Who likes a cheater or a spammer? They ruin games and there is nothing more annoying in an MMORPG than the gold spammer. Sure there are gamers who purchase gold/credits in games that they play and we don’t judge. However, even gold buyers have to admit that the gold sellers are annoying. They send unwanted mail, spam chat channels and not to mention the tactics they use to farm the credits in the first place.
Then there is the added problem that unless you are playing a game that allows micro transactions (which SWTOR does not), then you are putting your account at risk if you participate in the purchase of credits from a third party. BioWare has gone to great lengths to try to make the economy fair and make it possible for anyone to earn the credits they need to fully enjoy the game.
Regardless of how you feel on the matter, it’s important to know that you’re taking a risk if you choose to buy credits. This recent statement from the SWTOR blog addresses another issue: fraudulent code users:
We want to clarify our policy regarding fraudulent payment activity as it is unfortunately common in online games and we do take action against it. One thing to be aware of is that criminal organizations use stolen credit cards to purchase digital game access codes and then re-sell them, often at a discount from the original retail price. For customers who are looking for a bargain on a game, these cheap game access codes can seem like a good deal and are in fact too good to be true; these are fraudulent transactions that we and our partners cannot support.
We understand that some customers are unaware they are purchasing ‘stolen goods’ when they buy these codes, usually from online retailers and auction sites. For that reason we have not taken action against customers using these codes in the past, as despite not gaining revenue from their purchase, we still value them as a customer. Over time however, the number of legitimate customers using these codes has dropped, and the number of gold farmers using them has risen to a level where we can no longer ignore these illegal sales.
As a result, we are changing our policies to limit the practice of using fraudulently obtained codes. From May 2nd, 2012 any account created using a fraudulently obtained game access code (ie, one that was bought using a stolen credit card) will be banned from the game service.
This change may affect a very small number of users who believed they purchased an authentic game access code. If your game service is affected, you may contact Customer Service who will help you obtain a legitimate game code to re-instate your account.
To avoid this situation, we strongly recommend you always purchase digital game access codes from official sources such as Origin.com.
We will continue to take action against any activity that breaks the Terms of Service and EUALA for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ to ensure a safe and fair environment for all players.
This is basically referring to people who purchased game codes at discount from an unauthorized location and they turn out not to be official game key codes. BioWare understood that some unwillingly purchased the fraudulent codes and they have taken efforts to allow those people to maintain their accounts. However, since credit farmers are now abusing this tolerance, they must crack down hard on anyone using a fraudulent game code by banning the account. So if you’re looking to buy the game, buy a second copy or get a gift for a friend, go to the original source and don’t try to skimp a few bucks by getting it somewhere else. You’ll just end up with the account banned.
