World of Warcraft players banned for selling gold

Post by **Tami** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:20 pm

World of Warcraft players banned for selling gold
by Tom Bramwell

Blizzard continues to uphold its aggressive policy on exploits.

Blizzard Entertainment has permanently banned more than one thousand users from its massively multiplayer World of Warcraft title after an investigation into \"gold farming\".

An investigation into gold farming, which involves collecting large amounts of gold and selling it to other individuals in exchange for real world currency, has been going on for several weeks.

In a posting on the game\'s official forum, in-game support manager Maleki said Blizzard has \"issued permanent suspensions to over one thousand accounts that have been engaging in this practice\".

\"We do not condone such actions and will take decisive action as they are against our policy and damage the game economy as a whole. We will continue researching this matter.

\"If you suspect someone of taking part in said gold farming, please email the report to wowgm@blizzard.com,\" he added.

Since the game launched in the US last November, Blizzard has been firm in its apparent zero tolerance policy on cheaters, suspending a large number of accounts for a variety of reasons and encouraging users to report anybody suspected of hacking or cheating the game in various ways.

Speaking last year prior to release, the game\'s producer Chris Sigaty said that cheaters would be identified and dealt with, but added that the developer was willing to acknowledge grey areas where quirks of the game gave out an unfair advantage and would deal with those without penalising players for discovering them.

[url=\"http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=7392\"]source[/url]

fuseku · Post by **fuseku** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:26 pm

Personally I see nothing wrong with gold farming, they put the time and the effort (oooh the effort) into doing it and deserve some..uhm, pay..back? bleh..

It\'s the same with FFXI, gold farming is looked down on there too.

Post by **Tami** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:37 pm

I don\'t play either game, so I\'m not really sure on the concept and how it works-players are selling their excess gold for real money-I take it then that just like other RPG games and some car games, you need to money to buy items/powers in order to get ahead in the game?

fuseku · Post by **fuseku** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:38 pm

Basically the money is used for rare/expensive items (weapons/armour etc).

Uhm, people get a lot of gil and sell it off to other people for a price in real money..basically.

us3rX · Post by **us3rX** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:17 pm

its the simple fact that you dont own the "gold", Blizzard does. By selling their "gold" you could/might be in violation of copyright laws...

us3rX (ninja)

fuseku · Post by **fuseku** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:14 am

Not really, it\'s your gold (in my opinion anyway) -- you pay for the subscription, hell, you payed for the game. You also aquired that gold by long-winded and repetitive tasks..i\'d do it if it was worth $500. <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... /happy.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'^_^\' />

Baralai · Post by **Baralai** » Sat Aug 06, 2005 5:57 am

Its the fact the it gives some players an unfair advantage of the other players, and Blizzard is trying the make it a fair game for everyone, but i can say it does help alot if u have lots og gold cuz ppl sell stuff at the AH for so Much its not funny lol and at lvl 40 you can buy a mount thats worth 90g which take forever to save....

Bara