They tried to sneak this one past me with a late Friday afternoon post on the Warcraft front page: World of Warcraft accounts closed! There was no need to sneak — not like I’m getting rich in this game, or off of this game.
Ordinn, Blizzard economist wrote:
In keeping with Blizzard’s aggressive stance against cheating in World of Warcraft, we banned over 30,000 accounts in the month of May, and with that removed well over 30 million gold from the economy across all realms. The banned accounts were taking part in activities that violate the game’s Terms of Use, including using third-party programs to farm gold and items, which severely impacts the economy of a realm and the overall game enjoyment for all players.
We will continue to aggressively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in order to protect the service and its players from the harmful effects of cheating. Please note that selling World of Warcraft content, such as gold, items, and characters, can result in a permanent ban of the involved accounts from World of Warcraft.
Many account closures come as the direct result of tips reported to our GMs in game or emailed to hacks@blizzard.com by legitimate World of Warcraft players. If you suspect that a World of Warcraft player is using an illegal third-party program to farm gold or items, or is otherwise violating our Terms of Use, please report the suspected infraction via one of the means listed above. All reports will be investigated, and those that prove false will not result in corrective action.
Thank you for your continued support, and good luck with your adventures in Azeroth!
I’d like to imagine that this was one huge sting, set up over the past few weeks, involving undercover GM agents and late night interrogations of suspected farmers. Probably it was far less glamorous: players ratting out some guys who were stealing spawns in Eastern Plaguelands.
One of our guild priests is relieved he bought his epic mount last week instead of waiting — supply and demand being what they are. And when I say “bought”, you know I meant he used some real life scratch to IGE the damn thing because who has the energy to farm 1000 gold for their second, third or fourth level 60? Nobody I know.
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you guys seriously need to get a life. Please step away from the computer, and get a social life. I’m saying this for your own good.
Which guys? The GMs are just doing their jobs. The farmers? Same. My guild’s IGE’ing priest? He obviously has one. That’s how he can afford $100 and change for a horse in a game.
I don’t have an epic mount for ANY of my lvl 60’s I got there just after the upped the price by about six zillion, and there’s no way in hell I’m dropping real cash for a digital horse.
…that sounded angrier than I am.
People who tell gamers to get a life go out on Fridays and Saturdays until 1, and sit a a table in a bright bar talking to no one but the friends who came with them. Now and then they get lunch with someone they work with. Big man with an active social life and a hookup now & then; the girls are all swooning.
And they don’t read for enjoyment, or they’d know it’s pretty much the same thing.
This rule that Blizzard has basically tells the casual gamer that we don’t want you to have an account for too long….
The typical casual gamer;
1. play time is limited to a couple hours here and there
2. small guild or NO guild
A. limited gear/gold keeps them out of the big/capable guilds for epic items
B. most guilds have a resist gear requirement (no chance)
C. catch 22, can’t get gear so can’t get in guild to get gear
3. they may get a group but often have to solo due to limited time for raids and such
A. No named Mobs, no good gear….unless world drop
Some people can spend their time “working” in-game to make game money, some people can’t invest the time in-game, so they use the invested time (work, J.O.B.) off-game to help them in-game. The allure of the game, for me, is to get the strongest character possible. If I get to a point where I can’t advance my character without investing more time than I have…time to hang up the WoW hat! A stale character is boring!