Shadowblade.6350:

Hello,

As suggested by the Community Manager I contacted by email, I post my problem in this forum to get some help.

Two years ago, I created and published an Android app based on the World versus World API, which displayed the battlefield current state to the user : GuildWars 2 WvW Battle Map. Later, I renamed it WvW Assistant.

One week ago, I published an update to this app on Google Play to provide a better user interface and a better user experience, but their team decided to suspend the app from the store because of the following reason :

REASON FOR SUSPENSION:Violation of the impersonation or deceptive behavior (https://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html#impersonation) provisions of the Content Policy. Please refer to the impersonation policy help article (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/2986097) for more information.

If I understand it correctly, the Google Play team suspects me to use the GuildWars 2 brand without the company permission.

That’s not the first time they suspend one of my GuildWars 2 related apps from the store, always for the same reason.
I tried to ask them what specific details they wanted to see modified, but they never gave the response.

As a consequence, all my GW2 related apps are suspended from Google Play, and my Google Play Developer account has also been suspended.

My only hope to resolve this problem is to send a document to the Google Play team, which proves that ArenaNet is OK with me publishing GW2 related apps on Google Play.
To be clear, this is the description of the kind of document they request :
Please provide a document that proves you have the rights to use specific content, icons, images, etc.

Has anyone here had the same problem ?

Can anyone from the staff provide me with an official document that I could send to the Google Play team ?

Teranas.6150:

There’s an info page about this issue:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-content-terms-of-use/

No clue if that’s enough for Google. As far as your apps are free for all I don’t see any problem.

If the page isn’t enough you can also send an email to community@arena.net. That’s the suggested way to go.

PS: You definitely shouldn’t post your email on a public board …

Shadowblade.6350:

All apps were free, but the one I am talking about in this thread (WvW Assistant) contained ads, which could be removed by paying.
But anyone could perfectly use the app without paying.

According to the following thread, the GW2 API can be used for commercial use, as long as the project complies with the terms of use :
https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/community/api/API-Documentation

Concerning the Content Terms of Use, my assets are :
- The tiles provided by the GW2 Tiles API, to display the WvW map.
- Assets provided by the GW2 Files API, for some icons.
- Assets I personally created.

I think that Google won’t accept a simple forum post.
In fact, I have already sent them the link for a previous app suspension, but I think they didn’t take the time to read it, because they never replied.
That’s why I request an official document.

I have already exposed my problem at community@arena.net, and the CM suggested to post in this forum.

Teranas.6150:

I have already exposed my problem at community@arena.net, and the CM suggested to post in this forum.

That’s pretty funny according to the page I posted earlier where they redirect any questions to that mail address.

I agree with you, that’s something that must be clarified.

Pat Cavit.9234:

Hey gang, I’ve raised this question internally to try to get some clarification on the situation.

Pat Cavit.9234:

Shadowblade, send an email to support@arena.net with the subject “GW2 App blocked by Google” and a copy of your initial forum post and they’ll try to get you sorted.

Sorry for the trouble, our legal team will be working to clarify the TOSes for this sort of situation so it should get better in the future!

Gaile Gray.6029:

Hooray for Pat!

We’ll get this sorted for you, Shadowblade, and for others who may come across this issue.

Shadowblade.6350:

As suggested, I sent an email to support@arena.net 2 days ago (which got an autoreply requesting me to use the Guildwars 2 support site, I did it too).

Thank you for helping me to solve this problem !