Jon Matick wrote:
There is a VERY big difference between account sharing and saying to someone in game 'oh yeah, i'm totally person X's alt, how can i scam you today?'
though apparently not anymore under the new wording...
frankly this is another case of really bad PR where a simple clarification is all that is needed to sort it out.
basically, if i claim to be someone's alt in game, will I get banned?
Let me quote the relevant sentence, the EULA paragraph is not only about sharing, but also usage of names from other players in general:
Quote:
...
No player may use the character name of another player to impersonate or falsely represent his or her identity.
...
The "use" in that sentence is not limited to using another players name as a name for a character, it includes the use in chats etc. and always has.
To your question: It's to broadly formulated, really. If that someone you claim to be complains, or a victim of malicious action of yours due to this claim, and we can verify that you claimed to be that someone's alt, then yes, you'll fall under this policy and will get warnings (or if you just can't stop doing it, eventually get banned). Reason: you are still using his name to (actively) impersonate him, just not as the name of your alt.
Your alts claiming to be alts of your main and doing nothing wrong otherwise would as such only get you in trouble in case of extreme schizophrenia and you reporting your own alt from your main, in which case I would likely just facepalm over here if I were to get that report.
Now, when there's malicios intent is involved, we're kind of back to the "self impersonation" thing that I wrote about earlier. I realize that this needs some more... clarification, so I'll grace that one with some more detail because of the confusion that specific bit has been causing (which, for that bit, is honestly completely my own fault):
Fictitious character "OIIi"(that is 3 "i" total, for the rest of this example player "A") has a good reputation and is trusted throughout, makes a lot of money.
Fictitious character "Olli" (now, that's 2 "L", let's call him "B") decides to ride on the trust of A in order to relieve some fools of their money.
I am certain that everyone can agree that this is a primary and obvious case of impersonation, which has always resulted in B getting a rename, warning and his gains (if any) reversed as soon as he's been brought to our attention by player A or a victim. All well and good, right?
B will always get that treatment. Yes. Even if A is on the same account. And that is what I wanted to refer to when saying "yes, you actually can impersonate yourself". It's an edge case.
I am aware that this is not the only thing and that discussion will be ongoing about the rest of the points, both here as well as with the CSM, but I will slink back into the shadows and continue to watch this thread. Also, I would like to thank to keep it relatively civil despite the agitation this is obviously causing.