Banned WoW Player Offers $1000 for Reactivation
This player wants to set up a secret meeting to exchange money for access to his locked account.
Those who typically don't game on a weekly basis – if at all – would label consistent playing as a sign of "obsession" or "addiction." For those of us who actually do spend a good deal of time dumping hours and dollars into various titles, it's called an "investment," or just falls in line with numerous other monthly bills that need to be paid. Why? Because we "invest" our time and money into what we love, similar to the passion of building a collection of hardback books, purchasing digital media from iTunes or even subscribing to Netflix. Speaking from personal experience, non-gamers just don't get that point of view.
So when news arrived of a banned World of Warcraft gamer offering to pay Blizzard cash to be allowed back into the popular MMORPG, it came as no surprise. After all, how much money and time had the gamer already dumped into the game before Blizzard swung its mighty Ban-hammer? Was it more than $1000 USD, because that's what the gamer is currently offering on Craigslist.
"I got my WoW account banned yesterday during the archaeology bot ban wave," the gamer writes. "I wasn't a gold farmer or seller, never bought gold. I just botted archaeology because it's a boring profession. I'm looking for a WoW Account Admin (WoWAccountAdmin@blizzard.com) to un-ban my account for $1000 USD. No questions asked - your anonymity will be preserved."
The gamer claims that the offer is indeed serious. "I live locally and can meet you in person wherever you like with cash, PayPal you money as a gift (non-refundable and non-disputable by me), leave an envelope under a tree, or pay you in any other manner you prefer," he adds. "You will definitely get your money if I get my account back. You will have my full information - name, address, everything. Email me and I will give you my phone number and we can talk."
Did you catch that? You will definitely get your money if I get my account back. That line itself leaves a window open for the gamer to completely ignore promised payment even if a WoW admin decides to take pity and unlock the user's account. Nevertheless, the plea is a perfect example of the value players put on their "investments" whether they're buying ammo for "killing simulators" or farming tomatoes.
Based on the listing, Blizzard has seemingly accused the player of farming gold. Unfortunately, that's usually frowned upon in most MMORPGs and will result in a permanent ban. There's probably no way the user will get his account back. Still, let's see if anyone actually takes the bait...
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Serves him right for cheating.
The main reason I gave up on WOW was all the damn gold farmers and blatant cheaters.
Is it permanent ban? It would be really harsh to ban permanently for SINGLE offense.
"Did you catch that? You will definitely get your money if I get my account back. That line itself leaves a window open for the gamer to completely ignore promised payment even if a WoW admin decides to take pity and unlock the user's account."
Sigh, or maybe he just expects that some stranger will rip him off? Besides if he doesn't make the payment the admin can always just ban his account again.
I believe the proper term is "murder simulator".
Well there are some things you can get from that prof that could be sold fo alot of gold. The dragon mout comes to mind. So even if his bot setup was not farming ore or collecting herbs he could still have got alot of god from farming that prof. I understand how bad that sucks. I looked at total playtime on my first toon and its something like 40days lol might even be 60.... I havent looked at the other or bothered to add it up as it is a tad depressing lol
(edit) would be great if I could get a spelling bot right LOL
Excellent! No mercy for the cheaters!
Hey, at least this guy understands what he did was wrong.
I've always been paranoid about bans though, on WoW. I wonder if they ever have any false positives in their ban-waves?
It could also be an interesting way for Blizzard to catch someone they suspect internally of doing something shady in the past.
Personally he should just leave retail and look into playing on a private server. I do and with the money saved I use for more legitimate uses such as upgrades to my machines or extra text books ect for college even though they are not required.
At least when I am banned from a private server I didn't lose much except for my time. There is a few good servers to play out there and have been playing on one for the past two years now. For a few months it was the best experience that I have had in wow. Private servers cut past the bs and save the fun for pvp and great raids.
Id take it then wait till he cheats again then ban him again.
Yes, because I'm betting that Blizzard has no system in place to track and moderate the actions of their account administrators.
Also betting this has never, ever been attempted before.
/sarcasm.
Loser...he has $1000 to spare because he lives in his parents' basement.
What I don't get is if something in the game is boring and has no real bearing on the game itself, then don't do it...
I highly doubt anyone at Blizzard with the power to unban accounts would take the risk to lose their job for about two weeks worth of salary. One can always hope, right?
There was a warning that blizzard's anti-cheat system was beginning to capture data a few weeks ago and whoever wanted to `become` legit in that period could have. If you ignored it and kept `cheating`, you just gave them undeniable evidence against you. Too bad.
Loser...he has $1000 to spare because he lives in his parents' basement.
Ok Mr. Tough guy...
Frankly its Blizzards fault for not offering this as a service. They waited 8+ years to ban hundreds of thousands of diablo2 accounts that had the audacity to hax the hex file in order to install more than one copy of the game on their pc which they paid for ...
Frankly its Blizzards fault for not offering this as a service. They waited 8+ years to ban hundreds of thousands of diablo2 accounts that had the audacity to hax the hex file in order to install more than one copy of the game on their pc which they paid for ...
Out of sheer curiosity why would one want to install 2 copies of a game? And then how would that effect blizzard? And then Is Diablo an online game? I thought it was not and in that case who cares if I cheat my pants off lol. After I play a game the non cheating way a few times it can be fun to cheat. Oblivion comes to mind just use the console and BAM your some uber indestructible wizard guy in 5 mins lol.
Reason he's probably offering that much money is that he probably has alot of gold that he can sell online and make a profit out of it.
That person is sad!! Get help with your addiction. WOW CRACK!!
Well there are some things you can get from that prof that could be sold fo alot of gold. The dragon mout comes to mind. So even if his bot setup was not farming ore or collecting herbs he could still have got alot of god from farming that prof. I understand how bad that sucks. I looked at total playtime on my first toon and its something like 40days lol might even be 60.... I havent looked at the other or bothered to add it up as it is a tad depressing lol(edit) would be great if I could get a spelling bot right LOL
I've spent more than 200 days ingame according to altoholic. More than half on my main. And he isn't even maxed archaeology - that's how boring that profession is. So while I couldn't afford to make such an offer, I can definetly understand why he'd resort to botting to get it done.
I mean a little while back I considered trying out a fishing bot because I need our guild to fish 10.000 fish just to get a recipe ... I decided to cancel my subscription instead though. Might be easier for blizzard to get rid of players with boring content than by banning.
HAHAHA lol, banned for botting archeology despite it being a profession with BOP items and non sellable mats.
Meanwhile thousands more bot / afk battlegrounds for free honor and nobody does a thing.
oh well, to date, my WOW "investment" has been $720 for playing since patch 1.12.0
Loser...he has $1000 to spare because he lives in his parents' basement.
Or, you know, he can afford it?? $1000 isn't that much money to a lot of people - certainly not for something that someone's spent so much time on.
I've spent more than 200 days ingame according to altoholic. More than half on my main. And he isn't even maxed archaeology - that's how boring that profession is. So while I couldn't afford to make such an offer, I can definetly understand why he'd resort to botting to get it done.
I mean a little while back I considered trying out a fishing bot because I need our guild to fish 10.000 fish just to get a recipe ... I decided to cancel my subscription instead though. Might be easier for blizzard to get rid of players with boring content than by banning.
I havent raided in CATA yet but I do have 3 85's and at one point in LK had a top 50 warrior on my server all wile avoiding fishing for the very reason that it was boring lol. I just chose not do do that boaring part of the game
HAHAHA lol, banned for botting archeology despite it being a profession with BOP items and non sellable mats.
Meanwhile thousands more bot / afk battlegrounds for free honor and nobody does a thing.
oh well, to date, my WOW "investment" has been $720 for playing since patch 1.12.0
Wellll.... you get the vile of sands (or whatever its called) and you can then craft a 50k gold sellable item
I would unban the account, take the money, then a few weeks later, ban him again for something else he did stupid.
Excellent! No mercy for the cheaters!Hey, at least this guy understands what he did was wrong.I've always been paranoid about bans though, on WoW. I wonder if they ever have any false positives in their ban-waves?
No, he doesn't. He seems to suggest that his use of a bot to speed through something boring is ok. Plus, he even compounds his ethics violation by offering to bribe(!) for access to his account again.
As for false positives, usually MMORPG companies (at least the ones I know of), are meticulous in their surveiling of people who they think are cheating and keep up to date on what these cheat bot/clients do and what to watch for.
Believe it or not, a lot of games take the "wait and watch" approach to be sure. Most cheaters and botters are tracked so they can get MORE of them when they start banning (the accounts they interact with to offload their gold).
Just in terms of PR, every false positive not fully researched is likely worse than a hundred real cheaters banned.
Maybe this is someone in Blizzard management seeing if any admins will take the bait 0.o
What a freakin looser.
He needs some serious beating to get some sense into his head
No, he doesn't. He seems to suggest that his use of a bot to speed through something boring is ok. Plus, he even compounds his ethics violation by offering to bribe(!) for access to his account again.
As for false positives, usually MMORPG companies (at least the ones I know of), are meticulous in their surveiling of people who they think are cheating and keep up to date on what these cheat bot/clients do and what to watch for.
Believe it or not, a lot of games take the "wait and watch" approach to be sure. Most cheaters and botters are tracked so they can get MORE of them when they start banning (the accounts they interact with to offload their gold).
Just in terms of PR, every false positive not fully researched is likely worse than a hundred real cheaters banned.
I think in wow most gold farmers get most of there gold hacking account. I have played a few years now and havent seen alot of the stuff you used to see ( super fast node ninjas and what not lol)
If you do not like doing part of the game, then just do not do it. The professions are not mandatory, especially the secondary ones.
I used to bot and got banned myself. For me, it was all about leveling up my char so I could go and enjoy life. When I came back I had a more gold and a higher level char.
Sure, some will frown upon this. But I found it to be much easier for me. I liked to do PvP and never botted in BG's. However, leveling is tedious and can be boring, hence the botting.
I am not trying to justify his actions. But I can understand where he is coming from. I used to write xml scripts and had 4 people that I used to bot in this game called Ashersons Call. I sold about $1000 on Ebay. Ah, the good ol days
Good wow accounts sell for more then 1000 at the right times, not really surprising he would pay 1000 for it back.