As an avid WoW gamer, I’ve always had some reservations about this issue of gold-farming…to support it or not. From one standpoint, it sucks, since allowing too much of it in game, will sap the value of what makes the game tick…heck it will sap ANY economy, to basically have some external force “printing money”. That’s what gold farming amounts to, as it injects money into the economy in an unregulated manner. Imho, a solution would be to establish a robust banking system in-game to address the root cause of gold farming…the lack of a financial mechanism to get gold on a capital investment level. In the specific example of WoW, I think they could look at using the goblins as means to do some money lending, and regulate gold trading some means, somehow. Of course, it then comes down to WHAT do you need to spend gold on, that would require you to money lend. In the specific case of WoW, the game needs to evolve…housing, non-action items, such as furniture, etc…maybe guild housing, with regular upkeep cost. Gold trading is a factor of the game, and unless you regulate the necessary evil, it will only continue to be a problem.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/mmo-devs-warned-to-accept-gold-trading
"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."
- From By Schism Rent Asunder
