Maybe because then, “justice” goes to the side with the best story rather than who has the legal ownership.
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So… BL was the new leader of the guild.
Regardless of what happened afterwards, the guild is no longer in your control.
You should consider it lost and move on.
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Why is this unacceptable? You state that they are “distant,” not “unreachable.”
Reasonable humans dealing with the loss of a family member shouldn’t think what you’re asking to be awful or reprehensible, assuming that you:
- Wait a reasonable amount of time first. Some weeks from the person’s passing would be appropriate.
- Approach the family as longtime friends of the deceased.
- Use respectful language, limit the details (unless those family members also played WoW, it’s useless to talk about transfers, servers, etc.) and explain that you would like to continue a legacy of which your friend was a big part.
If someone came to me with that, after my family member had passed, I’d first weep over the fact that their friends cared about them that much, and then certainly give them what they needed to have the in-game legacy continue.
If this person’s family is reasonable, they’ll probably do the same. If they’re not reasonable, and don’t want to give you the info you need, or pass a guild to you, then you must quickly and succinctly accept their wishes and forget this, because you’ve already been given an answer.
Anyone and everyone wants exceptions to rules, up to and including when people pass away. The same people are then very quick to say, “but it’s so easy, and look at my situation,” which isn’t really how rules work. Everyone wants an exception, and everyone’s reason is always “valid and should supersede policy because…”
If one makes a non-standard request to a company (any company), and they honor it, then that’s awesome. However, if you make a non-standard request and the company tells you they cannot honor it, then you thank them, accept that, and move on.
What you made was a request. You asked; they declined.
I know it’s fashionable to argue about stuff like this on the Internet hoping for support and a grassroots effort that results in an overturn of some company’s decision… but this is really over. Either the family will help you, or they won’t.
I wish you luck with that.
10 Likes
With that being said, what steps could the OP take to get the guild back?
In this situation, Blizzard will do nothing to change control of the guild.
The only way to try and get it back at this point is for the OP, or another interested party, to try and get in touch with the family of the deceased GM and ask for them to give control back. Short of that, they aren’t getting it back.
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Orlyia already answered that.
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It comes down to a legal footing.
I can talk to Blizz, say my friend died, provide a copy of an obit that could be easily fabricated and if they handed over everything and that person was not deceased it would create issues.
Its not about being empathetic or considering the human side of things. Its about maintaining correct legal levels of account information and access and covering not only the accounts under their care but also their business and shareholders.
One thing to consider, when you transfer a guild to a new server, a shadow shell guild remains on the original server. Your first GM would likely be connected as the original GM for that guild, but not the new guild on the new server. So She may be able to ask about getting that reinstated - unless thats under active use atm in which case your only option would be to reform under a new guild. Also Blizz wont just move a guild back across servers, thats a paid service.
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The family could send in a copy of the Death certificate and blizzard would destroy the copy as long as the names match I think that would work.
Can anyone confirm that this would work? The state in which BL passed is a public record state so anyone can actually request a death certificate - just have to pay the fee.
Smh some people saying that I would forge / falsify a death certificate in order to reclaim our guild. (Which BL was going to do when we got back)
Thanks for the people that are actually helpful.
I don’t believe anyone was claiming that you would, rather that the human race is often quite crafty and there definitely are people who would fake obits etc.
Sometimes in protecting people from nefarious means, people with legitimate requests are stonewalled. As unfortunate as it is, it’s something you’ll need to understand that not everyone is honest, hence multiple checks and balances.
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No one is saying that you would, but thats just the example as to why they dont just take someones word for it. Like I said, its because of legal ramifications and privacy.
Unfortunately, people falsify things all the time when it comes to wow, thats how accounts get repeatedly hacked and abused - because documents are stolen or used to obtain account access by unauthorised people. So Blizz has a standard response to anyone regardless of money or time invested or ranking, everyone gets treated the same.
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The biggest issue I can think of, in this case? Would be if the death certificate would need to be submitted through BL’s account. It would be akin to needing to submit your driver’s license/legal ID sometimes to verify that you’re the account owner. If they need the death certificate sent through BL’s account by his family to prove the ownership of the account, that would be the biggest hiccup in your plan. Mark this as me explicitly saying that I do NOT think you would forge or falsify the documentation, but anyone could feasibly craft up a death certificate easily enough. If you or the OG GM sent it in, they still couldn’t verify it as a certified legal document unless it was sent directly from the state office with a notarized seal (which I have never heard of anyone submitting documentation any other way but digitally through our accounts themselves, which is where I’m going with this).
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Most of the time a family would not have access to the deceased person’s account. They would be using their own account, or one set up for the purpose, to contact Blizzard, submit documentation, and get the deceased account holder’s switched to their name/access info. It is part of the change account holder name article.
Once that change is done, the relative who is now account holder could change the GM of the guild because they are the ones in charge of it at that point. I do not think they give accounts to non relatives. There is documentation that goes into the decision to grant a relative access.
Hopefully his family also did this
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Totally fair! I suppose I was leaning more on the fact of it needed to be coming from someone who was acting as an agent of BL (i.e., their spouse or family), not as a friend in this sort of fashion to have a guild reverted back to them. If they were going to jump through this hoop it would likely be just as easy to speak directly with the family to log in and handle it when they would be able and okay doing it once things begin to calm after putting the friend to rest.
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