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I think it is a bad idea to allow people to advertise this on Dakka.

It type of transaction is first off illegal. The WOW TOS states clearly that the person with access to a WOW account does not own it or anything attached to the game. Furthermore, it states that the account or in-game items attached to it cannot be traded or sold for any real world items.

Offering to trade a WOW account is akin to offering to trade a video game you rented to another person. Sure, its in your possession, but you do not own it. You do not have the right to trade it.

Potential buyers may be unaware of the logistics behind "buying" or trading for a WoW account, and they may get scammed if/when the account owner takes the account back. There are various methods that the account holder has available to him to do this, and there is really no way the person trading for the account can stop it from happening.

I am aware of this because I have played the game off and on since release, and seen it happen in game a few times. Someone sells their account, and then either immediately or months later takes it back. Anecdotal evidence, certainly, but it is an example of how easily this type of trade can go bad.

Allowing illegal trades on Dakka may open the site up to various legal actions as a result of fraudulent trades. I am not a lawyer, so I am not familiar with how exactly the law might apply. But you wouldn't allow me to offer other items I was renting for trade here, would you?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
For the purposes of this discussion, there is the relevant part of the TOS:

11.Ownership/Selling of the Account or Virtual Items.
Blizzard does not recognize the transfer of WoW Accounts or Blizzard Accounts (each an "Account"). You may not purchase, sell, gift or trade any Account, or offer to purchase, sell, gift or trade any Account, and any such attempt shall be null and void. Blizzard owns, has licensed, or otherwise has rights to all of the content that appears in the Game. You agree that you have no right or title in or to any such content, including without limitation the virtual goods or currency appearing or originating in the Game, or any other attributes associated with the Account or stored on the Service. Blizzard does not recognize any purported transfers of virtual property executed outside of the Game, or the purported sale, gift or trade in the "real world" of anything that appears or originates in the Game. Accordingly, you may not sell in-game items or currency for "real" money, or exchange those items or currency for value outside of the Game.

Yeah its illegal to sell accounts in every way, so advertising could bring unwanted attention onto any forum, i have friends who have done this and claim that its legal so long as you specify that youre not selling the account so much as your time played, something along those lines, at any rate its still shady and i wouldnt recommend boasting it anywhere on these forums

I'm inclined to agree...Blizzard/Activision takes a pretty pointed stance against the sale/transfer of accounts. It's a bit slippery a slope, and I'd really hate to see Dakka become involved in any nastiness with a corporate monster like Activision.

The other side of this is, no matter how genuine, sincere or nice the person trading the account may seem, 6 months down the road (say, the release of the Cataclysm expansion) they may decide they want to play again...and then it's just a matter of calling Blizzard Customer Service, claiming they were had taken a break from the game and in the interim were "hacked", and request the account be re-instated to their possession. In that sort of scenario, Blizzard will do just that and the person who traded for the account will be S.O.L.

Basically, it seems like it leaves Dakka potentially caught up in some potentially unpleasant outcomes...I'd just really hate to see the site drug down by that sort of avoidable nonsense.

Was redirected here from WarOne's thread:

As far as I can see you trade your WoW account at the swap shop at your own risk. If Blizz finds out they will almost certainly shut you down.

The risk is really on the "buyer" of a wow account. The original owner can take it back at any time. The worst that can happen to someone trading their wow account away is that they don't have access to it anymore.

If blizz finds out that someone other than the original account owner is using it they can shut it down at a whim. The risk is all one sided, and sets up scenarios where someone "selling" their account can scam potential buyers easily.

Then you have option 2, which is not that the account gets taken back by the owner, its that it gets banned for being traded.

How is dakka going to handle that as a trade? Both the trader and recipient lose out, who should be refunding who?

Can of worms tbh.

You all wanted proof that this is a bad idea, here it is:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/308057.page
OP ignored swap shop mod and self bumps thread several times, and tells the Mod he doesnt care about stickies.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/307464.page
Closed for Bumping/spamming

And because of this... people have started to flood the swap shop with other paddle slogger crap for trade:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/308772.page
Closed for bumping/spamming

Dont have to look very had to see other examples. I for one, am now for banning the sale of non wargameing stuff on Swap Shop. Time to take out the trash before the sub forum becomes a dump.

@jp400
Link1:
Re-read the post and you can tell that he's saying he failed to read the sticky previously. Furthermore, for the most part, we allow occasional bumps - it's just that lately we've decided to be a bit more vigilant if threads are bumped for no reason (an update is allowed though we do hope people don't abuse that allowance) within the first 2-3 days (as the link in question showed). His following bump does come after a week of being quiet which is fine so long as that user (and others) don't return to bumping on a constant basis.

Link2:
Yes, locked for repeated bumping. Again, we've only recently started being more hard-nosed repeated self-bumps. Self-bumping has always been something that has occurred in the Swap Shop (and any trade sites, really) and we've been pretty lax regarding it up until now.

Link3:
Honestly, this is nothing new, and really, only pops up once in a while (I think this is maybe only the 3rd or 4th time I've closed a thread for this issue in the last year).

Honestly, most of these cases are instances of new users not being used to the system and usually after a warning, they tend to know what to do/not to do. None of these examples are anything new to the Swap Shop. I do believe you are making a much bigger deal out of this then it actually is.

I sincerely doubt Activision could bring a case against the site. Dakka does not provide a service for facilitating transactions, it is simply possible to communicate with other people. They have no more right to sue the atmosphere for being a sonic medium.

The presence of a moderated 'swap shop' does not cause a problem either, as the moderation roles were created to keep the thread topic organised and prevent it from being abused under the guidelines set out by the site owner. It has always been made clear that Dakka is not responsible for monitoring trades or purchases.
People who ignore the advice and reference given for conducting sensible trades in this medium are still as responsible as they ever were.