Bug Blizzard Now

Pretty please with sugar on top. Please go bug Blizzard about creating a mechanism for rapidly dealing with compromised accounts. Send them a letter, call them, send them an e-mail. Just do something.

Why am I suddenly so interested? Well, a friend had his account compromised today. When that happened, I started reading and getting both nervous and annoyed. It appears that Blizzard does not have neither a consistent nor adequate response for this. It turns out that he was "lucky" because he spotted it during regular business hours (checking something before heading to work; it's a good thing he was running late).

If it happens outside the business day, you appear to be out of luck, as this post on Gun Loving Dwarf Chick relates:

http://gunlovingdwarfchick.com/blog/?p=58

The collective story is maddening. Watching some punk running around with your friend's characters, being impotent to take action, and having the tardy arrival of the GM bring no resolution whatsoever. The dismissive, dare I say, flippant GM responses were absurd.

There needs to be a tab in the ticket reporting window for Compromised Account Reporting. You should be able to click on that and get a rapid response from someone that will do more than give you an e-mail address and tell you to have a nice day. It should also allow people to report compromised accounts of other players (just punish people that abuse the tool).

I am not going to lay out a lengthy process description, as I am confident that Blizzard has more than enough intelligent and talented people to figure out how to make this work.

You can help make that happen, please contact Blizzard.

The fact is that computer security is all about mitigating risks, but you never really eliminate them. Blizzard needs to be better able to deal with the inevitable compromised account.

For you, your friends, and for every decent person out there playing the game that you don't know - please take a few minutes and contact Blizzard.

This is their current solution:

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=21492

It's simply unacceptable.

Please contact Blizzard and tell them the same.

How Does One Contact Blizzard?

Well, there's the Account Administation e-mail - WoWAccountAdmin@Blizzard.com. I am not sure how useful that route would be, but hey, let's try them all!

If we head over to Blizzard's main site, http://www.blizzard.com/, we find their contact page, http://www.blizzard.com/inblizz/contact.shtml.

Postal Address: P.O. Box 18979Irvine, CA 92623
Sales (USA): (800) 953-SNOW
Sales (International): (949) 955-0283
Sales e-mail: sales@blizzard.com

Broader searches for Blizzard Phone Numbers turned up some information.

From hoovers.com's company factsheet on Blizzard, phone 949.955.1380, fax 949.737.2000

From computerhope.com's Blizzard entry, phone 949.955.1382

From orangecounty.citysearch.com, phone: 949.955.1380

The United States Patent and Trademark Office gives the following information:

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
5th Floor 6060 Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90045
United States
Phone: 310.431.4334

[And we also learn that like many corporations, Blizzard was incorporated in Delaware; read here to find out why they do this.]

Summary
OK, it looks like the main phone number is 949.955.1380. The contact number from the PTO could be amusing to call, 310.431.4334. However, it seems that Blizzard's preferred communication medium for account issues would be WoWAccountAdmin@Blizzard.com.

So, there you go, contact Blizzard and convey your feelings, whether they be concern or outrage. Be calm, be polite, be coherent, and be firm.

We need a rapid response mechanism for compromised accounts ASAP.

Thank you for your help.