Why can't I sell my wow account!?

[derpderp84]

I am confused as to why I cannot sell (or even give away) my wow account when I am done playing the game. I can sell other games, my car, etc however World of Warcraft is so special that I am unable to trade it with someone else who will continue to pay the monthly fee, after myself having payed for the games (wow, bc, woltk, cata). I just don't understand what the big problem is, perhaps someone can help me understanding this issue.

[Lostprophet]

coz u are not the owner of your account, Blizzard is, u are just renting(?) it.

[Kaneiac]

You can sell it, sure, but Blizzard doesn't want you to.

And when you click on agree, you agree to their terms and conditions. Technically it states somewhere that it's their property (I think).

End of story.

[Xiar]

Read your EULA [End User License Agreement] . Your "account" does not belong to you. You are essentially renting it from Blizzard--all characters, items, etc. remain their property. The money you pay to "buy" your account can be sort of viewed as a security deposit, and the $15/month viewed as your monthly rent. The account never becomes your property, so if you try to sell it, it's like you try to sell Blizzard's property without giving them a cut.

To compare to the other games issue: When you buy a game--say, Mass Effect 2, one of my favorites--you're purchasing a copy of that game, much like you purchase a copy of a CD or a song. You go through it, you play, you have your fun, and you're done with it. Yes, you're permitted to sell that back to the store, who may then resell it, but this is a different matter because, firstly, platform [Non-MMO] games do not have explicit EULAs that you agree to upon entering the game. In addition, in these single-player games, you have no interaction or impact on other people's playing the game.

Put simply, if you try to sell your account, it's like if you burn a bunch of CDs of a song you downloaded from LimeWire and try to sell it. It's against the rules because Blizzard said so.

[al in socal]

Whether it's in the TOS or not - what I think the OP is asking is what is Blizzard's reasoning behind their decision to not allow this? Personally I have several friends with characters I'd like to play, and I would love to trade toons back and forth rather than leveling my own.

[maladorian]

what this poster said ^^ (xiar)

best example i can think of partially as well is if you bought or leased a car from a dealer, then tried to sell or re-lease the car to someone else on the lot of the dealership...

[Deleted]

It's illigal you know.

[Hellgrazr]

people who sell their accounts sell the time they put into it basically
idk i have thought of it, but what ive seen when lookign at adds is a disclaimer that blizzard owns the account and what they are paying for is the time they put into the acc(?)

[Kirfkin]

Whether it's in the TOS or not - what I think the OP is asking is what is Blizzard's reasoning behind their decision to not allow this? Personally I have several friends with characters I'd like to play, and I would love to trade toons back and forth rather than leveling my own.

Because they're a company, and if you spend time leveling a new character to play, that's more time playing -- and you pay for time to play.

[kronpas]

I am confused as to why I cannot sell (or even give away) my wow account when I am done playing the game. I can sell other games, my car, etc however World of Warcraft is so special that I am unable to trade it with someone else who will continue to pay the monthly fee, after myself having payed for the games (wow, bc, woltk, cata). I just don't understand what the big problem is, perhaps someone can help me understanding this issue.

Technically, that piece of software isnt yours to start with, as with many many other softwares out there. You are only renting it. If you read ToS carefully, Blizz already stated it and you agreed to the term when pressing "Accept".

[maladorian]

Whether it's in the TOS or not - what I think the OP is asking is what is Blizzard's reasoning behind their decision to not allow this? Personally I have several friends with characters I'd like to play, and I would love to trade toons back and forth rather than leveling my own.

this would be a nice thing, but then wheres the line drawn if your friend decides to sell all your shit, trade the toon? blizzard couldnt keep track of if it was hacked, if your friend was a bastard, or if your fibbing about the entire situation...