And u thought beefy had it bad...

[Aladdin]

As you know my account got banned for some bullshit reason that defies all logic so i guess this is my farewell from WoW. I dont think i have it in me to level to 70 and grind all those keys and rep etc etc.

i'll bug u on the forums and vent but yeh i think this is it.

cheers.

al

[Kam`]

Opening an ingame petition, hoping to discuss a player's options when they are falsely accused of misbehaviour.

There is a multi-tiered process in place for conduct, and Blizzard would be violating their very own policy if they are skipping steps on the "pyramid"- especially without review, or recourse.

[Kam`]

I have chatted ingame with GM Claudisto and discerned the following from their remarks:

(1) Though "stupid americans- go bomb another country" isn't racist per se, it still falls under the policy of racial/ethnic/national defamation.

A point which I disputed, since to accord with their own policy they would have to have previous documented cases of the player using similar slurs; which i expect they do not- because none exist.

(2) The recourse which players have is two-fold, both involve contacting Blizzard's WoW Account Administration Department, and there are several avenues for this.

Online Form, at http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowaa/

E-mail: Wowaccountadmin@blizzard.com

Or Fax, Internationally, (949) 725-7972 (country code not provided)


The first and most important goal is to simply do whatever is necessary to have the ban lifted right away, and then to pursue reimbursement for lost subscription time, erasure/expungement of this episode of false reporting, and to have an inhouse counter-investigation launched; to have the related policies and procedures reviewed with the personnel involved in this case and others they have handled, and to provide you documentation that this has been carried out within 30 days, else, yourself and others will gladly contact the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau to report Blizzard Entertainment's willful breach of contract and failure to respond to subscriber complaints inhouse.

Blizzard has a BBB rating already, which, though "above average"- isn't exactly spotless.

Related Article here:
http://wow.tentonhammer.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1577

Company Report here:
http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=13050668

...

MMO Companies do not act outside the law; every player is protected by local and international law from being rippped-off for subscription fees, and your time invested in a company's virtual world has a measurable extrinsic value.

...

I'm at your disposal here, and will gladly do all I can to be sure your account is restored as soon as possible, and then to "hammer down the rest of the loose tacks" so that nothing like this occurs again.

[Kam`]

Blizzard's Penalty "Volcano" Explanation here:

http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01714p

Quoted from Blizzard's Site:



Warning
We receive quite a few emails in the wowgmfeedback-us@blizzard.com email box from players expressing great concern over the warning they have received. Often, the concern they express is that they are generally a good player and fear the status of the account they use is in jeopardy. This could not be further from the truth.
Receiving a Warning is nothing more than an education in policy for minor issues and a tool our in-game support team uses to track player behavior. While it is not a good idea to ignore a warning and continue the inappropriate action(s), warnings on an account have very few, if any, long-term repercussions. The following are also true of Warnings:

The most minor account penalty
The most prevalent of all account penalties
No service interruption


3 Hour Suspension
3 Hour suspensions are most often assigned when the player has repeated an action he/she has been previously warned for. 3 Hour suspensions reinforce the unheeded education given via a Warning or on the first instance of a policy violation that we do not consider minor. These should be assigned when the importance of policy adherence needs to be stressed, but the violation is not excessive. The following are true of 3 Hour suspensions:
Relatively minor account penalty
Somewhat common
Brief service interruption


72 Hour Suspension
72 Hour suspensions are assigned when a player needs to be removed from the game for an extended period of time or the player has repeatedly violated policy in a relatively brief period of time. 72 Hour suspensions are somewhat rare, as they are only given for serious policy violations or repeated policy abuse. The following are also true of 72 Hour suspensions:
Serious account penalty
Somewhat rare
Extended service interruption


Account Closure
Accounts are closed when a player has excessively and/or grossly violated our policies. When an account is closed, the player is no longer able to access the account. Account Closures are rare and represent a player who is unable to abide by our rules and insists on negatively affecting other players' enjoyment of the game or harming the service itself.
Most serious account penalty
Very rare
Permanent service revocation


The bottom line is that we want World of Warcraft to be a fun and safe environment for all players. World of Warcraft is an MMORPG, and the key words are "Massively Multiplayer". In playing this game, you will encounter thousands of other players who share different experiences and come from vastly different backgrounds. While certain actions may not bother you, consider the fact that these same actions may be perceived in a completely different manner by those around you. We have done everything we can to make World of Warcraft a great game, but now it's up to you the players, to breathe life into the world. Choose wisely my friends.

[Kam`]

As an interesting side note, I cannot easily locate any racial/ethnic/national defamtion policy AT ALL- at the URL provided by the GM earlier today.

[Wargra]

well this is BS...who do I need to bug to get it fixed >

[Aladdin]

Hey hey, thanks for that info kam. Have had a few emails from blizz and am trying to work something out with them - we shall see.