Fed up with ingame gold whispers
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 12th 2007 at 11:08AM
Like Sniffledoo, I'm done with it. This ingame gold whispering is getting worse and worse, and it's time something drastic was done about it.If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can consider yourself lucky, but I'm guessing it's become pretty widespread by now (at first, I'd just chalked it up to being on a high population server). Spammers are almost constantly sending whispers ingame to buy and sell gold and powerlevel characters. Blizzard has of course said that they are banning players who get reported as spammers, but, also like Sniffledoo, I think it's time they went another step-- it's time to go after the sites that are doing it.
As always, IANAL, but clearly we know where these spam messages are coming from-- they are being sponsored by the sites advertised (I can, unfortunately, list a few of them off the top of my head, but I won't link to any of them, because they just don't deserve it). Does Blizzard have a legal claim against these sites for ruining the player experience and consistently breaking the TOS? If they have documented this activity, couldn't they take it to court and at least sue these sites for ruining the game experience?
It's gotten to the point where I would almost be willing to agree to a TOS that says "I agree to be sued for spamming" if it means Blizzard has a better legal footing against these idiots. Reporting these players is the best thing to do right now (even though these are alts that are just created and deleted, maybe even in a matter of minutes), and there are even addons now that will block and report this stuff for us, but why can't Blizzard do more? Why haven't they gone after the sites sponsoring this junk?
Update: A couple of people have already mentioned the gold links on this site-- in case you missed it, we are constantly working to get rid of them. WoW Insider does not condone or endorse any activities that are against the TOS, including powerleveling and gold buying and selling.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Economy, Making money
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Franchi Apr 12th 2007 11:18AM
Yes I agree. It is highly irritating and ticks me off. I always whisper back something that well, shouldn't be repeated here then /ignore lsjkdid or whatever the name is. I think it sucks that there's even an industry for virtual gold! Pay real money for something that doesn't really exist other then in servers and cpus? No thanks....
dlanni Apr 12th 2007 11:20AM
I'm unclear as to what happens when a character is 'banned' or suspended from the game. Is it just that specific character, or all the players characters? If it's not the latter, it should be.
I also think that harsher penalties should be applied in cases like this, if they aren't already. Accounts should be banned permanently, not just for that little slap on the wrist three-day nonsense. Spamming gold and power-leveling sites should be a perma-ban.
I do agree that Blizzard should put some kind of clear anti-spam warning in the TOS that under no certain terms are you to advertise for gold selling sites, but I'm not sure if they are within their rights to sue. If they put it in the terms of service, they may be able to. Either way, it would deter a certain amount of this spam.
Savok Apr 12th 2007 11:20AM
Because Blizzard don't want to admit they opened the floodgates with the Armory. They basically gave spammers a phone book no one can opt out of.
Johnnyrev Apr 12th 2007 11:21AM
I survive the onslaught of "buy-me-try-me" whispers, some that pop the second I log on, by the handy-dandy installation of SpamSentry. It not only blocks Goldseller whispers, it can also report them for you at the click of a button. The wife and I love it and recommend it highly. Here is the link: http://wow-en.curse-gaming.com/downloads/details/4150/spamsentry-anti-goldspam/
Savok Apr 12th 2007 11:22AM
They use those 10-day trial accounts for their spamming, banning does nothing.
Elomeno Apr 12th 2007 11:22AM
There's no way Blizzard is going to take their clients, even the one's who break the ToS, to court.
However, what they could do is implement the technology behind these spam-blocking/reporting addons into the game itself. I'd even suggest taking it a step further, and instantly reporting to GMs when a message is sent that is flagged as spam, without a player having to report it. The flagged account is tracked and dealt with.
This would mean that Blizzard would need to hire more GMs until the number of spammers thinned out.
Niekon Apr 12th 2007 11:24AM
@ Savok: the in-game whispering was happening well before the Armory was put up. Try blaming something else instead of the Armory.
Elomeno Apr 12th 2007 11:24AM
Oh, and the flagged message is blocked from being sent.
Mr B Apr 12th 2007 11:27AM
I agree whole heartedly .. but isnt it a bit hypocritcal since you have banner ads on your site for the things you seem to find reprehensible.
?
priest Apr 12th 2007 11:30AM
gold sellers arnt as annoying as gold beggers and "plz boost me tho DM" people.
I think an option to ignore everyone under level 20 unless you knew them would be ideal.
Quoi Apr 12th 2007 6:06PM
@3
Because gold spammers would rather look up individual people instead of just doing /who. Go get a tinfoil hat.
Jellodyne Apr 12th 2007 11:34AM
Some of these accounts have been deleted seconds after telling me. I don't think they're even waiting for Bliz to delete the account, I think they're constantly spawning new trial characters, spaming out a few tells, then deleting.
Easy solution -- limit the ability of level 1 characters to 1 whisper per minute. If the person you whisper to as a lowbie puts you on ignore, welcome to the penalty box -- you're restricted for 5 minutes. Or better yet, one tell per mob killed. Level 2s maybe 2 tells per minute/mob. Maybe limit the range to the current zone for the first level. We are all born alone. By the time you reach level 5 or 6 you can tell all you want. Point being, require an investment of time and effort before you can chat up people, in a way that shouldn't impair leget users at all. You want to explain it via an ingame mechanic? Sure your charcater's psyche is too weak to communicate now/again, perhaps if you had more experience...
Psyclerk Apr 12th 2007 11:36AM
What's really strange is that I have seen spam on new servers that these sites couldn't possibly service. How much gold could you have farmed in the 12 days the server has been open?
Todd Apr 12th 2007 11:38AM
Anyone stop to consider that the website in question, directed by the whispering, could be owned and operated by Blizzard in an attempt to weed out those who would be willing to use, and abuse, the service? Much like how an undercover cop will ask hooker for services, and then bust her.
Imogynn Apr 12th 2007 11:42AM
Qeertzof whispers you "Buy gold at www.goldfarmerssuck.com!!"
/y www.goldfamerssuck.com has an embedded keylogger. Avoid that site!!
Seems like a simple enough answer to me. Advertise back... to their face.
Khanmora Apr 12th 2007 11:42AM
Trial accounts aren't allowed to send whispers and that is not where these are coming from. It is the fact that these sites make enough money to buy multiple keys and just plug a new one in everytime one gets banned. The solution is to stop buying. You notice their prices have been going up? That is partially because they are having to buy more keys because their accounts are getting banned. The most we can do is keep reporting them and stop buying gold.
As for WoWInsider having banner ads for gold selling, if it is like other sites then that is probably a Google ad and they just need to notify google to block that particular ISP. All google does is try to match content for the site so if you say your site deals with gaming then they will autmatically put up gold selling banner ads unless you ask them to stop.
Nyquill Apr 12th 2007 11:56AM
I'm not a lawyer either, but I'm pretty sure Blizzard would need to prove damages if they were to sue spammers. (i.e. how much money they lost as a result.) Even if they were to put a monetary value to goldspamming, I don't think it would be enough for it to be worth their while to sue.
Flit Apr 12th 2007 11:41AM
Anyone under 20: No whispers. Period. I don't care if you do need help, use /s, or even /y, I don't care, the /y at least only is in one zone.
Don't blame the armory either. Apparently these guys have programs that /who every zone, then a program that automatically takes that list, and /w everyone on it instantly (me and my wife get gold whispers at the exact same time). Couldn't this be the same as using programs that play for you? Isn't this an exploit. I agree, something must be done, it's about a whisper every half hour on my server, and i'm getting tired of it.
James Apr 12th 2007 11:42AM
I doubt the armory has changed anything. They were a problem before, and a simple /who command, or a variation thereof, will give you tons of people to whisper too. As fast as they do this, gathering and whispering the person is a process done in game via macros or hacks. Going through the armory requires the assumption that when you find a mark in the amory, they'll be online when you are whispering them. Don't blame the armory just because you think its the apocalypse now that strangers can see all of your personal info.
JMS Apr 12th 2007 11:58AM
I snapped a couple weeks back. I poked around on Curse and settled on SpamSenty - Anti goldspam, the same AddOn linked in #4 above. It's not perfect, but it does make it quite easy to report gold spam.
I've reported at least 30 spammers in the last couple weeks. Sometimes the GM's just send a "thanks and we'll deal with it" response. Other times, they'll chat for a few. Suffice it to say, from the GM's I've chatted with, it's quite apparent that they, too, are sick to death of the gold spam tells. I've also heard from a couple that there are several fronts that the developers are pursuing to deal with this.
If you have any bright ideas, post them in the Suggestions forum over at worldofwarcraft.com.