A new wave of bans has caught players of World of Warcraft. This time, it primarily affects fans of nude mods.
For many players of World of Warcraft, checking their email inbox today was not a pleasant experience. They received a message that their current WoW subscription has been canceled, and shortly after, another email stating that their account has been temporarily suspended. The official reason is “botting,” but the actual issue is a bit different: graphic mods such as nude patches.
What happened? This morning, a thread appeared on Reddit where a player complained that he was wrongfully banned. He claimed to have never used a bot and therefore does not understand the punishment. Many other players chimed in, stating they were also banned. Gradually, it became clear what the true reason for the punishment was: graphic modifications.
What kind of mods are involved? From most comments, it appears the mods being used are variations of nude mods – meaning characters appear completely naked. There are also mods that adjust and change various armor designs and models; for instance, a female character might have larger breasts or wear much more revealing outfits like lingerie.
However, some of these mods are completely “harmless” and are merely prettier variations of clothing created by fans.
Using any graphic modifications is, however, prohibited and has already resulted in account penalties in the past.
What is the penalty? Most players seem to have received an account penalty of 180 days – almost half a year. During this time, they will have no access to their WoW account.
Community reacts divided: As usual with ban waves, there are basically two camps. Some find the suspensions reasonable, pointing out that Blizzard has been dealing with all graphic mods this way for years. Those who violate the terms of service must live with the penalties.
Other players find the penalties disproportionately harsh. Not being able to play for half a year because one changed the design of some armors would be excessive. These players hope the penalty will be reduced.
Some take it with humor: As always, there is also a part that takes the penalties humorously. This has led to some memes already circulating in the WoW subreddit, such as this one titled “Why I got banned”:
What’s the problem with the mods? Fundamentally, Blizzard has a strict regulation that prohibits all of these mods. This is because a lot of nonsense can be done with the mods that could provide advantages in the game. One could make herbs in the game world huge to harvest them more easily or display certain opponents in PvP in bright colors to locate them more easily.
If you have a guildmate who today “somehow can’t make it to the raid” – why not just ask him what mods he has installed.
Were you also caught in the ban wave? Did it affect anyone from your guild? Or are you hearing about such mods for the first time?
This should have made the problems in Goldshire a little smaller…
