Guild Wars is an online community. And like all communities, it has sociological problems. Dishonorable conduct can be found in the world of Guild Wars. When virtual items have real world value, there are unscrupulous people who would exploit the rules of the game for monetary gain. Even though the Guild Wars User Agreement prohibits selling and/or buying Guild Wars items, the rules have been broken. ArenaNet has grown more aggressive in the enforcement of their rules.
If you logged into Guild Wars in the last few days, you might have noticed that the Guild Wars license agreement was updated. I only spotted one major change. An addition was made to Section 7, Official Service; which is clearly related to ArenaNet’s battle against virtual item sales…
NC Interactive may from time to time in its sole discretion implement various forms of filtering, blocking or monitoring of IP addresses or proxies used to use, play or access the Game(s) or the Service, including without limitation blocking or filtering measures that restrict your ability to use, play or access the Game(s) or Service outside of the territories in which NC Interactive makes the Game(s) or Service available.
ArenaNet typically bans more than 5,000 accounts a week. If your average Guild Wars account is $40, that’s roughly $10,000,000 in banned accounts in a year. Why would companies build a business around such a risk? That’s because Guild Wars Gold can have a real world value. One platinum is approximately 16¢ in US coins. The game takes a whole new meaning when pixelated plunder is possibly parallel to practical purchasing power.
This issue goes beyond Supply and Demand. Players may have a lot of free time, or they may have a lot of money, but it doesn’t matter. Virtual item sales are against the rules. It’s obvious that it goes on, but ArenaNet is fighting against the underworld economy of Guild Wars.
You can read more about this issue at the official Guild Wars website…
http://www.guildwars.com/support/rtm/rtm-en.php