Guild Wars 2

Hi!

I’d be interested in purchasing the game again for my wife since we now own a second computer so we can play together, but she already plays a character in my account, since we only had one computer, that is really high level. Is there any way to transfer that character into that second account so she doesn’t need to start over and we can actually play together? Thanks for any response in advance!

You can’t transfer a character to another account, bottom line.

They don’t have any options to transfer characters since technically, you shouldn’t have been sharing the account in the first place (per the ToS). Sorry, she’ll have to start over her character on the new account. Anything that isn’t soulbound or account bound you’ll be able to mail her, but be warned, her new account will have some restrictions so if you attempted to mail things back (like money) she might have a delay.

Wait, so letting my wife play in my computer is illegal based on ToS?? It’s the same household, same computer, is this really so If it is that really blows my mind honestly… I can understand how it’d be illegal if I give my account to someone else on some other computer on some other house or whatever, but it’s my own wife in my own computer. Please someone clarify and confirm!

Technically, sharing the account was against the ToS yes. Not sharing the computer, sharing the account.

Edit: And here is why, if your wife did something, say she decided to delete a character that you had created, or say after a while, you two decided to split up, who would be the rightful owner of the account, if you both had the details of the account, and tried to claim it as your own, Anet wouldn’t get involved. You can go and read many posts by people who have had “shared accounts” issues and Anet has many many times done reinstated the “We do not allow shared accounts.”

Yeah, its against TOS.

Husbands and wives have been known to get mad at one another and trash their spouse’s accounts. Or use up all the gold buying stuff. Or get a divorce and then fight over possessions, including game accounts.

This sort of thing happens on a frequent enough basis over several million accounts that it’s a headache separating who did what and who owns what. There isn’t any way for support to tell the difference between the owner deleting characters and a spouse doing it and if they are fighting over ownership and both can provide details, it’s hard to separate that too. So, they made a ruling, no sharing of accounts.

Here are some of the pertinent clauses:

You acknowledge You will not directly or indirectly:

2 f. (iv.) sell, sub-license, rent, lease, grant a security interest in, borrow, lend, loan, network or engage in any activity that could in any way transfer or provide others access to any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof, including but not limited to any serial code number, access key or the like.

9 b. Each Account may only be used by one person.

I think I understand now, and I think it makes sense from a legal standpoint if any of us would make a legal claim or whatever, ArenaNET would be in their right to just say “we don’t allow this so we don’t have to get involved…”, but then does that mean that I’m actually doing something ILLEGAL if someone from my household plays my game?? Like will ArenaNET actually punish me or restrict my account or take action against me if my wife happens to play my video game?? Will I have to tell my wife “nope, you can’t play my game anymore, it’s illegal, the developers don’t allow you to play, sorry”??

doubleomar.2165:

but then does that mean that I’m actually doing something ILLEGAL if someone from my household plays my game??

Not illegal in the sense Anet is going to send to cops after you, LOL. However, as posted by others it is a clear violation of the ToS. Take that as you will.

doubleomar.2165:

Will I have to tell my wife “nope, you can’t play my game anymore, it’s illegal, the developers don’t allow you to play, sorry”??

Technically yes, you should tell your wife it is not okay to play your game. Buy her a copy and you have nothing to worry about.

This thread is INCREDIBLY depressing. I would have never imagined the enjoyment of a video game could be so divisive when it comes to sharing a great experience with the people you love, people that are your direct, immediate FAMILY. I’m deeply troubled at the implications of what I’ve read here, and shame on me for obviously not interpreting the ToS properly, as to me my immediate family, my household is equal to myself, and as such I hold them entitled to everything I am and own, as their happiness is my happiness. As I said, I’d been wanting to get a second computer so I could play along with my wife, and the solution to the question I posted has already been properly laid out, but learning what I have right now has definitely made me really, deeply hurt and sorry for what the gaming industry has apparently had to become. Thanks to all who’ve responded, I appreciate your time very much.

To ANet, please consider not punishing me for this, or taking action against my account, as I clearly had no idea what the implications of what was discussed truly were. I’m an old-school, couch multiplayer gamer, and as such I seem to have an old outlook on what gaming means in today’s world. I still remember from my World of Warcraft days how you’d be allowed to pay for a character transfer from one account to another as long as it was two accounts owned by the same person, and not seeing the option anywhere here prompted me to ask about it. Raging or making petty threats about how I won’t support your game anymore if you take any action against me is definitely not my style, and I do truly understand this game represents your livelihood and you’d do anything to preserve its integrity, so I won’t even consider that. In any case, I’ll attempt to scrounge up the money to get my wife an account and in the case I can’t convince her to start her character over, then because sharing is so important to me, I’ll take my leave and consider some other option we can share our fun in, which I cannot hold against you in any way, as your ToS are clear, fair and I agreed to them without proper interpretation; that’s on me.

doubleomar.2165:

-SNIP-

The no sharing of accounts is there for your own protection as well as for other reasons such as people selling their accounts. I bet your wife would not purposely manipulate your account in a negative way. However, these rules are in place to cover all situations where sharing an account could cause harm. It is there to protect the account owner in all situations. I have seen posts here where someone shared an account with a sibling and that sibling deleted things and caused damage to the account owner. They then posted here wanting their items back. That is just one example out of many. There is no reason to be so dramatic about the issue. Rules are there and clearly stated, and rules are rules.

doubleomar.2165:

This thread is INCREDIBLY depressing. I would have never imagined the enjoyment of a video game could be so divisive when it comes to sharing a great experience with the people you love, people that are your direct, immediate FAMILY. I’m deeply troubled at the implications of what I’ve read here, and shame on me for obviously not interpreting the ToS properly, as to me my immediate family, my household is equal to myself, and as such I hold them entitled to everything I am and own, as their happiness is my happiness. As I said, I’d been wanting to get a second computer so I could play along with my wife, and the solution to the question I posted has already been properly laid out, but learning what I have right now has definitely made me really, deeply hurt and sorry for what the gaming industry has apparently had to become. Thanks to all who’ve responded, I appreciate your time very much.

I saw a post one where a guy shared the account with his wife. Him and his wife proceeded to split up and she, still having the login information, proceeded to deleted ALL of his characters. Since the guy shared the account info, he opened himself to this, and thus, Anet was not responsible to restore the account. THAT is why they have that in place. I’m not saying you and your wife will have this problem. But it covers Anet from having to waste their time because people open their account to malicious events when they need to be more responsible. What if you let a smaller child access the account and they deleted a character who had 3 legendaries on it. Would you expect Anet to restore the account? People have, Anet has said no. The ToS is there to protect you and Anet.

JustTrogdor.7892:

doubleomar.2165:

-SNIP-

…There is no reason to be so dramatic about the issue…

I appreciate your input, both earlier with the legalities and currently in your opinion, but I must also express my opinion that perspective and the difference in points of view calls for empathy when it comes to assessing how someone should react to something, as the life experiences of each alters the way we respond to things, and what we’re sensitive about. Please don’t take this personally, as it is not intended as a riposte; clearly your intention was not one of attack, but I call for understanding and respect when it comes to the value we’re all entitled to assign to the things we go through in life.

You should google, girlfriend deletes WoW characters or wife deletes WoW account, to see what people will do to their loved ones.

They’re not going to punish you for sharing the account with your wife. They just won’t help you, if your wife (or kids, more likely) did something negative to your account. Like AP said, they can’t tell if you deleted all your level 80’s and now want them back, or if your wife did it in a fit of anger. Or vice versa. So they make the one-person-per-account rule (although I think there’s a clause that allows you to share with a minor child so you can supervise gameplay, but that might be WoW.)

Obviously, if someone’s significant other uses the account access to sabotage an account, that couple has deeper problems than the game. The rule is a CYA to prevent people claiming account sabotage in order to exploit the system. After all, if you share the account with your wife and never have a problem, how would they ever know about it?