February 25, 2008 6:00 AMBlizzard Entertainment has posted a statement detailing the company's reasons for working to prevent gold purchasing for its popular MMO, World of Warcraft. The statement explains the impact of gold purchasing and power leveling services on the game's economy, as well as the real life dangers of identity theft and account closure. We would like to make a clear statement here about the negative impact of buying gold and using power-leveling services. Every day, we encounter players who have been negatively affected and targeted by companies offering these services. So, we hope to raise awareness about the practices they engage in and the detrimental effects they have on all players, including their own customers, as well as on the game environment as a whole. What many people don't realize when buying gold is the large impact it has on the game economy, and also how the companies selling gold obtain it. Our developers, in-game support, and anti-hack teams work diligently to stop the exploits these companies use and help players who have become victims of their services. We regularly track the source of the gold these companies sell, and find that an alarmingly high amount comes from hacked accounts. These are the friends, relatives, and guildmates you may know who have gone through the experience of having characters, gold, and items stripped from them after visiting a website or opening a file containing a trojan virus. Our teams work to educate players and assist them in avoiding account compromise, but the fact remains that the players themselves are often these companies' largest target as a source for gold, which the companies then turn around and sell to other players.Click over to the link below to read the rest of Blizzard's statement.WoW: Purchased Gold Comes At Every Player's ExpenseBlizzard EntertainmentWorld of Warcraft

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