A Moral Dilemma...

[Malvolius]

One of my guildies recently got his epic flying mount. He's a good guy, a skilled rogue, very helpful in the guild and all. For personal reasons (which I don't plan on going into) I have come to dislike him, but as a guildie he is undeniably a valuable asset. Whenever he's in the group, he keeps me on my toes so far as DPS is concerned - and I'm always one to like a challenge.

Now, once he linked me his shiny epic flyer, I asked him "how'd you pay for it?", being that I was totally unaware of any sort of long grinding effort on his part. He bought the gold from a vendor. Apparently, the prices have been low lately, and he hates grinding.

Now, as far as I can tell, I doubt anyone else is aware of his "purchase". Should I play the Boy Scout and notify a GM, doing the right thing even if it costs us one of our rogues (and satisfying some little vengeful monster inside of me that plays a nice contrast to the Boy Scout), or do I play the good friend/guildmate and keep my mouth shut?

[Kailash]

None of the above. How about it aint any of your business. Why do you care? it didnt do anything to the marketplace etc. If you do report him, at least be honest with youself and say it was for 'revenge' or whatever. Dont try and hide behind a boyscout.

Personally i just really couldnt care less, especially in this case. Its money that goes to an NPC. Big whooppee! imo.

Keep playing and having fun, just dont hang with this cat anymore if you dont like him.

Kai

[Poltras]

An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.

I'm sorry but even if I wouldn't buy any gold from a vendor (except if it goes down to, say, the price of a server change, for an epic mount), I wouldn't mind anyone doing so. I don't understand how it is illegal to buy a service from someone inside the game with outside currencies. As long as people pays, it's their problem not yours. You might want to consider a better mouse instead of a better mount.

As for the vengeance part, just check my first phrase... I may be too zen for this game, but I'm playing WoW to relax and have fun, and normally my guild-mates respect me for playing as a gamer...

[nothingsacred]

id have to agree, unless your guild has a rule against purchasing gold in its charter and this guild mate has gone against your charter then i suppose you could bring it up to a officer but most likely it would be denied and nothing would come of it, best bet is to not let it bother you, some people buy gold some people work for it, take satisfaction in knowing that you dont take the easy way out and work for what you get in game, its really not worth the drama it would cause imo, unless as i said it breaks your guilds charter and you feel an obligation.

[Cvijafaq]

Talk with him personally and explain why you dislike what he did, but I don't think you should get him banned. He might learn his lesson.
I mean the fact that some goldseller companies earn gold by hacking accounts and hurting random innocent players.

[Zxanath]

I have to disagree with most of the posters to this thread so far. Rules are in place for reasons. I'd start with your guild and see if there's anything in the charter against buying gold. If so, then I'd turn it over to the guild officers and let them deal with it through their lines.
If not, then I would turn him in to a GM. It wasn't your business... until he told you. Then it became your business by his admission. If he denies it and gets away with it, then at least you know you've done the right thing by the rules of the game. If he's cheating with gold, how else might he be cheating the game?
Loosing a skilled rogue would be a loss to the guild, definately. And yes, you'll probably take some flack for it. So be sure you're ready for that. Just make sure that if you're turning him in, you do it because it's the right thing to do, not out of revenge or ill feelings.
Whatever you decide to do, be right with yourself about it before you do anything. You'll have to live with the decision and the consequences.
Good Luck.

[Lokin]

I agree with Zxanath. He has violated the rules of the game, if this was on a rival guild or opposing faction, would you even question what you should do. And even if he gets kicked, you guild just lost a cheater and a thief. There are pleanty of rogues to fill his spot i'm sure. not to mention that he's wearing your guild tag. Is this the message your guild wants to put out?

[Cyphyllis]

do nothing.
why ?

1. its your word against his
2. what proof do you have " i was only kiddin man, i'd never buy gold"
3. it will backfire on you " that bastard Malvolius aint no team player, he accused me of gold buying cause those OP locks are jealous of my roguish DPS. Some friend hey :-(("

[Lokse]

I agree with the "MYOB" players, honestly. However if he mentioned openly that he bought gold, I would have no qualms about letting it be openly known. As has been mentioned, tehre are a lot of players who're willing to grind that epic mount out, and to take his place if the guild's officership considers him a liability. I empathize with people who can't spend as much time online due to IRL, etc, but I do not feel that they are entitled to the same treatment as hardcore players. Hardcore players do hardcore content, casual players should go PVP or spam general chat.

Anyone dumb enough to admit that they buy gold needs to learn to keep their mouth shut, though.

I used to be in a guild where the Hunter Class Lead voluntarily admitted buying his toon because he didn't want to level, and he felt that his skill level was such that he didn't need to go through the "growing pains" and experience gain (they call EXP "Experience" for a reason, sometimes people forget that,) despite the fact that we had hunters in AH gear outdpsing his epicced-out toon by significant margins.

However, I didn't report him to a GM, and I didn't do anything more vindictive than mentioning that he was an ebayer, whenever someone spoke about him. I let everyone else make their own judgement, and although it WAS slightly vindictive, he ended up transferring off the realm, and our guild got a quality player to take his place.

I consider privacy a two-way street. If you say something, you need to be willing to face the potential consequences.

[Kiralyn]

The arguments for and against selling gold are huge and varied, and generally the morality sets in only in how the initial gold is obtained. Bots and account hacking are wrong, and I don't think anyone will argue that point. That is the reason most players are selling gold.

From the other end, there is an obvious market for people who would rather spend money instead of time to achieve a certain goal. Many MMOs are beginning to embrace this idea instead of shunning it, especially in Asia. The question becomes simply this: What is it that you think is wrong about the process?

Are you against breaking the ToS? Doubtful. Are you against someone wishing to invest money instead of time into the game if that is what they have more of? Doubtful. Are you against account hacking and botting that affects your gameplay? Likely.

This person hasn't actively done anything I'd be against. If I had more money I might consider spending some of it on more pixels for my character, but I don't, and I'm content to fly slowly. My 5k gold went into my gear, not my mount. Is he supporting people that do things that you deem wrong? Sure, but he isn't doing them. I'd say don't associate with him if you don't agree with his actions, but also ask yourself this. Worst case scenario, his account gets perma-banned. Do you want that on your shoulders for something so small as buying gold?