There are few things that ruin a game quite like gold sellers. There is nothing that will ruin an economy quite like hackers who flood the market with their ill gotten game money. The fact these this kind of actions even take place astounds me. Not the fact that the hackers exist, that is nothing to be surprised about. What shocks me is that there are players out there that actually use this kind of service. It goes against the very idea of playing the game, which is to have fun and have the hard work you invest into your character to shine through the gear, items, and money you acquire. Buying you way to riches without putting the work in just seems like an empty kind of accomplishment. Sure, you can buy your way to in-game riches. But what do you really have to be proud about? The fact that you used your credit card to obtain what others accomplished through skill and hard work? That just doesn’t sound like fun to me.

 

Not only do these practices take away from one of the big reasons for even playing the game, they can put your personal life at risk as well. Think about it, you are giving hackers your credit card information. People who have shown through their actions that they have no problem making money via illegitimate means. Are these really the kind of people you want to be giving your financial information to? I didn’t think so. Buying credits from these kinds of people is just a bad idea. Luckily, the team over at BioWare is cracking down hard on these types of players. Take a gander at this recent blog post by the SWTOR team.

 

We want to clarify our policy regarding fraudulent payment activity as it is unfortunately common in online games and we do take action against it. One thing to be aware of is that criminal organizations use stolen credit cards to purchase digital game access codes and then re-sell them, often at a discount from the original retail price. For customers who are looking for a bargain on a game, these cheap game access codes can seem like a good deal and are in fact too good to be true; these are fraudulent transactions that we and our partners cannot support.

We understand that some customers are unaware they are purchasing ‘stolen goods’ when they buy these codes, usually from online retailers and auction sites. For that reason we have not taken action against customers using these codes in the past, as despite not gaining revenue from their purchase, we still value them as a customer. Over time however, the number of legitimate customers using these codes has dropped, and the number of gold farmers using them has risen to a level where we can no longer ignore these illegal sales.

As a result, we are changing our policies to limit the practice of using fraudulently obtained codes. From May 2nd, 2012 any account created using a fraudulently obtained game access code (ie, one that was bought using a stolen credit card) will be banned from the game service.

This change may affect a very small number of users who believed they purchased an authentic game access code. If your game service is affected, you may contact Customer Service who will help you obtain a legitimate game code to re-instate your account.

To avoid this situation, we strongly recommend you always purchase digital game access codes from official sources such as Origin.com.

We will continue to take action against any activity that breaks the Terms of Service and EUALA for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ to ensure a safe and fair environment for all players.

 

If you needed one more reason not to but credits from in-game hackers you just got one, you could find your account banned. You don’t want that, I don’t want that, so just say no to credit buying! If you receive and in game whisper or mail message from someone offering to sell you credits, or linking you to a website that will, report it to the customer service droids and help them drive these hackers out of the game.

Tags: economy, gold farming, illegal activity