The new MMO New World has a bot problem and there is a understandable reason for it: On eBay, gold sellers offer their services. The gray market for items in the game is expanding. Everyone wants to farm the resources.
These are the reports:
- New World was released about a month ago. But the game has already lost its innocence after a short time. Shortly after the release, reports emerged that “Angel Bots” are standing at the fishing spots and pulling rare fish from the ponds. Because fish are a valuable asset in New World.
- Botting in New World apparently takes on larger and larger proportions. Players report on reddit that they saw a “level 30” player without a faction who is always following the same routes and performing the same actions.
- Other players say: On their server, there is someone who does nothing but farm hemp and put it up for auction – they have already leveled up to level 37. That’s sure to get worse.
Real money trading in MMOs is now an industry
What is the reason for this? A professional industry has formed around MMOs that offers services for money. These services and individuals have become so professionalized that they also offer their services in new MMOs when it seems possible to make a profit:
- For example, “boosts” are regularly sold, where people level up a character to a certain level for someone else
- Or it is simply sold “gold for money”
Is there really money to be made? With the sums, one quickly rubs their eyes:
- On eBay, 10,000 gold is traded for about 58.30 euros.
- A professional provider sells 10,000 gold in one region for 32.90 euros, in another, they are available for 38 euros.
- A level 60 character costs 288 euros from service providers.
Especially for players in 2nd and 3rd world countries, farming gold and selling it to customers in industrialized countries is an interesting source of income to support their families.
Is this legal? The provider for the gold on eBay promises that the money is “100% hand-farmed and completely legal” – but the terms of use from Amazon Game Studios that apply to New World clearly state (via amazon):
“Do not participate in real money trading of items or in-game currencies.” You should also not share, trade, or sell accounts.
While no specific penalty is listed for this violation, possible penalties that Amazon imposes in their games include warnings and bans, up to a permanent ban.
We once conducted an interview with a gold seller on MeinMMO:
