Character

Character refers to an interactive representation of a game persona. Characters controlled by a player are most often referred to as a character and sometimes as avatar or toon. Characters controlled by the game are usually referred to as Non-Player Characters or NPCs. The maximum number of characters per user account is 50, with no more than 10 per realm.

Characteristics include: class, race, faction, talents, profession, and equipment.

Moving Characters
The following text is from the Worldofwarcraft.com Changing Realms/Character Move page (part of "Account Management"):


 * "Below you will see a listing of all characters associated with your account, across all realms. If one or more of your characters are eligible to move, this page will allow you to move those characters to a predetermined low population realm. Please note that only characters on high population realms are eligible for transfer. To see what realms are currently high population, check the Realm Status page. Also note that you will not be able to explicitly choose which realm you'd like to move to. Instead, the new realm is determined automatically and displayed in the "Destination Realm" column below. For answers to common questions, please check out our Character Move F.A.Q."

"Character Migration" in the Terms of Use
The following text is from the Blizzard Terms of Use for WoW (WoW_TOU_enNA_20050505, May 5, 2005 version):


 * 4. Character Migration.


 * Blizzard may, in its sole and absolute discretion, offer certain users the opportunity to move characters from a heavily populated "Character Migration" server to a server designated by Blizzard as a "Target Server." If you are offered the opportunity to migrate a character, please note the following:


 * A character that is a "guild master" cannot be migrated to a Target Server.
 * You must have less than ten (10) characters on the Target Server in order to migrate a character to the Target Server.
 * Character migrations can only occur when the account that you utilize to play World of Warcraft is not in use.
 * You cannot migrate a character to a Target Server if the name of the character is already in use on the Target Server.
 * If a character of the same name already exists on the Target Server, you will be given an opportunity to rename character as part of the Character Migration process. As always, the name must adhere to the naming conventions stated herein.
 * In-game mail sent by or in transit to the character that you intend to migrate will not be migrated to a Target Server.
 * All player auctions involving the character that you intend to migrate will be canceled and the item, deposit, and the high bid returned to the bidder upon character migration. The item you placed for sale, or your "high bid," will appear in that character's mail when it reaches the Target Server. Note that Blizzard will not be responsible for the loss of in-game funds or items due to the character migration of either a "buyer" or "seller" to an auction house transaction.
 * A target character's friends list will not transfer to a Target Server.
 * A target character's guild affiliation will not transfer to a Target Server.
 * A target character's ignore list will not transfer to a Target Server.