Blizzard Bans, Suspends Over 16,000 World of WarCraft Accounts

World of WarCraft developer Blizzard has released a statement indicating that administrators have banned over 5,400 accounts and suspended 10,700 more for its popular MMORPG for violations of the game’s Terms of Use, since the game was patched to version 1.10 on March 28, 2006. Many of these accounts were found to be using third party programs to farm gold and items – actions which have been found to negatively impact the virtual economy within the game, according to the Vivendi Universal Games-owned subsidiary. As with previous occurrences, Blizzard reiterated their statement that selling World of Warcraft content, such as gold, items, and characters, for real money can result in a permanent ban of the involved accounts from the game. The activity is tolerated by some MMORPGs under controlled circumstances, and actively encouraged by virtual worlds such as Second Life, but Blizzard has always maintained a strong policy against both cheaters and any other external activity which affects online gameplay. World of WarCraft is currently one of the most popular MMORPGs in the world, having passed the 6 million subscriber mark in March, and continues to be a source of significant income to gold and item selling firms. Blizzard has encouraged anyone to report suspicious online behavior in the game to a GM or to email them directly.