WoW’s New Economy System to Counter Gold Black Market
World of Warcraft (WoW) players will soon be allowed to use in-game gold to extend their game subscription and use real money to earn gold, Blizzard announced on Tuesday, March 3 (GMT+8; Philippine Standard Time).
Blizzard said that the new added feature of their economy intends to “give players with lots of extra gold the option to use it to help cover their subscription cost and give those who want to purchase gold a way to do so from fellow players through a secure, easy-to-use system”.
The new system also addresses the issue of third-party companies that deal in the illegitimate trading of gold. Players illegitimately purchase gold from fellow players, causing a huge imbalance in the game as more players buy resources from other sources instead of playing the game.
The new feature will be made available in an upcoming patch. In the update, players will be able to use in-game gold to extend their game subscription by buying tokens from the game’s auction house. Players can also use real money to buy tokens that can be sold for in-game gold.
Blizzard hopes that this system will lead to fewer account compromises and a better game experience overall.
Some people in developing countries work full time as gold farmers. In an article released by The New York Times, there are more than 100,000 full time gold farmers in China alone where they earn around $250 per month.
Blizzard is yet to disclose the specific details regarding the prices and rates of the new economy feature.
World of Warcraft was created by Blizzard Entertainment in 2004. It holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular massive multiplayer online role-playing game in terms of subscribers with a player base of over 10 million as of November 2014. Over 100 million accounts have been created over the game’s lifetime.
It reached the 10 Billion US dollar gross revenue mark last July 2012 and is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary.
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