In the online world of MMORPGs, it doesn’t pay to cheat. There are an awful lot of cheaters in the online game, World of Warcraft, and to prove this point, Blizzard has performed actions to get the problem under control-they banned 59,000 accounts during the month of June. They have also removed over 22 million gold from the total economy across all realms in an effort to eliminate cheating and cheaters.
Blizzard reps released the following in a statement detailing the actions:
"While we regret having to take such extreme action … these accounts were participating in activities that directly violated World of Warcraft’s Terms of Use, including the use of third-party programs to farm gold and items.”
While some view the practice of gold farming as harmless, Blizzard sees this activity in a totally different light. "Such behavior not only negatively impacts the economy of a realm, it diminishes the achievements of those who play legitimately.”
Under normal circumstances, players accumulate gold at a slow rate during the game. However, the practice of gold farming by using third party programs helps to speed the process by using game macros that automatically control game characters and collect gold. Representatives from Blizzard Entertainment have vowed to aggressively monitor all World of Warcraft realms so that fair gameplay can continue.
In related news, Square Enix, makers of Final Fantasy XI, also terminated more than 250 accounts in June for use of unlicensed third-party software.
