Blizzard Wields The Banhammer Again

Eurogamer reports that Blizzard is once again clearing house, and this time they mean business. From the article: "Blizzard has banned more than 5400 World of Warcraft players from the game for good as part of plans to clamp down on gold farming and cheating in general. A further 10,700 accounts have been suspended for 'participating in activities that violate the game's Terms of Use, including using third-party programs to farm gold and items.'"

Comments

Epic weapons!

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if only they'd use the "Make the Servers Work" hammer.

Re:Epic weapons!

[vertinox]

Now if only they'd use the "Make the Servers Work" hammer.

When all you have is a "Ban" Hammer, all problems look like a Gold Farmer.

Encouragement for the survivers

[sinner6]

Won't the farmers that survived the banhammer just be able to increase their prices, as their competitors are at least temporarly out of commision? Plus the supply of gold available for purchase is less so won't prices go up even more?

Re:At least they have balls...

[egburr]

They won't be out any money. The farmers will have to buy a new copy of the game to get a new serial number. So, the regular monthly subscriptions will still be there, plus 5000 new $50 serials will be sold. Sounds like even more profit.

So, they are cancelling accounts using an excuse that many people will consider legitimate, causing the cancelled players to buy new accounts. How much is the farmer's profit compared to the cost of the new account?

If I were getting the money from the sale of new serial numbers, I'd keep banning the farmers every chance I had, too. :)