A Funny Tidbit In The ToS

[JustAGuy]

I was reading the Terms of Service for the beta, and came upon some interesting tidbits.

2. World of WarCraft Rules of Conduct
a.    Rules Related to User Names.
Each user will select a name for his or her character ... In particular, you may not use:

1. Names of another person with the intent to impersonate that person; 
2. Names which incorporate ?swear? words or which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
3.  Names subject to the rights of any other person without authorization;
4.  Names of popular culture or media personalities;
5.  Names that are trademarks, or registered trademarks (e.g., Ferrari, Zenith, Pepsi, Charmin);
6.  Names of religious individuals; (e.g., Buddha, Jesus, Allah,  Jehovah, Lucifer);
7.  Names of characters from Blizzard?s WarCraft products, including character names from the WarCraft series of novels; or
8.  Names related to drugs, narcotics, or criminal activity, including references to drug substances (e.g., Heroin, Cocaine, Cannibus).

No Jesus or Allah players running around sounds fine to me, but the trademarks thing gets me... Why would this matter? And media personalities? What if my name really is Dan Rather and I want to play as him?

c. Rules Related to Game Play.
(i)                  You may not intentionally kill or attempt to kill a monster that is engaged in combat with another individual or group, unless asked to do so. This action is often referred to as ?Kill Stealing? and, if witnessed or verified by a World of WarCraft representative, will result in immediate disciplinary action.

(ii)                You may not intentionally lead a hostile monster or non-player character into attacking other players of your realm without being asked to do so by the other players. This action will also, if witnessed or verified by a World of WarCraft representative, result in immediate disciplinary action.

(v)                You may not use errors in design, features which have not been documented, and/or ?program bugs? to obtain a competitive advantage over other players.

(viii)           You may not do anything that Blizzard considers contrary to the ?essence? of World of WarCraft.

Kill stealing and griefing are actionable offenses by Blizzard. Looks like Blizzard is taking griefers really seriously. The last one, "you may not do anything contrary tot he essence of WoW" just sounds funny. Man, contrary to the "essence"... That's quality right there. What the heck is the "essense"?!

8. Selling of Characters, Items and Accounts.

Remember, at the outset of these Terms of Service, where we discussed how you were ?licensed? the right to use World of WarCraft, and that your license was ?limited?? Well, here is one of the more important areas where these license limitations come into effect. Note that Blizzard either owns, or has exclusively licensed, all of the content which appears in World of WarCraft. Therefore, no one has the right to ?sell? Blizzard?s content, except Blizzard! ... You cannot sell items for ?real? money. That being said, Blizzard does not regulate the transfer of accounts between individuals, as long as such transfers occur outside of the World of WarCraft game environment. Advertising your account for sale through Chat or broadcast channels in World of WarCraft will not be tolerated, and may subject you to disciplinary action.

That's a really jovial piece of legal writing. I like how it boils down to "you can't sell anything of ours, but if you do, keep it a secret will ya? Don't make us lay down a whuppin' on ya."