Summary
World of Warcraftrecently banned a Hunter player for having a Carrion Bird pet that still used the default name. Though the bizarre scenario is comical in some ways,World of Warcraftfans were left puzzled and frustrated by the inexplicable ban.
It is no exaggeration to say Blizzard takes banning seriously. In January,World of Warcraftbanned a record number of accounts for botting, cheating, and other abuses, andHearthstonefollowed suit in February.
However, it seems some bansWorld of Warcrafthands out are given undeservingly.WoW Classicfan and Redditor Nobuuudy recently shared a snapshot from an email they received informing them of their ban fromWorld of Warcraft. They had tamed a pet of the Carrion Bird family as aHunter inWoW Classicand forgot to rename it. According to the email, their fellow players reported the default name “Carrion Bird” as inappropriate multiple times, leading to the pet being renamed the account’s suspension.
WoW Wrongfully Bans Player for a Default Pet Name
While it was obviously an error, it is hard to imagine how such an incident happened in the first place. Some players surmised fans wrongfully reported Nobuuudy’s character assuming they were a bot, as many gold farmers inClassic WoWoften play Hunters with unnamed pets to capitalize on the class' powerful solo ability. Others surmised the error happened because of an automated banning system, attributing the mistake to the recent Microsoft layoffs, whichimpacted most of Blizzard’s customer service team.
Either way, judging from the hundreds of comments on the thread, fans were both entertained and annoyed by this circumstance. Some fans made light of the situation, jokingly being thankful that “this scum is off the streets,” poking fun atHunter players inWorld of Warcraft, or making parodies of “Carry On My Wayward Son” by Kansas featuring the Carrion Bird. Others expressed their frustrations with Blizzard, debating with their fellow players about how and why the company hands out certain bans. Either way, most agreed that Nobuuudy will most likely be able to get the ban overturned, given that they didn’t do anything wrong.
Unfortunately,World of WarcraftHunters have a rough history of unjustified bans. In the comments of Nobuuudy’s thread, players showed evidence of Hunters catching bans for default pet names from as far as five years ago. Others have even been mistaken as bots in the past before, such as when a70-year-oldWorld of WarcraftHunter player was bannedafter he was misidentified as a gold farmer. Nobuuudy is not the firstWorld of WarcraftHunter player to catch a ban by mistake, and sadly, they likely won’t be the last.
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World of Warcraft is an incredibly successful MMORPG that has been going strong for almost two decades. It’s one of the highest-grossing franchises in history and is widely considered the most popular MMORPG ever made.
