Blizzard: Gold Buying Is Bad, Mmmmkay?

Today, on a very special episode of After School Special, Blizzard teaches us how gold buying and powerlevelling is harmful.

 Through our normal support processes and the assistance of players, we also find that many accounts that have been shared with power-leveling services are then hacked into months later, and all of the items on the account are stripped and sold off. Basically, players have paid money to these companies, sometimes large amounts, and they’re then targeted by these same companies down the road. We come across stories every week of the aftereffects of players using these services, and some players now have to deal with long-term repercussions — In addition to consequences such as possible account suspension or closure, in many cases the companies they paid then 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.

In virtual worlds, there will be prohibition and there will be mobsters. And, eventually, prohibition will be lifted.