World of Warcraft players posting screenshots of their virtual homes on Pinterest as part of an official promotion are being banned from the social media site for spam.
Blizzard is hard at work promoting WoW’s new player housing feature, and social media site Pinterest is another area where Blizzard is hoping players will find housing inspiration. Those who link their WoW account to Pinterest will unlock an achievement and receive an in-game toy, the Pin-o-Matic Camera. That camera can then be used to automatically post in-game screenshots to Pinterest.
Unfortunately, players attempting to participate are being banned or suspended for violating Pinterest’s spam policies, despite players on Reddit and the WoW forums reportedly having only posted a single in-game screenshot.
What exactly is flagging WoW players for malicious behavior is unclear, but WoW community manager Kaivax in a forum post from February 21 stated Blizzard is aware of the issue and has disabled the ability to link WoW and Pinterest accounts until the problem is resolved.
On the WoW forums, players are reporting they have been able to have their suspension or ban revoked by making an appeal and linking articles about the issue. That seems to be working, as players are reporting their account bans are being overturned as of February 23. Blizzard has not yet stated whether the issue is fully resolved.
Pinterest isn’t the only way Blizzard is branching out to promote housing in WoW. Blizzard also partnered with realty website Zillow to show off Azeroth’s virtual homes, with players able to snag some in-game decor by participating. A housing competition is also underway, with teams of players competing to see who can design the most impressive home.
WoW’s next expansion, Midnight, is right around the corner, though players who preordered the upcoming expansion have been able to buy and decorate their Azerothian dream home since December. Midnight proper will see WoW’s current evil mastermind, Xal’atath, attempt to claim the power of the Sunwell as her own. In their quest to stop her, players will get to explore revamped versions of Blood Elf zones from the game’s 2007 The Burning Crusade expansion, as well as all-new zones, raids, dungeons, and delves.
The pre-patch for Midnight went live January 21, introducing a new Void infused Demon Hunter specialization, major class changes, new UI features, and a major change in WoW’s policy in regards to player-made add-ons. Midnight launches in full on February 26 for those who purchase the Epic edition of the expansion, with the game launching for all players on March 2.