Dice luck can lead to an account penalty in World of Warcraft – at least within the wrong group. Incidents are on the rise.
Even though many players in World of Warcraft probably play in intact guilds with a good social environment, there is often the stereotype in MMORPGs that the community behaves unfriendly. While most MMO heroes are likely just average people, the unpleasant encounters tend to stick in memory.
One such incident was described by CrescentToast in the World of Warcraft subreddit, as he was reported multiple times – and from his perspective unjustly. The reason? He won loot.
What happened? In his post, CrescentToast explains that he joined a heroic raid group with two friends. After the boss was killed, he won a piece of jewelry while rolling and wanted to keep it. Another player made him a “very low gold offer” for the item. He didn’t want to give it up and preferred to use it for himself.
As a result, he was kicked from the group. That’s not too serious on its own, but apparently a large part of the raid group, which was from the same realm, reported him afterward. This ultimately led to a warning that was shown to him upon his next login.
What’s the problem with these reports? The problem has existed for years in that the system essentially operates fully automatically. As soon as enough votes against a person come in – whether in chat or because of another report – a sanction is imposed automatically.
Although Blizzard has always denied that the system operates automatically, incidents are on the rise that suggest otherwise.
Is that allowed? No, not really. Abusing the reporting function is itself an offense that can be sanctioned. If it turns out that an entire group or guild has unjustly reported someone, then the penalty can, in the worst case, hit those who made the false report.
Why does this still happen? The “villains” seem pretty sure of themselves and hardly fear a sanction. In the past two years, there have been repeated reports from people who were suddenly reported en masse, and that only because they sold items below the current market value. Especially at the beginning of Dragonflight, there was an “elemental loop cartel” that immediately reported anyone who undercut their prices.
Whether the false reporters have been punished for their offenses afterward is not known in most cases. What is clear, however, is that individual players can first cause targeted harm – because a temporary ban for false reports can ruin an innocent player’s evening.
Have you experienced something like that?
