WoWzer: player offers $1000 to have account re-activated

Missing parties to try and make one's character jump across the gap of doom in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (PS2) is pretty bad.

Not that I've done this or anything.

But you know things are getting worrying when you start offering $1000 bribes to Activision Blizzard staff to have your account re-activated, which is indeed what one gamer has done.  Apparently banned on March 15 (PDT) during the "archaeology bot ban wave" the player advertised on Craigslist that they would pay US$1000 to a Blizzard administrator to have their account re-activated. 

Admittedly the fact it was advertised on Craigslist raises questions of authenticity, given previous advertisements on the site, but the player claims to be serious and promises any takers that they can "meet you in person wherever you like with cash, PayPal you money as a gift (non-refundable and non-disputable by me), leave an envelope under a tree, or pay you in any other manner you prefer".

A poster on geekzone.co.nz said the advertisement was not a surprise, since gamers who spent a lot of time playing considered the hours and money an investment, rather than an addiction, and said the game was a passion similar to building up a "collection of hardback books".

The geekzone writer notes that the advertisement seems to imply the player was banned for gold farming, where players amass gold in-game and sell it for real-life money, something which is strictly forbidden by the WoW Gods terms and conditions.

And perhaps the poster, and the player, have the right idea: Forbes' Oliver Chiang reported in September 2010 that a study from Inside Network showed that total sales of virtual goods in the US will reach $2.1 billion this year.

That's quite some return on investing in the production of different coloured armour or swords (oh, the swords) and given that there are tales of WoW accounts selling (against game rules) for 7000 Euro, maybe the gamer's US$1000 isn't such a bad deal; maybe, in fact, it's a grand offer. (I'll be here 'til Tuesday, try the veal).