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84 commentsTuesday, March 11, 2008

Blizzard Loses A World Of Warcraft Player

10 million players, and zero ways to resolve a problem
An inexplicable banning and no way to contact Blizzard Entertainment for an explanation other than by email adds up to this: forget about having me as a player.

You might think a business with 10 million customers would have a way to work with them outside of email. Such logic does not apply to Blizzard, operators of the world's biggest MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

About five days into our ten-day trial, where we have been trying out different characters to get a feel for the game, I was in the middle of taking a Forsaken mage through his paces when boom, disconnected. Upon reconnecting, I received this message: "This World of Warcraft account has been closed and is no longer available for use."

The accompanying link noted I should check my email for a follow-up message, and noted an email address to contact. Here's the astonishing message I received:

Access to this account has been permanently disabled for exploitation of World of Warcraft through associated accounts which have been closed for intended exploitation. While we try to be as lenient as possible in our assessments of the results of exploitation investigations, reoccurring trends in exploitative endeavors on your accounts have ultimately lead to their closure. The recurring subscription on the account has been disabled to prevent further charges.

Wow, I must be some kind of horrid person, right? Um, wrong. I downloaded a trial directly from the official site, then installed the full version from a new, purchased box set of software. I've only logged in through the regular software client.

There's no spyware, rootkits, or any other threats my various little defensive software tools have found on my system. I don't have any problem blaming Blizzard for taking a remarkably stupid action, compounded by arrogantly hiding behind an email address instead of making someone useful available by phone.

To summarize, I'm sure as hell not doing anything that could be considered exploitative.

Maybe if they hit 15 or 20 million subscribers they might consider the benefits of real customer service and shell out some bucks for a phone contact option. Disney figured that out for both of their online games, ToonTown and Pirates of the Caribbean.

How a company with 10 million customers can thrive and grow while arbitrarily and erroneously screwing over a player simply eludes me. I'd only considered World of Warcraft recently, as a way to reconnect with my idled interest in fantasy gaming, sparked by the passing of Gary Gygax.

Looks like I'll be picking up Neverwinter Nights or something else. In closing, Blizzard, get a clue, tell whoever manages your customer service to take a class or two in communications (a first for you, perhaps?), and have a nice day.

Phone support

So did it occur to you to check the WoW site and see if there was a phone number listed for live support. Took me less then 2 minutes to locate a number:

Billing & Account Services
Phone Support - 1 (800) 59-BLIZZARD
Live Representatives Available Mon-Fri, 8am to 8pm PST
here a link to that information (there are probably other places to find this as well):

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3773308319&sid=1

Now you seem like an intelligent person. Heck, you're a staff writer for a website that covers technology. Why was it so hard to find a phone number?  Are you to lazy or have you no skills at searching for information?

And is using the email service to resolve a problem really that bad? I've had to use it and got response quickly and my problem resolved without any problems at all. All within 2 days. And that was for a hacked account.

So, maybe next time check for the information before you spout off about bad service so you don't come off as a complete moron.

 

Hi Tore

The number in question is A) listed for account and billing questions and B) solid busy when I did try to call it, repeatedly. No voicemail, nothing, just a busy signal.

From the email: Any disputes or questions concerning this account action can only be addressed by Account Administration.

I emailed the address provided for Account Administration. A phone contact was not provided as an option; considering the nature of the issue, I figured they prefer to handle complaints asynchronously.

I appreciate the comment, but you're erroneous in assuming I didn't try these options.

You also obviously did not read the reason Blizzard gave for shutting down my account. A company handling as much business as they do needs to have a better process in place than just tossing off a nebulous email claiming there's a serious problem when there's not.

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