Why do World of Warcraft players still continue to but gold from farmers and pirates? They may be the same players that complain when they or a fellow guild member get hacked. The purchasing of in-game currency and the hacking and theft of accounts are linked. How is that possible?
World of Warcraft gold, the virtual currency used by players with their characters is a commodity in the game. Not long after the game first released in late 2004, the gold that was accumulated started being sold on the internet. Various perpetrators would get basic accounts, create in-game characters and use them to advertise to other players to buy gold with real dollars. This activity gave way to the Gold becoming a tangible commodity.
Now that it is a real commodity the sellers must constantly find a source for their product. The best way with minimal time investment is to hack and steal the accounts of loyal players. The loyal players on average have accumulated small fortunes in gold that are quickly sold off or at least moved away moments after their account is stolen. Most of the time, the gold is distributed so quickly that the game administrators have no chance of tracking down where it went which leads to little or no repercussions on those who steal the account and gold in the first place.
Outside of every individual guarding their own account, there is little in the way of stopping the small industry of World of Warcraft account pirates from maintaining their profession. The supply will be there if only from a few accounts of careless individuals. The best and most effective way to stop these criminals is to cut the demand for the gold. If there is no customers willing to spend real money on the gold, then there is no outlet to profit off of the stolen efforts of honest players.
No comments:
Post a Comment