Blizz AI flawed? why all the accountbannings?

Q u o t e:


This right here - THIS is the point.

All of you who say "They were doing something wrong if they got banned, no matter what they tell you"
are wrong.

YES some people get fairly banned.
YES some get unfairly banned.

How do I know this? Read the customer service forums once in a while.

Unfortunate player: "Halp Blizz I got banned for no reason!?"
Blizz: "We will look into it."
Blizz: "Sorry about that, our mistake - account reopened."

It DOES happen. I wonder about all the people who don't spam them with emails after an unjust banning, the ones who don't freak out and post on the forums. Gone for good? Probably.

This is not entirely accurate. Yes, many accounts that have been banned have been reopened after additional investigations were conducted. There is, however, a distinct difference between an account being wrongfully banned, and an account being banned as a result of the activities for which the account was used while compromised. These accounts are being banned for legitimate reasons; and, since account security is ultimately up to the account holder, they could remain closed just the same. With that being said, we would prefer to give the account holder an opportunity to secure the account once again and return to the game.

It doesn't take a huge fuss on the Customer Service forum to encourage banned accounts to be reassessed for possible compromises. It merely takes one email from the registered email address on the account to our Account Administration department.

There is a score of information about this entire process in our "Information Haven" sticky here:

https://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=86840066&sid=1

Q u o t e:
I am convinced Blizz has an "arrangement" with the farmers/gold seller/power level servers to allow them to continue. After all, they do have to keep buying new copies of the game when they are banned, so you know Blizzard doesn't really want them gone, just to appear as if they are doing something.

No! Not another conspiracy theory!

By the way, Pavonum was the second gunman.

Whether you call it information or propaganda, please review the following:

https://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=89410606&postId=892926506&sid=1#6

https://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=81886141&sid=1&pageNo=1#6

Q u o t e:
By the way, Pavonum was the second gunmoonkin.

Fixed.

Q u o t e:
Lol, Ponykeg, yes Pavonum is an employee.

A player name Ioser (not an L, an I) had a problem and that was his response.

Indeed. You can see the original thread at the link below if you'd like, Ponykeg. :)

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=92489405&sid=1

Q u o t e:
Is there any work being done to refine the detection process?

There is always work being done to streamline and refine such processes.

Q u o t e:
There seems to be an upsurge in false positives to me.

I can very confidently state that there is absolutely no uprising in "false positives."

Firstly, we can cover this assuming your definition of a false positive covers any account owner who has had his/her account banned when he/she did not actually violate the Terms of Use. Using this definition, what you are seeing is an overall increase in keyloggers and compromised accounts. As our Hacks teams have become increasingly more accurate in banning those who are blatantly abusing the rules set forth for the game, such exploiters take to stealing legitimate players' accounts in acts of desperation.

Having said that, it's best to clarify that it's a misnomer to consider accounts being banned as a result of becoming compromised as "false positives." These accounts are clearly being banned for the violations of the Terms of Use for which they are used; however, a good host of these accounts were maliciously compromised and stolen from the account owner. In such cases, we will give further review to the accounts as a convenience to the owner in order to determine through additional scrutiny whether or not a compromise took place. Again, I feel to call this a "false positive" would be incorrect.

Q u o t e:
We should be asking "what more can blizz do to improve the security of their property?"

We are looking into additional measures to help protect the security of our players' accounts; although, account security is ultimately up to the account owner. Our "property" as you say is secure. No one is hacking into our systems and stealing countless accounts in such a way. These people are taking advantage of the security flaws of the individuals' systems that own the accounts.

Q u o t e:
-mandatory time based PW changes?
-more improvements to the launcher?
-automatic disconnect and password reset when an account logs in from a different country than last time?

To be honest, I rather like the PW reset and disconnect idea. False positives on that would be less devastating than the current system.

And again, maybe the detection process should be more thouroughly reviewed. Especially in light of the botters mentioned above(!)

You are welcome to post any ideas you have on our Suggestions forum. I just wanted to clarify a few points where I feel that the perception can often be misleading to those who do not see the overall numbers and statistics. We will continue to devote a great deal of resources toward limiting the reach and influence of the people who blatantly exploit the World of Warcraft and its player base.

Q u o t e:
Not everyone can protect their computers 100%, nor does everyone spend every waking moment ensuring there aren't any key loggers. Yet the people who make and distribute the key loggers work 24/7 and thats why there will always be account hackings.

This is why we will continue to attempt to assist those who have had their account security compromised, even though our Terms of Use clearly states the account owner is solely responsible for the protection of the account and its security:

Q u o t e:
6. Security of Login Information.
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Login Information, and you will be responsible for all uses of your Login Information, whether or not authorized by you. In the event that you become aware of or reasonably suspect any breach of security, including without limitation any loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of your Login Information, you must immediately notify Blizzard by emailing [email protected].

We understand the inconvenience of a player's account becoming compromised, which is exactly why we will attempt to assist these victims. With that being said, the frequency of such matters happening may require the owner of a compromised account to endure a substantial wait. This is an unfortunate side effect of having one's account security become compromised.

Q u o t e:
I was guilty. But effectively, by banning accounts that merely violated that one aspect of the TOA is like reverting to the middle ages when stealing an apple meant off with your head

Theres too much punishment for those who were keylogged, and too slow a repeal process for those who were key logged and banned.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. There is no punishment being issued out to players simply for being keylogged. There are, however, punishments being issued to compromised accounts which are being used to clearly and blatantly violate the Terms of Use.

You wouldn't know for what aspect of the Terms of Use a compromised account would be banned, so I'm not sure how your analogy holds any water.

Q u o t e:
Well i was referring to being banned by all the actions subsequent of being key logged. You are key logged, which is a small violation, then someone with access to your account breaks every single TOA outline in the book and you get banned. Effectively what i should have stated is people are being blamed for all the stuff the hacker does, while they only effectively broke the rule of a secure account.

It's not technically a violation to be keylogged though. I think you're looking at this in a slightly incorrect manner.

Q u o t e:
Blizzard needs to be punishing the HACKERS not the CUSTOMERS. i don't know how much more blatent to say it. only problem is we don't know who the hackers are, becuase some of us ARE the hackers and cheaters. It's like trying to fight a guerilla war, it's hard to tell who's good and who's not. and all the good people pay.

You're definitely correct to an extent; however, as others have distinguished in this thread, account security is the sole responsibility of the account owner. This does not mean though, that allowing one's account security to become compromised is a violation in-and-of-itself. Keep in mind, we're not trying to punish the customers; however, we do not distinguish between the violations taking place on an account and the violations a customer is committing.

If account security is the account holder's responsibility, and someone has compromised that security to use the account for malicious activities, then the account will be closed.

This is not placing blame on the customer. This is placing responsibility on the customer. Fortunately, it's not even as melodramatic as that, as we will always work to verify the claims of the customer regarding security becoming compromised.

To sum up:

Account security and ownership = sole responsibility of the account owner

Having one's account compromised = not a violation

Having one's account compromised to the point of it being used to violate the Terms of Use = banned until it is verified based on the account owner's contact that the account was no longer under his/her control

Q u o t e:
Right now blizzard expects everyone to know the TOA inside and out. If that is what they want, then have little in game tooltips every now and then that the user cannot click out of, that outline parts of the TOA, and once every fact of the TOA has been displayed at least once, THEN the tool tip goes away. Then people WILL know what the TOA states.

This reminds me of all of those times when you install the game and any new patches... when the Terms of Use comes up and requires that you scroll all the way down to the bottom of it (essentially suggesting you actually read it) before clicking "I Accept." I mean, the same argument could be made for state and federal laws, as well as the constitution for that matter. You're not exactly required to know the information, but don't think for a second telling a police officer or judge "I didn't know that was illegal" will exempt you from consequences.

Q u o t e:
Do you read the TOA when it comes up?

That's probably not the best question to direct toward me. I read the Terms of Use whenever it's updated, though it's important in my line of work.

Any time you're agreeing to a legal contract though, it's important that you read it. ; )

Q u o t e:
But you are missing the obvious point here, The only people putting WoW keyloggers out there are the people who ARE going to use your account to break the rules. Have you ever heard of an account being keylogged, and not being used to break the TOA(in regards to gold selling, besides the fact that account sharing is a violation)? Ever?

We do see it quite frequently, though I will concede your point that the majority of compromised accounts are likely used for malicious activities and banned before the account owner has a chance to report the matter to us.

Q u o t e:

Try telling that to America's general public, look at all the mess we've gotten into elsewhere, like credit cards, and tell me that we will be any different on a video game :P

Again, I concede your point. This still fails to absolve anyone from guilt due to ignorance of a legally binding contract to which they agreed. It's an uphill battle, but I ultimately think it's a good thing to encourage people to have concern for law and legal documentation.

Helpful questions, Galfuran. Thank you. ; )

Q u o t e:
If someone steals your car and commits a crime with it/in it, you will not get your car back from the police until they have finished their investigation. Yet, you are not being punished for the crime that was committed while your car was out of your control. Ha! Beat that one!

Not bad. Haha. ; p

Q u o t e:

AND I'M FURIOUS! FURIOUSSSSSSS!!!!111ELEVEN!!!1!!!
That i was banned of course.

And my outlet of anger is only getting me pwned by anologies!

And with that, check your email. It appears that an Account Administration representative recently reviewed your claim.

Q u o t e:


Yes and i got an automated response. Gotta feel that warm and fuzzy automated lovin'

It's not an automated response. It's a pre-drafted response because it states exactly what you need to do to get back into your account.

Did you even read it? = (

Q u o t e:
Yeah, in fact iv been checking my email every 5 minutes for the last 2 days since i'v been banned. Iv done everything to the exact specifications iv been asked to do

So then you know your account is no longer banned, and you are simply awaiting a Character Specialist to investigate the loss of any virtual property?

Q u o t e:
I GOT MY ACCOUNT BACK! EVERYTHING IS HOLY AGAIN!

TY everyone.

It's good to hear, Iwas. Thank you for your patience.

Overzealous?! I'm not overzealous!! Why would you say something like that?! Like, Oh migosh. He called me overzealous. That's the craziest thing ever! I don't believe it! I need more caffeine! Oh migosh! Be right back! I'm not overzealous!!

Q u o t e:
The guy who inspired me to make this post has given up. He (like all my friends) has purchased every blizzard product since WCI. He will never buy another blizzard product again.

Would you mind providing me with this player's character name and realm so I can review the status?

Q u o t e:
Galgothan on Durotan.

Thanks for looking into this.... his biggest beef was his inability to get a (non-form) email response or even contact a human being on the phone about it.

After review from multiple representatives in the Account Administration department, clear evidence has been found to warrant upholding the decision to permanently close the referenced account. I am sorry, Elfinjack. You may want to direct your friend to the following link if he has any questions about what we deem to be in violation of our policies enough to justify this account closure:

http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowaa/?id=aDisplay02046p

Q u o t e:
Batta, I hope you are just saying that because you're mad I called you a future politician.
If you're serious, then this is crap.

As an aspiring politician I haven't the luxury of being humorous.

Q u o t e:
You guys have got to do better than this. Your detection methods are flawed.

What else can be done for a more thorough review?

Perhaps your friend's version of the facts are wrong? Account Administration has made a final decision on this case. Unfortunately, the account will remain closed.

Unfortunately, further debate of this topic on this forum will not aid the owner of the account in question in having the closure re-examined. As a final decision has been made and brought to the attention of the account owner, this thread has been locked.