Buying gold is not a victimless crime
by Amanda Dean 
Jun 6th 2008 at 6:30PM
For many reasons I've never felt compelled to buy gold or pay for leveling on World of Warcraft. So I had no idea how the process worked. We got a tip from Kyron of Andorhal about a friend whose account was hacked. In addition to having all of his gear and gold stripped from his characters, he had 2 emails in the inbox for cheap items that he'd purchased off the auction house that the hacker had purchased for 500 gold a piece.
They recorded the name of the seller from the auction house and confronted him when he next came online. It turns out that person wasn't a gold seller but a gold buyer. He'd been told to put Coarse Thread on the AH at the 500 gold rate and would receive his gold when the hacker purchased the ridiculously priced item.
I didn't know how gold-buying worked, but this sounds like a way to exchange gold easily. This is something that blizzard could check into pretty easily. While sometimes players make strange prices in order to dupe would-be buyers, something like Coarse Thread would go unnoticed because most players wouldn't look for such items on the auction house.
If you're buying gold, you know that it is in violation of the terms of use. Keep in mind though, that the gold you're buying is probably not being purchased legitimately. Blizzard warns that people who buy gold and pay for leveling services are more likely to get keylogged. But also keep in mind that your gold purchase is most likely going to come at the cost of a bystander's labor. You are paying real money for something that has been stolen. While it may be exciting to get your shiny new gold, someone out there is going to get hurt, and you may very well get banned.There are legitimate ways to make money in the game. If you don't want to put the time and effort into raising funds for your epic flying skill, or other pricy purchases, full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Making money
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Vakzar Jun 6th 2008 6:53PM
This is why it takes an hour to get your Auction House winnings now. Gives blizzard a chance to go through the purchases to check for these abuses. I don't know for certain, but as far as I can tell, Blizzard has a program that goes through the log of ah purchases and checks them against some standard deviation for that item. If the price falls too far out of the bell curve it's red flagged and possibly checked by a gm. Then, names are recorded and the ban hammer falls.
Thyhammerr Jun 6th 2008 6:57PM
I thought 1 hour mail delay from Auction Houses was to curb these activities wasn't it?
I remember reading somewhere, 1x Bread for 5000G.
speaking of which, can't the gold seller just ask the buyer to provide him something like Primal Nether or vortex and sell it for 500G back? if blizzard looks up, it'll just look as a high appreciated value than a gold selling :P
Jay Jun 6th 2008 7:04PM
I'm pretty sure level goes into account too. A level 1 buying bread/primal for 500g is a little strange. Anyway.. buying gold is pointless, the 25 dailes are there for a reason
... and so are the mote clouds :D
madeliefje Aug 18th 2008 3:27AM
this wouldnt be a problem since 90% of my transactions go through my bank alt(lvl 1) and i only do the leatherworking stuff on my main.
Konchu Jun 6th 2008 7:20PM
Used to gold farmers farmed(and possibly in some cases running the auction house rigging prices) you used to almost always run into farmers in silithis pre BC not sure this is the case anymore though. I have also heard of more cases of character theft happened to a friends and i had one person ask me if i wanted to trade my character for a highly epic geared mage, I was like m'kay no thanks /reported. I would think with all the daily's now though a farming ring could just play those dailys with numerous characters to make lots of money though emptying someones bank and gold they have spent years earning is probably more lucrative.
Konchu Jun 6th 2008 7:28PM
I have never bought money in WoW but I personally don't mind the idea of someone grinding 40hr worth of gold and selling it. I do however have an issues with it being stolen. Though there is a issue that comes from people that buy gold even if there is no victims that is screwing the economy though at this point in the game I think too many wealthy players with twinks have already skewed the market.
Wellandus Jun 6th 2008 7:52PM
I can definitely see the case for theft in the creation of gold, but what about power leveling? You're not buying an account or a character, you're paying someone to play WoW for a while on one of your accounts/toons. I maybe missing something, but I'm unclear how theft can really enable this.
onetrueping Jun 6th 2008 9:09PM
More like the other way around. You'd be willfully giving them access to your character (and account), which makes it far easier to steal not only your gold, but also your account info. That rule is largely in place to protect YOU.
Aticus Jun 7th 2008 12:15AM
@ Onetrueping - What if I wanted to wave the protection? I should have a right (in a sense) to wave any legal obligation towards Blizzard if my account information was stolen. If I choose to gamble with my identity, it should be my choice. Blizzard does not offer this, but I would hope they would in the future.
--
I agree 100% with you, Wellandus. I look at the power leveling services this way: I pay $10 for a *brand* wrench. I get a leaky sink. Now, if I am fully knowledgeable to understand how to fix that sink, I could do it. However, if I am lazy, taking care of a family, and/or working 10 hours a day/5 days a week, I could pay someone to come over, use my wrench and fix the problem for me.
I should be able, in WoW, to pay someone to use my account to power level one of my characters. Now, I do NOT use these services, but I can understand full well why someone would use them. And besides the 'it's blizzard's game and what they say goes' argument, I still haven't come across anything to give reason to not be able to power level.
-Aticus, http://www.paladintales.blogspot.com
morlog Jun 7th 2008 5:30AM
Wouldn't it be more like giving a stranger your house keys and telling them to come round when you're not there to fix the leak.
If you were stolen from, you can bet your insurer would be reluctant to pay out. In this instance you can look at Blizzard as being the insurer, as you'd expect them to correct things. They're explicitly warning you not to give your house keys to strangers so the situation won't arise.
GrizzlyAdams Jun 8th 2008 3:34AM
@Aticus:
In the TOS it says you cannot share your account with anyone. By allowing a powerleveling service access to your account you violate the TOS. You are the licensed user, your license does not allow you to sublet the content or service to another person.
Cut & dry.
Karalyn Jun 6th 2008 7:45PM
I have to throw this in because no one else ever mentions this, but I work for the fraud department of a major credit card company.
The accounts that aren't stolen/hijacked from legitimate players are purchased using stolen credit cards. These people have to pay for the accounts they don't steal and the transfers somehow to get gold from one server to another, and when I have some 89 year old woman on the phone and have to explain to her why there are 18 $25 charges from Blizzard/world of warcraft on her credit card statement I just want to strangle all the people out there who dont' think it's a big deal to buy gold.
You're stealing money from other people's credit cards. And because I work for that company and we sometimes have to eat the cost, you're stealing money from ME and my family.
Norandran Jun 6th 2008 8:01PM
No one is stealing from you.. you dont own the company. Yes the people who have fraud on their accts is not right but please dont over dramatize your point. You lack credibility that way.
Frank Jun 6th 2008 8:31PM
i think the point is still valid, though: her paycheck depends on the company's profit/loss. if the company loses a ton, raises and such get cut first. it's a bit of a long tail, but the point is still a good one -- it hurts way more people than most people realize.
mensrea Jun 7th 2008 12:15AM
This is the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a long time.
Buying gold is not the same as stealing from a credit card company's employees.
It's not the same as stealing from a 90 year old woman.
It's not the same as hacking someone's account and vendoring their purples.
It's not even in the same zip code as those things because, while they're all morally, buying gold is just against blizzard's TOS.
It's like saying it's wrong to buy from a pawn shop because stolen goods get fenced there.
ShadowEric Jun 7th 2008 8:48AM
Mensrea, why don't you read a little more carefully next time ? It's buying gold that causes this. The gold you buy has to come from somewhere. What Karalyn is saying is that if it doesn't come from a hacked account, like in the article here, it comes from WoW accounts gold-sellers have created using stolen credit cards. One day, it could be your credit card number that they use, and you, too, will be on the phone trying to out what you have a bunch of $25 server-transfer charges.
ivyleaves Jun 9th 2008 10:53AM
Well, if there were no fraud then her job would be in jeopardy as well.
slimj091 Jun 9th 2008 3:39PM
"Well, if there were no fraud then her job would be in jeopardy as well."
well i suppose you also are glad there are homicidal baby rapeing pedophiles out there so our police force's are garuntee'd a job...
perhaps you should petition webster's dictionary to put your picture next to the definition of "dense".
John Jun 6th 2008 8:00PM
While I havn't bought gold and probably never will, I can almost understand the buying of gold. I have been sitting at 2500 gold on my main for weeks. I really only have 3 play sessions per week. 2 of which are raid nights, 1 is a farm day. I farm for gold to repair buy flasks etc. dont see how I will ever get my epic flight.
digitalwindow Jun 6th 2008 8:18PM
Oops...I sometimes put items on the AH with ridiculously high prices, not to sell but to store if my bank is full. Usually happens if I'm spending a few hours crafting and need to put my items or ingredients somewhere until I use them up. Then I usually go and cancel the auction as soon as I've finished. If Blizzard are monitoring this then I suppose I'd better stop although no one from Blizzard has ever asked me about this in the two years I've been playing.
By the way I've never bought gold either, it's too easy to make lots of gold anyway in the game if you are a serious crafter and make good use of the AH :)