Profanity, masked profanity, hateful speech, slurs, insults/harassment, sexual innuendo/content, references to illegal things/drugs, advertising, spam, etc. have always been against the rules in WoW, and against the terms for all Blizzard games and platforms - including the forums.
There is currently no AI system penalizing language. Penalties depend on other players reporting you. That means others found your behavior to violate the rules, and the GMs agreed after looking at the logs attached to the report. Sounds like you know you were typing profanity or masked profanity so that seems accurate.
It has ALWAYS been against the rules, although penalties have changed over time as has the reporting system. Initially people had to file a ticket manually, and the penalty for chat infractions was a short suspension. Starting with a few hours going up to days, weeks, and account closure. In 2016 they went to a Silence system to see if that helped. It removed access to social features of the game for chat infractions. It started at 24 hours then doubled each time. That was not working to curb unwanted chat behaviors to they went to longer penalties starting about a year or year and a half ago. It now starts with a week Silence, second penalty is a week suspension, it goes up from there.
There are multiple warnings. The first is the EULA we agree to, but you are right that is LONG and while some of us read it not everyone does. Around the time they increased the penalties for language, they added a very short Pop-up Called the Social Contract about language and behavior to remind people that they can get suspended for language infractions. The first part of it is just “play nice” suggestions, the second part is a reminder of the chat rules that have always existed. This is fast to read for people who just don’t read EULAs. So there are actually TWO warnings they force you to click on to play that both have reminders of the rules.
If it is not ok for the game, it is not ok to repeat that language on the forums. The rules are the same across all platforms. Your forum posts were reported for violating the forum rules.
You are assuming your penalty is language related. Looking at your first post, that may not be the case. Some other options that jump out at me as possibilities:
Multiple transactions. If any were kicked back the anti-fraud systems may kick in.
Gearing up fast. If you acquired gold any way besides in-game questing/mechanics, or the official WoW Token, it is highly likely you received illicit RMT gold. Or the laundering of it. Keep in mind that Blizzard has never allowed real money to be used for services like carries, gear, gold, or anything else in game. Participating in any of those activities or getting the gold from those accounts, can get an account suspended or banned.
Macros. Blizzard does not allow automation of game activities. Never has. If you are using the in-game macro maker you are good. If you do something outside the game that links together anything you can’t otherwise do with the game tools, that is automation. A common issue with skill rotations.
Addons. While addons are usually fine and operate in Blizzard’s sandbox, there are things you can do with some that still break the rules. Don’t use them to spam, automate anything, etc.
Gameplay. If you were somehow breaking any other rules such at throwing/feeding, non participation, etc. That can result in penalties if reported.
The bottom line is that the rules have not changed despite penalties evolving over time. They DO have fast read pop up you have to agree to that reminds people of the behavior rules.
Whatever happened to your account, is between you and Blizzard though. The only way to deal with it is to put in an appeal. If the logs show you did break the game rules, they the penalty will be upheld.
Frankly, I would never have sworn had I known… and secondly. I would have never known what the suspension was for (and still dont) if I hadn’t spent a bunch of time researching online what it might be… because I never received anything indicating that it was swearing. No email, and nothing in my ticket after multiple requests for clarification. All I got was a link to TOS, and it a message saying I was suspended for breach of TOS. But I easily would never have been able to guess it was saying a swear…
I know with certainty the macros and addons aren’t issue. Or anything else illicit. I bought 3 wow tokens and sold them. That is the only gold I got on the characters.
I suppose my “complaint” about the social contract, is it actually starts off reading like complete skippable “fluff”, and EVEN if you do go through it all, it takes a lot of assumptions to guess that general swearing would cause a suspension. I think my suggestion of explicitly stating that " DO NOT use curse words under any context or circumstance" is reasonable, given the severity of punishment… and I also think the pop-up when you type a swear that triggers the filter is a very good/reasonable idea… Just saying “don’t swear, its a suspendable, or bannable offense”
I reported players for swearing back in Vanilla. It took time to do. It took up your ticket slot so that you couldn’t file another ticket until it was addressed. It was in the EULA back then too.
Now we have the right-click report system. It has streamlined the process. Thanks to a specific streamer, and posts such as yours, players are aware that the report system actually has consequences.
For language violations it only takes one report. The one doing the reporting doesn’t have to personally be offended by it. The language filter makes some words more obvious and easier to report. Masked language, and misspellings used to get around the language filter, are also not permitted.
If that is the message you are receiving, have you tried changing your password?
Your experience shows you may have been very lucky, or maybe you kept it to private groups with friends.
Blizzard’s system depends on other players reporting chat behavior that breaks the rules. Language, advertising, spam, etc. It is not currently a real time AI scanning and banning.
About 10 years ago they changed reporting so that you can do it easily from in-game. Right click report attaches all the character info and chat logs for review. It means more people report than used to back in 2004.
If you are using that language in public chat channels, group finder groups, or any other public group around strangers you are likely to get reported. Does not mean someone is offended, just that they reported someone who can’t follow the rules.
If you keep the colorful language and jokes to your private groups with friends, you are not likely to be reported. That can include guilds which are at-will. It has to be pretty colorful AND reported by your guild, for a GM to step in for that.
Be polite and nice to strangers, or don’t say anything. It all goes back to the same rules we learned as little kids, and our parents, and grandparents, and on. We don’t swear, insult, disparage, harass, etc. when around strangers who may not take it as cool lingo or inside jokes.
This is also a good point. There is an account locked security measure that can be placed on accounts to protect the account holder if the system detects odd access.
An account locked status is not the same as an Account Silenced penalty, or Account Suspended Penalty.
But main point is this… I didn’t swear in a moment of passion breaking rules… I did it because I had no idea that was an offense that broke rules and would get me suspended… Otherwise I would have responded “Stop being toxic, first day playing in years, and first time healing”… because anyone with a brain knows that’s what I meant
Lucky or not, it started happening recently, even guildies and friends noticed it. But it doesn’t matter. It probably has more to do with peoples mentalities than actual offences. Some people will go to great lengths to please their frustrations, even if just with a click of a button.
I wonder how many people I can get suspended by enabling trade chat again.
thanks, but I did come across this, and tried it, when I didn’t know what issue was.
In my ticket I asked what the issue was, I even explicitly said I wasn’t sure if it was a billing issue? or something else? And if I needed to do anything to get account back. All I got was a link to TOS, and nothing addressing that question… so not sure, but I assume not
Why do you need to swear? I guess it shows how intelligent you are! In years past it was not as easy to report people and blizzard has taken a hard line on it.
Plus the games rating requires it be against the rules.
I wont spend to much time going back and forth on this “moralistic” views of swearing, but I will tell you… many people have a different view, and swear when bantering commonly. Also… google swearing and intelligence. It’s actually linked to higher intelligence with research (fun fact I remembered…maybe cause I swear)
Well I messaged them multiple times, now at two days and all I got is a link to TOS. So tried my best to establish the issue… and the whole point of my post is what a bad experience this is, from a customer service perspective.
It seems he did try it so we can rule that out as a cause of the suspension. That leaves language, automation, possible RMT, etc.
All, the back and forth about swearing is not really helpful for any party.
It has been in the Terms since 2004.
It has been enforced since 2004, although reporting has gotten easier and penalties have differed over the years. Right now, the penalties are longer than they have been in the past. So everyone is right. They may not remember past penalties long ago because they were short. The ones now, do get their attention and most people avoid it if they realized it.
Nobody is immune from the rules. Does not mean someone is “offended” if they report you. It is much like a speeding ticket. Sometimes you get away with it, other times they have patrols catching speeders and you get a ticket. This time, the ticket has harsher penalties.
Rubbing someone’s nose in it is just as bad as someone pretending “I did not get adequate warning”. Neither are helpful and don’t change the reality of the situation.
While we can educate on policy, personal attacks or judgements are NOT helpful from anyone.
None of us can see the account info so this is really between Blizzard and the OP if a Blue wishes to clarify what this penalty was for.
It is a lovely cool morning and I am making coffee.
I appreciate your input, and am not disagreeing about the policy itself. It simply is what it is. I agree, no point in arguing about the moralistic views of swearing. My suggestion, which I think are reasonable, will be put one last time for clarity below.
A). Make it abundantly clear that simply swearing can get you suspended, regardless of context. Even if you think reading the entire social contract and/or TOS is a reasonable expectation for all players, it is actually not very clear that it’s referring to swearing.
I think a great suggestion is a pop-up when you trigger the profanity filter.
B) Make it clear what the offense was for the suspended account (It seems this is meant to happen, but I really don’t have an email), and there was no response in ticket to that inquiry. Above and beyond this, include the timer of the suspension. Right now I am just left completely guessing what it is for, and how long it is for.
I don’t have a problem not swearing… But I do feel like pointing out the ambiguity in this system is warranted, and the unpleasantness of the process
I think everyone agrees on this point, including every study ever on encouraging positive behaviors! People need to know what the infraction was in a timely way and the penalty needs to be relevant to it.
The email USED to have a sampling of the reported chat to remind the player what they were doing when the reports came in, and that likely got actioned. Problem is, the system started grabbing random non-relevant text and was making things worse. So right now the system seems to not be functional. Blizzard does want to go back to including some of the actioned text! I think. So hopefully that tech glitch gets sorted out and penalty emails are improved.
It is beyond frustrating for a player not to know what they did, and for the GM teams to get flooded with “what did I DO???!!” tickets. That can all be avoided with a proper email up front with the penalty citation.
Hopefully a Blue can drop by later and clarify which part of the policy, or policies, your account violated so your suspension stays at just that - a suspension. Preventing further infractions is a great goal and I am glad you want to do that. I do hope your Arena adventures go well when you get back in game!
It WAS on on a different account… but they will probably able to figure it out based on description, because I said as much and more with how frustrated I was. I did close the ticket once I realized it was probably for swearing… because I just wanted to know for what, and for how long.
I should say, the streamer Payo just made a video on this experience that I stumbled across, with 2 accounts perma banned, and the same interaction I had, with no explanation, but a link to TOS. He did get them back, but his point was how angry that interaction can make someone, and rightfully so.
I have spent well over $10,000 with blizzard over the years… Infact, I bought 2 full special edition games, 2 subs, 5 character boosts, and 3 wow tokens just in the last 2 days.
And I can’t even figure out how to get into the game and play… Even after hashing all of this out… it still does annoy me quite a bit…
