Cyber Stalking and Real Life Threats

#0 - Sept. 28, 2010, 2:51 a.m.

I'm having an issue with someone using the armory to cyber stalk me and a friend of mine. They are watching the achievements we get, watching what times we play, and even watching what bosses we kill to find out if we are playing together. Me and my friend aren't even able to play together without worrying if he's going to log on and see us in the same instance or something of the sort.

The thing is, he's a real life friend of hers and he's not like this outside of WoW. But when it comes to this game he has serious issues.

He's been pretty much watching her every single move on the armory for the past 3 months or so. Every time she gets an achievement w/o him online he freaks out and starts to berate her. Just recently is when he started to check my armory page to see if I'm the one helping her with achievements and now he's even moved on to berating me and making real life threats against her (he does know her in real life.)

I'm wondering what actions can be taken against the player in question and if the offense is severe enough to deliver a permanent ban. I think if he was forcibly separated from the game it'd fix the issues we are having. He's been making real life threats quite frequently but he's been smart about it. He's not been making any of the threats in game. He's been doing them over the phone or on ventrilo. It's actually starting to get quite scary.

What can we do?

I suggested that she remove him from RealID and transfer but she's got 7 80's and that'd be far too much money along with my 4 80's. Plus, he still knows her in real life and knows her phone number, address, etc. So we are definitely at a loss for what to do.

Vrakthris

#21 - Sept. 28, 2010, 5:22 a.m.

Q u o t e:
I'm wondering what actions can be taken against the player in question and if the offense is severe enough to deliver a permanent ban.

The actions that can be taken against a player are based solely off of his or her actions in game, Hips. If this person is harassing you or your friend in-game it is important to place that character on ignore and then report the behavior via an in-game petition. Please only report harassment that you directly experience, we are unable to accept petitions on behalf of others.

I understand that you and your friend may know this person outside of the game but I'm afraid we are only able to moderate behavior under our jurisdiction.

Q u o t e:

He's been making real life threats quite frequently but he's been smart about it. He's not been making any of the threats in game. He's been doing them over the phone or on ventrilo. It's actually starting to get quite scary.

If they are making threats out of game it is best to speak with your local authorities. I will also mirror what the others have said. A game does not make you a particular way, it can act as a catalyst that can help some behavior manifest but the potential and likelihood for that behavior has always been there. If it wasn't this it would be something else.

Q u o t e:

I suggested that she remove him from RealID and transfer but she's got 7 80's and that'd be far too much money along with my 4 80's. Plus, he still knows her in real life and knows her phone number, address, etc. So we are definitely at a loss for what to do.

Removing them as a Real ID friend would certainly be a start but the major issue you seem to be having is with the behavior out of game and I'm afraid only out of game measures will likely be effective.