Clarifications on Code of Conduct

Kolimae-mazrigos · September 30, 2024, 1:54pm

Dear Support,

I would like to ask for some clarifications on the Code of Conduct for WoW. I don’t feel like I have a firm understanding on what exactly is prohibited in light of recent events. I have spend 100s of euros on this game, it has been part of my life for well over a decade, my account is 14 years old. I would be devastated to lose it over uncertainty.

While I understand bans are not to be discussed over forums, I feel like some action needs to be taken. A close friend of mine has been banned recently for breaching Code of Conduct, Cheating section, and he was provided with no information whatsoever. We talked for hours on what could have caused his account to be flagged, but the short answer is we don’t know.

I’d like to clarify some specific actions, whether they are a breach of Code of Conduct or in compliance with them. I am not attempting to negotiate the ban itself, while I don’t agree with it, Blizzard’s response to my friend was pretty firm and leaves no room for discussion, however unfair or anti-consumer that is. I am asking these questions to make sure I (and others) comply with the Code of Conduct in order to protect my own account, which is an important part of my life. To put it simply, my trust in Blizzard’s fairness has been damaged by this event, and my intent is to create more transparency in order to save good will users from repercussion.

Do AddOns possibly fall into the category of Cheating, as in “Using third-party programs to automate any facet of the game” and “engaging in any activity that grants an unfair advantage”?
AddOns themselves are a feature of the game, made available by Blizzard, and what AddOns can do is ultimately restricted by what specific actions Blizzard exposed as it’s API. AddOns are commonplace, used universally including Blizzard sponsored influencers. AddOns however are ultimately not first party software. They provide benefits to the users, by autoamting facets of the game (Auction House addons save time and are capable of determining a selling price that undercuts other sales, etc), or grant you (an unfair?) advantage (WeakAuras are widely used for notifying you about world events, reminding you to cast certain spells, effectively helping you play better. In a competitive setting, this could give you an advantage over players not using said addons).
Are my examples in violation of Code of Conduct?
Are AddOns able to perform actions that may flag one’s account for cheating?
Blizzard is allowed to monitor player’s computers for software that might allow cheating. These programs I assume are power tools that allow querying or modifying the memory. I am a professional software developer, I do my development on the same machine I play on. I have a myriad of tools installed on my computer, maybe even running while I log in to the game to check on guild chat or the auction house, or just chill out in-game, listen to the soundtrack while I work on stuff alt-tabbed. I genuinely can’t tell what tools I’ve had running while I was playing the game, as I’ve never simply never really paid attention to it, but in my lifetime I have reverse engineered software, modified dlls, and accessed the memory of running software. I have historically ran WoW from Linux (Steam decks are a thing, and people play all kinds of games, including wow on that) which might interfere with Blizzard’s monitoring and scanning of unwanted programs, given it runs in a compatibility layer.
Is the presence of development tools on my computer a risk to my account, as it gets flagged for cheating, being considered cheating?
Is running said development tools in the background while also running WoW a risk to my account, being considered cheating?
Does running WoW from Linux through Wine/Proton a risk to my account, being considered cheating?

I don’t feel like any of these points are adequately adressed. I understand risks of firm statement from the company’s behalf, as you might be held accountable in disputes, but the current phrasing is just broad enough to effectively allow any discusson on Blizzard’s behalf to be justified by it. While I agree with strict policies and punishments generally, there are still plenty of bots, multiboxing, and selling services for real money in game, which I’d like Blizzard to get rid of. I have learned to live with their presence, given it’s difficult to moderate a game of this scale, it however feels like it’s a tossup who gets banned, and we, paying customers are left in the dark. Players with no ill will don’t have the necessary information to prevent decades worth of memories being taken from them in a blink of an eye. Sure, “If you’re unsure if your actions violate this code of conduct, reconsider them”, but is it expected of me then to have a separate computer to play WoW, to make sure Blizzard doesn’t misidentify out of game activities as cheating? I barely do anything outside questing and hanging out in game, yet suddenly I simply fear for my account, because I don’t think my friend was doing much else either.

With deep concerns, anxiety and disappointment, your decades-long fan,
Koli

Saneko-ragnaros · September 30, 2024, 2:21pm

Blizzard will not enter in a discussion, they will just refer to the TOS.

That said, addons are generally accepted. If the developers don’t want you to use certain API features they will remove them instead. There are malicious addons, so best to review and install only from trusted sources like CurseForge.

We’ve also seen people with work PC and/or software getting banned because these have quite intrusive permissions that may infringe upon game integrity.

Unassisted multiboxing is not against the rules.

Trovlak-aggramar · September 30, 2024, 3:20pm

Blizzard never “clarify” any of the terms and conditions, because when they have done so in the past, its led to arguments with armchair lawyers trying to pick the T&C’s apart. As Saneko said, they just refer you back to the T&C’s.

Addons are not considered to be third party programs, because they can only interact with the API that Blizzard themselves supply.

While us users can’t give a full list of what is bannable and what isn’t, what is known to be bannable are:

Any program that alters game files either on disk or “on the fly” in memory, is prohibited.
Any program that allows the examination of computer memory, or the network stream. So having a debugger loaded into memory even if its not being actively used might result in a permanent ban. Similarly for network packet capture software.
Any keyboard or mouse macroing software. For example, autohotkey.

Thats not an exhaustive list. Just a few things that we know for certain are bannable.

There was a famous case of one of Linus Tech Tips getting permbanned because he had a debugger running on the same PC as he was playing from. LTT made a lengthy video about it in an attempt to get him unbanned.

Kolimae-mazrigos · October 3, 2024, 1:01pm

Thanks for the replies… Honestly, this is super messed up. I’ve missed the LTT case too, they are as big as influencers get, how has it not lead to any action.

Okay, Autohotkey is banned, but what if my mouse driver has Macros? Like Steelseries had a WoW licensed mouse, I’m pretty sure that driver counts as third party software, where do they draw the line? Because they for one don’t seem to want to clarify. There was this keyboard driver with auto strafing scandal recently that lead to counter strike bans or something like that, what if my mouse-company decides to update my driver, that gets me banned from wow, and I have absolutely no path to a conversation with Blizzard? In fact they’d not even let me know the ban occurred because of the driver, as from how it looks right now.

Technically, overclocking tools like RTSS hook onto graphics API dlls to inject things like framestats to your framebuffer. While that might not strictly be the game’s memory, it’s close enough to also be unclear, I’ve been using that for years. Stuff like ReShade, probably forget about those too.

As I’m typing this, I have Visual Studio open (well not actively debugging), while I’m sitting in the SW auction house stairs. I guess that’s a malicious act now, and I’m also being a danger to other players’ fun? I seemingly have some habits to change, and having to do that doesn’t really fill me with confidence and joy. That is, if I still have an account tomorrow.

Call me an idealist, but I’d like to think there is a legal body at least in the EU that would say this is not okay. The lack of transparency is palpable, all we can do is guess and learn(?) from others’ misfortune, while they remain just completely ignored indefinitely.