WoW character sells for nearly $10,000

60 Comments by Ross Miller Sep 17th 2007 4:45PM
Filed under: Culture, Mac, PC, Online, RPGs, MMO, Business

A Rogue character in World of Warcraft with arguably the best gear in the game right now has been sold for 7,000 Euro (approximately US $9,700). The avatar had both Legendary swords dropped by raid boss Illidan Stormrage, as well as 4/5 of a Tier 6 armor set.

The original owner, Zeuzo from clan Method on Sylvanas server, has been sighted building up a new Rogue. When asked what one could do with $9,700, the Joystiq staffer offered these suggestions:

"Save it toward a house ... or Jet Ski!"
"Buy as many WoW account as I could, build that many new computers and multibox it!"
"A pool of pennies so that you can swim around in like Scrooge McDuck."
"Cybernetic Mongoose"
"I hear Russian mail-order brides are increasingly more reasonable ..."

The buyer, Shaks, currently resides on the Kazzak server but has not had any activity since September 3. Our sister site WoW Insider speculates that his account may have been banned, given the publicity of the auction and Blizzard's policy against selling accounts -- which would be truly sad for Shaks and truly hilarious for the rest of us (especially Zeuzo).

Tags: blizzard, worldofwarcraft, wow

Read

(Page 1) Reader Comments

Sensai: Sep 17th 2007; 4:52PM

If the accounts both are closed and Zeuzo doesn't give Shaks the money back (which he shouldn't...it's Zeuzo's money now), then it would be probably the funniest thing that the MMO world has ever seen.

t_m: Sep 18th 2007; 3:26AM

if they ban the buyer surely they will ban the seller too? There goes his new rogue...

Fernando Rocker (NDF - Water Ring): Sep 17th 2007; 4:52PM

"A pool of pennies..."

Sounds a little icky

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler).: Sep 17th 2007; 5:00PM

WOW players have issues,stick to Guild wars LOL

WiNG: Sep 17th 2007; 5:17PM

I agree. Guild Wars ftw.

WOW = grindfest

Blazur: Sep 17th 2007; 5:22PM

I despised Guild Wars. Wasted a month of my life on the craptacular game.

un1qu3 n3wy0rk: Sep 17th 2007; 4:57PM

If his account does get banned it would be funny to see if selling pimped out WoW accounts becomes a black market style business.

Eazy: Sep 17th 2007; 5:02PM

...wow this dude got pwnt...he could just go on a private server and get full T6 and Illidians Warglaives and any other epic thing he wanted for free. lmao pwnt. Syth - AniWoW private server

iain: Sep 20th 2007; 1:28PM

Not that I particularly condone the sale of the character for that much money, but your reference to getting it easy on a private server totally misses the point.

The character is "valuable" because it has something that required effort and time to achive. Sure, go to a private server and get all your legendaries and end-game epics given to you, but since *everyone* does that on a private server, its not an achivement, nor is it rare, or valuable.

Ratchet the Lombax: Sep 17th 2007; 5:03PM

Vegetta: "it"s over 9,000 !!"

Seriously though I would never spend that kind of money on something that I can't physically hold or touch.

Flyy (NDF): Sep 17th 2007; 5:05PM

Guess you wouldn't buy stocks..

Ratchet the Lombax: Sep 17th 2007; 5:13PM

Nope I don't buy stocks never had the desire to.

WiNG: Sep 17th 2007; 5:44PM

which part did you despise?

-The part where you don't need to kill boars for 30 hours just to get a decent sword?
-The part with the gorgeous graphics, animation, and sound?
-The part where there is actually a plot, and that your character actually matters?
-The part where you don't pay $150+ a year?
-The part where you still have a social life outside of your guild?
-The part where raids don't take 4 hours?
-The part where PVP victory is 100% skill and not who has the best armor?

StrangeBum: Sep 17th 2007; 6:05PM

Come on Ratchet, that meme died at least a hundred years ago...

Now keep 4chan out of Joystiq.

My opinion on the article though, this is just craziness. I do play WoW, however would not even think about spending any money on 'purchasing' a character. I don't sense any fun in that at all.

Ratchet the Lombax: Sep 17th 2007; 6:28PM

@ WiNG

In what part of my comment did I say I despised WoW? I don't, I have never even played it so I can't despise something that I have no experience with. I just think it's kinda sad that someone would spend that kind of money on a game no matter how much they love it. But to each their own I guess.

Slaziman: Sep 17th 2007; 9:11PM

I think WiNG was talking about Guild Wars vs. WoW

probably a victim of the reply system

Ratchet the Lombax: Sep 18th 2007; 1:46AM

Yea I just noticed that sorry about that WiNG my fault.

AyYoDimeloLoco: Sep 18th 2007; 2:17PM

LMAO, DBZ FTW !!!!

beans: Sep 17th 2007; 5:06PM

maybe he's that chinese kid that spit the bit over the weekend...?

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler).: Sep 17th 2007; 5:09PM

I hope he gets banned,I'm sick of all that stuff like people paying to level up their characters,for rare items etc.

doomcloud: Sep 17th 2007; 5:14PM

i didnt understand any of the beginning of that post

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler).: Sep 17th 2007; 5:17PM

My post?

Ratchet the Lombax: Sep 17th 2007; 5:35PM

I think the character had some uber great items/weapons that are hard to get in the game. But that's just my uneducated guess since I've never played WoW

Darius: Sep 17th 2007; 5:19PM

Jesus.
Some people need to re-prioritize.
You could buy a new decked out home theater rig for that. And even better?
It wouldn't be a virtual home theater rig that only works if you enchant it.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler).: Sep 17th 2007; 5:31PM

Being a pwnzord in a MMO=$9,700 USD
Being banned after spending almost $10,000 USD in a Videogame=Priceless

There are somethings money can't buy for everything else use Master Card.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler).: Sep 17th 2007; 5:33PM

Seriously why no one did the priceless reference before, I thought that was the first thing you people would do.

I knew it,that gamer fuel is poison for the brain.

LaughingTarget: Sep 17th 2007; 5:37PM

I think it is because MasterCard hasn't used that advertisement in around two years, I think. They figured it was too annoying at this point.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler).: Sep 17th 2007; 5:48PM

You know how old is Dragon ball Z? and we keep saying (Something) IS OVER NINE THOUSAND.We still make quotes about stuf older than 2 years so that can't be the reason.

Kazi: Sep 17th 2007; 7:13PM

No one got my Dead Zone reference on the article about Dead Space D: cry.

LaughingTarget: Sep 17th 2007; 7:59PM

Don't see me supporting DBZ. Hell, I was one of the first to call it crap anime that would destroy the image of the medium in the US if it ever got popular. As a mid-90s VHS fansub collector, I hated every ounce of it. The fact that it is STILL being referenced makes me sick.

NATO_Duke: Sep 17th 2007; 5:37PM

I just cant belive people waste this kinda money.

drew: Sep 17th 2007; 5:41PM

Uh.. how much per hour does that come out to? A friend sold his character from DAOC for 100 bucks once.. And he'd spent about 5000 hours on it. Which came to 2 cents an hour.

jimy: Sep 17th 2007; 5:47PM

Joystiq, do you plan on making a limit of how many comments a user can make for each post?

If not, you should.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler).: Sep 17th 2007; 5:51PM

OK I will shut up,Jeez just say it.

Bigfoot: Sep 17th 2007; 5:50PM

Must be nice to just throw around that kind of money.

Ranko: Sep 17th 2007; 6:06PM

I would spend my money on race cars, lasers, aeroplanes.

Geist: Sep 18th 2007; 12:33PM

But you're not here in Duckburg, are you?

Shagittarius: Sep 17th 2007; 6:24PM

Maybe he can buy his first blowjob?

Marty: Sep 17th 2007; 6:34PM

Best... comment... ever!

CanadianZero: Sep 17th 2007; 9:50PM

so true.

Marty: Sep 17th 2007; 6:33PM

But... if it's in the news, doesn't Blizzard know about it? And if Blizzard knows about it, doesn't that mean that the account gets... deleted? Heh.

Cabcru: Sep 17th 2007; 6:43PM

We should raise a glass to all the people stupid enough to buy online characters, and to those especially stupid who then tell everyone about it...

Keits: Sep 17th 2007; 7:16PM

Wow Joystiq. Thats pretty cold. :-/

konchu: Sep 17th 2007; 7:33PM

Man to broadcast the sale like this is silly I mean tell your friends fine but not the entire internet. I personally think its silly to spend that kind of money cause really as soon as The Frozen Throne comes out or even a few arena seasons come out it will be outdated. I suppose you could use that gear to stay ahead of the curve for a little bit but will this buyer have the skills needed to work with a raiding guild to keep it up? Only time will tell if they even have time to enjoy it that long.

derrickgott007: Sep 17th 2007; 7:34PM

What a complete tool and I feel dumber just knowing that people would pay that much for a game character....MORON!!!

J-Guy: Sep 17th 2007; 8:11PM

And thus, Western Civilization crumbles as every person who reads this article will die from the non-stop laughter caused by this transaction.

BPM: Sep 17th 2007; 9:09PM

Our Russian brides are 100% guaranteed not KGB spies!

OnimushaSoki: Sep 18th 2007; 12:18PM

LoL I'd buy that for a dollar

in23h: Sep 17th 2007; 9:14PM

i have that statue of scrooge in my room! :)

Trowble: Sep 17th 2007; 10:03PM

If you play WoW, you should stick with a Russian mail-order bride. End of story.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

Silent Hill: Homecoming brings home several videos Learn about Rise of the Argonauts in this video interview SOCOM Confrontation: new screens showcase action, UI	Hybrid Theory: Death Knight distress Around Azeroth: Tastes like burning Breakfast Topic: How does a raiding guild avoid the fate of Death and Taxes?
HouseMarque's XBLA game: Golf Tee it Up Frank O'Connor leaves Bungie for more Halos Community Content: Back at Blackout Edition	Wii Warm Up: Rock Band, you don't have to put on that red light Headache de Amigo: busy screenshots, possible maracas Dr Mario: Take ten of these screenshots in the morning
DS Daily: The pretty colors

Breaking News »