A situation with being reported for a character name that violates the ToS

[Chilluminati-]

Hey eveyone, nice day isn't it?

Well here is what happened. My friend I play wow with got the inspiration to make a Gnome Mage, and give him the tinkering look with engineering. He has a problem with making names, mostly because he likes them to be meaningful and relevant to his race and class choice. So he decides to name his mage Fizzlebinks.

Two days after making him and getting him to level 40, he has in game mail, with an HTML link in the mail that sends him to his Battle.net homepage that shows all of the different services you can pay for. So he investigated further, and found out he has been reported for having a name that violates the ToS. The message tells him to follow the steps to change your name, and then there is the link that takes him to battle.net. A few moments later he is contacted by a GM that states that there is an NPC out in Borean Tundra at the airstrip named Fizzlebinks.

Now my friend had no idea that there was an NPC with the same name, so he asks the GM "Okay, so what do I need to do about it? Can't you flag me for a name change"? and the GM responds with "Unfortunately us GM's cannot change your name now, you have to either pay the $10 fee for a name change, or delete that toon, because if you continue to level this character without following the provided directions, you will receive a temporary or perma-ban". So he asks "How are we all supposed to know the NPC names so we don't violate the ToS, there are thousands of NPC's in wow. Why can't you make it so we can't use those names in the first place, by saying they are unavailable when we create a character"? And the GM says "Well there are indeed thousands of NPC's with different names, and going through all of those names would take too much time".

More was said, but without making this too long, he grilled the GM with scenarios, and the GM admits that he cannot do anything about it, and if he were to have his way, he would offer him a name change, but the higher ups at Blizzard are sick of people intentionally reporting their friends to get a free name change. And the GM also states that none of this would have even happened, if you didn't get reported. Later on, he transfers my friend to a higher ranking GM, and he was awarded two days of game time, and he then had to delete the character.

So basically I understand Blizzards side of things, they don't want people exploiting the system to get free names changes. But What I disagree with Blizzard on, is there is really no way to know if you are using an NPC's name. He had no idea that was an NPC's name, and he was then told, to give them $10, delete your character, or you're getting perma'd. Something about that really doesn't sit well with me. I mean, what if a brand new player accidentally gets a name of an NPC, and is then told they have to pay to change their name? If I were that new player, I would probably just stop playing.

Some people just really can't afford to be throwing money at wow like that when they're already paying a subscription fee every month as it is.

The GM also said that in 4.3, with the removal of alt codes to American servers, they are going to be massively cracking down on inappropriate names, and forcing the same actions onto many people that have ToS violating names. That's good, it's funny how there are people with names that are just absolutely disgusting with alt codes to pass the censor, and my friend gets reported for Fizzlebinks.

What do you guys think about this? Any similar scenarios?

[Duridi]

A friend of mine who called his character Archimonde, logged on to his character renamed by Blizzard later on. He did not have to pay for a namechange, but Blizzard named the character Arcimonde instead.

Another friend got reported for a name by us, and got his character flagged for namechange for free.

A third friend contacted a GM to get someone elses name after a serverchange. The GM changed the name, and flagged the character he took the name from for a free namechange.

I think your friend should have another chat with them, because he should not pay for the namechange. Atleast I have never heard of such.

[Bigdaddylovedog]

That's good, it's funny how there are people with names that are just absolutely disgusting with alt codes to pass the censor,

This statement makes me really dislike you as a person.

[CptAwesome]

Total rubbish, if blizzard flags you for a name change you will be unable to log into the character until you have changed it, a window appears when you try to do so. Also, they never charge you for name changes that they are enforcing.

[Bigdaddylovedog]

Ahhh So OP is a Liar and a prude....

[Chilluminati-]

Total rubbish, if blizzard flags you for a name change you will be unable to log into the character until you have changed it, a window appears when you try to do so. Also, they never charge you for name changes that they are enforcing.

Well this happened last night, they said the rule is very new. I've dealt with name changes before, and I pretty much said the same thing, but that happened.

[maltese]

Ahhh So OP is a Liar....

^ This. If your name violates the naming policy, your character gets flagged and you have to rename before you can log into it again.

[Gurbz]

Now my friend had no idea that there was an NPC with the same name, so he asks the GM "Okay, so what do I need to do about it? Can't you flag me for a name change"? and the GM responds with "Unfortunately us GM's cannot change your name now, you have to either pay the $10 fee for a name change, or delete that toon, because if you continue to level this character without following the provided directions, you will receive a temporary or perma-ban". So he asks "How are we all supposed to know the NPC names so we don't violate the ToS, there are thousands of NPC's in wow. Why can't you make it so we can't use those names in the first place, by saying they are unavailable when we create a character"? And the GM says "Well there are indeed thousands of NPC's with different names, and going through all of those names would take too much time".

I almost believed it until this part. A GM would never tell a player that they are required to pay for something or lose their character. Try harder OP.

[Chilluminati-]

Ahhh So OP is a Liar and a prude....

Why would I lie about something like this? I figured that I would share this situation with others in case this rule is really going to stay put.

[Bigdaddylovedog]

man how sad your life must be.

[Chilluminati-]

I almost believed it until this part. A GM would never tell a player that they are required to pay for something or lose their character. Try harder OP.

Well it happened, and he talked to two different GM's as well. They were very sympathetic with the situation.

[Viled]

Well this happened last night, they said the rule is very new. I've dealt with name changes before, and I pretty much said the same thing, but that happened.

The rule has been the same for years. If blizzard has an issue with your characters name they will just flag it and force you to rename it before you can log on. Pull up the ToS on their website and read for yourself

[Deleted]

Two days after making him and getting him to level 40, he has in game mail, with an HTML link in the mail that sends him to his Battle.net homepage that shows all of the different services you can pay for.

Your friend got trolled.

Some Fizzlebinks characters bellow:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/search?q=Fizzlebinks
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/search?q=Fizzlebinks

There is no Fizzlebinks npc in game:
http://www.wowhead.com/search?q=Fizzlebinks


And keep in mind that real Blizzard GM don't send in game mail to ask you to change the name, the name change option appear at the login screen.

[noteworthynerd]

Why would I lie about something like this? I figured that I would share this situation with others in case this rule is really going to stay put.

Trolling usually... Like others have said, Blizzard does not force anyone to use paid services, and they certainly would not make you delete the character... There's something more to the story... Unless someone else can verify your claims with a screenshot, I'm gonna take them with an extremely large grain of salt.

If anything, I bet your friend was contacted by another player who wanted the name, and they tried to trick your friend into giving up the name by paying for a name change or deleting the character, and it sounds like it worked... Which is pretty sad on your friend's part. Armory Fizzlebinks and see if there's a result on your server.

[Gurbz]

Well it happened, and he talked to two different GM's as well. They were very sympathetic with the situation.

ok I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you aren't lying then.

Your friend is bullshitting you. Kick him in the balls and go about the rest of your day.

Blizzard will not force a player, who had no way of knowing beforehand, to pay to change their name or permanently lose the character simply because they happened to be named after some random NPC. Or for any other reason, honestly. As others have pointed out, if your friend's name violated the ToS, that character would be flagged for a name change and would not be able to log on until they changed the name.

[Bigdaddylovedog]

If your friend did infact follow a link to a battle.net sent via ingame mail and he went to it and he entered his infor his account is now compromised and will soon be lifted of all his worldly good. this he will have only himself to blame for being such a guber.

[Chilluminati-]

ok I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you aren't lying then.

Your friend is bullshitting you. Kick him in the balls and go about the rest of your day.

Blizzard will not force a player, who had no way of knowing beforehand, to pay to change their name or permanently lose the character simply because they happened to be named after some random NPC. Or for any other reason, honestly. As others have pointed out, if your friend's name violated the ToS, that character would be flagged for a name change and would not be able to log on until they changed the name.

I mean I guess he could of lied to me, and if that is the case, I am sorry for making a big deal out of this and we can have this locked. I will ask him more tonight about it, but it just seems unlikely that someone would lie about that.

[VOxPERENOLDE]

That is total BS about the GM not being able to flag for a name change, the first thing to do is ask that your ticket be escalated. Back before wrath I had a hunter named Deathknight, I submitted a ticket explaining that I had this hunter before the DK class was announced and to avoid confusion I requested a rename. The ticket response I got was he was able to comply with my wishes and after a relog I would be able to choose a new name at the character select, which I did. This nickle and diming has got to stop.

And to those saying Blizzard never forces a paid name change this isn't true either, a friend had a spin off a profane name him and his friend had made new toons on a new server to level as alliance. He was only level 20 or so, and a GM told him he could delete or receive a ban but he would not offer him a free name change. Now maybe had he be 85 this would have been a different case, unsure. But I have seen GM's give out free name changes and been witness to them forcing the choice of delete, paid name change or ban.

[Faerillis]

I'm not sure he's trolling so much as he didn't look for the Blizz icon and was talking to a guy sending him a keylogger link.

[Judge Malthred]

A few things popped into my mind while reading your post.

1) Its a terrible customer service scenario to ridiculous to believe, with information provided.

2) You are being scammed. They were not real GM's, and the links provided are to scam sites made to look like battle.net to get you to enter in your information so they can hijack your stuff.