Gold Farmer Sells Virtual Gold to Buy Real Gold, Has it Stolen

[Frankster]

Pff, i wouldn't sell out my gf for at LEAST 1000 $ or 15% of the sum that is being stolen, in this case 10k or so.

Looks like the biggest waste of money was paying for the insurance though.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

If we're talking 2008 gold prices, it's around 3 kilograms gold max. That value would have easily doubled by the end of 2011. So... gold isn't too bad a form to store wealth, you just must be prepared for it to take a dent every now and then.

It's not that outlandish, I just don't see why, with her presumably low wages, she'd take the risk of fluctuating gold price, and why she would want to store the stuff at home, not at a bank. Nothing makes sense in this story. It looks like a ball of lies the cat regurgitated.

Apart from that - all gold farmers must die slow and painful deaths. I don't care if Australian wonderland laws allow it. Last time I checked, it's against the TOS/EULA/EUALA. So, Blizzard, charge her for all the monies she made, just to make sure the kids got something to take home from this tale of greed and ignorance. Suspend her accounts. Show her who's boss.

 

[Darkwhite]

Katrina Fincham made over $75,000 farming gold in World of Warcraft, which she ironically converted into bars of gold bullion.

How is that ironic? It's surprisingly appropriate.

That a writer and an editor don't know the meaning of the word ironic, is ironic.

OT: Somehow I don't think those two will be getting back together.

It's kind of like rain on your wedding day

Which is again something that isn't ironic. Well, not unless you happen to be a weather reporter who has forecast a sunny day.

Unless with your post you're really going meta; posting an un-ironic post that you "thought" was ironic in an attempt to show you understand irony.

Irony requires a subversion of what is expected. Somebody turning their fake gold to real gold, not unexpected and not ironic (bit odd but not opposite to the obvious). A wordsmith not understanding words, unexpected and ironic.

Would you say it was more like a free ride when you've already paid?

I dunno, sounds like good advice, that we just didn't take

 

[-Dragmire-]

Apart from that - all gold farmers must die slow and painful deaths. I don't care if Australian wonderland laws allow it. Last time I checked, it's against the TOS/EULA/EUALA. So, Blizzard, charge her for all the monies she made, just to make sure the kids got something to take home from this tale of greed and ignorance. Suspend her accounts. Show her who's boss.

Doesn't all the eula's state that if they go against law in that area then that part of the eula is ignored? Kind of how the "no class action law suit" doesn't apply globally.

 

[lacktheknack]

Yeah, I don't approve of gold farming, but that's irrelevant. The relevant points are as follows:

1. Woman had legally obtained gold

2. Gold is stolen

3. Insurers don't pay up

4. Turns out her boyfriend sold her out

5. lacktheknack rages

It really has nothing to do with the farming. If the Escapist weren't a gaming/nerd site, it probably wouldn't even be mentioned.

 

[Sean951]

I think it should also be noted that it is entirely possible that she just played the in game economy. I don't know about other servers, but the economy on mine was pretty much controlled by a few people and their dummy accounts. Suddenly you would see literally hundreds of item X at a markup of 150% or more, often from the same names. A guy in my guild would occasionally ask why I had just bought 200 of ____ because it turned out to be his dummy account, for example.

 

[wulf3n]

Who buys $75,000 in gold bullion's and keeps it on their own property in this day an age?

Now I don't know much about economics but wouldn't it have been better to buy gold shares rather than actual gold?

 

[Charli]

Dunno why everyone assumes she's a hacker... I mean I could quite easily 'sell gold' in WoW if I took the game time I have and poured it all into working the auction houses on several servers...

Yes selling gold IS still against the ToS and I do not look favorably on her for that... but there is a legal side to mass acquisition of gold, and I mean I've made 50k gold in an hour tonight alone. I cut gems and sell old enchanting mats. Providing you do it on a server with a thriving economy. I also buy out and undercut like a ruthless asshole. Its easy to make large quantities of gold from practically nothing. (Make a herbalist, do a few hours of work, make your first couple of coins and then just keep going)


The real life side of this is scummy though, in hindsight I dunno if converting her cash to gold and then keeping it in her house was a sound move but her ex and her insurance appear to be the real scumbags here.

Still Blizzard are within their rights to ban her from the game if her account info is leaked to them... Sucks.

 

[Xan Krieger]

The problem I see here is her boyfriend only got $500. He could've gotten $1,000 at least but I guess he sucks at negotiating.

 

[Aeonknight]

I agree. I also see nothing morally wrong with "gold farming". Could somebody explain what the problem with it is?

People dislike gold farming because it throws the in-game economy into chaos.

Furthermore, gold farmers often use "dubious" methods, such as exploits, scripts, multiple accounts or scams to illegitimately obtain their gold, which just makes it harder for your every-day player to earn money.

Could you give me an example of how it makes it harder for non-farmers?

They create inflation in the market by lowering the overall worth of currency, while at the same time stockpiling said currency to disgusting degrees using illegitimate forms of gameplay (hacks, account theft, bots, etc.)

If left unchecked, it makes it nearly impossible to farm enough to compensate for the inflation. Therefore, your only option to continue playing the game is to turn to the people who directly caused the problem, and hand em some of your real money. That or be gimp. That or quit.

Yes, it does real damage for the players. How much damage depends on the design of the MMO, sometimes it can be much worse or hardly noticable.

 

[The Lugz]

So where are the police in this matter? Gold has been stolen, the ex is involved. Sounds like a simple case to me.

prettymuch, that value of gold and obvious involvement should make the case of the month at least.. why is there no open and shut instant conviction in the article?

or did she forget to pay tax? cause if she didn't pay tax then I completely understand the state not giving a flying hoot.

 

[Alar]

While she really should have invested in a better safe, and I don't believe Blizzard allows gold farming in their Terms of Service, I honestly think the primary blame here lies in the boyfriend, the thieves, and the insurance company. She's been struggling just to get her money back, which is damned well owed to her by terms of the insurance agreement, and they're trying to say it's 'fraud'. Disgusting.

 

[Saelune]

I blame those who buy gold more than those who sell it in an MMO, since the sellers have to actually get it and work for it, plus this woman really got the short end here. I hope she can sue her ex for damages to get back on her feet or something.

 

[Kaymish]

wow we know this is the real world because its scumbags all round

in order of scummieness

scumbag gold farmer farms gold files it on taxes and buys stuff with the ill gotten proceeds

scumbag Insurance company refuses to uphold their side of the insurance deal only this far up the pile because thats what insurance companies do

scumbag boyfriend arranges to have stuff stolen is just scumbag

Scumbag thieves steal stuff and are at the bottom of the scumbag pile because of it and should end up in jail for the next long while hopefully rehabilitated but probally not because thieves are the worst of the worst

 

[BlazeRaider]

I agree. I also see nothing morally wrong with "gold farming". Could somebody explain what the problem with it is?

People dislike gold farming because it throws the in-game economy into chaos.

Furthermore, gold farmers often use "dubious" methods, such as exploits, scripts, multiple accounts or scams to illegitimately obtain their gold, which just makes it harder for your every-day player to earn money.

Could you give me an example of how it makes it harder for non-farmers?

Sure thing.

Lets say an average player makes 100 gold an hour through just regular play. He wants to get item X, which sells for around 500 gold. So, he has to play the game for five hours to be able to afford it.

Along comes mr. gold farmer. Mr. gold farmer can farm 500 gold in minutes, using the various dubious methods i outlined before.

The gold farmer then sells mass quantities of his gold to players who want item X, but are too lazy or too impatient to farm the gold themselves.

Meanwhile, the seller of item X realizes that lots of people are buying his item, so he jacks up the price. The sudden influx of ill-gotten gold into the economy devalues items on a large scale.

Now item X is selling for 1,000 gold, meaning your average player has to farm for around 10 hours to get it.

Just out of curiosity, does that mean you would be fine with people who farmed gold legitimately for sale?

Also, do you have a problem with people who make lots of gold and cause inflation yet don't sell their gold but spend it normally in game?

 

[RaNDM G]

Isn't buying into gold the one thing you shouldn't do?

Can't help but feel she should have seen this coming. At least leave it in a safety deposit.

 

[Shinkicker444]

Seems that AAMI caved and settled with her out of court.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/gaming/world-of-warcraft-gamer-settles-legal-case-with-aami/story-e6frfrt9-1226698591629

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Could someone explain in layman's terms what makes gold farming such a terrible act in the first place? As far as I know, having not played WoW, it sounds like someone playing the game and using the in-game economy that is there as it was meant to be used, although to an unusual extent.

Other than that, yeah, my sympathies, fuck that guy and fuck the insurance company.

Under normal circumstances, you just can't play the game and have enough gold to sell for $75,000

1. Most likely she used glider bots. Computer program that farms an area of the game without actually having a person there.
(If not, she could have hacked accounts and stolen the gold.)

The more gold that is in an economy, the higher the priced items become because of inflation. When people can't afford items, they tend to stop playing the game.

2. Blizzard strictly forbids selling any item in World of Warcraft for real currency, with the exception of Blizzard's store and Trading Card Game codes.

Thanks, that was a pretty concise explanation. But it seems to me more like a broken economy system if players using bots, which has to be expected, is having an adverse effect on everyone else - real money conversion notwithstanding.

 

[Aikayai]

I don't think I could destroy someones life and lively-hood for $500, even if I hated them. If only I didn't have morals or a conscience to stop me.

 

[Olrod]

Why on Azeroth did she not keep gold bullion stored in a BANK?

What was she planning to do with it in her house, polish it and display it on the mantelpiece when she was hosting dinner parties?!