Blizzard's War on (In-Game) Terror

On February 22nd 2008, Blizzard issued a statement via their US and EU websites explaining the negative impact of buying Gold and Power Leveling services. This was yet another attempt by the game developer to hinder the growth of real-money transactions, but focussed on the “detrimental effects” it had to WoW players and the in-game economy. Blizzards intent was stated as follows:

“So, we hope to raise awareness about the practices they engage in and the detrimental effects they have on all players, including their own customers, as well as on the game environment as a whole.”

As a third-party commentator on real-money trading within World of Warcraft, with many years experience on both sides of the issue, I would like to present our perspective on the “issues” Blizzard raised in this latest statement:

OMG – Not the Economy!

Blizzard: “What many people don’t realize when buying gold is the large impact it has on the game economy”

And it would appear Blizzard don’t know either.

This is the classic argument put forward by economically-minded gamers and game developers alike; the introduction of additional currency into a marketplace has a “large impact”. It’s interesting to note that this point is not elaborated on further in this statement, or anywhere in the vaults of anti-RMT propaganda.

Propaganda Rating: 8/10 – whilst a mass influx of currency would effectively hyper-inflate any market place, the volume of players relative to the number of servers makes the current effect of new Gold miniscule.

Stolen Gold

Blizzard: “We regularly track the source of the gold these companies sell, and find that an alarmingly high amount comes from hacked accounts”

Accounts being hacked, stripped and their valuables being sold off is indeed an issue in modern-day MMO gaming. Whether it be addons laced with keyloggers or illegitimate Chinese RMT companies selling off Power Leveling account details (though usually 3-6 months after completed), account theft is an issue everyone should be aware of and Blizzard is right to increase awareness of it.

However, two equally important points must be highlighted that I’m assuming Blizzard forgot to mention.

Firstly, account theft is undertaken by a small minority of RMT companies who are unable to be brought to account for their actions. This lack of accountability is a simple case of geography; if your account is stolen by a company located in China, and you live in America, you have virtually no chance of winning a legal dispute with them. Such companies are aware of this and take full advantage of it. However, the statement that “an alarmingly high amount (of Gold) comes from hacked accounts” is pure misleading legal-speak. What constitutes an “alarmingly high amount”? We don’t know, but it sure sounds scary doesn’t it?

The fact is that whilst a small minority of Gold (sold by a small minority of companies) comes from stolen accounts, the vast majority comes from two sources; active WoW players and South-East Asian workrooms.

The second point is internal to Blizzard and the World of Warcraft staff. If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to have your account stolen you’ll be aware of the tricky process of getting it back. The World of Warcraft Billing & Accounts team rightly asks users several security questions to ensure you are the rightful owner before returning your account. If you have further difficulties most of the Billing & Accounts team are very friendly and go out of their way to help you, and they should be commended for this!

However, you may not know that no measures are put in place to track password changes via the World of Warcraft web site. The first port of call for an account hacker is to change your password, and would seemingly be the ideal point at which to track the IPs of these undesirables. Sadly not – not only do Blizzard fail to deter account hackers at the change password stage, they keep no record of account password changes (via the website) what-so-ever. If we’re going to discuss account security issues, this is number one on my list.

Propaganda Rating: 5/10 – Blizzard highlight a very real issue here, but fail to talk straight or explore the issue fully.

Power Leveling Takes “Years to Recover From”

Blizzard: “(Referring to Power Leveling) In many cases the companies they paid use their personal information to perpetrate identity theft and credit card fraud. These are long-lasting effects on players’ personal lives that can take years to recover from”

After reading this particular sentence I expected the next paragraph to state, “And we also believe the evil doers have obtained weapons of mass destruction”. That’s right – evacuate Stormwind, the bombs are going to fall!

This marks a sign of desperation on the part of Blizzard. In 8 years of MMO gaming, I have never come across identity theft or credit card fraud as a result of ordering Power Leveling. That’s not to say that it doesn’t happen, but no more so than it happens with buying electronics, books or anything else online.

As a WoW gamer I felt insulted by this blatant attempt at scare-mongering.

Propaganda Rating: 9/10 – that’s one more than Hitler!

Player Responsibility

Blizzard: “The negative effects these companies create depend directly on people using their services. Without them, the companies have no way to continue their unethical actions”

In other words, RMT exists because there is demand for it. RMT continues due to the positive experience most gamers have with it and the repeat custom they provide. From this statement, and the rest of the article, you would think Blizzard wanted to wipe out RMT – but you’d be wrong.

Let’s think from a different perspective for a moment. Blizzard makes money from accounts registered, upgrades purchased and subscriptions renewed. Take away RMT and two things happen:

1. Blizzard no longer sees accounts registered and subscriptions renewed from workrooms in China (the source of the majority of traded Gold). Commentators have suggested the value of these accounts, in initial registration/subscription and re-registration/subscription after banning, to be worth around $10,000,000 per year to Blizzard.

2. Some of those who don’t have sufficient time to participate in “the grind” of the game (and thus purchase RMT services to compensate) decide to stop their subscription.

Whilst I would not be so foolish to state that Blizzard is pro-RMT, for legal reasons more than anything else, it seems that eradicating real-money trading would be significantly detrimental to Blizzard’s bottom-line. Combine that with the multitude of statements-without-action, and a very different picture begins to emerge.

Propaganda Rating: 10/10 – “We don’t want you to buy from them – honest!”

Conclusion

The purpose of this article was not to present retaliatory propaganda in favour of RMT, but rather to allow gamers an insight into the areas Blizzard does not discuss. There are real issues with RMT and companies that exist with the intent to defraud their customers. However, by properly researching a company prior to purchase and making sure the proper security measures are taken (as you should do with any online purchase) you will be able to join the hundreds-of-thousands of WoW gamers who benefit from and enjoy legitimate RMT.

We hope this article and the free services offer at WoWGold.net can help you make an informed purchasing decision.