Should Blizzard allow 'account amnesty'?

[chazus]

Okay, yeah, I can see that being an issue. But I would also assume that any situation of economy change (duping items/gold) that the offending items would be removed. If they knew such a dupe/hack occured, they know what to remove.

[Sevyvia]

No, people should just stop breaking rules if they don't want to be banned

This. I have never met someone who hasn't deserved their ban. Plenty of trolls on my server (Argent Dawn EU) that eventually get their permaban. They shouldn't be given a second chance to disrupt everyone else.

[FuxieDK]

Is you can do the crime, you can do the time... When you have served your time, you can play again... A permanent ban is a LOOOONG time, hence the word "permanent"...

I've played since early TBC and have never gotten a single warning, let alone any bans.. Why? Because I don't break the rules I have I have click "Agree" on, every time a new patch is applied..

Stop breaking the rules, and you won't get banned.. When you come here (or other places) to bitch about bans, you never tell the whole story..

[08nolanni]

Wow chazus, I was actually interested in this thread. It's a pity the CircleJerk nearly busted a nut...

Blizzard isn't perfect and your right in that some cases they will reverse their mistakes. I agree on your point though and I've never been banned.

Your idea on a probation of playing 1 account for a certain time / good manners would allow you receive your previous account back is excellent.

I like the part where people bitch and carry on about people who are banned for Language or harassment. It's like they think if their on a different account they might behave differently

[cFortyfive]

I love this comment, because most people I know who are perma-banned are banned on false charges.

Sure and thanks to that anecdote I am now totally convinced that most account bans are handed out to people who don't deserved it all. JK.

Perhaps some system to bring back "perma-banned" accounts in certain circumstances would make sense.

That system is already in place. Call them - appeal.

If your account gets hacked and you can't, for whatever reason, supply the info to unlock it, it gets banned.

I can't think of any valid reason.

[Maconi]

It makes them more money to just leave accounts banned (most people are addicted and will just buy new accounts).

Blizzard isn't dumb. This isn't about ethics/morals. They're a business making money.

[chazus]

The 'injecting economy' thing could easily be worked around by simply adding the criteria of... All amnesty accounts are stripped of all gold and boe's, effectively making it impossible to do anything shady money-wise.

[bohapjut]

seems like a nice idea

[Seranthor]

Yes. I am. Exactly that, actually.

Buying your way out of a ban is effectively asking to be put above the rules... I'd have to say absolutely not.

[chazus]

Buying your way out of a ban is effectively asking to be put above the rules... I'd have to say absolutely not.

You make it sound like I'm just suggesting that you just pay money to remove a ban the moment it happens. I am not.

[Wafffles]

I can't believe this thread is still going on. No, absolutely not, I don't care if you were banned for spamming trade with how much you love your kitten. You were banned, you were deemed to be damaging the community, and that particular account will never again be a part of that community. No, really now, we get it. Some people get banned for silly things, and behave themselves now; can't they just pay to get one last chance? Nope, sorry. But there will be restrictions to make sure only truly good people get to do this! Well in that case...

NO!

[xanzul]

Plain and simple, should Blizzard implement some form of account amnesty for banned accounts?

Obviously, if they did, there ought to be certain criteria.

-Have a different, active account with no offenses for 6+ months (prevents simply 'unbanning' an account. Person needs proof they are an active and responsible member of WoW community)
-Must purchase up to current updates on old account, or 1-2 months gameplay (a 'Fine' effectively)
EDIT: -Amnesty account stripped of all gold and boe's, preventing duped item/gold to enter economy

Sometimes people do stupid stuff. It happens. In the real world, we have a legal system that allows people to own up and make reparations.

EDIT: Heck, monetize it further. Instead of "Recruit a Friend"... Get a friend to play wow for 2-3+ months, and get an old account opened.

So you are saying people should basically be allowed to bribe Blizzard in order to get their accounts back? No. Just no.

---------- Post added 2013-05-01 at 02:21 AM ----------

Not sure if you even read the post or not. Part of the criteria was, very specifically, not breaking the rules for an extended period of time.

What is the point of account bans if people are able to buy their way out of them? That defeats the entire point of banning players.

---------- Post added 2013-05-01 at 02:24 AM ----------

O_o

...This isn't about how to prevent getting banned.

It is funny how you are telling others they didn't read your post. Did you read your post? Did you even read the responses? Allowing players to buy back their banned accounts removes consequences for breaking the rules or at least mitigates them. If you think people won't take full advantage of this you are kidding yourself and quite ignorant. Most people who get banned know damn well what they were doing was wrong.

---------- Post added 2013-05-01 at 02:26 AM ----------

I could see something like that working out. It is how MMOC works to a degree

Because a forum is totally like a subscription based mmo people pay for. Right. Ok. People who get banned here aren't impacting people who pay for a game and expect cheaters to be dealt with. Letting cheaters come back for ANY reason after a perm ban is just flat out pants on head stupid.

[Seranthor]

You make it sound like I'm just suggesting that you just pay money to remove a ban the moment it happens. I am not.

Still looks like you want to be put above the rules... whether you pay the money that instant... you wait 2 years, 5 years... or however long... still looks like you want to be put above the rules...

[Togarox]

I'd be all for it. I could get my original account back :-)

For the record people, not ALL banned accounts were banned because WE broke the rules. Believe it or not, if you get hacked too much, Blizzard will close the account permanently. If your account gets hacked and you can't, for whatever reason, supply the info to unlock it, it gets banned. If you unknowingly accept hacked items or gold, you can get permanently banned. I could probably list off 100 or more other reasons that, through no purposeful fault of your own, your account can be permanently shut down.

Granted, mine got shut down for botting, so yes, I'm all about getting my account back!

I'm all for creating a better appeal system but giving people who legitimately broke the rules (botters, gold farmers etc) a way back into the game goes against the purpose of perma-banning in the first place.

[xanzul]

Again, it seemed you didn't read the post.
The people are -already- playing. It's not like logging on a different character/account makes it a different person.

Maybe I should clarify. My account got banned back in ~2005. I was one of the many unlucky people who were using Wine at the time, and got banned for it. Blizzard has made it very clear that they 'dont make mistakes' on that. I've long since given up, but I figured people might have ideas to bring to the fore. Of course, it could also be useful for people who actually did small infringements as well as simply Blizzard being stupid.

Look I think people are reading your post just fine thank you very much. It is a bad idea and people have stated why. Instead of bitching at them for not reading your post why not actually respond to their concerns?

[Togarox]

You make it sound like I'm just suggesting that you just pay money to remove a ban the moment it happens. I am not.

IMO if they were to have a system like you suggest, it should be much more harsh. 100$ fine, the active account should have no past offenses on it period, and if either the current active account or the banned account breaks the rules, both accounts are locked permanently and cannot be re-opened.

[chazus]

I'm all for creating a better appeal system but giving people who legitimately broke the rules (botters, gold farmers etc) a way back into the game goes against the purpose of perma-banning in the first place.

I'm curious. Why would a gold farmer/botter, who has not done either of that on a new account for a year+, suddenly start doing that again on the old amnesty account? The people who broke the rules would -already- be back in the game. If they were planning on doing bad things, they'd already be doing it. Not waiting for an old account to use.

[Doffer]

I don't know, I have mixed feelings about it.
I've met far too many horrible people online, from just plain rude players to scammers and downright hostile people.

But I've been granted amnesty myself, not from the actual game (as I have never been banned from WoW) but from the forums.

I posted a mage post in the general section of the forums, as I knew it would take days to get answers in the mage section. Two pages of flaming and hostile people telling me to go kill myself for doing such a thing got me so mad I started offending them back. Clever people , naturally they reported me and got me permabanned from the forums.
After a month or two I found it quite hard because I was so used to using the forums to get answers and feedback. I wrote an apologetic mail to Blizzard stating the nature of my ban, why I did what I did and asked them if they could find it in their hearts to forgive me. Thankfully they understood, and granted me amnesty, restoring my full right to post and reply on the forums.

I think if the cause of your ban isn't too horrible and you show both regret and a will to change, then yea I think Blizzard should .. at least give a trial run to banned accounts. But some people never learn I'm afraid. Some people live to cause pain. We've all seen it, on the forums, on youtube, in-game, anywhere. People just stirring up trouble and causing havoc just because it amuses them. These types of people are often clever, and I'm sure they can easily fool blizzard just to get another month of making other players feel miserable.

But being banned from the forums did teach me a great lesson! I learned to never be stirred by such people. Naturally if someone is hostile to me or steals loot from me I will get upset, but I've learned never to go down the path that leads to hateful discussion or flaming. I've learned to shrug those kinds of troll off, simply ignore them and not rise to their taunts.

[Seranthor]

I'm curious. Why would a gold farmer/botter, who has not done either of that on a new account for a year+, suddenly start doing that again on the old amnesty account? The people who broke the rules would -already- be back in the game. If they were planning on doing bad things, they'd already be doing it. Not waiting for an old account to use.

Just say it, you want to be put above the rules and be able to buy your old account back.

[ZakAtack]

I would say no because it would cause a rush of threads about how Blizzard is just trying to profit from the game and banning people unjustly to try and get them into this amnesty program, much like the current general view toward server transfers.

And also because no, if you did enough to get banned, you should stay banned. And if the program has you make a new account, why not just stick with that one?