Buying gold

Allow me to quote our How to Stay in the Game FAQ (http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowaa/?id=aDisplay02046p):

Q u o t e:
Exchange of World of Warcraft Currency/Goods/Services for non-World of Warcraft Currency/Goods/Services, and Vice-Versa (Buying/Selling Gold, Items, Characters, and/or Accounts)

Anyone offering World of Warcraft content for sale is attempting to steal from and deceive you, as no one is EVER allowed to sell any aspect of the World of Warcraft MMORPG except Blizzard and its licensees. Blizzard will not recognize the transaction resulting from the seller's prohibited behavior! Attempting to circumvent this rule by selling "the time put into the character" DOES NOT make such a sale legitimate, as the transaction still results in the transfer of World of Warcraft virtual property (which is acknowledged by every player as solely belonging to Blizzard Entertainment and/or its licensors) and in the seller receiving money.


CONSEQUENCES:

Any evidence uncovered by Support investigations that the account has been involved in the exploitation of the World of Warcraft Economy by purchasing currency, items, characters and/or accounts may result in:

* Removal of any World of Warcraft content that was purchased from anyone other than Blizzard Entertainment. Note that the sale of existing accounts, currency, items, and characters, or any aspect thereof, is not presently offered by Blizzard or its licensees, nor is the availability of such services foreseen.
* Immediate Account Closure of any account found to have been transferred from the registered user to anyone else. Blizzard Entertainment neither recognizes nor permits the transfer of accounts.

Q u o t e:


"Attempting to circumvent this rule by selling "the time put into the character" DOES NOT make such a sale legitimate, as the transaction still results in the transfer of World of Warcraft virtual property (which is acknowledged by every player as solely belonging to Blizzard Entertainment and/or its licensors) and in the seller receiving money. "

You do not have to be the owner of property to transfer the right to use that property (e.g., subletting an apartment). Also, i find it rather unusual that you would cite to a FAQ that was not and is not part of the relevant legal document. Were the terms of the FAQ incorporated intot he EULA or TOS? I must have missed that clause. Finally, this notion of "virtual property" intrigues me. Is there any statute, case ruling, administrative guidance from any competent authority that expounds on this concept. Is there any part fo the EULA or TOS which uses or defines the term "virtual property"?

The Terms of Use covers this (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html):

Q u o t e:
8. Selling of Items.

Remember, at the outset of these Terms of Use, where we discussed how you were "licensed" the right to use World of Warcraft, and that your license was "limited"? Well, here is one of the more important areas where these license limitations come into effect. Note that Blizzard Entertainment either owns, or has exclusively licensed, all of the content which appears in World of Warcraft. Therefore, no one has the right to "sell" Blizzard Entertainment's content, except Blizzard Entertainment! So Blizzard Entertainment does not recognize any property claims outside of World of Warcraft or the purported sale, gift or trade in the "real world" of anything related to World of Warcraft. Accordingly, you may not sell items for "real" money or exchange items outside of World of Warcraft.

With the definition of the word 'virtual' and 'property', as well as the paragraph quoted above we can safely conclude the reference of 'virtual property'.

Q u o t e:
Ok, now you have me curious... just how is buying gold from a farmer cheating?

cheat (cht)
v. cheat·ed, cheat·ing, cheats
v. tr.
1. To deceive by trickery; swindle: cheated customers by overcharging them for purchases.
2. To deprive by trickery; defraud: cheated them of their land.
3. To mislead; fool: illusions that cheat the eye.
4. To elude; escape: cheat death.

v. intr.
1. To act dishonestly; practice fraud.
2. To violate rules deliberately, as in a game: was accused of cheating at cards.
3. Informal. To be sexually unfaithful: cheat on a spouse.

n.
1. An act of cheating; a fraud or swindle.
2. One who cheats; a swindler.
3. Law. Fraudulent acquisition of another's property.
4. Botany. An annual European species of brome grass (Bromus secalinus) widely naturalized in temperate regions.


The only way I see this as cheating, is that your cheating yourself out of your real money... its like those other MMOs that offer ingame items for real money. Youre basically giving your money away for pixels.

/shrug

I believe this would be the most fitting definition:

Q u o t e:
2. To violate rules deliberately, as in a game: was accused of cheating at cards.

Q u o t e:
Berghe...the problem is that there simply is NO way to know that any amount received by mail is the result of an online transaction.

Of course you may set traps and trick people from buying from YOU and the ban them, but the Goldsellers are not going to tell YOU (Blizzard) that Player X has just bough 500G.

The FAQ may say you do not 'recognize' these transactions and that they are prohibited but you simply are unaware of those transactions in the first place.

Again, just educate people, don t bull them.

Monsoon,

We're not discussing our verification processes, which are internal and will remain internal. I moved this thread over to the Customer Service Forums and am providing information to all of you in the hopes of making more players aware of our stance on the subject of 'Exchange of World of Warcraft Currency/Goods/Services for non-World of Warcraft Currency/Goods/Services, and Vice-Versa (Buying/Selling Gold, Items, Characters, and/or Accounts)'. :)