World of Warcraft will no longer allow organisations to offer several “non-traditional” services in the MMORPG, including boosting, matchmaking, and escrow. The ban extends beyond organisations who offer these services in exchange for money, and includes those who accept gold as payment.
Blizzard says the new policy does not prohibit individual players or guilds from offering in-game items or services for gold by using the available tools in World of Warcraft, such as the trade channel chat. The company appears to be mainly targeting larger organisations that operate across multiple realms and that are “excessively advertising non-traditional in-game sales” that are “contrary to the terms and conditions of the Blizzard end-user licence agreement”.
Accounts that Blizzard determines are in violation of the new policy can be subject to sanction, which includes anything from a warning to permanent account closure, according to a statement posted to the official WoW community forums January 31. “We urge all such organisations to cease doing business in World of Warcraft immediately, in order to maintain uninterrupted access to the game,” it concludes.
‘Boosting’ refers broadly to any service that allows players to ‘skip’ content by having someone else do it for them, such as raising characters to level 60 or clearing difficult raids.
While the new policy will likely help with spam issues players frequently encounter in the Group Finder chat, players have pointed out that many large-scale boosting organisations rely on platforms like Discord, where it will be impossible for Blizzard to monitor activity or enforce the new policy.
Activision Blizzard is facing a lawsuit filed in July by the state of California (since expanded for QA and customer service contractors) alleging years of discrimination and harassment. Since then, CEO Bobby Kotick has called the company’s initial response “tone deaf”, employees have staged a walkout, Blizzard president J Allen Brack has left, and the ABK Workers Alliance has demanded change at the company. The lawsuit is ongoing; follow the latest developments here.
In September, an agency of the US federal government opened an investigation into Activision Blizzard’s response to sexual misconduct and discrimination complaints from its employees, as part of which Kotick has reportedly been subpoenaed. The company is also facing a separate unfair labour practice suit alleging “worker intimidation and union busting” filed by a workers’ union, also in September. In another, separate development, Activision Blizzard reached an agreement with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission “to settle claims and to further strengthen policies and programs to prevent harassment and discrimination”. In a subsequent letter to employees, the company has announced an end to forced arbitration, a $250 million initiative to improve diversity, and a major pay cut for Kotick.
A new report published this November now alleges Bobby Kotick knew about and suppressed reports of sexual misconduct. Kotick has responded with an official statement saying the Wall Street Journal’s article “paints an inaccurate and misleading view of our company, of me personally, and my leadership.” In reply, Activision Blizzard’s board of directors declared it “remains confident” in Kotick’s leadership.