WarcraftMMO In-Game Policies

• Account Penalties
  We have gone to great lengths to make sure that our penalty system is as fair and just as possible. This document clearly defines each type of penalty, and how each would potentially impact you.
• Game Master Interaction Policy
  Who are those mysterious robed figures? And what can they do for me? The purpose of this document is to give the players of World of Warcraft an idea of what to expect from their interactions with our in-game support representatives.
• PvP Server Policy
  The PvP servers are designed to allow open combat between members of the Horde and the Alliance. As such, players on these servers have a greater ability to resolve issues on their own. As such, GMs take a more hands off approach to player disputes between members of opposing factions on the PvP servers.
• Harassment Policy
  To ensure your time spent in World of Warcraft is safe and enjoyable, we have broken down what types of language and behavior are inappropriate and the penalties associated with each type of infraction. If the language you wish to use is generally not acceptable in the real world, there is a good chance that it will not be welcomed in the World of Warcraft either.
• Exploitation and Client/Server Manipulation Policy
  This document details WarcraftMMO's stance on the use of third-party programs or utilities, bug exploitation, usage of user interface modifications, and client/server manipulation. The factor that links these various policies is that they are all considered "cheating" and our intent is to keep the playing field level for all players.
• Character & Item Restoration Policy
  We realize that mistakes can occur which cause you to lose in-game items, money, or characters. When possible, our in-game support staff may be able to assist you in the recovery of your character(s) or item(s). This policy serves to detail how we will address such situations.

Account Penalties Policy

The primary function of the In-game Support staff (Game Masters) is to ensure that players who are currently in the game world can enjoy the experience to its full potential. Much of our time is spent reimbursing lost items, resolving bugs, and generally helping players who are experiencing difficulties. However, sometimes disciplinary action must be taken against disruptive players who are causing damage to other's play experiences or the service itself. Though taking disciplinary action is never pleasant, we must take action against certain individuals in order to maintain the quality of service for all.



The Penalty Volcano
We have created a visual representation of both the severity of each of our penalties and how often each type of penalty is given in relation to the others. We call this the Penalty Volcano, which is shown in the diagram below.Any time a player is found in violation of our policies, we hope to give only the most minor of penalties (Warnings). However, we must also factor in the severity of the infraction and how often the player has violated our policies in the past. Based on these factors, the penalty may be moved up the Penalty Volcano, up to and including Account Closure.


Warning
We receive quite a few emails in the warcraftmmo@gmail.com email box from players expressing great concern over the warning they have received. Often, the concern they express is that they are generally a good player and fear the status of the account they use is in jeopardy. This could not be further from the truth.

Receiving a Warning is nothing more than an education in policy for minor issues and a tool our in-game support team uses to track player behavior. While it is not a good idea to ignore a warning and continue the inappropriate action(s), warnings on an account have very few, if any, long-term repercussions. The following are also true of Warnings:

• The most minor account penalty
• Used for educational behavior change
• No service interruption

3 Hour Suspension

3 Hour suspensions are most often assigned when the player has repeated an action he/she has been previously warned for. 3 Hour suspensions reinforce the unheeded education given via a Warning or on the first instance of a policy violation that we do not consider minor. These should be assigned when the importance of policy adherence needs to be stressed, but the violation is not excessive. The following are true of 3 Hour suspensions:

• Relatively minor account penalty
• Somewhat common
• Brief service interruption

24 Hour Suspension

24 Hour suspensions are most often assigned when the player has repeated an action he/she has been previously warned for. 24 Hour suspensions reinforce the unheeded education given via a Warning or on the first instance of a policy violation that we do not consider minor. These should be assigned when the importance of policy adherence needs to be stressed, but the violation is not excessive. The following are true of 24 Hour suspensions:

• Relatively minor account penalty
• Somewhat common
• Brief service interruption

48 Hour Suspension
48 Hour suspensions are most often assigned when the player has repeated an action he or she has been previously warned for. 48 Hour suspensions reinforce the unheeded education given via a Warning or on the first instance of a policy violation that we do not consider minor. These should be assigned when the importance of policy adherence needs to be stressed, but the violation is not excessive. The following are true of 48 Hour suspensions:

• Moderately serious account penalty
• Somewhat rare
• Extended service interruption

72 Hour Suspension

72 Hour suspensions are assigned when a player needs to be removed from the game for an extended period of time or the player has repeatedly violated policy in a relatively brief period of time. 72 Hour suspensions are somewhat rare, as they are only given for serious policy violations or repeated policy abuse. The following are also true of 72 Hour suspensions:

• Serious account penalty
• Somewhat rare
• Extended service interruption

Final Warning

Final Warnings are applied when a player needs to be removed from the game for an extended period of time or the player has repeatedly violated policy in a relatively brief period of time. Placing an account under review for possible closure is quite rare, and only occurs in the case of particularly serious policy violations or excessively repeated policy abuse. The following are true of Final Warnings:

• Extremely serious account penalty
• Quite rare
• Extended service interruption, with a possibility of permanent revocation

Account Closure

Accounts are closed when a player has excessively and/or grossly violated our policies. When an account is closed, the player is no longer able to access the account. Account Closures are rare and represent a player who is unable to abide by our rules and insists on negatively affecting other players' enjoyment of the game or harming the service itself.

• Most serious account penalty
• Very rare
• Permanent service revocation

The bottom line is that we want World of Warcraft to be a fun and safe environment for all players. World of Warcraft is an MMORPG, and the key words are "Massively Multiplayer". In playing this game, you will encounter thousands of other players who share different experiences and come from vastly different backgrounds. While certain actions may not bother you, consider the fact that these same actions may be perceived in a completely different manner by those around you. We have done everything we can to make World of Warcraft a great game, but now it's up to you the players, to breathe life into the world. Choose wisely my friends.

At some point during your travels in Azeroth, you may interact with a Game Master (GM) for one reason or another. Whether this interaction is in response to a petition for assistance you submitted or in regards to an issue he/she has approached you for, it is important to be sure you are speaking to a real GM. There are three methods by which a GM may contact you; clarification on what constitutes each category can be found by clicking on the links below.

* In-Game Chat
* "In Person"
* Email
* Voice Chat AKA Ventrilo



Once you have established that you are communicating with an in-game representative of WaMMO Entertainment, we would like for your experience interacting with GMs to be expedient and pleasant. Although we understand you may be upset about the topic being discussed, we expect you to conduct yourself in an appropriate manner. We take the following categories very seriously.

* Impersonating a GM
* Defrauding or Attempting to Defraud a GM
* Disobeying or Ignoring GM Instructions
* Harassing the GM Staff
* Excessive use of Abusive Language



If a player is found to have violated any of these categories, he/she may:

* Be temporarily suspended from the game



In-Game Chat

Most often, GMs will contact you in-game via whispers. You can tell whether or not the person contacting you really is a GM by the GM tag preceding their name, exactly as shown below.



"In Person"

On occasion, a GM will need to make him or herself visible when contacting you. Visible GMs can be identified by the GM tag that is located above their avatar, before their name, as shown below.
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 673x829.

Impersonating a GM

Unfortunately, some players will attempt to use the authority vested in GMs to take advantage of others. All GMs will contact players using one of the methods detailed above, if they do not appear this way, they are not official WaMMO Entertainment employees and should be reported to the GM staff. Though we have little tolerance for impersonation in any capacity, if evidence of an attempt to use this impersonation to defraud or scam another player is found, serious action will be taken.



Defrauding or Attempting to Defraud a GM

Whenever possible, we try to give players the benefit of the doubt in questionable situations. We hope players do not attempt to take advantage of this trust, and provide their full cooperation. However, if we later find that an attempt was made to defraud a GM, the offending player may have action taken against them. Attempts to defraud a GM include, but are not limited to, misdirecting a GM's attention, withholding information, providing false information, and any attempt to "trick" a GM.



Disobeying or Ignoring GM Instructions

At times it may be necessary for a GM to ask a player to perform certain actions or refrain from performing other actions. In addition, if a GM contacts you regarding a violation of policy, please try to be as cooperative as possible. In any situation, the GMs will be attempting to preserve the enjoyment of the game for the majority of players and any interference with this work may result in an account penalty.



Harassing the GM Staff

Time spent dealing with issues that have already been closed keeps the GM staff from addressing other players' pressing issues. If a single player or multiple players repeatedly send abusive tells, abusive petitions, or multiple petitions on the same closed issue to the GM staff, they will be asked to stop, and if they continue, may receive an account penalty.



Excessive use of Abusive Language

It is understandable that a player contacting the GM staff might be upset over an issue stemming from an experience they had in the game. However, the use of abusive or foul language directed toward the GM Staff is inappropriate and unproductive. If a player uses this type of language when communicating with a GM, they will be asked to stop, and if they continue, may receive an account penalty.



IMPORTANT

* Repeatedly violating any area of the Terms of Use (ToU), including the areas detailed above, will often result in temporary suspension from the game.

It is important to follow these guidelines in the immediate situation when dealing with a GM. A GM will never ask you to do anything that would compromise an account or its contents. Though the GM's motives may be unclear, there may well be a valid justification for the request, but the GM may be unable to articulate this for various reasons. Rather than disobeying in protest against the request being made or the action being taken, please oblige him/her and later express your concerns to the warcraftmmo@gmail.com email address. Emails sent to this address go directly to the Senior and Lead GMs, who will investigate and address any instances of potentially inappropriate GM actions.

GMs will make every attempt to show you the respect you deserve as a valued customer. We ask that you, in turn, show us the same respect. We take no joy in assigning account penalties, but sometimes must do so to preserve the integrity of the service. We look forward to our interactions with the players and hope to resolve issues quickly and painlessly so you can get back to enjoying the game.

Player vs. Player Policy

Evidence of epic battles are found throughout the lands of Azeroth, but never before has the possibility of all-out war loomed so close. Times such as these turn cowards into stalwart heroes and virtuous men into cruel villains. Well-constructed facades will fall away, revealing the true natures of men, hidden for so long under the guise of social decorum. This is the stage upon which you will play out your adventures if you are up to the challenge. The Player versus Player (PvP) servers are specifically designed to allow open combat between members of the Horde and the Alliance factions. As such, players on these servers have a greater ability to resolve cross-faction disputes on their own.
By choosing to play on a PvP server, you have chosen to move the game difficulty slider from "Easy" to "Hard." While this makes attaining any goal all the more satisfying, expect the road to be paved with sorrow. Our goal as an in-game support staff is to take as much of a hands-off approach in resolving cross-faction player disputes as possible. If this does not sound like an appealing gameplay experience, it is strongly recommended that you select a Player versus Environment (PvE) server instead. Although there will still be opportunities to occasionally test your PvP mettle on PvE servers, it is in a much more structured environment and you can more or less choose when you wish to participate in PvP combat.
The following guidelines are exceptions to the policies applicable to all servers. These rules will attempt to encompass the majority of situations that arise in PvP combat between opposing members of the Horde and Alliance factions on the PvP servers. Rules for members of the same faction (Horde vs. Horde or Alliance vs. Alliance) remain the same, as there are no PvP resolutions available to these players. However, these guidelines are not exhaustive by any means and there are sure to be situations that are not covered here. Based on this fact, we reserve the right to evaluate each incident on a case by case basis and take action appropriate to the spirit of the law.


We are unable to assist with the following issues:

Actions that would typically be considered "dishonorable" are considered legitimate PvP tactics and will not be addressed by our Game Master (GM) staff. "Dishonorable" actions include, but are not limited to:

• Corpse camping.
• Tricking players into getting flagged for PvP (i.e. jumping in the middle of another player's area effect spell).
• Killing players well below your level.

Ongoing Harassment

The Ongoing Harassment policy does not apply when there is a PvP resolution available, as physical confrontations are considered a facet of PvP combat and players in opposing factions are unable to communicate verbally. Characters have the ability to address their conflicts through combat and GMs will only involve themselves in extreme or excessive circumstances.

IMPORTANT

• This policy contains exceptions to the policies currently being enforced on all servers.
• Though this policy reflects a somewhat "hands-off" approach, the GM staff will intervene in cases of extreme or excessive harassment.
• Policies governing general decency are still in effect. Actions such as inappropriate names, obscene language, and spamming will be addressed as on any other server.

The bottom line is that we want World of Warcraft to be a fun and safe environment for all players. World of Warcraft is an MMORPG, and the key words are "Massively Multiplayer". Our aim is to provide a hardcore PvP environment for players who choose to play on the PvP server. We have done everything we can to make World of Warcraft a great game, but now it's up to you the players, to breathe life into the world. Choose wisely my friends.

Exploitation Policy



World of Warcraft has been carefully crafted to provide a level playing field for all players. Any activities not intended by game design which affect the economy, the client, player characters or the world itself have a tremendous negative impact on the potential enjoyment for all players. The effects of these activities take many forms including a bloated game economy, server instability, and allowing unauthorized access to accounts, computers, and player data. As such, we take the following issues very seriously and take swift and appropriate action on all players involved in these malicious activities related to World of Warcraft. Below are guidelines detailing what repercussions to expect when we discover evidence of these activities. We reserve the right to evaluate each incident on a case by case basis, and in extreme cases, take action beyond what is detailed here.

Bug Exploitation
We have a top notch Quality Assurance team who tirelessly stamp out bugs and design inconsistencies within World of Warcraft. However, a handful of trained professionals can never isolate and resolve each and every bug in such a deep and complex game accessed simultaneously by thousands of players. You may come across the occasional bug during your adventures. Some bugs are minor and do not affect gameplay, but sometimes these bugs can be used to provide an unfair advantage to certain players or affect the service itself. Factors included in determining the appropriate penalty:

• Whether or not the exploit is performed intentionally, maliciously, and/or repeatedly
• Whether or not the exploit damages another character, their gameplay, the service itself and/or its economy
• Whether or not an attempt has been made to conceal the exploit's use

If a player is found to have abused/distributed an exploit, he/she may:

• Be given a verbal warning if exploitation is unintentional and no attempt has been made to hide its occurrence
• Be temporarily suspended from the game
• In extreme cases the account will be closed outright

Bug exploitation that we consider extreme includes, but is not limited to:

• Any exploit that has a severe negative impact on a realm's economy
• Causing disruption in service or intentionally crashing a realm/server

While these repercussions may seem harsh, we feel very strongly that this type of abuse has no place within Azeroth due to its negative effect on other players or the service itself.

Abuse of Game Mechanics
The distinction between exploiting bugs and abusing game mechanics is a fine one. While bug exploitation involves the abuse of what is essentially a programming mistake, the abuse of game mechanics is the act of taking advantage of the limitations of the World of Warcraft game systems. Since the line between the sanctioned use and the abuse of game mechanics is sometimes unclear, we prefer to educate players before taking any action against the account being used. This category includes using/distributing game mechanics in a manner unintended by their design that:

• Damages another character, their gameplay, the service itself and/or its economy

If a player is found to have abused/distributed such game mechanics, he/she may:

• Be given a verbal warning
• Subsequent related offenses will result in temporary suspension from the game

Unapproved Third Party Software
A third party program is any file or program that is not a part of the World of Warcraft software, but is used to gain an advantage in the game, such as increasing your movement speed or teleporting from one place to another beyond what is allowed by game design. It also includes any programs that obtain information from the game that is not normally available to the regular player or that transmit or modify any of the game files. Normally, this classification does not include UI modifications, except those UIs that require an external application to function. Any external applications that are used in conjunction with World of Warcraft can cause quite a few unwanted side effects. Some of the major possible results of the use of third party programs can be instability of the game to the point that a player "crashes" from the game quite often. External programs can also be used to transmit viruses, spyware, and other unwanted programs into a player's computer. Third party programs can also be used to obtain information from the player's computer, such as account, password, and personal information. If a player is found to have used such a program, he/she may:

• Be temporarily suspended from the game
• Have further action taken, up to and including account closure, based on the intent of the program

Malicious UI Modifications
We definitely want people to create their own UIs utilizing custom menu configurations, graphics, and even sounds. Anything that can be coded to modify the style and the look of the UI is fair game, as long as the modifications are done to the sanctioned internal files of the game. However, anything done to the UI to gain any sort of an unfair advantage over other players is unacceptable. If a player is found to have modified a UI so that they gain an unfair advantage in the game over others, he/she may:

• Be temporarily suspended from the game
• Have further action taken, up to and including account closure, based on the intent of the modification

Data Stream Manipulation and Data Mining
Manipulation of the data stream involves a player altering the flow of information between the World of Warcraft servers and his/her computer while data mining involves a player extracting information from said information that is not intended to be public. Data stream manipulation can be the alteration of either the incoming information or the outgoing information, and can be as minor as the manipulation of one byte of a packet, or the "sniffing" of packets for any reason. If a player is found to have altered the data stream or performed any data mining, he/she may:

• Be temporarily suspended from the game
• Have further action taken, up to and including account closure, based on the intent of the data manipulation

IMPORTANT

• Repeatedly violating any area of the TOU, including the areas detailed above, will often result in temporary suspension from the game.
• A violation of any of these categories could potentially overlap with another. In situations where this is the case, we will default to the most severe infraction and take action appropriate to that category.

The bottom line is that we want World of Warcraft to be a fun and safe environment for all players. World of Warcraft is an MMORPG, and the key words are "Massively Multiplayer." Abusing exploits upsets the game balance we have worked so hard to achieve and unfairly affects those players who do not perform such exploits. We look to you, the players, to help us make exploring Azeroth enjoyable for everyone involved.

Harassment Policy
Words are powerful tools. Throughout your travels in Azeroth, you will be using these tools to achieve your goals, whether those are finding the perfect group to help you with a quest or getting a great price on that dagger you have had your eye on. As anyone who has hit their thumb with a hammer well knows, tools can cause great pain when used incorrectly. Words are no different. The use of inappropriate and offensive language in general, or against another player is not allowed. We reserve the right to evaluate each incident on a case by case basis and take action as necessary. To help prevent the harassment of other players, we have implemented an array of in-game tools that players can use to help protect themselves from such abuse.

• The Ignore command: By typing /ignore (character name) the player will no longer hear any form of standard chat from the character name being ignored.
• The Mature Language Filter: By default, all inappropriate words in our profanity database will be filtered. They will appear on screen as jumbled characters. Example: &*@#$

Below are guidelines to help you determine whether or not the language you have chosen is appropriate for the World of Warcraft. Hopefully, we encompass all manner of barred language; however there may be inappropriate language that does not fit into any of these categories. We reserve the right to evaluate each incident on a case by case basis, and in extreme cases, take action beyond what is detailed here.

Highly Inappropriate

Language which falls under the following categories is deemed to be highly inappropriate..

• Racial/Ethnic
• Extreme Sexuality/Violence
• Real-Life Information and Threats
• National
• Sexual Orientation

Though we have varying tolerance for repeated abuse of each category, any language that violates one of these categories will most likely result in:

• Being given a warning
• Being temporarily suspended from the game
• Possibly being given a Final Warning, any further ToU violations resulting in account closure

Moderately Inappropriate

Language which falls under the following categories is deemed to be moderately inappropriate.

• Zone/Area Disruption
• Obscene/Vulgar
• Inappropriate
• Harassing or Defamatory
• Major Religions Religious or Figures
• Illegal Drugs or Activities
• Spamming
• Advertising

Though we have varying tolerance for repeated abuse of each category, any language that violates one of these categories will most likely result in:

• Being given a warning
• Being temporarily suspended from the game if the behavior continues

Other Categories

There are two other categories of harassment that are not necessarily related to the language used. These are listed below.

• Physical Harassment We have taken great strides to ensure all physical harassment (i.e. stealing resource nodes, kill stealing, training) is addressed or being addressed by the development team. Forms of physical harassment in the game will not be addressed by the GM staff, but instead with a development resolution, if warranted. This however does not include abusing game mechanics/exploiting or disrupting zones/areas to cause another player grief or distress.
• Ongoing Harassment Harassment takes many forms, and is not necessarily limited to the type of language used, but the intent. Repeatedly targeting a specific player with harassment, either physical or verbal, can lead to more severe action. The idea behind this is to prevent any one player from consistently being made uncomfortable in the lands of Azeroth.

Situational Factors

The action we take may be more lenient or more severe than those listed for each category. One major factor in considering what action to take is the number of people who the language is visible to. We have broken this factor up into three categories, listed below.

• Public We consider language to be public when said in the "General" and "Trade" channels as well as with the "yell" command. Since comments in these forums are visible to the largest number of players, we take harassment in these channels very seriously. Abuse of language in these mediums will receive at least the penalty listed above, if not additional repercussions.
• One-to-One or One-to-Few This group includes private "whispers", player-created chat channels, and the "say" command. Though we enforce all rules in these forums, the number of people affected will be taken into consideration, and penalties may not be as harsh as stated above.
• Guild Chat Since your participation in guild chat is "at will," we take a much more lenient stance in these forums. Only the most severe harassment (i.e. Racial/Ethnic, Extreme Sexual/Violence, Real-life Threats) will be considered.

IMPORTANT

• Repeatedly violating any area of the Terms of Use (ToU), including the areas detailed above, will often result in temporary suspension from the game.
• This policy is not language-restrictive. Language that falls under this policy will always be subject to the repercussions listed, whether it is inappropriate in English or any other language.
• Players found to be in violation of the above policies will have an E-mail sent to the account's registered E-mail address with any details regarding their account penalties.

The bottom line is that we want World of Warcraft to be a fun and safe environment for all players. World of Warcraft is an MMORPG, and the key words are "Massively Multiplayer." In playing this game, you will encounter thousands of other players who share different experiences and come from vastly different backgrounds. While certain language may not be offensive to you, consider the fact that that same language may have a completely different effect on someone else. We've done everything we can to make this a great game but now it's up to you, the players, to breathe life into the world. Choose wisely my friends.

Character and Item Restoration Policy
Although we have gone to great lengths to ensure the integrity of the data on our servers and the safety of our players' virtual "property", occasionally players may lose this virtual property against their wishes. Whenever possible, our Game Masters (GMs) will step in and attempt to reunite players with these lost characters and items. This document serves to specifically describe how we will address these instances.

Virtual property lost for reasons beyond a players' control

If we can verify that your loss of virtual property was the direct result of:

• A documented bug.
• Data loss due to a problem with our service (unless due to a global database revert).

We will attempt to:

• Restore the virtual property.

Items lost that are essential to class development

If we can verify you have lost possession of an item (for any reason) that fits all of the following categories:

• Was previously in your inventory.
• You are unable to recover yourself.
• Is essential for proper class development (i.e. a quest item needed to receive a class defining skill).

We attempt to:

• Restore the virtual property.

Virtual property lost due to user error

If we can verify that your loss of virtual property was the direct result of:

• Accidental deletion (characters, items, and in-game currency).
• Accidental sale to a vendor.
• Any other user error.

We will attempt to:

• Restore the virtual property.
• We reserve the right to refuse restoration if we feel an excessive number of requests have been made in this particular category (Although we understand that the occasional mistake can be made, we do not want players becoming careless and utilizing the GM Staff as a crutch).

If your particular case fits any of the above criteria, you may be eligible to receive assistance with the recovery of your lost goods. Due to many variables with investigating these claims, your reimbursement, if approved, may not be immediate. Keep in mind that a player and the account registered to him/her will be permitted a limited number of instances in which the GM staff will assist with property recovery. We do not wish to encourage career victims, nor will we penalize players who legitimately make the occasional slip-up. Reimbursement of any kind is NOT guaranteed. While we will make every effort to verify and restore your loss, the decision to reimburse your loss is entirely at Blizzard's discretion. If a player is repeatedly making poor decisions that result in lost property, we reserve the right to refuse further reimbursements. While we can restore items with random modifiers (of the Bear, of the Eagle, etc.), we cannot guarantee that you will receive the same modifier you had on your original item. We are also unable to restore enchantments or add-ons that these items may have possessed.

How to start the process

For us to be able to investigate your loss, please petition a Game Master in-game with the following information:

• Account name
• Character names
• Realms the characters are on
• Level, class, and race of the characters
• Exact name of the items that were lost (if any)
• The time and date of the loss (as precisely as possible)
• How the items or characters were lost (if you know)
• Screen shot of item in your bag or on person (if you have one)