Yea. Most of the addons are, a voice telling you what to do.
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Imagine how much time (and money) would be saved if they just stopped playing the game.
May as well do it, since buying a boost is basically that, but more expensive.
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This isn’t some random IRL roulette table, this is Blizzard’s ecosystem. The token system allows players to legally exchange real money for ingame gold, and Blizzard profits directly from that. So when someone spends 130 bucks on tokens and then loses their gold to a scam within the game, it’s not just a matter of “player stupidity” but the integrity of Blizzard’s economy and support structure.
If Blizzard wants to monetize gold, then it arguably carries some responsibility to maintain safeguards around how that gold is used or lost. Of course, players need to be cautious, but this isn’t a shady black market transaction. It’s a scam happening under Blizzard’s roof. Calling it “gambling” is a bit of a lazy deflection from a real concern about customer protection in a system Blizzard itself monetized.
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By that logic gold would potentially fall under virtual currency regulation of the EU too btw.
But I don’t expect that gold fulfills all criteria of virtual currency, but if it does, you’d be right. That is gonna depend now on legal definition of virtual currency in that context. If it’s legally a virtual currency, that’d mean for example that there needs to be a real currency value like Euro based on the current gold price, when you repair your armor, or buy something from a NPC vendor. For the game this would open a very ugly can of worms in general.
But honestly, if they do have to meet legal criteria for gold in wow, that’d force them to take a stance on what gold is in wow exactly, and that could be good or bad for us in general as players. So it’s a bit nuanced.
Yeah, and that’s exactly the grey area Blizzard is dancing in. They sell tokens for real money, which players can convert into gold, so gold isn’t just fictional anymore. It becomes something you acquire through a real money transaction, which starts to look a lot like a virtual currency, especially under certain consumer protection laws.
You have a point though, it depends on how different jurisdictions define and interpret "virtual currency."But even without strict regulation, the moment a company profits from the conversion of real money into ingame currency, it’s not entirely unreasonable for players to expect some basic protections against scams.
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I mean it is possible that it falls under the recent regulation that passed for in-game virtual currency, and that’d mean for example that if Blizzard intended for certain items to be boosted in exchange for gold via the services channel, the item would need to have a transparent drop rate, and a clear conversion value to real money, and some other criteria. It’d also be especially problematic with the minimum age for the game right now. They are really walking on egg shells I think, which is interesting.
At this point they’d be better off to ban boosting fully, stop selling wow tokens, and monetize the game differently like increasing sub prices. Else they would have to do stuff like putting gear or achievement boosts in the store, which would never be tolerated and it’d be fatal for their entire brand
Banning boosting or tokens sounds like a noble fix, but let’s be real, neither is happening unless something breaks legally or financially. It’s too profitable.
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Is it? Hard to calculate effective profit, because it depends on whether someone that buys a wow token would have spent money on the game otherwise. Else it’s like a few bucks per token sale, which is nothing. Also, you have to take into consideration all the people that quit wow due to boosting/wow token/etc. and that’s a lot of people too. The math is not clear at all. Brand damage is also a real thing that cuts into sales too.
In the end: What the math is, is unclear, because you are dealing with player psychology, but people are overestimating the value of the wow token I think. Blizzard probably makes more money from store cosmetics like the Brutosaur than from wow token sales and boosting.
Grey area with “virtual currency”…sure…tell that GW2, ESO, etc.
Blizzard’s gold selling is this, and only this: Moving the sub payment from Player A to Player B, where player B pays double the sub for himself and player A plus around 7 bucks on top for player A’s month…
Any digital currency purchased with real money in a video fame falls under that lense, and I don’t think wow gold is an exception here.
The question is not the wow gold, the question is the boost, because officially the boost transaction is not supported, yet they do have an official boost channel in the game. Very interesting situation. Perfect example of a grey area tbh.
I think their best approach is taking the boost out. If they make it official, they will open many ugly can of worms, that they couldn’t deny and it’d be irreversible to make boosting official, because then ppl can say they only bought gold for boosts. Best is to just take it out of the game.
If we’re playing Monopoly and the bank cheated you for 500 Monopoly bucks – who cares? It’s a family board game. No one’s going to call the police over that. You sort that out with the family and friends you’re playing with.
I recently played Civilization VI and my save file got corrupted, so I lost the game I was in the middle of. A game where my French empire was sitting on thousands of gold.
I don’t expect Firaxis to reimburse me my lost gold or otherwise amend the issue. It’s just a game. I’ll play another game of Civilization VI. It’s fine.
WoW was like the above examples. Just a game. A fictional world where we did game stuff and earned fictional gold that had no value outside of the game it existed in – just like money in Monopoly, or gold in Civilization VI.
But then Blizzard introduced the WoW Token and that changed things.
It’s no longer fictional Monopoly money we’re playing with. The gold in WoW is now anchored to a real-life exchange rate. It has value beyond WoW. You can use it on things that would otherwise cost real money. You can spend real money to acquire gold in WoW.
It is no longer inconsequential if you lose gold in WoW, because it equals losing something of monetary value.
That also means that Blizzard’s obligations to ensure the safety of security of people playing WoW ought to be way higher than when it’s just a game.
Again, it’s of little consequence to anyone if someone steals from the bank in Monopoly.
But if someone steals your chips in a casino, that has serious implications for all involved parties. And that is why the security in a casino is way higher than when you’re playing Monopoly with your family.
Blizzard tries to have their cake and eat it too, by treating WoW as an innocent game, whilst operating it as anything but that.
When money’s on the table - and it is - then Blizzard have an obligation toward their customers beyond just providing them with fun.
An obligation that they time and time again not taken on.
And I don’t think anyone can disagree with that, because the examples of Blizzard basically saying “Tough luck” are plentiful, and the examples of them acting out of an obligation toward their players’ rights as consumers are all but non-existing.
What you can disagree on is whether Blizzard should have an obligation to police their own platform and provide safety and security for their paying customers. The American corporate company called Blizzard Entertainment and their parent company called Microsoft would definitely argue that they have no obligations toward anyone but themselves and the safety and security of their intellectual property. And fair enough if that’s the side in gaming you’re on.
I however am on a more traditional European side, in which the consumers are offered certain protections when engaging with said companies, because said companies would otherwise not act favorably toward consumers. And the interests of common citizens ultimately come before the interests of commercial companies. And that should be true for a gaming industry also, especially one that is blurring the definition of what a game entails.
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Nevermind, I changed my mind and you are correct that there is indeed a big problem regarding wow tokens and gold to real monetary conversion, that leaves many questions and is a very weird, questionnable way of monetization
This model of:
Real Money → WoW Token → Gold → Boost
is something that is very deeply questionnable and I think it is immoral to some extend, and it’s just a stupid long-term risk Blizzard is taking for no reason. When I just phrase it out, it looks really bad tbh.
Private transactions are between buyer and seller, without guarantee for either party.
Caveat emptor.
Well they support it, if by support you mean endorse, which is probably more accurate, yeah?
I mean, here’s Blizzard’s policy:
In-Game Advertising - Blizzard Support
If you read Jason Schrier’s book PLAY NICE: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment, then it covers the Real Money Auction House in Diablo III a little bit and how Blizzard specifically wanted to create a secure platform for these kind of monetary transactions.
The whole Diablo III thing turned into a disaster, but the design intent for the Real Money Auction House was pretty clear – to have a safe platform versus the third-party wild west that existed in previous Diablo games.
The irony now is that WoW has those exact same monetary transactions that Diablo III had, except there’s no secure platform for them, and the WoW Token only provides the currency itself. What you do with the currency still goes on in the third-party wild west territory. So Blizzard basically just sells the entry ticket to a shady market where players can then just get ripped off and be met with silence by Blizzard who’s interest is only to sell the next WoW Token.
To me, that is crazy.
If at least Blizzard had provided a secure platform for monetary trading in the wake of the WoW Token, I’d be more amendable toward it. But they didn’t. They still haven’t. They just exchange your money for fictional currency and then let you loose in an environment that is as unregulated as the crypto market.
And it’s a game that’s marked 12+.
Jesus.
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No, its semantics but sometimes they matter.
You said, “you chose to cheat you deal with the consequences. Thats my stance”
They didn’t cheat. You dont get to have a ‘stance’ or opinion on something clearly defined. We arent asking about whether you prefer cats or dogs, you have ‘stances’ on things like that.
Not whether its appropriate to punish someone for something you think should be against the rules but isnt.
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The worst thing about this is that after the starting zone you’re thrown into the capital city, where the chat is by default completely spammed with boosting sales.
I only disagree with providing a secure platform for this, because I think there shouldn’t be a platform at all, and these 4 steps between paying money and getting boosted is something that should just not be in the game regardless of platform, and we are paying a sub exactly to avoid this type of design. The game is rated 12+ too, so it shouldn’t have these weird boosts anyway
I am okay personally, if Blizzard is increasing sub costs and game price, if they take wow tokens, etc. out
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Oh I completely agree with that.
But since it is here and seemingly isn’t going anywhere, Blizzard could at least have the decency (though I question if they have any at this point) to provide a more safe and secure platform for it.
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And stop acting that boosting is some “official” Blizzard service. Players themselves created it, themselves provide, themselves set the price for it. Heck boosting in it self should not be encouraged as a “main method to play the game”. So boosting is more a player created grey market where stuff is not technically illegal but you wont get a warranty on it either.
You on the other hand want to pretty much legitimize it fully into a “white market”. Blizzard approved 3rd party boosts with full money back guarantee! Perhaps some Blizzard provided coupons as well? on the 5th boost you get -50% discount?
I could support Blizzard refuding an accidental AH purchase, or somebody scamming you via useless item for 500k gold. But if you enter the gray market, you deal with the consequences and Blizz should stay out of it not try to legitimize it further by providing “protections” on it.
But not in any sort of “grey area”…geez…
And now you jumped on to that stupid “token is the error here” train…congrats…really now…
Scammers are the issue, scmamer were the issue, scammers exists because of greed, scammers will never stop existing, and being scammed in WoW is in the exact same bnpoat as being scammed in real life with paysafe cards, amazon gift cards, google play store credits, apple store credits, etc. etc. etc.
It is not in the same boat as being scammed of physical products not being delivered,w hich you can get refunded.
You do net get refunds for scammed paysafe cards.
You will nto get refunded for scammed WoW gold for unsuported player to player sevices.
You did not get refundes back in Vanilla when enchanters ran away after pladins/warlocks gave them the mats plus tip for arcanite bars for our epic mounts.
Cut this crap out now…
I suggest trying to apply empathy and think about the whole experience of this from the eyes of someone, that didn’t play wow for 20 years and doesn’t take this just for what it is, if that makes sense. This experience of finishing the starting zone, then getting flooded with boosting ads in the capital city, and this 4 step path to buying these boosts with many questionnable realities is something that shouldn’t really be in a game, if you think about it.
I would consider on Blizzard’s side that after so many years, maybe it’s time to experiment with the monetization model a little bit towards something more healthy, especially if they wanna keep warcraft alive for 20 more years, as they planned.
I think their recent approach of frequent store cosmetics is something that is already way way better and I hope many people buy cosmetics, so it makes sense moving away from this questionnable wow token p2w mechanic implemented by previous management