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Blizzard don't like stolen gold

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Blizzard don't like stolen gold
By Justin Robinson
Apr 15, 2009 | 13 Comments
Tags: Blizzard | WoW | Gold

Turns out that those dodgy services online are actually dodgy!

MMORPG games like World of Warcraft are usually based around activities and collecting of items - one of these is almost guaranteed to be money (though is usually in-game).

In a recent press release however, Blizzard point out that getting money from very shifty sites online is not only bad for other players who work to make their own, but especially so in how they source that money.

Blizzard give a lot of attention to WoW, updating their policies and constantly patching/updating the game to maintain it's appeal, so making sure it's as fun as possible is definitely important to them.

Through their extensive monitoring of these unfriendly companies, they've discovered that the majority of the dirty money doesn't come from employees gold-farming, but rather from hacked accounts.

They explain it pretty plainly on their site:

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.

The amusing part about this article is that we might even get a spambot pop up and post a comment about this very topic, or a Google ad telling us to buy WoW Gold!

Have you ever bought money from these services? Has it gone well? Post below either way - it's always interesting to see.

Head to Blizzard's site for more on the stolen monies.

 

 
 
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13 Comments
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Bastard Child
Apr 15, 2009 11:34 AM
i like it [url=http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/]~wow gold[/url] yes i miss you [url=http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/]cheap wow gold[/url] hello~, i want to make friend with you buy [url=http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/]wow gold[/url]
kikz
Apr 15, 2009 12:00 PM
never bought gold for wow. considering it right now, as I try to get 5000G for my uber flying mount. maybe I could just play more.
smakme7757
Apr 15, 2009 4:06 PM
With my limited playtime i buy gold so i dont have to 'Waste' time getting it myself, usually about 1000 gold every few months or so.

I have never used the power leveling service or given out my password. I also use one of those Warcraft account dongle things so i have a dynamic password generated for me each time i log in.

The only thing im scared of is blizzard banning my account, not the gold seller stealing it.
codecreeper
Apr 15, 2009 5:27 PM
Maybe if Blizzard a gold loan system in the game where player can get a loan and pay that back in a certain amount time. Sometime ppl use these sites as they have no idea how to make money. Remember a Gold Coin has 2 sides to it too.
Frizzl
Apr 15, 2009 5:59 PM
Curious now, how much do people pay generally, for virtual gold? (Never played WoW myself)
smakme7757
Apr 15, 2009 6:55 PM
I paid $20 AUD for 1000g a few weeks ago so its not exactly a bank breaker. But if you think that maybe 1000 people a day will buy gold in varieing amounts from 100 gold to 10,000 gold i can understand these companies make alot of money.
spooner
Apr 15, 2009 8:38 PM
c a n t t y p e, g r i n d i n g g o l d.....
Demonic
Apr 15, 2009 9:45 PM
Bought plenty of gold never had an issue normally takes 30 minutes been good lol
Demonic
Apr 15, 2009 9:45 PM
$20AUD for 1000G easily pays ofr the time it would take to make the gold lol
winstor
Apr 16, 2009 1:22 AM
One way to think of it is this

-How much do you earn at your job per hour
-How much gold can you buy with what your job pays you per hour
-How long would it take to farm the ammount of gold you can buy with money earnt from an hours worth of work

Based on that thinking it is cheaper for you to buy gold than to try and farm it in game.

Aquilae
Apr 16, 2009 5:26 PM
Winstor summed it up.
dsagill
Apr 17, 2009 1:33 PM
I'm as likely to pay for WOW gold as I am to pay for sex. As in bugger all chance!! Could never understand why people would bother paying for gold (or grinding for it either). I guess I'm WOW immune now after going to WOWA.
Slymonk
Apr 17, 2009 1:43 PM
I used the exact logic Winstor expressed.
Factor disposable income to the time I would have to spend earning $5k gold in game and it was no contest. I bought from one of the "reputable" companies that has been doing it since WoW started and had my gold within hours.
I wouldn't pay for leveling services though.
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