This week for our TenTonHammer topic of the week, we look at two nasty aspects of WoW and almost all other MMOs.  Both of these items have existed for almost the same amount of time as MMOs have existed, because as long as a game exists, someone will want to cheat at it.  The two items being discussed are Exploits and Gold Farming.

What are these two things?  Well, a quick run down is as follows:

Exploits – An exploit is anything that is not meant to be possible by the creator of the game, but found and used for gain by players in the game.  This could be an unclosed shortcut in the game from one boss to the next, or a software mod that allows something to be gained without the effort put in.

Gold Farming – Everyone knows what this is.  Here we are talking about players that farm gold for themselves or a company to resell to other players.  In essence we are talking about the secondary market.

In the past Blizzard has focused on both of these issues.  However recently they seem to be focusing more heavily on the gold farming issue.  Is this the right direction?  Is this what players would like to see?

In the end I think it should come down to what we as the players get more upset over?  Which should we get more upset over?

Gold farming has gotten more press due to the in game spamming that they have mastered.  Players have gotten more and more upset as in game spamming has escalated over months after the release of the Burning Crusade.  Blizzard finally stepped in and blocked most of it with a recent patch (however they have already started finding ways around it). Because this issue effects so many players it gets the most press and attention.  Is it right though? 

To me as a player this is a relatively simple question.  I think that there should be zero tolerance for either of the two, however exploitation is the far worse issue.  

My reasoning is as follows.  Gold farming and selling while against the users agreement allows only so much of an advantage in the game.  Almost all of the best items can only be gotten by continuous grinding, raiding or questing.  No amount of gold can help you get these items.

Exploits however can get you past bosses, grinding, quests, etc.  While some exploits are fairly minor, others have allowed players to skip whole sections of raid encounters.  This allows players to achieve progression without the work, thereby giving them items they have not earned.

To me, this second part is far worse than just buying or selling gold.  So bad in fact that I don’t even think that a ban of that account is bad enough.  Every effort should be made to ban those players that exploit the game from ever playing again, as in ensuring that no account be allowed to be registered from their address again.

As a side note, I still can't figure out why either of the issues exist at all.  If you play the game for fun, why cheat at all?  If you feel a need to cheat at something is it even fun anymore?  If not, shouldn't you find some other hobby or activity that you can do for fun?  Maybe I have an over simplified thought process on this, but I play for fun and to experience the whole game.  To me cheating the game is cheating myself out of some of the enjoyment that I am paying for.

Maybe it's just me…