Account Sharing/Third-Party Character Advancement ("Power Leveling") Only two people are EVER allowed to access the account (from the moment the account is created to the end of time). Who are those two people? The first is the person who set up the account in their own name (you aren't allowed to set up an account in any name other than your own legal name). The second is one (1) of the children or trustees (under age 18) of the first person. Not siblings, not parents, not spouses, not friends, not strangers.
WHAT ABOUT COMMUNITY PROPERTY LAWS? In some States, Countries and regions, a married couple owns all property jointly, so why can't they both use a single World of Warcraft account? The answer lies in what a World of Warcraft Account is and who owns it. Blizzard maintains ownership of all World of Warcraft accounts. The Terms of Use agreement is a license to use the account you establish, as long as you obey all the rules. A World of Warcraft account is like an amusement park ticket. By buying the ticket you, and one of your minor children if you so choose, can enter the amusement park. While you and your spouse may be one legal entity for property considerations, you will each need your own ticket in order to enter the amusement park. Tickets cannot be given away or shared with anyone; they only grant entrance for one specific person and their minor child. Additionally, if you break the rules your ticket may be revoked; allowing other people (including your spouse) to use your ticket instead of acquiring their own is considered a serious infraction and may result in everyone involved being escorted from the amusement park!
CONSEQUENCES: Any evidence uncovered by Support investigations that the account is being accessed by anyone other than the registered user and/or one (1) of their children or trustees (under age 18) may result in:
- Temporary interruption of account access until our Account Retrieval Process has been completed by the registered user. The account may be unavailable for an extended period of time.
- Deletion of characters, goods, and currency found to have been advanced/gained in whole or in part through the efforts of anyone other than the registered user or their child or trustee (under age 18). Characters will NOT be “rolled back†to the level they were before the unauthorized access. They will be permanently deleted.
- Account penalties up to and including account closure if it is determined that the unauthorized access was due to the registered user or their child or trustee (under age 18) sharing the account name and password with anyone else.
- Account penalties up to and including account closure for the account(s) of the unauthorized individual(s) who accessed the account, even if you gave them permission to do it!
PROTECT YOURSELF: In order to avoid such calamity, do not give out your account name and password to anyone, and make sure your child or trustee (under age 18) whom you've authorized to use the account understands how serious this issue is -- that sharing the account name and password can endanger his or her characters, and yours as well! If you must write your account name and password down, keep them in a secure location where no one else can access them. Run regular computer scans using up-to-date virus and spyware protection, especially after you download any user interface addons that include executable/program files and after visiting any non-Blizzard World of Warcraft and MMORPG websites. For more information on how to protect your account, please review our
Account Security article.
EXAMPLES: Here are a few examples of access that is considered unauthorized. In all examples, George is the registered account user, and Cynthia is his 16-year-old daughter whom he has authorized to use the account (this list is by no means all-inclusive).
- George wants to let his brother Rick try the game.
- George has to cook dinner and his guest Travis just wants to chat with guildies while George is busy.
- Cynthia doesn't want to level her character up, she just wants to raid, so she pays a power-leveling service to do it for her.
- Cynthia wants to achieve the top PVP rank quickly, so she asks her guildmates to fight in the battlegrounds while she’s at school.
- George is trying to get Exalted with a particular faction, and asks his wife, Janice, to help him by grinding mobs and repeatable quests.
Each of these examples could result in George's account being closed, permanently barring both Cynthia and George from accessing it further. In the case of wanting to let friends or relatives try the game, you can provide them with access to a free trial of the game through the Recruit-A-Friend program.