The Negative Impact of Buying Gold

[Martok]

From the wow main page http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/antigold.html

We would like to make a clear statement here about the negative impact of buying gold and using power-leveling services. Every day, we encounter players who have been negatively affected and targeted by companies offering these services. So, we hope to raise awareness about the practices they engage in and the detrimental effects they have on all players, including their own customers, as well as on the game environment as a whole.

What many people don't realize when buying gold is the large impact it has on the game economy, and also how the companies selling gold obtain it. Our developers, in-game support, and anti-hack teams work diligently to stop the exploits these companies use and help players who have become victims of their services. We regularly track the source of the gold these companies sell, and find that an alarmingly high amount comes from hacked accounts. These are the friends, relatives, and guildmates you may know who have gone through the experience of having characters, gold, and items stripped from them after visiting a website or opening a file containing a trojan virus. Our teams work to educate players and assist them in avoiding account compromise, but the fact remains that the players themselves are often these companies' largest target as a source for gold, which the companies then turn around and sell to other players.

Through our normal support processes and the assistance of players, we also find that many accounts that have been shared with power-leveling services are then hacked into months later, and all of the items on the account are stripped and sold off. Basically, players have paid money to these companies, sometimes large amounts, and they're then targeted by these same companies down the road. We come across stories every week of the aftereffects of players using these services, and some players now have to deal with long-term repercussions -- in addition to consequences such as possible account suspension or closure, in many cases the companies they paid use their personal information to perpetrate identity theft and credit card fraud. These are long-lasting effects on players' personal lives that can take years to recover from.

We also want players to recognize that these companies often employ people to do their work through the use of disruptive hacks in the game, which can cause realm performance and stability issues. The companies essentially take time away from our development and in-game support efforts as we work to stop their exploits and assist players who have become their victims in recovering characters and items. They spam advertisements, use bots that make it hard for players to find the resources they need, and raise the cost of items through inflation.

The negative effects these companies create depend directly on people using their services. Without them, the companies have no way to continue their unethical actions. Furthermore, it's important to keep in mind that players are responsible for what happens with the account they play on. Selling gold for real money and having characters power-leveled are violations of our Terms of Use and End User License Agreement, and we regularly take corrective action when we find that these services have been used. We hope the information presented here is helpful to anyone considering buying gold or using a power-leveling service; these are just a few reasons that those services can negatively impact World of Warcraft and other games, and we strongly encourage players not to support the companies that offer them.

[Holyssa]

If there's one thing that makes me laugh, it's a player that just got a character via one of these gold-buying/PL services, or Ebay & has no clue as to how to use their new toy (classic example: a 60-70 warrior that doesn't know what Sunder Armor or Defensive Stance is). I can't help but wonder though: why's Blizzard making this statement now AFTER all the damage by gold companies & mote-farming robots has been done? /scratchhead

Edited February 25, 2008 by Holyssa

[Corellon]

This has been and still is an issue for Blizzard. I don't think that much can be done to stop it unless we could "instaban people" but we all know how that would go. I go spammed last night for the first time in whisper since before BC. So I suppose it's getting bad again, and most likely will not stop unless everyone stops buying and selling gold. It's not so much the purchase as it's the selling of excess gold. Sellers are just as much to blame as the buyers! I would rather that we be so nice that people just give me all there gold instead of charging for it .

So what ya think? Can I have all your gold . . . pwease. . .

I feel that part of the game is making your own gold. Both ways you have to pay to play both in RL and in game. They did put dailies into the mix of things to do to make money easier to come by. Along with all the loot and grey items that gain you gold, there should be no reason for anyone to buy from online services. As for paying for the grind, that's just pure laziness and will cause problems for the ones that did not play the class enough to know how to.

Buying or selling gold in any game reflects poorly upon the gameplay itself.

[Guilozak]

/agree

I got spammed in Org yesterday a few times. It had been awhile but it seems that such activity is back on the rise.

That being said . . . I'm unemployed and looking for work right now. You could pay me to farm gold for you . . .

[Volonazra]

As long as there are people willing to buy, there shall always be someone willing to sell. Whos to blame, really? People often laugh at and stigmatize the "CFG"s. But they fail to realize the sad reality of the alternatives for them. The buyer should be the stigmatized one, IMHO.

In my time with MMOs, Ive witnessed time and again many people simply dont care about "negative effects" upon community, nor even their impact upon it. There are a million rationales, but when it comes down to it, i feel the bottom line is personal integrity.

Virtues in a virtual world oddly, are not commonplace. I think how someone acts online says much about their real selves. (whole other topic) So, I admire those i find online with some scruples and try to spend my time with them.

[Holyssa]

This is just my 2 copper, but I guess if Blizzard REALLY wanted to ease the gold buying issue, they could take a step back & look at the many grinds which seem like one big time-eating chore:

~ Mote drop rates. Pretty much everything needs them now, and I don't even want to imagine what the ###### WotLK's items will use for materials (not real, but...30x Tuskkar Fat Globules & 25x Primal Snow just to make a blue cloak, anyone?). This could take a load off people that still need to make craftable epics and help them catch up to today's quickly-growing epic'd out crowds.

~ Riding Skill. The normal version is fine, but 5000g just so you can actually fly to a dungeon run on time or snag that one final piece of ore for the axe you've been masturbating furiously over is still kind of asinine, even with dailies or alts to help you out. If you ask me, this seems to be the biggest form of bait the gold sellers look forward to.

It's fascinating how someone dings 70, claims they were dead broke just hours beforehand (imagine someone in all greens, and little to no group-quest blues), yet magically they are zooming circles around Shattrath with an epic flying machine after a quick trip to Shadowmoon Valley. I know some people save long in advance or have a BoE Epic ready for sale, but it takes a lot of willpower to avoid the seductive grasp of the Auction House.

~ Gems. Tons of new gear is coming out next patch, for PvP and PvE. Let the number crunching begin, as stamina & resilience gems skyrocket to the 100g+ range. Perhaps increasing the drop rate of rare gems from mining & prospecting will make this profession's risk/reward factor seem less hideous.

~ Twinks. I have no problem with em. Hell, even my hunter (who is just a few bars shy of 70) was once a long-reigning beast in the L19 WSG bracket with minimal tweaking & had all the blue PvP gear for her class in a matter of two straight weeks. But people can do some serious pimping out once they get a hold of daddy's credit card, and it makes the gold sellers happy in the pants.