#6 - April 3, 2007, 10:49 p.m.
Cytheria, while I'm unable to delve into too many details about the way in which we combat unwanted spam from companies offering unapproved services via the in-game chat channels, I'll attempt to elaborate a bit in the hopes of quelling your concerns.
Q u o t e:
Buying and selling gold last I checked was against the ToS. Spamming players and using multiple characters to circumvent ignore was against the ToS. And the fact that another entity somewhere out there is making money off Blizzard's game without paying any sort of royalties seems to me like it would be something Blizzard would want to put a stop to.
You are precisely correct. The actions taken toward an account spamming such advertisements are much more extreme than the typical penalty for spam in general (not relating to offering services expressly forbidden according to the Terms of Use). When this all started, we would go after these players as they were reported to us. Since then, it's been a constant struggle that may never fully end. As we put new measures into place to prevent one of the loopholes through which they work, they find another way to work. We have an entire department dedicated to making things as hard on theses companies as possible, all the while limiting the amount of spam and consequent frustration caused for the rest of the player base.
Q u o t e:
I began to report every incident of this spam to the GM's. Their response was always the same, nearly word for word. They always tell me they are doing something about it, but they refuse to say what that something is.
This is to be expected due to our Privacy policy. We do not discuss the actions we take toward an account with anyone other than the account owner. With this being said, I reiterate the fact the actions taken toward an account found to be partaking in such an activity are extreme. It is unlikely that exact same account would be logging into the game again. There's no need for accounts made--not to play the game, but to spam the customer base with unapproved advertising--to remain active.
Q u o t e:
The GM's still do nothing. What is it going to take for Blizzard to stop this in game spam?
Now that you know these companies cycle through accounts created simply for the purposes of getting as much spam out there before being banned, can you honesty say we do nothing? Hundreds of accounts are closed for spamming in this manner weekly, all the while our Battle.net Technical Research team has been devising numerous preventative measures to be implemented in the game to stop the spam before it starts. Do keep in mind, additionally, that these spammers will try as much as possible to reuse the same or similar character names so it appears as though we are doing little to stop them. So far, as I've stated, it's been a constant struggle where the spammers find ways around our measures of limitations until we block their next route as well.
Q u o t e:
How exactly am I going to tell them which website or person is spamming me if they censor it?
Believe me, we know. We are watching these companies and the way in which they work
extremely carefully. I cannot stress that enough.
Q u o t e:
They care enough to censor players but not enough to do anything about the in game spam of the website?/quote]
Yes, we care enough to keep you from advertising on our Blizzard-run, public forum the name of a company built upon exploiting and profiting off of the World of Warcraft illegally at every opportunity. If you feel we're doing nothing about the spam in-game simply because you see it sometimes, unfortunately I can merely tell you that's an off-based and incorrect assumption.
[quote]I've been sending in tickets. For months. If this hacker is as quick as you seem to think he is (I'm going to assume you have zero understanding of how that could be done) then that would probably mean he's hacked every account on the server.
I believe the scale in which you're assuming such a fiasco is contained is actually much larger than you think. I severely doubt the same "hacker" has been spamming you for months. We're talking about a business that provides temporary careers for people who take advantage of our business. This is not on an individual level.
Q u o t e:
As for downloading mods to record and report this? From where? Where do I submit those? Wait a sec, when did it become my job to police World of Warcraft?
It is certainly not your job to police our realms for these players. I can guarantee you that whether or not you report such a spammer, he/she will still be reported and penalized appropriately. Even if not, the actual battle to stop these spammers isn't exactly on an account-account level. Closing one account, as you've obviously witnessed, does little to fully combat this situation.
Q u o t e:
Instead of forcing players to police this game for you and spending thousands of wasted dollars on hiring GM's to respond and do nothing, why doesn't Blizzard just sue the website? Or is that because whenever someone reports the website, they censor it to avoid accidental advertisement?
That's a very good point when talking about companies that run their businesses in the United States. Unfortunately, most of these companies are not based in the United States, nor are they subject to the laws which regulate such a malicious business practice.
I hope I've at least clarified the scale and nature of this issue, as well as reassured you of our committed stance to stop these spammers and companies to which they belong. I can fully understand the frustration you feel when receiving these messages all the time. From the perspective of one player logging in every day, it's completely understandable how you would assume we are not stopping these players. Just keep in mind this battle goes far beyond the character that just spammed, as well as the actions we take toward the single account to which it belongs.
