The Ethics of Buying Gold
In a moment of legendary fail (that’s even bigger than epic fail, for all you noobs), Blizzard somehow managed to temporarily have gold selling ads displayed on their forums today. Threads discussing the ads are being quickly removed, it appears. Seeing as Blizzard specifically forbids buying and selling gold, accounts, and other in-game items, this would appear to be a potential public relations nightmare.
Nonetheless, it brings up an interesting question. What if buying/selling gold were a perfectly permissible activity? I’m not going to knock the gold sellers, as their ads do provide revenue for my website. However, I don’t condone engaging in any activity that can put your account at risk for termination. Let the buyer beware. That being said, let’s look at both sides of the picture:
World of Warcraft gold is not a commodity. It can be infinitely farmed. However, time is a commodity, and only so much gold can be harvested in a given period of time. If you buy gold you’re trading your money for someone else’s time. If you don’t have much time to farm gold, but want to get your epic flyer right away, you have the option to violate Blizzard’s TOS and purchase gold on the internet. Of course, there are less expensive (and risky) options. You could borrow it from a friend. Or, if you’re smart with your gold, you’ll have no problem paying for your epic flyer from the items you get while leveling (hint: use the Auction House). Not everyone is that savvy, though, and buying gold is pretty cheap compared to many folks’ salaries.
Many years back I used to play a lot of Magic: The Gathering Online. Like its physical counterpart, Magic Online cards are legal to sell on the secondary market. You can buy and sell them on eBay, as well as inside MTGO itself! A currency of “tickets” exists to facilitate in-game trading. Tickets can be purchased to use for entering tournaments and leagues, and they can also be used as currency for buying online cards from other players. In addition to selling MTGO cards on eBay, tickets can be even sold on eBay too! This is not uncommon, and usually the ticket prices are a small amount lower on eBay than they are if you purchase them directly from Magic Online; a result of the secondary market. I stopped playing MTGO because it was too expensive (and because there were too many jerks!)
WoW’s in-game economy is set up very different. While players can trade items in-game, there is no money involved outside of your monthly subscription fee. Blizzard’s TOS forbids the act of selling in-game items on the free market. If gold-selling were to be allowed, Blizzard could either limit players to purchasing gold directly through them, or allow transactions on the free market. Either way, the free market will exist, and some players will assume the risks involved whether it’s allowed or not. If there were no risks, surely it would be more common, though.
Given that gold can be farmed infinitely, if gold-selling became more prevalent due to being legitimized by Blizzard, it could lead to an inflation of the in-game economy. With more gold to go around, users of the Auction House who are buying with purchased gold would drive up the cost of items (think about twinks). This would mean that players who are not purchasing gold will be paying more, too. Of course, the income would trickle down as the people listing their items on the AH reaped the profits. AH sellers would benefit, and those not selling on the AH would find themselves less able to afford many items on the AH. The real winners here would be those who are farming the valuable items in-game and listing them on the AH, and possibly those who are able to save some time by purchasing their gold. Even if you spend less time playing WoW you still pay the same monthly fee, so this doesn’t seem to hurt Blizzard. If a person “invests” money into their toon by buying gold, surely they’re not going to quit the game anytime soon, I would think.
Two markets exist; the value of gold on the free market, and the relative value of gold in-game. If selling gold were allowed by Blizzard, surely the price of gold would drop as individuals sought to auction their gold on eBay and through other forms of member to member communication. That’s not to say they don’t already do this, just that it seems more likely that they would if it weren’t as risky. The more prices drop, the less feasible it becomes to engage in this activity for a profit. In countries where “gold farming” companies exist, gold farmers are already paid low wages; perhaps allowing gold selling on the free market would drive them out of business?
There are more downsides, though. Compared to Magic: The Gathering, where you have to spend a lot of money to make a good deck, getting the best gear in WoW involves a lot more skill. Those who have put in the time and effort to get their character geared in epics usually don’t appreciate when someone buys an epicced-out toon on eBay. If this activity was permitted by Blizzard, a lot of subscribers would become angry and potentially leave WoW. A lot of us don’t want someone to be able to progress farther into the game simply by spending more money; it doesn’t seem fair.
I’ll leave you with this thought: if I could make a few extra bucks farming gold I’d probably do it. But it’s definitely not going to make me rich.