Is this really Blizz's Policy?

#0 - March 2, 2010, 8:12 p.m.

I am wondering if this is standard procedure for situations such as these:

Last weekend my guild runs its regular 25 man progression in ICC. There is a pally who get pugged along with some other players. The pally is brought in as a healer. Marrowgar drops some tank pants and the pally rolls on it. He is told, no, hes a healer he has to roll on healing gear. He then begins to whisper the raid leaders claiming that because he wasnt told in advance he should get the pants. He is told no again, he ragequits the run.

Monday morning the guild leader receives an email saying the guild name is deemed unsuitable and must be changed. The Guild Leader's first thought is this guy reported them out of spite.

Guild Leader logs on Mon evening and finds out that the tank who won the pants also has had to change his name because he was accused of a harrassment situation.

Too much coincidence and now both are certain this guy reported out of spite.

My question is, if someone is accused of harrassment, why is Blizzard's response to just take the person at face value and make the accused change names. In this case there was no abuse, and the tank has to change his name without any possible way to dispute this. If there had been actual abuse, hypothetically, what good does making an abuser name change as a solution.

This whole situation has been disturbing to say the least, I am curious whether others have experienced someting similar and if this is Blizzard's standard policy.

Malkorix

#45 - March 2, 2010, 9:31 p.m.

Q u o t e:
The GM's do not take a report "at face value", ever.

They investigate and make a decision based on their own investigation and application of policy.

If the name got changed, it was because the name violated policy, no matter the motives of the one who reported it.

This is entirely accurate, though there are all too often misunderstandings on this count. The bit that Aarschott printed in bold is very important though.

All players are responsible for upholding our policies at all times, regardless of the circumstances. Here's a link to our policies page for reference: (http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=20309)

It honestly does not matter what the motivation of a reporting player is - and since all aspects of a potential harassment situation are investigated, everyone in a situation like this is potentially subject to review.

If any of the involved parties believe that these policies were enforced incorrectly in this case, then the only appropriate method to dispute the matter is via email at [email protected]. Please use only the email address registered to the account in question when contacting this address.