Should Blizzard allow 'account amnesty'?

[Kathranis]

Blizzard already has short-term bans for minor offenses. The people who get permanently banned are mostly repeat offenders or those who make decisions do things that don't deserve to be pardoned.

If a player does something bad enough to get perma-banned, I don't think they should get that account back. It's not like they did whatever they were doing accidentally.

[gtfo_my_internets]

using a mac means you deserved it

Infracted. No brand bashing here

[Lunareste]

Read my above post.

I did read your post. But whatever you did to get banned in the first place is malicious enough to have you stay banned, imo. Either way, done posting in this thread.

[Seranthor]

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)

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.

Accounts are banned for a reason, and its not minor infractions that gets folks banned... Thus, if you are banned, its probably well deserved.. and besides... they have account amnesty, Look at what Swifty and crew did with the intentional crashing of zones, they got unbanned...

[cFortyfive]

No and while at it move to a system where accounts can get closed easier.

[chazus]

But whatever you did to get banned in the first place is malicious enough to have you stay banned, imo.

My bad, I thought people were smarter than that. Wine is just a windows emulator for unix, which I was using at the time. Super malicious.

one case of unfortunate events is not reason to allow for the shitstorm that would occur if people who ACTUALLY cheated were able to return. Creating an entire set of rules just for those people in a system that is only being made to fix an issue for a few dozen, which would also allow for so much bad to return to the game

That's the thing though. If such a system were implemented... Those people are ALREADY playing the game. It wouldnt allow anyone new to return. Maybe I didn't make it clear.

People who had previously been banned, would need to have an active, paid separate account for a period of time (6-12 months? 24?) to even be considered. They are already playing the game currently, and have been. This is not something to let banned players 'back into the game'

[jahasafrat]

I vote no on account amnesty. Let them stay banned.

[cFortyfive]

My bad, I thought people were smarter than that. Wine is just a windows emulator for unix, which I was using at the time. Super malicious.

How many of those are there in comparison to the amount of accounts that are banned for absolutely legitimate reasons ?

[chazus]

How many of those are there in comparison to the amount of accounts that are banned for absolutely legitimate reasons ?

It's really not about 'legitimate' or not. I do agree if something is 'bad' enough, it could remain permanent (as the system currently is). But There are plenty of instances where people are banned for much more meager things. Language, griefing, or even mistakes on blizzards part. Obviously, if that was the issue, and the people have played without that issue for a long period of time, the problem has been rectified.

[cFortyfive]

Language, griefing,

totally fine to get perma banned for those.

[chazus]

Who decides what's 'too bad' to have it restored? Who draws the line?

Blizzard certainly would have the final say. Again, I imagine if any sort of thing would be considered, then it would be very strictly, and concisely spelled out.

[JasonWuzHear]

I'd like to see what would happen if blizzard implemented this type of program. No better way to find out than to test it out! Slowly, of course.

[chazus]

You mean like it is currently? Blizzard allows people to appeal bans.

There's a difference, I feel, between "appealing" which is usually pointing out that Blizzard made a mistake, or something out of your control (i.e. someone at the house was using your account), vs "Paying your dues". More of a method to prove that you've done your part to ensure it won't happen again, and are willing to make reparations.

[Herrenos]

While your premise is reasonable on its face, if I was in Blizzard's shoes I'd never do it - they gain nothing from it, and they lose big time in terms of employee time spent investigating your claim to have gone clean in the interim.

WINE users were banned because WINE blocks Warden, which is against the TOS. I understand you didn't actually cheat, but it's not like Blizzard made a mistake - if you block Warden, you get banned. It's pretty clearly spelled out.

[chazus]

they gain nothing from it, and they lose big time in terms of employee time spent investigating your claim to have gone clean in the interim.

That is the reason for having to make purchases, or game time/recruiting. Anything can be monetized properly.

WINE users were banned because WINE blocks Warden, which is against the TOS. I understand you didn't actually cheat, but it's not like Blizzard made a mistake - if you block Warden, you get banned. It's pretty clearly spelled out.

Clearly spelled out? Show me in the ToS where Warden is mentioned? Most players aren't even supposed to know about Warden, let alone know what may or may not affect it. I certainly didn't, not until I did research after Blizzard banned thousands of people. But that's neither here, nor there. That's just a select few cases of Blizzard being herp derp.

[dokilar]

i vote no personally

[Invictus9001]

I'm not for amnesty, in the case of WoW accounts or anything else.

[Jackielope]

To have an account permanently banned you have to have done some pretty screwed up stuff. I have 0 sympathy for people who break the rules and then cry about the punishment. If you didn't want to be banned you should have done like the rest of us and just played the game.

Note that what happened was he was using Wine (a legal Windows emulator for Linux/Unix much like Boot Camp is for Mac), which unknowing to him blocked Warden. Blocking Warden, even unknowingly, was punishable by a permanent ban. And the information that they'd ban for blocking Warden isn't in the ToS or easily-found documentation (if in any at all).

So basically it was down to not making sure that the software used was compatible with the game. There's a case to be made for both sides of that since some people consider Wine use to be totally normal while others are like "dude, it's an emulator, you'd better make sure Blizz has OK'd it."

[Knaar]

@Chazus
You mean something like :

E. host, provide or develop matchmaking services for the Game or the Service, or intercept, emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Blizzard in any way, for any purpose

Even if its not clearly saying Warden like your saying, since wine redirect stuff from the game....
So unless *insert what ever program here* is on the green list of blizzard, you can get banned for it. And your suposed to know it since you agreed to the ToS ^^

You should go read the ToS, very interesting reading.

[Sanguinare]

work with the people at blizzard for the most part you can get a ban removed if it was for reasons that are false i know people that just lied to blizzard and got then accounts back. but if you truly did what got you a ban then no you should never get you account back.