Blizzard aims to limit the impact of gold farming and trading

Oct 12, 2011 21:41 GMT  ·  By

Video game developer Blizzard has introduced a new pet to the World of Warcraft store which can be purchased by players using real world cash and can then be re-sold for in-game currency, effectively allowing interested gamers to convert their money into game cash and items.

An official statement from Blizzards reads, “since the introduction of the Pet Store, many players have been asking for ways to get the companions we offer there without having to spend real-world cash. By making the Guardian Cub tradable (much like the BoE mounts from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game), players interested in the new pet will have fun, alternative in-game ways to get one.”

It adds, “In addition to trading the pet, players can give the Guardian Cub as a gift to another character for a special occasion; guild leaders can use them to reward members for a job well done; and so on. We also hope this change will help reduce the number of incidents of scamming via trading for invalid pet codes.”

The Guardian Cub now costs 10 real world dollars and does not bind to the player account.

It will be interesting to see how the game currency price for the Guardian Cub evolves.

The introduction of the new pet might be yet another way for Blizzard to try and reduce the impact of gold farming on the game.

The company has deemed the practice illegal but at the same time has not offered a way for gamers who are short on time to use cash in order to speed up their advance.

Other MMOs have offered official ways of trading money of in-game cash in order to eliminate account hacking and gold farming.

In the future Blizzard might also allow players to pick up some actual items for real money if the current Guardian Cub scheme is successful.