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{{ProductCargo
|ArticleType=Product
|Category=Video Games, MMOs
|Company=Activision Blizzard
|Description=
|InProduction=Yes
|Logo=World of Warcraft 2002.webp
|ProductLine=
|ReleaseYear=2004
|Website=https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/
}}
'''{{Wplink|World of Warcraft}}''' (colloquially referred to as '''WoW''') is a massively multiplayer online game maintained by [[Activision Blizzard]]. Despite the product's critical acclaim since the 2000s, the treatment of the product has had a historically negative trend, facing anti-consumer affairs at the request of its publisher.


{{InfoboxProductLine
==Consumer impact summary==
| Title = {{PAGENAME}}
*'''Forced arbitration:''' Blizzard's [[EULA|End User License Agreement]] contains clauses that [[forced arbitration|mandate arbitration]] and waives the user's right to [[class action]].<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Blizzard End User License Agreement |url=https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/legal/fba4d00f-c7e4-4883-b8b9-1b4500a402ea/blizzard-end-user-license-agreement |website=Blizzard Entertainment |date=1 Jun 2018 |access-date=17 Oct 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919091644/https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/legal/fba4d00f-c7e4-4883-b8b9-1b4500a402ea/blizzard-end-user-license-agreement <!-- Oldest archived version. --> |archive-date=19 Sep 2018}}</ref>
| Release Year = 2004
*'''Ownership:''' Per the EULA, it is stated that the end user is only sold a ''license'' and does not own their copy of the video game.
| Product Type =  
| In Production =  
| Official Website = https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/
| Logo =  
}}'''[[wikipedia:World_of_Warcraft|World of Warcraft]] (WoW)''' is a massively multiplayer online game maintained by [[Activision Blizzard]]. Despite the product's critical acclaim since the 2000s, the treatment of the product has had a historically negative trend, facing anti-consumer affairs at the request of its publisher.


==Consumer impact summary==
{{Placeholder box|Overview of concerns that arise from the conduct towards users of the product (if applicable):
* User Freedom
* User Privacy
* Business Model
* Market Control}}
==Incidents==
==Incidents==
This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].
This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].


=== Real ID (July 2010) ===
===Warden anti-cheat (''2005'')===
In 2005, it came to light that Blizzard Entertainment was utilizing an in-house anti-cheat program when the video game company filed an infringement lawsuit against MDY Industries, LLC, who sold a {{Wplink|Video game bot|botting program}} called {{Wplink|Glider (bot)|Glider}}. The legal filings were the first time that Blizzard acknowledged both the anti-cheat's existence and its official name (Warden). The {{Wplink|Electronic Frontier Foundation}} (EFF) denounced Warden as [[spyware]] due to the lack of transparency and concerns over the privacy and retention of collected data.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ward |first=Mark |title=Warcraft game maker in spying row |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4385050.stm |website=BBC News |date=31 Oct 2005 |access-date=17 Oct 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051103043944/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4385050.stm |archive-date=3 Nov 2005}}</ref>
 
Further reading: [https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Warden_(software) Warcraft Wiki: Warden (software)], ''{{Wplink|MDY_Industries,_LLC_v._Blizzard_Entertainment,_Inc.}}''
 
===Real ID (''2010'')===
[[Real ID]] was a change introduced by Blizzard, where players would use their real first and last name when posting on WoW forums (instead of their preferred WoW character, as it was before). Originally announced as optional, it was quickly changed to obligatory, with Blizzard arguing it to be a vital step for reducing toxicity in the gaming community. Community push-back was massive and united, with many citing privacy threats as the main concern. Blizzard initially tried to downplay the danger, even banning several people, but eventually buckled under the pressure. Then-CEO Mike Morhaime declared that, following user feedback, using Real ID to post on the forums would not be required.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yin-Poole |first=Wesley |title=Blizzard scraps Real ID for its forums |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/blizzard-scraps-real-id-for-its-forums |website=EuroGamer |date=9 Jul 2010 |access-date=14 Apr 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250828164928/https://www.eurogamer.net/blizzard-scraps-real-id-for-its-forums |archive-date=28 Aug 2025}}</ref>
 
===Major data loss (''2024'')===
When [https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Patch_11.0.2 Patch 11.0.2] was released on 13 August 2024, a serious bug caused the contents of some [https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Guild_bank guild bank(s)] to go missing to varying degrees of severity (up to everything) regardless of player faction and world region. The only official acknowledgement of the problem at that time was a support article that was created four days later, on 17 August.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Blizzard Support - Items Missing from Guild Bank |url=https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/000363630 |website=Battle.net |date=17 Aug 2024 |access-date=19 Sep 2024 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240818102435/https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/000363630 |archive-date=18 Aug 2024}}</ref> Except for a Customer Support agent on the European forum,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Felranys |title=Guild Bank items gone |url=https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/guild-bank-items-gone/528709/38 |website=Blizzard |date=16 Aug 2024 |access-date=2 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240927065929/https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/guild-bank-items-gone/528709?page=2#post_38 |archive-date=27 Sep 2024}}</ref> what followed was silence for over a month.
 
On 20 September 2024, Community Manager [https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Linxy Linxy] posted and pinned the following official statement in the General Discussion forum:<ref>{{Cite web |author=Linxy |title=Guild Bank Missing Items Update |url=https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/guild-bank-missing-items-update/1963451 |website=Blizzard.com |date=20 Sep 2024 |access-date=2 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240927091046/https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/guild-bank-missing-items-update/1963451 |archive-date=27 Sep 2024}}</ref>
<blockquote>
About a week after we launched patch 11.0.2 in August, we began receiving reports of an issue where some players were discovering items missing from their guild banks.
 
As we investigated over the next couple of days, we found the culprit—a technical update that was made to support cross-realm guilds. An unexpected bug caused one of our maintenance processes to make some items disappear. Many of these items were related to professions materials from prior expansions, but it was possible for players to lose other items from their guild banks as well.
 
For the last few weeks, we've been packing up the missing items that we're able to identify as lost by this process, and we will soon mail those to the guild leader character for each affected guild.
 
Due to how some of the data was lost, we've reached a point where the result will be an incomplete restoration for some guilds, and we do not have a way to restore the remaining missing items for them.
 
We apologize for that and for the long wait here. We really appreciate your patience as we've worked through this difficult issue.</blockquote>
 
The company unlisted the support article the same day and has made no further comments in the matter since, save to answer a couple questions regarding if the guild banks were safe to be used and to confirm whom the recovered contents would be [https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Mail mailed] to.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Linxy |title=Guild Bank Missing Items Update |url=https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/guild-bank-missing-items-update/1963451/26 |website=Battle.net |date=20 Sep 2024 |access-date=2 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241112223604/https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/guild-bank-missing-items-update/1963451/26 |archive-date=12 Nov 2024}}</ref>
 
On 13 November 2024, the pinned thread was renamed to "Guild Bank Missing Items Bug – Aug/Sept 2024" and moved to the Bug Report forum. It was unpinned 26 February 2025, when [https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Patch_11.1.0/ Patch 11.1.0] had been released in both the NA and EU regions.


* [[Real ID]] (July 2010): Real ID was a change introduced by Blizzard, where players would use their real first and last name when posting on WoW forums (instead of their preferred WoW character, as it was before). Initially announced as optional, it was quickly changed to obligatory, with Blizzard arguing it to be a vital step for reducing toxicity in gaming community. Community pushback was massive and united, with many citing privacy threats as the main concern. Blizzard initially tried to downplay the danger, even banning several people, but eventually buckled under the pressure. Then-CEO Mike Morhaime declared that, following user feedback, using Real ID to post on the forums would not be required.<ref>https://www.eurogamer.net/blizzard-scraps-real-id-for-its-forums</ref>
No form of compensation was given to those affected by the {{Wplink|data loss}}. Additionally, an Australian player by the character name of Mordane on the server Dath'Remar shared the following update on 9 February 2025 in regards to their filed complaint with the {{Wplink|Australian Competition and Consumer Commission}}:<ref>{{Cite web |author=Mordane-Dath'Remar |title=Guild Bank Missing Items Bug – Aug/Sept 2024 |url=https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/guild-bank-missing-items-bug-augsept-2024/1963451/4933 |website=Blizzard |date=9 Feb 2025 |access-date=2 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250708170840/https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/guild-bank-missing-items-bug-augsept-2024-part-1/1963 |archive-date=8 Jul 2025}}</ref>
<blockquote>
[...] "Blizzard Australia Pty Ltd has stated "The lost guild bank assets are digital items, and we do not consider those items to hold any monetary real-world value. As such, we would be unable to provide this customer with any refunds in relation to the data that was lost and the items that could not be restored to their account."<br><br>Based on the above response by Blizzard, we will be closing the Complaint." [...]</blockquote>


==See also==
{{Placeholder box|Link to relevant theme articles or products with similar incidents.}}
==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Activision Blizzard]]
[[Category:World of Warcraft]]
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