Classic WoW players furious with gold buying after Sodapoppin drama & want bans
Buying currency for World of Warcraft from third-party sellers has existed for some time, and it has been against the terms of service for nearly as long. Now, in the wake of fresh controversy surrounding popular WoW streamer Sodapoppin, the community is united in their anger.
The landscape around gold buying has changed significantly over the years, and punishments for the practice have adapted along with it. Depending on the scale of the offense, buying WoW gold can lead to anything from confiscation of the items to long-term bans.
The introduction of the WoW Token in the retail version of the game was designed to combat this and give players a legitimate way to buy gold or trade their in-game currency for subscription time. This was also later introduced to the Wrath of the Lich King servers to complicate the issue further.
The conversation around buying gold in Classic, where the token is unavailable, has now reached a climax, and many are calling on Blizzard to clamp down harder on those who do.
Blizzard EntertainmentSodapoppin admits to buying gold but avoids ban
In a post on Reddit, one user shared their surprise at the news that Sodapoppin had managed to avoid a ban for buying gold, when their friend received a 14-day ban for the same offense.
In the responses to the post, it quickly became apparent that many in the community felt a 14-day ban was a reasonably light punishment at this juncture. The further inference is that Sodapoppin should consider himself incredibly lucky to avoid a ban.
One user suggested a tiered punishment system for repeat offenders, saying: “First-time offense, replace all gear with greys, remove all bank items, wipe gold. Second offense 14-day ban. Third offense account is permanently banned. Should be the same for everyone.”
Another suggested Sodapoppin’s position as a popular streamer has afforded him certain benefits, saying: “Influencer types get privilege, they bring a lot of eyes onto the game. I hate it, but’s the way it is, banning a major figure in the community would be good to prevent the gold buying since it would scare people, but it also would create a potential financial loss for Blizzard if that person says to their audience to stop playing.”
There’s little doubt that gold buying is a hugely damaging practice for the internal economy of the game and the experience of players who farm legitimately. There have been significant crackdowns on bots and other illegitimate practices in Season of Discovery, so it would not be surprising if Blizzard extended their diligence in that game over to other flavors of World of Warcraft.