Is it against the ToU to use the AH now?

#0 - July 14, 2010, 1:37 a.m.

I received an email with this message this morning.

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Account Action: 72 Hour Suspension
Reason for Action: Terms of Use Violation -- Exploitative Activity: Abuse of the Economy

This suspension happened because one or more characters on the account were identified exchanging, or contributing to the exchange of, in-game property (items or gold) for ""real-world"" currency. This exchange process negatively impacts the World of Warcraft game environment by detracting from the value of the in-game economy.

Even if this behavior is the result of a third party accessing the account instead of the registered user (for example, a friend, family member, or leveling service) then the account can still be held responsible for the penalty because of the impact it had on the game environment.

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I have 2 acccounts. 1 account I raid/quest/pvp/craft on, the other account is full of Auction Slaves for selling craftable Items I make. The toons never leave capital cities and the only interaction I have with other players is buying materials from them advertised in the trade channel.

I have gold capped characters and I am in no need of purchasing gold from gold sellers. My turnover can be reconcilled on my character statistics page. Sure I give gold away "to guildies" to buy epic flying or power levelling their own professions but no "real-world" currency is exchanged for it. Usually the only exchange is a polite thank you from my friend.

I've tried to call Blizzard about this matter but the phone lines are crowded (as usual) and their email response time is 5 days or longer. You'd think they don't make enough money to employ people. How about spending some of the 2.5 billion dollars you made on the sales of the Sparkle Pony to employ support staff?

Maybe that was too far but hey, I'm annoyed.

Any help on this matter would be appreciated.

Vrakthris

#8 - July 14, 2010, 1:54 a.m.

No, it isn't, Fiffu, but it is possible that activities on the account matched many of the common criteria of someone who was exploiting the economy.

If you haven't already please contact our Account Administration department. They try to respond within 48 hours if possible and will look into your case as soon as they can. If you can give me the name and realm of a character on the account I can take a look but ultimately the only ones who can look into and possibly overturn this action would be AA.

Account Administration
Webform: https://us.blizzard.com/support/webform.xml?locale=en_US
[email protected]

Vrakthris

#11 - July 14, 2010, 2:03 a.m.

Q u o t e:
I just want a definitive answer from Blizzard as to what I actually did wrong. I fully expect to recieve a standard response from them that will go someting like.

That is unlikely to happen, Fiffu. We are simply not able to reveal the methods that are used as that will simply lead to additional exploitative behavior that may not be detected.

I understand that inconvenience this may cause and we truly are sorry for any actions that are levied that turn out to be incorrect. We are constantly working on our detection methods in the efforts to limit the number of errors that may occur but there may always be some.

Vrakthris

#14 - July 14, 2010, 2:31 a.m.

Q u o t e:
I am annoyed right now but I'll get over it in due course. I am however fearful that I may be banned again and I think it's unfair that I have to fear being banned any time I make a trade or buy and sell from the AH.

Completely understandable, Fiffu, hopefully this can be straightened out quickly. I see all three letters you wrote, they are just awaiting processing.