Account Selling: Wrong or Justifiable ?

[MetalGenocide]

Reminder of the second most important rule of business:
"Who cares? As long as it sells."

If there are people who are interested, a sale might happen. You should always meet the person, preferably get "specs/details" on what they are selling.

 

[sephiroth1991]

This is WOW players of cource it's worth that much to them.

I think it's resonable to sell a character, but you got to think about mileage

 

[mplantinga]

For a game like WoW, account selling is expressly forbidden by the EULA, and will result in a ban if discovered by Blizzard. This ban would extend to both the seller and the buyer, if both can be identified. Account selling thus represents a significant risk to both parties involved.

Having said that, part of me disagrees with Blizzard about this policy and its enforcement. If there is a demand from buyers for high level accounts, and people willing to sell them, I don't see why Blizzard should care. People spend huge amounts of money on things with no intrinsic value simply because they want them; why should a game character be any different?

On the other hand, when I was playing WoW, I really hated running dungeons and raids with purchased characters. Their gear/achievements looked the part, but it became clear very quickly that they had no clue how to play their characters at the level of their gear. Sometimes, therefore, account selling does have some (albeit usually minor) consequences for players other than the buyer and seller.

 

[Wolfram23]

Where and how is he selling it? I have a pimped account I'd like to sell for say... $500. 2 epic 80s (warrior + DK) both have mechano hogs and the warrior also has a traveler's mammoth and another 20k gold plus a 70 rogue and other lower levels.

I haven't played in over a year now and don't intend to go back (even considering Cataclysm... *sigh*)

 

[Ironic Pirate]

It makes sense for someone to want to get cash, and as for the buyer end, I don't really care what people do with their money. Unless it encourages a company to do something I don't like- if no-one buys the stimulus package IW (or Acti, does it really matter) will put more maps in the next one.

 

[Ranorak]

Why not? You own the account, you should be allowed to sell it. Better than letting the account (and all the value in it) go unused.
Buying a previously played account on an MMO is no different than buying unlock DLC for games that offer it -- some people don't want to spend time unlocking/levelling and are willing to pay for it instead.

technically, you don't own the account.
You rent it from the company, but you hold no rights over it.
And therefore aren't allowed to sell it.

 

[tux789]

If the seller is honest about what is being sold and what's being sold in no way harms the purchaser than why not?

 

[case_orange]

If time == money, than a badass account is, in theory at least, equal to the cost of that time (on top of any per-hour/per-month charges).

If someone is willing and able to exchange money for that, who are we to stop them?

And while Blizzard and the other companies who make money off of this may have problems with it, economics tells us that consumers will tend to towards the path of least resistance/least cost when it comes to getting things...like Lvl. 60 characters.

Fact is, it may be barred or declared illegal, but as long as people feel that it is a better deal than sitting down and putting the time in than it will keep happening.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I don't like it. This may be the old WoW player in me talking, but I have seen plenty of high level players who don't know all the stuff they should by the time they reach their level. It can ruin dungeon and PVE gameplay and it gives the buyer an unfair advantage while the players surronding them have worked hard for where they are.

 

[Grampy_bone]

If people are willing to buy it, they're tools. Other than that nothing wrong in selling it.

Hmm, same argument as prostitution really.

 

[Vianyte]

You make money. You're not hurting anyone.

I see nothing wrong.

 

[evilartist]

If it's not illegal, it's justifiable. There are no rules against gaining profit with MMO accounts. You may argue that there is a moral stigma here, but that means nothing to business.

I have a friend who buys action figures from toy stores (and even classic consoles) and sells them on sites like ebay and craigslist for even more money. I don't see what's wrong with any of it (although he does get the stink-eye from a lot of angry parents who were just too slow ).

 

[gigastrike]

I'm pretty sure that making money off of a game is against the conditions that you must agree to in order to play the game...So it's illegal.

 

[internetzealot1]

From an economic standpoint, its fine. Someone has something that another person is willing to buy, and there's nothing wrong with it.

From a gaming standpoint, however, its wrong. Real world dollars should not equal in-game status.

 

[SnowdensOfYesteryear]

Basic supply and demand. Someone demands, someone supplies. Perfectly fine. It's not like it's detrimental to the game company or anything.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

Basic supply and demand. Someone demands, someone supplies. Perfectly fine. It's not like it's detrimental to the game company or anything.

I agree. I've always wondered why more game companies don't capitalize on this method to make more money for themselves ala the EverQuest 2 auction house thing.

 

[XoXoButterflyXoXo]

Well ya it's okay, but you know what's silly people sell battle.net screen names for like 100$