I know the WoW ToS says that you can’t charge for your addons. But is there any rule for a guild that charges real money to join them?
There’s a guild out there who says they only accept members who pay real money through Patreon.
That certainly sounds like something that is going to be on the edge, if not an RMT violation. I’d definitely report it, and let a GM sort out the rest.
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I would turn around and walk away so fast the wind would knock them over. That sounds REALLY REALLY shady, and they aren’t people that you’d want to play with.
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How do I report them? I don’t currently have a subscription for a while.
(I keep visiting the forums because I am waffling between resubscribing and not resubscribing.)
I can’t think of any rules against it explicitly. However it would be really really shady and nobody should ever do it. If they are using that as a cover for paying real money for carries, (or getting gold from carries) that would of course be something they can get banned for.
Imagine people spending money to join a guild and volunteer hours of your time a week raiding/doing dungeons etc. I just… no.
If you know of a group doing something like that as a method to sell carries, move gold for real money, etc. feel free to report all the details in an email to hacks@blizzard.com They don’t usually reply, but if you can give them the guild name, server name, char name/s, communication links (discord, twitter, other forums, reddit, etc.) you will want to do that. Explain the nature of the scheme and why it is cheating.
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Just as a side point, you can still log in to the game and play any character level 20 or below. Just wanted to mention it, should you wish to do some low level playing while deciding whether to sub back to the full game.
Of course, you will be under the same restrictions as a Starter Account.
support article link: https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/3226
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I don’t think they are asking for money for carries.
I know I can’t post a link here. That would break the Name and Shame rule for the forums.
Yeah, I’ve been dipping in on a low-level toon. Just hanging around SW, reading Trade chat.
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That certainly sounds like something that would fall under RMT, although ToS doesn’t call it out specifically. The guild or guild master is profiting off of Blizzards intellectual property.
If they were using the money to buy tokens and then sell for gold to fund guild raiding that might be a gray area.
I’d definitely report it and let Blizzard make the decision.
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Report it how?
I think I’ll wait for a Blue to give me specific directions.
You can send an email to Hacks@Blizzard.com . Be sure to include all relevant information.
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Id report it under advertisement orinapropriate communication txt then explain.
I should clarify that they don’t say you have to pay in game. Their discord gives the instructions. Says you can’t join the in-game WoW guild unless you pay.
Still falls under a unsuported transaction and fishy blizzard wont intervene if it goes south.
I can list 20 guilds that do this off the top of my head and none of do it for gold or tokens. It’s to pay for a persons time who makes custom WA, addons and organises the spreadsheets every week.
Still not allowed. It doesn’t matter how it’s distributed, or for what reason. It doesn’t matter if they call it a “donation” or whatever they can say to try and get around the rules.
It’s still requiring real money for an in-game item (guild invitation). If you see it, report it and let Blizzard handle it.
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In invite to a guild is not an i game item for starters. It’s a very common practise in top 50 guilds that blizz knows all about as its been discussed on the discord server between the players and blizz.
Care to link that i wouldnt trust discord.
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I would look at reporting the guild to hacks@blizzard.com
Though this does fall in a grey area, because there isn’t really much clarity about guilds requiring money in order to join them. But still look at reporting to the email above.
The SFA’s might have more knowledge into this sort of thing though.
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No its invite only. Like the content creator one.
All addons are required to be free to access, download, and use. Blizzard does not allow people to put those addons behind any kind of paywall to download or use. Paying real money to join a guild so you can use their addon scripts is very much against the rules. They are selling something that uses Blizzards API data and lua sandbox.
So if they are doing that, it would certainly be against the rules. There was a whole thread in GD about it yesterday but I think the mods might have nuked it.
Applications May Not Charge Premiums To Use The APIs. “Premium” versions of Applications offering additional for-pay features are not permitted, nor can players be charged money to download an Application, charged for services related to the Application, or otherwise be required to offer some form of monetary compensation to download or access an Application when those features use the Blizzard Developer APIs. Likewise, Applications may not include interstitials soliciting donations before features or functionality becomes available to the player. Also, players may not be required to watch a video advertisement before accessing a feature or function of the application.
Also reflected on the UI and addon forum for easy reading.
World of Warcraft User Interface Add-On Development Policy
With the continuing popularity of World of Warcraft user interface add-ons (referred to hereafter as “add-ons”) created by the community of players, Blizzard Entertainment has formalized design and distribution guidelines for add-ons. These guidelines have been put in place to ensure the integrity of World of Warcraft and to help promote an enjoyable gaming environment for all of our players - failure to abide by them may result in measures up to and including taking formal legal action.
- Add-ons must be free of charge.
All add-ons must be distributed free of charge. Developers may not create “premium” versions of add-ons with additional for-pay features, charge money to download an add-on, charge for services related to the add-on, or otherwise require some form of monetary compensation to download or access an add-on.
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