Pugnacious Priest's Warcraft Blog

Its a common thread on any Realm forum,  “insert random name  is a Ninja” It happens in Pugs, and in guild runs,   and usually with Tier items.

What can you do if it happens?  Nothing.  Not one thing that is going to change their behaviour or cause them grief, and Stressing about it only effects the enjoyment of your game.

No matter how many times you post it in trade, or on Forums.

Doesn’t sound very fair does it?

The sadder thing is that there is often easily obtainable evidence such as the “Monitoring and Logging”  of your chat conversations that Blizzard can do, that the ninja acted dishonourably,  Lied even, and did so with intent to permently deprive someone else of an item. But they can’t be prosecuted or their actions reversed because it happened in a virtual world.  Second Life seems to be crossing the border as to whats virtual and what is real in that they use real world currency to purchase virtual items, and that there are real world court cases on property disputes, and copyright infringements for items that are virtual, as it was determined to have real world value.

So I’ve had a look at Blizzards Warcraft EULA and the only thing close to a potential action against a ninja can be found in..

5. B part 9
Participate in any action that, in the sole and absolute opinion of Blizzard, results or may result in an authorized user of the Program being “scammed” or defrauded out of gold, weapons, armor, or any other items that user has earned through authorized game play in the Program .

Arguablly: You could say that the Ninja has scammed you and potentially 23 others into running an instance for their own personal gain. You have been defrauded, as the fact that you killed the boss, you earned a shot at the loot through your ‘authorized game play’
However..
Given that as per the following extract.

8. “You agree that you have no right or title in or to any such content, including 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 virtual property transfers executed outside of the Game or the purported sale, gift or trade in the “real world” of anything related to the Game. Accordingly, you may not sell items for “real” money or otherwise exchange items for value outside of the Game.

No rights and No title – how can you be scammed on something if its not legally yours in the first place..

We really are playing on the whim of Blizzard. ( and for the most we love em..  )

But whats the alternative? A Warcraft Court? Where parties with greviences can put their case forward, imagine the resources required to resolve these issues?

Sorry – I can’t come to Hyjal I’m a witness in a case against Such and Such..   am Due in ‘court’ in an hour..

You can’t protect yourself..  even trusted people go gah gah when its something drops that they have been dying for. Loot councils while on the surface seem fair are often corrupt

Need/greed rolls can be manipulated in that some can greed,  but one need roll will discount all the greed rolls.

I’m a big supporter of Master Looter in a trusted run, meaning that I trust the person who is in control. But I’ve seen mistakes happen – items looted to people that shouldn’t have been..  and not even to a class that can use the item.  Bliz Gm’s responses have been for the most..  your mistake, its not up to them to fix it. I can see their point, imagine the requests they get for BOP item redirectors, Echanters who blow up the wrong item, or people who accidently vendor an essential piece of a Set.

So I propose..

Loot can’t be changed to Masterlooter unless all members of the ‘Group’  / Raid accept Yes.

You can only roll on items that you and your class can equip. ( it will reduce accidental looting and people who need on other items for fun.)

A dispute roll option to be enabled/disabled. Whereas a Vote for NO by a majority causes the item to trigger a re roll request.

Now these won’t stop all the ninja’s and can work against the honest person,  but if you earned the roll, and a majority of other people voted No against you then you have more problems then you first suspected.

Worse case senario – No one gets the item because everyone is arguing about it.

So avoiding pugs isn’t always the answer, its not practical and how else can you meet new people..  ( or be head hunted.. ) and even your own guildys can give you cause for mistrust.. ( everyone knows the toon in your guild that got the Tier piece and then /gquit) People are random.  There currently is no answer but to trust luck.. and as many people as you can afford.