Blizzard, one of the world's most successful video game companies, has fought a long and hard battle against gold farmers, spammers and hackers across all of their major franchises. Things have not always been successful - real money auction house on Diablo III - but they have taken a new step forward in combatting malicious third party gold sellers in World of Warcraft with a new Token system.
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The idea behind the WoW Token is simple: pay to play. But not necessarily in the malicious manner you normally associate that term with. In an upcoming patch, players can purchase a Token - using real world money. This token grants thirty days of playtime (the lowest single denomination of WoW's subscription service); however, you may then sell your Token on the Auction House for a predetermined amount of in-game gold.
Players spend a lot of real world money on in-game gold from Chinese goldfarmers, who often are using hacked accounts and disrupt the reality of the in-game culture with their constant spamming. This is Blizzard's (supposedly) secure way to combat that practice and essentially, cut out the middle man. All the money will go to Blizzard's coffers in the end.
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So, to refresh: player A buys a WoW Token with real money. He then puts the Token on sale at the AH for a set amount of gold (determined by the great giant known as Economy). Player B can then purchase the Token and earn 30 days of game time.
Once sold, a Token cannot be put back on the market.
The only thing currently not on the market is the most important item in the world: time. The haves in the real world can now exchange their goods and services to the haves in the digital world, without having to go through some blackmarket dealer.
It's a fascinating idea. The WoW Token will hit servers soon. Read up on the full FAQ sheet.
