Only NA/NZ/AUS/SG people can play on US server legitimately?????????

And you're playing from where?

Yes, only those countries can play in our region legit.

There was a huge stink about it right before release. I've never seen someone banned for circumventing it tho.

You could always call and make a big stink saying your an American who had to move abroad and wanted to still play with the friends you made when you started in the US.

We just had a guild member from Ireland get his account frozen when he tried to transfer a character to or from his account (I dont recall the details) they decided there was something fishy with his information.

It took him roughly a month of phone calls & faxing some forms and information to eventually get things reinstated. Angerz idea above is one of the better ones I've heard to explain it =)

If true, that's pretty goddamn lame.

I am playing from US. But a friend of mine who was playing from China got banned recently.

Ahh, now THAT is a very different matter. Yes, playing WoW with a Chinese IP is like passing through airport security with a copy of the Quran tucked under your arm.

Did the friend start in the US then move/travel?

The idea of playing from a overseas military base popped in my head for some reason and technically thats US soil :S

Implicit statements by definition are not... explicit. Therefore, it strikes me as murky that they could use this to ban someone.

Very odd language there.

I created and played my account in Japan for a year. Was anything else done to make it get banned that you could think of?

Sounds wierd.

Edit: Said 2 years, game hasnt even been out that long.

Btw, is this information in their EULA??

Where can I find this informatioin online?

Thanks. :)

That was exactly the point of my analogy. I obviously hold neither of those statements to be true, but you understand the point, yes?

yah, I do, no worries mate

Blizzards error was waiting 2 years to start enforcing some of these rules. If you make a nonsense rule that was not enforced in beta, at release and still not enforced a year after release then the rule has no meaning and will never be a factor in any decision making process.

To start taking action now just makes them look like jerks when really it was a rule violation all along.

[pointless sports comparison]
It is like calling travelling in the NBA. When it happens there is no doubt that the rule was broken but inconsistent enforcement makes any occurence annoying.

The account creation process is indeed only available to customers in North America, New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore. This is actually stated explicitly on the page where you enter the authorization key.

As far as I see, though, there is nothing in the EULA or terms of use that prevents you from playing from a foreign location once the account is created. Thus, you can create your account in the USA, then move abroad afterwards and continue playing from there. At least I hope that you can, because that's exactly what I did.

That said, I'm somewhat worried about whether upgrading to the expansion will pose similar jurisdiction problems.

It's one of those crazy catchall rules that they never enforce unless they need an excuse to ban someone. Tons of people very openly violate the regional-marketing restrictions on WoW accounts. Fura lead one of the highest-profile guilds in the US for a year while clearly and openly playing from the UK, and no eyebrows were raised. But rules like this, and the "no account sharing" rule give them a basis to ban accounts when they suspect something else going on but can't quite prove it.

Agreed.

Fuck your analogy, Gurg. I'm sick and tired of the bullshit Arabs and even Arab-Americans have to put up with - whether it's going to the airport or struggling to make it through the vicissitudes of everyday life. I don't need it here; not in World of Warcraft where I try to escape from it all. With tears streaming down my face, I'm sorry to say I quit.

Salaam Alakum,
Ahmad "Phil" Al-Wafha

Funny and terrifyingly accurate. Maybe next time I fly somewhere I'll tuck a Quran under my arm just to see what happens. ><

You're assuming the average TSA screener would figure out what it is. Maybe you could say it's Hebrew.

The sucky part it that it would have to say "Koran", not "Quran", on the cover, in bright neon, for them to recognize it. I bet if I laid it right on top of my backpack, face-up, as it went through the X-ray dealy-job, that it would attract attention. Too bad I'm probably not traveling again until Christmas.