The economics involved in an MMO like World of Warcraft Classic can often be complicated, and while we look for the game to be an escape from reality, people’s ability to leverage their money and power in real life can translate to our fantasy worlds.
There are numerous different ways to distribute raid loot in WoW Classic, but the most controversial, GDKPs, are one that can be heavily influenced by players that have in-game wealth, which usually can be made using for real-life currency.
Earlier this week, popular streamers xQc and Sodapoppin showcased exactly how out of control things can get in a post-raid bidding war as they went back and forth in an effort to win the Warblade of Hakkari after running through Zul’Gurub. With a bid of 12,500 gold, xQc ultimately won the item, but the massive gold amount both players were willing to spend was astonishing. “We’re making it so obvious we buy gold, please,” one raider said.
In a post to Reddit, one fan of the two streamers reported that the amount of gold xQc spent on the item was equivalent to around $1,000 in real-life money. In another trending post to Reddit, one fan of WoW Classic called the clip of two streamers vying to buy an item one of the nearly countless reasons that the GDKP raid looting format has “killed” the game. The poster added that the GDKPs need to be banned in WoW’s upcoming Season of Discovery servers.
Technically, Blizzard can restrict players from doing just about anything in its games by making it a part of its terms of service. While it can’t prevent players from doing things like trading items or exchanging gold, Blizzard can monitor the exchange of gold. Especially after a GDKP, it is fairly obvious by looking at exchanges of items and currency that players have effectively purchased items and that every player in a raid is leaving the raid after splitting a large pool of gold.
