I’d like to share a cautionary tale for anyone that sells goods and services in Trade Chat regularly. The report system abuse has gotten out of control. This will be the full story, but I will have a tl;dr at the end.
About a month ago, early into Season of Discovery, I set out on a business venture. I’ve never been good at making gold, but I decided that selling cross-faction items could be something for me. I was willing to put in the time and the travel to make it work, and I had a friend to help me courier them. I decided that the Neutral Auction House just didn’t enough traffic, especially in this phase at level 25. Not many people travel to Booty Bay on the Wild Growth server yet. So, I had the idea that if I could cart these items to Stormwind myself, I would have a much easier time selling them. Even at a small markup, it would be worth it for someone to buy these items rather than trek all the way to Booty Bay for them.
And what was my cross-faction item of choice? Cockroaches of course! I saw an opportunity. Cockroaches are probably not most people’s pet of choice; they’re kind of yucky and creepy, but I knew I could use this to my advantage. I embraced an alter-ego, Roachman. Roachman’s sole purpose would be to live in Stormwind and sell his Cockroaches. Because roaches are so odd and unsettling, I was able to use some very quirky pitches to grab people’s attention.
Before long, I had amassed a cult following. I would get whispers from people that enjoyed my creative sales pitches. Things like “I don’t want a roach but I love your pitches” or “LOL”. These messages warmed my heart. And yes, there were some detractors. Many felt that my prices were too high at 5g. When you consider that these pets were selling for 3-6 gold on the neutral AH, and I was saving you a trip to Booty Bay, I felt my prices were fair. And believe it or not, yes, I sold many. I’ve had people that bought multiples! I’ve even had several people pay me MORE than the asking price, because they enjoy my act. And before long, my freind had joined me in the RP, as my son, Roachboy. But just when things were starting to really kick off, we were hit with our first hiccup.
Now, our sales pitches vary from silly, to creepy, to downright bizarre, but never have they ever been vulgar, obscene, or even offensive to anyone but someone with a phobia of bugs. Yet, I had received multiple in-game warnings telling me that this was “not how World of Warcraft players typically communicate”. Despite this, I pressed on, confident that I was not breaking any rules. But about 1 day later I receive my first 7 day silence on my account. This means I cannot talk or invite anyone to groups in game. I can use party chat if someone else invites me, or in guild chat only.
The reasoning for this Silence? Abusive Chat. Again, I’ve said some odd things, gross things, creepy things (I am selling roaches here!), but I have NEVER said anything that I would consider “Abusive”. When I pressed Blizzard on this, I was given two offending chats. The first, a creepy pitch about a roach crawling in someone’s mouth (okay, a bit too invasive and nasty perhaps) and the second, one that I do take responsibility for. I was sent a whisper by someone saying that they were going to touch my ****. I sell Cockroaches, you can guess what they said… I responded with “Don’t touch my ****, roach!” To me, a joke, but inappropriate language nonetheless. I find it hard to believe that this person, who was also clearly joking around, reported me themself. Personally, I believe that I was reported by many people in Trade Chat, probably people that don’t like my humor, my prices, or don’t like ANYONE that posts regularly in Trade. I think that Blizzard went through chats after the fact (even private DMs) and picked the worst offenders. And fair enough, I was willing to accept that I messed up and crossed the line.
Roachboy carried the torch while I was silenced. I stood around for moral support, and business continued. When I was finally able to help out, business was booming! Everybody loves their roaches. And if you’re wondering, a Cockroach is genuinely a very cool companion pet. They fly behind you, and the animation while RP walking is particularly cool. They are the only invertebrate pet and they’re very realistic. Roaches have 3 phases of locomotion and the Cockroach pet exhibits one of these phases in their idle animation, where they are only moving their antennae. I feel that for half the price of some Spider Silk Slippers, it’s a really cool pet to show off to your friends. ANYWAYS:
Disaster struck soon after… I was now hit with a 7 day suspension. This time I wasn’t even able to log into the game. I was crushed. After the silence I had been extremely careful. I no longer made jokes about roaches in mouths, and even took out some of my more edgy material. Again, I pled to Blizzard and I was eagerly awaiting their response this time. I was dying to know what they were going to charge me on this time. Where was the smoking gun! But alas… they gave me no specifics this time. Genuinely, the actual GMs that responded to me were very informative and helpful, it’s just a shame that they couldn’t give me more info. I was told " The problem with humour is that for some it can encourage sales, for others it can cause offence, this is a tricky line to follow." And I understand that. My issue is that the line needs to be clear. I don’t feel it’s appropriate to be penalized unless something I’ve said has actually violated TOS. If something that I said could be clearly depicted as prejudiced or vulgar, I would wholeheartedly support their decision. But I don’t believe that’s the case. Still, I get it. If I’m going to be telling “creepy crawly” jokes about Cockroaches, I’m going to be toeing the line. I told myself that from here on out it would have to be unimpeachable. G rated jokes only and nothing about orifices or roaches clipping your toenails for you (I’m sorry!). I’d like to point out that aside from that one DM, I’ve avoided the OBVIOUS joke one could make when selling these pets… But then disaster struck AGAIN!
This time, Roachboy was hit with a silence. Now, my son… and IRL friend, Roachboy, is Mr. Goody Two-Shoes, at least in my eyes. While I might be more edgy and disturbing with some of my creepy Cockroach sales pitches, Roachboy has always been very silly and lighthearted. At worst, his messages are off-topic or pointless (like random animal facts). I was floored. At this point there is a clear pattern going on. Let’s go back to the “detractors”. I accept that I am not everyone’s cup of tea. My sales pitches can get repetitive, and a lot of people seem to get genuinely angry that my Cockroaches are overpriced in their eyes. I will see messages saying that people put me on ignore, or I will get mean whispers. I’ve even had people invite me to groups to try and scam me or to bully me. I would say that this is NOT the majority. I see FAR more messages of support or people that enjoy what me and Roachboy do. I see the same spam in Trade Chat that you all do, and most of it is boring and uncreative. I try to not be spammy and to not post too often, to avoid bothering people.
I can see that I’ve put a smile on a lot of people’s faces with my creepy crawly companions and my humble Roach Family. But I’m very concerned about the future of what I do and for others that hock their goods in Trade Chat. It seems clear to me that there is an automated process by which players are getting in-game warnings, then a silence, then a suspension. I fear that my next hiccup will result in a month or longer ban. At this point, I am afraid to say anything in Trade Chat at all. There doesn’t seem to be a clear reasoning from Blizzard as to what it takes to get a ban. I believe that with enough reports from grumpy people, abusing the system, Blizzard will use any justification necessary to uphold the decision. I believe that the low level GMs have a “no overturn” policy on the automated system. I would understand these account actions if they were for “spam”, but “abusive chat”? I just can’t accept that. Weird? Disturbing? Gross even? Sure! But abusive just doesn’t sit right with me. And especially not for Roachboy. My boy is innocent!
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for taking some time to hear my story. I would be tempted to give up the Roach Business for good after what’s happened so far, and Roachboy may not have the will to make it either. But I recently watched the Wonka movie, and it has inspired me to press on in the face of opposition. I feel that the haters who abuse the report system are like Slughorn, Prodnose, and Fickelgruber, who conspire against us. And, frankly, Blizzard are acting as the corrupt Keegan Michael Key (lmao). I genuinely hope this doesn’t come across as a “I got banned for nooooo reason you guys!” kind of post. I understand the reasoning… mostly. I just worry about the implications of what’s going on for anyone that sells things in Trade.
TL;DR: I believe that people who sell often in Trade Chat rack up reports from random haters until they get an automated ban from Blizzard, and they don’t seem to be doing anything about it.
- Roachman