Can i get banned?

Ok. Yesterday I played with my ranger in porphecies. Her name is Black Kate Moss ( like in Kanye West song ). I formed a party with a few unknown players, and one of them told me that he is going to report ANet for my name and that is against the rules. Do I have a reason to worry?


P.S. Again, sorry for my English

worst case scenario is that anet will get you to change the name. Not so sure they'll ban you for it

lol no, the guy was just being a moron and being stupid enough to think having "black" in your name was racist

no
you can only be reported when your name has rascist, sexual, explicit or other strong languagesigns in it
for a name like that you don't have to worry

You will not get banned, or its not very likely at all. This is because of these reasons:

1) ArenaNet block all the words they dont want in their name yours obviously isnt bad

2) Secondly, if any questions are raised, lie. say your a big fan of kate moss and actually you meant she was just dressed in black

3) Black isnt actually offencive.. otherwise byebye black dye

4) Even if you had the smallest chance of getting banned, its not going to happen. Incase nobody has noticed, no-one is ever banned. Theres rules in the game that allow ArenaNet to put the blame on you, such as 'if you accept the trade its your problem' and 'turning on the filter means you do not want swearing, if you turn it off then its your fault if people swear'. Basically its not going to happen, im almost certain.

So stop worrying and start playing! Noobs that report for every little thing will be the ones who get banned so dont worry

Ok thanks

see, it really isnt a worry =P ps ive pm-ed u

Uh... What now?

* People get a temp 3 day ban and then a chance to rename at the end of that if they have an inappropriate name. Names slip by the filter thanks to the creative spelling that the online generation have. Similarly, there are some letter combinates that are perfectly innocent until put into the hands of these crazy folk.

* I've never known it possible to appeal against a name ban. You just get told to change it after the 3 day ban. Someone correct me if they have appealed against this. Similarly, I don't think lying is going to help there. Give the Support team a bit of credit here. You have a dark-skinned character and call yourself "Black X" they know what's up. There is of course nothing wrong with calling yourself Black X. See plenty of people with that naming scheme around.

* People *ARE* banned. You just have to have a quick glance around Riverside Inn and there is the occasional "HALP. I R BAND WUT I DO?" threads. Same in Q&A forums.

Bans happen.

To the OP though, I wouldn't worry about it. Your name isn't offensive, and even if it was, you'd get a temp ban (3 days) and a chance to change it.

not true just so the OP and everyone else knows

A guildie of mine got perma-banned for going afk in Sorrow's Furnace. Apparently his heroes and henchmen reported him for leeching because they had plans that evening. Luckily A-Net corrected the ban.

Anyway, no, you're highly not likely to get banned for this. Most people wouldn't be offended by that name at any rate, and as stated, worst-case scenario you get to come up with a new character name. Try White Samuel Jackson if you have to.

You won't get banned. BUT, the usual punishment for an offensive name is 72 hour suspension & you'll have to change your character's name.

it's not likely they will ban you because a moron thought that your name was racist or something; don't worry about it.

Yeah, I'd say very unlikely you'll get banned.
That's not offensive on any level.

a lot of words that could be deemed offensive in a particular combination are blocked.

For example I tried to make a character called G Man which anyone who has played the Half Life series know who that is, but it told me a word wasn't accepted by the filter.

Which, I assume is G for the possibility that you a typing...well, that's fairly obvious

Black Kate Moss, hehe what a cool name for char!!! Some people are lame and like to tease, i think u don`t need to worry about bann couse you will not get any.I`ve seen many IGN`s that have Black in them and i didn`t find any of them to be racist or something like that !!!

theres only one way, that could lead to anet forcign you to rename your character, but this cases chance to happen is like 1:1000000000000000000000000000000000


this case would be, when Kate Moss would have personally somethign against her name being used for something in the internet against her will.

But thats only here used for a name for a fantasy character in a GAME, son I don't see a reason, why Kate Moss should have somethign against it XD

Character Name. In order to use the service, you must create a character and choose a name for your character to identify your character to other Members (your "Character Name"). You may not select as your Character Name the name of another person, or a name which violates any third party's trademark right, copyright, or other proprietary right, or which may mislead other players to believe you to be an employee of NC Interactive or its affiliated companies, or which NC Interactive deems at its sole discretion to be vulgar or otherwise offensive. NC Interactive reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to (1) delete or alter any Character Name or (2) terminate any license granted herein, for any reason whatsoever, including, without limitation, any suspected or actual infringement of any trademark or trade name right, copyright, or other proprietary right.

That is what the EULA says. Although I am not a lawyer, or know much about Kate Moss, it is possible her name is a copyright or proprietary right. Although I have seen many names based off of characters or people from other games, movies, TV, etc., it is possible just having Kate Moss in the name will be enough.

The 'Black' part isn't an issue, or shouldn't be though. That, however, is a subjective issue, and would depend on what Anet employee is looking over the reports. If someone in the game assumed it was a racist use of the word, an Anet employee may as well.

The only thing here I agree with is that nothing is probably gonna happen.
1.There are many inappropriate names in game. Just look at the 'funniest name you've ever seen before' thread. It's not always just the words, but the context and other words that are combined.

2.Never heard of appealing. I thought support or someone said once the ban was place the only way to play the character again is to change the name.
3. See MagmaRed's post.

4.Gaile has already said a few times that it is not okay for you to use inappropriate language. Filter or no. It's still against the rules.
Exactly what I thought. The name isn't inappropriate at all, but I remember that you aren't allowed to use other people's/company's name. I'm not sure if her name is copyrighted either or that his character falls into that since it has more than just her name alone.

Actually I just did a search for copyrighted names and this page says names aren't qualified for copyright protection. I guess she could have it copyrighted in other countries, but I highly doubt it.


EDIT: I think that may just be talking about names of products. Someone unconfuzle me.

Again, not a lawyer, but there are 3 things to consider for this.

1) Copyright
2) Proprietary right
3) Trademark

I do not know if celebrities can/do make use of any of those options. If Kate Moss has her own perfume, clothing, etc. then it can easily be a trademark.

Celebs these days are very protective of there names used in anything commercial
and specially of "products" they seam to be endorsing or not.
Been a few court cases about this and they usually win BUT having said that
this is a fantasy game and no one is flogging any product so don't think you have a problem
Unless you try to make out you ARE the person that the name represents
then this below comes into play.

Common law right of privacy
One who appropriates the commercial value of a person's identity by using without consent the person's name, likeness, or other indicia of identity for purposes of trade is subject to liability for the relief appropriate.

BUT its a game let aanet decide "IF" the person did report you and don't worry to much till you hear from them.