Invariel said:
In the time that I played World of Warcraft, I never considered buying gold or items. It wasn't a part of the game I wanted to play. However, I don't see how they are "a bane and a parasite" in any way. A gold farmer that actively sits at the machine, playing the game and making gold to sell for effort is simply looking for a way to convert effort into cash, and likewise with an item farmer. Please note that this hypothetical individual is -actively playing- and not botting (which is an entirely different can of worms).
That selling gold or items is "violating Blizzard's intellectual property" is an outlandish claim as well. The sellers are making a trade of realworld currency for in-game equipment that took time (and maybe effort) to acquire. At no point (to my understanding) are people claiming that they made, own, or have any intellectual claim to the gold or items.
What Blizzard should be doing here to combat gold sellers and item sellers is to get into the business. Offer, at the WoW store, the ability to buy 10000 gold for some amount of money, or directly sell the marks required to get the top tier of gear. If necessary, offer gold sales that undercut whatever the underground market can provide. In this scenario, Blizzard -is- the mint - they don't need to worry about sitting around for hours to grind to 85 to fight the profitable monsters. They could, quite easily, cash in on this basic need for better stuff and kill the gold farmer market in the process - their prices don't have to pay anyone's salaries.
For one thing, a lot of gold and items sold for real money are stolen from hacked/compromised accounts. So yeah that is a very negative thing. Second selling gold is against the ToS. It is plain and simple not legal. As for Blizz selling gold, holy crud that would be terrible. You cannot balance a game's economy (among other balancing issues) when people can simply buy as much money as they want. MMO's have to have ways to remove money from the virtual economy to prevent massive inflation and other problems, so allowing a massive influx of in-game currency is something Blizz absolutely does not want to have happen.
Also keep in mind that most gold farmers (the ones who actually run characters to get gold and items) are indeed bots and not actual people. That is indeed an issue.
On the note of the ToS I mentioned, you do know that you are technically paying Blizz (your monthly subscription) to access the game and all information linked to your account. To quote the ToS:
"Additional License Limitations.
The license granted to you in Section 1 is subject to the limitations set forth in Sections 1 and 2 (collectively, the ?License Limitations?). Any use of the Service or the Game Client in violation of the License Limitations will be regarded as an infringement of Blizzard?s copyrights in and to the Game. You agree that you will not, under any circumstances:
A. use cheats, automation software (bots), hacks, mods or any other unauthorized third-party software designed to modify the World of Warcraft experience;
B. exploit the Game or any of its parts, including without limitation the Service, for any commercial purpose, including without limitation (a) use at a cyber cafe, computer gaming center or any other location-based site without the express written consent of Blizzard; (b) for gathering in-game currency, items or resources for sale outside the Game; or (c) performing in-game services in exchange for payment outside the Game, e.g., power-leveling;..."
and of course:
"#
Ownership.
All rights and title in and to the Service (including without limitation any user accounts, titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialogue, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, ?applets,? transcripts of the chat rooms, character profile information, recordings of games) are owned by Blizzard or its licensors. The Game and the Service are protected by United States and international laws, and may contain certain licensed materials in which Blizzard?s licensors may enforce their rights in the event of any violation of this Agreement.
#
No Ownership Rights in Account.
NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY HEREIN, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU SHALL HAVE NO OWNERSHIP OR OTHER PROPERTY INTEREST IN ANY ACCOUNT STORED OR HOSTED ON A BLIZZARD SYSTEM, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY BNET ACCOUNT OR WORLD OF WARCRAFT ACCOUNT, AND YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT ALL RIGHTS IN AND TO SUCH ACCOUNTS ARE AND SHALL FOREVER BE OWNED BY AND INURE TO THE BENEFIT OF BLIZZARD. "
To sum that up, you don't even own your account, much less anything on it. All you do is pay Blizz for access to some data they own. So yes that gold those people sell is indeed Blizz's intellectual property and selling it is illegal according to the ToS which you must agree to in order to play the game.
If Blizz wants to slam people in SC2 for hacking achievements (something Microsoft does too btw, though with less legal action usually) because it violates the ToS, you can damn well guarantee they will go after people violating the WoW ToS.
Full Wow ToS can be found here for anyone interested: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/legal/wow_tou.html
