems to be directed towards Blizzard getting another real person as a customer, I figured if I put my own name on the new accounts it would be seen as against the rules. Not wanting to get in any trouble, I put in a different first name (same last name, same address, same phone number, same secret word, same credit card, always logging in from the same IP address, sequential account names). I thought about using my wife's name but figured that might be seen as account sharing so I just put "Karen" in. There is no "Karen <my last name>" that I know, I just made it up to be "safe".
So I've been playing the five accounts for a while now and even started transferring toons back and forth between them as needed for class setups, etc. Never had any problems at all. Of course, I've had about 40 people /tell me "Reported" or some crap while playing my set of five toons over the months but have never had anything come of it. I had saved my $30 (two Refer a Friends) and never really thought about it again... UNTIL...
I read all Vyndree's posts about how it really is against the Terms to use an account with anyone else's name on it. This starts to worry me as I've put a ton of time into all my toons. Now every time I log into the game I'm worried. ;( But what can I do? I'd hate to call up Blizz and admit I "lied" on the names of two of my accounts - proving that "Karen" really doesn't exist might be dicey and they could ban those two accounts. Or I could just keep playing - I hadn't had trouble so far and I'd even transfered characters with no problem. Still, Vyndree's posts would not leave me in peace - I kept picturing her stading in the midst of a bunch of fish tanks with a stern look on her face shaking her finger at me as I lost my toons forever.
So I came up with a solution that I couldn't get in trouble with - all the benefit and no risk (or so I thought). I called up Blizz support and told them how I'd thought the Refer a Friend thing couldn't be used for yourself so I'd put names that weren't mine on two of my accounts (totally true). But then I told them it was my infant daughter's name that I put in. I explained that I just wanted to update it to my name because I multi-boxed and wanted to be absolutley sure there would be no trouble. So the guy said "No problem at all, sir. I'll just send you a form to fill out, send it back and we'll get that fixed for you." Sweet! :thumbsup:
But the email that came from Blizzard didn't make me happy. It said I needed to provide a notorized copy of my daughter's birth certificate showing her full name and another document showing that I was her legal guardian! :wacko: Obviously that would be difficult to do as I don't have a daughter and "Karen" doesn't exist.
So what could I do? Call them up again and admit that I lied about having a daughter, but please just change the name anyway? Didn't think that was a low risk option.
Instead I just blew a wad of cash. I opened up ANOTHER couple of accounts using my exact name, bought copies of original WoW and BC, activated them, then paid $25 per toon to transfer them to the new accounts. All told, this set me back about 200 bucks.
I blame Vyndree.
Sometimes it costs a lot for peace of mind. I guess it was worth it to me. What would you have done?
Note: The subject of this post is completely tongue in cheek. Vyndree is fabulous and an essential member of our little community. I really appreciate how she clears things up and stops our wild conjecture and have noted my appreciation for her contributions on these boards before. I have to admit I'm completely responsible for the empty hole in my wallet. Still, when I'm all alone on a dark night that image of Vyndree shaking her finger at me still scares me a little bit.
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