The recent World of Warcraft ban that was imposed on fellow content creator Zack “Asmongold” for allegedly engaging in real money transactions prompted a response from Twitch star Chance “Sodapoppin”
The entire situation, in the words of Sodapoppin, was “very funny.” He asserted that an algorithm is used by Blizzard Entertainment to issue a wave of suspensions each year. He stated: “Okay, so Blizzard… I find this very funny. Asmon got banned, I know. So, every single like, I want to say once a year, they (Blizzard) do a massive ban, and they do it like, through an algorithm, I guess, right, and they do it to ban a lot of PvPers, like people that are selling carries and people that are receiving carries.”
Asmongold revealed yesterday that he has been suspended from World of Warcraft for a month on his primary YouTube channel. He then gave some explanation of his predicament and read aloud the official correspondence from Blizzard Entertainment. He stated: “I’m going to read the email, ‘Blizzard Entertainment, account action notification. Suspended until September 13. This account has been suspended because it was advertising or actively participating in the purchase or sale of in-game PvE or PvP achievements, progression, or rewards in exchange for real money currency.'”
The suspension of the Twitch sensation was lifted a little while afterwards. He checked into the game to make sure his account’s illustrious accomplishments, such as mounts, titles, and achievements, had not been deleted.
The following day, on August 17, Sodapoppin gave his opinion on Asmongold’s predicament and questioned his viewers about their awareness of it: “Banned from WoW… oh! Did y’all hear about about what happened in World of Warcraft? Some of you probably did.”
According to the co-owner of The One True King (OTK), Blizzard Entertainment suspends PvP gamers in World of Warcraft using an algorithm once a year. He explained that those who get ranked carries typically face a one-month suspension, but those who sell them typically face a six-month restriction: “People that sell carries get a six-month ban, and people that receive carries get a one month ban. Right, and of course, some people get caught in the cross-fire, not a lot, but some people definitely get like, you know, innocently banned.”
After learning that Asmongold had been suspended for a month, Sodapoppin started laughing and said: “And I find it very funny that Asmon got banned for a month, and not six months. It’s pure… it’s almost…”
Asmongold was soon removed from the ban list, and viewers reported this out to Sodapoppin. “‘He’s unbanned now already’. Yeah, I know. Obviously he didn’t, you know, f***ing pay for a carry or do anything against the ToS (Terms of Service), but the way it detects it is hilarious to me.”
Sodapoppin’s speculation about how the algorithm chooses which player to remove from the game brought the conversation to a close: “Okay, so the way it probably works is like, if you’re a high-rated player and you’re constantly playing with low-rated players, and the low-rated players you’re queueing with are getting the ratings that they don’t normally receive, right? It would detect you as someone selling carries. But that could just be you being a big streamer, playing with viewers, playing with random people, not selling anything. Right?”
