Has
Blizzard surrendered to the powerful RMT lobby or are there other forces at work behind the company's recent decision to
introduce a loophole that allows players to buy in-game gold and items with real-world currency?
According to a recent post on
World of Warcraft, the sale of the Guardian Cub is meant to test the waters of fighting rampant account compromises.
Blizzard claims that gold farming is actually not as common these days,
but instead most of the gold that is sold through third-party services
comes from stolen accounts. The idea of bypassing third-party gold
sellers by providing a cash shop pet that could be resold or traded in
game was meant to be a creative solution to the problem.
"Players can buy one for the purpose of trying to sell it in-game,
creating the potential for players to exchange real money for gold in a
way that does not lead to account compromises. Of course, all that comes
with the pretty important caveat that demand for the pet will be
finite, and there's no guarantee you'll be able to find a buyer,"
Blizzard writes.
The company says that it doesn't expect this will solve the overall
issue, the success or failure of the unique pet will help Blizzard
determine if this approach is worth pursuing further.
shu:personally i think blizzard is smart for doing rmt themselves instead of benefiting the account stealers and gold farmers,however i think this method is a bad idea for it only allow players to buy and not sell,thus creating a one side economy,they are better off following EVE system for rmt instead.or take more time to think of a better method ^^