I am disappointed in Blizzard (Harassment)

I don't really post on the forums, but when i do i make sure it's a valid point. This thread isn't for me to prance around say look at me, look at me i'm a girl please carry me through content. This thread is to explain how Blizzard has failed me as a paying customer and has really made me consider quitting something that i love to play for fun.

Anyways.. my name's Kate, i play a Rogue on Tichondrius. I PvE and i PvP. I have friends and i have enemies in this game, everyone does. But for the last year i've been constantly harassed, constantly abused via social networking and constantly had nothing but ill words spoken about me. I have made countless tickets, i have used your ignore feature (which is absoloutely terrible) and i have renamed my character to get away from it.

This game used to be fun for me, but it's not longer fun because people in this game are affecting my life outside of WoW.

For the past few months i've dealt with:

- My IRL pictures being posted in general trade (which someone found on my facebook)
- My skype information being posted in trade
- Friends of mine's addresses and personal information

As i have said, i have reported everything that i can. But NOTHING has been done. When a report is placed MULTIPLE times against a person it needs to be addressed or even looked at seriously. This game is meant to be fun and for me it's just hell. The only reason i even log on anymore is so i don't let my guild down.

I bet someone posts: It's your own fault you probably gave your information out. But this is completely false i NEVER give my facebook out, i NEVER give my skype out unless i'm doing arena which has no link to any of my other accounts and i NEVER draw attention to myself.

Blizzard i really hope you can do something, i'm sorry for posting in your general forums but enough is enough. I love this game and i would hate to quit because of a few sour g#!*!s in the community.

I would suggest posting in Customer Support. Perhaps you can get some more guidance there.

I would strongly recommend you keep reporting everyone who post real life information. Make it an important part of the ticket that this is an ongoing issue and that's it's something you've reported in the past.

There's a penalty volcano and unfortunately there are people who don't take the lower rungs of ladder very seriously. So if they get a warning, they redouble their efforts because they've provoked a response. They get a day off from WoW and they get upset and organize others to harass someone.

Keep going. Eventually they will get something serious enough to make them take notice. Will it take longer than you wish? Most likely. But keep going.

Seriously, what did you do to warrant such griefers?

Stop blaming victims.

What happened is irrelevant. There is no excuse for harassing someone.

You have no right to know. It's not part of the discussion. Move on.

01/11/2012 07:40 AMPosted by Maxaurelius

I usually agree with the things you say, Crepe. In this instance, I do not. There is no way for us to know the whole story if the whole story isnt being told. How are we to know she is really being "victimized" if we dont know the whole story? Its easy for someone to come to the forums and cry foul, then say "i cant give you all the details, but I did nothing wrong", and that pretty much makes the whole scenario false. Like I said in my earlier post, NOONE could have randomly gotten her personal info without her giving it out, whether she gave it out at some point, or it came from a Real-ID friend (which I have NO idea why she hasnt mentioned or thought about that possibility).

It doesn't matter.

To take an analogy to an extreme, having someone cut you off is no excuse for road rage and causing them to be injured or killed.

There is something being done that's against the rules (and just a completely inappropriate thing to do even if Blizzard didn't have those rules). There is no reason to do it. Nothing can justify it.

On the flip side, its not your business. It's not my business. We don't have the right to sit in judgement. What happened isn't something we need to know about it. The relevant parties are the victim, the accused, and Blizzard. That's it.

Turn off real id. The only way someone could know what realm you moved to was with real id.

I suspect you have a friend who is aligned against you.

This isn't true. Some websites can track this information.

To the OP -

There are addons you can get that will block low level whispers and anyone who is not on your "approved" list. I would strongly recommend looking into one of those as well as opening a petition through the battle.net ticketing system to include the names and pertinent dates/information of the people who are harassing you.

As stated by Orylia in this thread:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3881710222?page=3#60

In game tickets and petitions are treated differently.

i transferred to get away from it and it has followed me to my new realm.

Seriously, what did you do to warrant such griefers?

It doesn't matter if someone 'did something to warrant such griefers'. Harrassment is Harrassment. Period. End of list. Unfortunately, this is a side effect of social networking. Kate, my best advice to you is to adjust your FB settings to where only authorized people can see pictures, info, etc. And I would absolutely disconnect your facebook from anything WoW related if this has led people to you.

Keep reporting (as frustrating as it is) and use as much detail as possible. If the worst happens and RL threats are made, rest assured Blizzard DOES take this very seriously. Details matter in a ticket though. You need to make absolutely crystal clear that it IS harrassment and not general name calling/trolling. I do hope this gets taken care of as I've seen it happen, and I've seen the effects it can have on someone. It's not funny, it's not cool and it certainly isn't acceptable.

Also, if you do not feel a response to a ticket is acceptable, you can re-file it by going up to the top of the screen here, where it says support and re-file the ticket as well.
____________________________________________________________________________
Huggywuggles, Azeroth's most fearsome and terrifying Gnome Arms Forums MvP
Building a better community one toon at a time
www.youtube.com/huggywugglespvp ,Official home of the /Gnomefist

01/11/2012 08:01 AMPosted by Zuule

I would have to say those that believe the OP "must have done something" are missing the point. She may have done something jerky in game or not, but apparently it's not a bannable offense, because here she is. Using real life info to repeatedly harass someone in game should be a bannable offense. It might not have been hard to get, but they still went looking for that info, and posted it in Trade, which is in violation of the ToS and EULA.

Oh, I agree. I wholeheartedly back the no-harassment rules. I was merely pointing out that the chances are high that it isn't a case of somebody being totally innocent. Though, there are exceptions. Have to play statistics though....

You fail to realize something here, Zuule. IT. DOES. NOT. MATTER. WHAT. OP. MAY. OR. MAY. NOT. HAVE. DONE. Excuses, like this, are as bad a @##@ victims being told 'they invited it because of the way they dress'. It's a bs argument that only propagates an apathetic attitude to horrific crimes with effects that can span generations. And no, I'm not overstating that.
____________________________________________________________________________
Huggywuggles, Azeroth's most fearsome and terrifying Gnome Arms Forums MvP
Building a better community one toon at a time
www.youtube.com/huggywugglespvp ,Official home of the /Gnomefist

01/11/2012 08:04 AMPosted by Solaru

I thought my analogy of a stolen TV was better. I even worked in the word "pokey" :P

I bow to the use of the word "pokey."

It's interesting that when someone's describing issues of harassment due to someone essentially destroying their privacy... the first response of people is to attempt to further degrade their privacy.

01/11/2012 08:17 AMPosted by Kate

Thank you everyone who has posted things.. this has actually really helped me a lot.

We got your back, Kate!
______________________________________________________________________________
Huggywuggles, Azeroth's most fearsome and terrifying Gnome Arms Forums MvP
Building a better community one toon at a time
www.youtube.com/huggywugglespvp ,Official home of the /Gnomefist

01/11/2012 08:20 AMPosted by Zuule

I was merely pointing out that statistically the OP probably isn't 100% innocent.

You don't know this. It's not relevant to the issue at hand. And making statements like this with absolutely no evidence whatsoever isn't appropriate.

Like Huggy said, it's saying (without witnessing the issue) that the victim was "asking for it."

[quote="38812034604"][quote]
Maybe you missed the part where I said that I stand behind the no-harassment policy? I FULLY agree with you that regardless of what caused it, harassment should not be tolerated. I was merely pointing out that statistically the OP probably isn't 100% innocent. Very very rarely is it a case of a truly innocent victim. So why bring it up? This is a discussion forum and I stated my opinion. I still agree with you that regardless of what caused it, nobody should have to tolerate harassment.

/sigh

So statistically speaking should a female friend/relative of yours get assaulted, chances are they aren't 100% innocent? I mean after all, very very rarely is it a case of a truly innocent victim, right? That would make for a GREAT police report, wouldn't it? "Victim was sexually assaulted, BUT chances are that statistically speaking, she wasn't 100% innocent so, you know, the perpatrator should therefore walk free". Is that acceptable to you? I didn't think so because it's NOT acceptable to me nor is it acceptable to any other reasonable human being. Stop making excuses and blaming the victim.
____________________________________________________________________________
Huggywuggles, Azeroth's most fearsome and terrifying Gnome Arms Forums MvP
Building a better community one toon at a time
www.youtube.com/huggywugglespvp ,Official home of the /Gnomefist

01/11/2012 08:25 AMPosted by Powderhorn

Well, in this case the "victim" brought it upon himself/herself. There is no way anyone in this game can track me down to my Facebook page without me providing some sort of information that allows said intrusion.

No. They didn't.

Just because your name is on your mailbox isn't a reason for someone to start publicizing it for harassment purposes.

You're blaming a victim. Which (should the shoe ever be on the other foot) means you welcome someone doing inappropriate things to you should you ever make a mistake.

We're all human. We all make mistakes. Mistakes are not an excuse for someone to do something bad to you.

Tell that to countless children that are abused, kidnapped and killed. I know of one who was preyed upon in game PERSONALLY. I mean surely it wasn't ENTIRELY Susan Smith's fault, right? I'm sure her children did SOMETHING to deserve being drowned in a lake while trapped in the backseat of a car crying for mommy to save them. After all NO victim is entirely 100% innocent. Correct?

I apologize here folks becase I've had enough. I'm gonna be a bit nasty here and I sincerely apologize and if it costs me my 'green' so be it: Take your idiotic humanistic, faux intellectualized, liberal arts educated trash and think about what you've said. Seriously.

Can we keep the topic relevant? You're using the most extreme comparisons here to try to win some debate that you've created.

I stated that the OP *COULD* be innocent ( Exceptions to every rule ) but I also said that was talking about INTERNET HARASSMENT and general statistics regarding such - NOT somebody being kidnapped or killed. Try to stay in the shallow end... the deep end seems dangerous for you.

And yet you fail to realize that things such as murder and kidnappings often STEM from internet harrassment so it is ENTIRELY relevant to the issue at hand but I guess that doesn't matter since people deserve malicious treatment since they're rarely ever 100% innocent, correct?
____________________________________________________________________________
Huggywuggles, Azeroth's most fearsome and terrifying Gnome Arms Forums MvP
Building a better community one toon at a time
www.youtube.com/huggywugglespvp ,Official home of the /Gnomefist

Ultimately this whole situation is between the OP and Blizzard and once the appropriate things are reviewed the appropriate action will be taken. Simple as that.

Let's all go have lunch. :)

01/11/2012 09:32 AMPosted by Powderhorn

I apologize here folks becase I've had enough. I'm gonna be a bit nasty here and I sincerely apologize and if it costs me my 'green' so be it: Take your idiotic humanistic, faux intellectualized, liberal arts educated trash and think about what you've said. Seriously.

Tssk tsssk, temper temper.

I must say, threads like this are quite interesting because they always pinch a nerve somewhere.

Yes, harassment is unacceptable, it should not be tolerated and it should be punished harshly, but it is unfair to claim that in this particular case it is Blizzard's fault that the OP is being harassed.

No one blames Blizzard. Not me, not anyone else that I've seen. And yes, temper temper to me. But I've seen this kind of garbage first hand and I've seen the effect it can have on innocent people both in game and IRL.

This is actually pretty simple. At some point, there is some personal responsibility for protecting your information on a video game. The only way this wouldn't be her fault AT ALL is if a REAL LIFE friend gave her information out. Then we can blame her for being friends with somebody who has NO common sense.

And back to your point, whatever she did or didn't do to cause the harassment doesn't mean that she should have to tolerate it. It's against the rules and the offender(s) should be punished.

Sorry for the blow up and I'll accept YOUR apology if you accept mine. However that being said, here's the thing: ''The only way it wouldn't be her fault AT ALL...Then we can blame her..". No. How about we blame the 'friend' for complicity in harrassment and what ever else there may be? We never know who someone truly is in their heart of hearts until they show their true colors/alliances. If we NEVER take someone at their word till they prove otherwise, we'd all be lonely, bitter people indeed.
____________________________________________________________________________
Huggywuggles, Azeroth's most fearsome and terrifying Gnome Arms Forums MvP
Building a better community one toon at a time
www.youtube.com/huggywugglespvp ,Official home of the /Gnomefist

Ultimately this whole situation is between the OP and Blizzard and once the appropriate things are reviewed the appropriate action will be taken. Simple as that.

Let's all go have lunch. :)

True, but why come to the general forums and open up Pandora's Box if you want to keep it between you and Blizz?

Also, the OP has yet to show how this situation is Blizzard's fault.

I think most of us here know it's not Blizzard's fault. The OP was given many resources to use and has indicated that they will use them. Unfortunately sometimes when people get frustrated and may not be aware of other resources, they lash out without considering the consequences of posting in a public space (These forums are technically to ask for help with aspects of the game.). I fear that's how a lot of people in game get in trouble, same thing for the forums. So I can't really blame the OP for being frustrated, even if the anger was misdirected at Blizzard. I also don't blame anyone posting in this thread because it's a public forum, I was just reminding people that speculation is speculation at this point and it's probably not worth arguing, especially since it's at the point of semantics now.

@Mishotem: I want pizza, but I'm gonna end up with spaghettios.

Also I'll stop now. Trying not to derail too much. To the food storage area!

01/11/2012 09:41 AMPosted by Zuule

You obviously have no reading comprehension skills. Joe's friends arent always my friends, but Joe's friends can see the real name of all of Joe's friends from his real ID.

While that is true... it does indeed list the names. It doesn't link names to the characters, does it?

Yes it does. If you were to Real ID me, you would be able to see which characters I'm on, and their realms. That's part and parcel of using Real ID.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Huggywuggles, Azeroth's most fearsome and terrifying Gnome Arms Forums MvP
Building a better community one toon at a time
www.youtube.com/huggywugglespvp ,Offical home of the /Gnomefist

01/11/2012 09:51 AMPosted by Zuule

Yes it does. If you were to Real ID me, you would be able to see which characters I'm on, and their realms. That's part and parcel of using Real ID.

Oh, well I have all of that disabled on my RealID settings so I guess I never really bothered looking. :)

I don't blame you. I'm extremely security concious myself though I've yet to move into a buried bus in the backwoods of some god forsaken corner of the country. But I am VERY selective in who I have on my Real ID and who I don't.
______________________________________________________________________________
Huggywuggles, Azeroth's most fearsome and terrifying Gnome Arms Forums MvP
Building a better community one toon at a time
www.youtube.com/huggywugglespvp ,Official home of the /Gnomefist