it's your legacy... Entrustet HIWI Blog

Continuing our series of posts about what companies have to say about transferring and deleting digital assets of deceased people, I’m going to take a look at Blizzard, the makers of the popular game World of Warcraft. For those who do not know, World of Warcraft if an extremely popular MMORPG with over 12m monthly subscribers.  I found a thread on the WoW message boards asking “Can a WoW account be willed?” today, so I thought I’d write up a post about what we’ve found so far.

We’ve been looking at World of Warcraft’s policies for transferring and deleting WoW accounts of after the user passes away since December 2008, when we first contacted World of Warcraft customer support.  As far as we can tell, World of Warcraft’s policies have not changed significantly over the time we’ve been talking with them.  Our experience show that the answer to “Can a WoW account be willed?” is a resounding NO!, if you ask Blizzard.

On Dec 11 2008, my cofounder Jesse Davis sent his first email to WoW customer support:

To: wowaccountadmin@blizzard.com
Sent: 12/11/2008 9:51:30 AM

Subject: Important Question

Dear WOW team,
I was wondering…what do I do if I want to transfer my acct. to a
beneficiary of my estate, as documented in my real-life legal will? I want
to make sure that my son can get my account if I die.
Thanks,
Jesse

A few days later, Blizzard responded to Jesse’s email with a fairly formulaic email.  The rep told him that it was not possible to transfer an account, ever, even after death.  They referred him to a section in the terms of service.  Here’s the email from Blizzard’s customer support, emphasis added:

On Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 9:40 AM, <wowaccountadmin@blizzard.com> wrote:

Greetings,

Thank you for your follow-up email.  In regards to the question about
passing the account to a beneficiary, please read out Terms of Use at
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal.

Your Password is to be kept confidential at all times and you are solely
responsible for the security of your Password. You may not disclose your
Password to anyone, or allow your Password to be used by anyone other than
yourself and/or your one (1) minor child. This includes, but is not limited
to, compensated third parties accessing the account to advance characters in
any way.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Password,
and you will be responsible for all uses of your Password, whether or not
authorized by you. Also, note that the security of the Account is your
responsibility. Furthermore, Blizzard Entertainment does not recognize the
transfer of Accounts, and any authorized transfer of the World of Warcraft
software (as set forth on the worldofwarcraft.com website) will result in
the permanent deletion of the Account attached to that software. You may not offer any Account for sale or trade, and any such offer is a violation of
this Agreement and may result in suspension or termination of the Account.

We appreciate your time and understanding in this matter.  Please feel free
to contact us if you require any further assistance.  We hope you continue
to enjoy your experience in World of Warcraft!

Sincerely,
Penzen
Account Administration
Blizzard Entertainment
http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/21505

Not to be deterred, Jesse responded, trying to get a more personalized response.  Three days later, Blizzard responded, saying that Blizzard owns any content, characters or information that comes from the game.  Furthermore, they claimed that they could terminate the account if it were transferred, again, emphasis added.

From: <wowaccountadmin@blizzard.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Subject: Blizzard Entertainment – World of Warcraft

Greetings,

Thank you for contacting us.

Unfortunately, as stated in the Terms of Use section 7 (No Ownership Rights in Account):

“NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY HEREIN, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU SHALL HAVE NO OWNERSHIP OR OTHER PROPERTY INTEREST IN THE ACCOUNT, AND YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT ALL RIGHTS IN AND TO THE ACCOUNT ARE AND SHALL FOREVER BE OWNED BY AND INURE TO THE BENEFIT OF BLIZZARD.”

Please feel free to have your lawyer contact our Legal Department if you have any other questions.

Sincerely,

Ceredris
Account Administration
Blizzard Entertainment
http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/21505

Jesse contacted the legal department, but was told the same thing.  He talked to them on the phone, so we do not have any email transcripts to share, but the legal department reiterated that it was impossible and against the rules to transfer any accounts, even if the user is dead.

It clear that Blizzard does not want to allow users to put their WoW accounts in wills or trusts and looking at their Terms of Service, it seems like Blizzard has the legal right to deny claims, even if your wishes are included in a legal will.

Blizzard wants to retain complete ownership of any WoW accounts, so they do allow transfers.  The only way to be sure that your WoW account gets transferred or deleted after you pass away, according to your wishes, is to provide your username and password to your heirs or executor.

We’ve created our free Account Guardian service that lets you securely store usernames and passwords and make last wishes for all of your accounts, including World of Warcraft accounts.  you can choose to transfer each digital asset to a specific heir or delete each one when you pass away.  Since Blizzard does recognize transfers of deceased people’s accounts, we believe that Account Guardian is the best way for you to make sure that your last wishes are carried out.  For more information, check out our free Account Guardian to see how you can make sure your World of Warcraft account is transferred or deleted according to your wishes after you pass away.

What do you think?  Should Blizzard allow WoW users to include accounts in wills and trusts?

Tags:

blizzard · transfer digital assets · world of warcraft · WoW