Popular Twitch streamer, Asmongold, talks about his recent ban in World of Warcraft on a YouTube video, calling it an obvious mistake by Blizzard. The most-watched Twitch streamer in June got a one-month suspension for real-money transactions in WoW. He doesn't take it very seriously, though, and for a good reason.
Asmongold, who came to prominence in World of Warcraft, was issued a temporary ban by Blizzard earlier this week. The streamer was surprised to find his account locked, but called it "a glorious day." In his YouTube clip, Asmongold thanks Blizzard for banning him and doesn't seem too worried about the consequences. That is until he realizes that this might result in him losing a Gladiator mount if he indeed broke the rules. Even then, the gaming star continued, rather light-heartedly, since he would have no reason to break the rules.
The suspension email suggested that Asmongold had used real money transactions (RMT) to either buy or sell game content for real money. The email also said that the company doesn't take suspensions lightly, and they only take action after a careful review of the evidence. According to the email, the support staff won't respond to appeals or overturn penalties. After joking about the situation, Asmongold explicitly denied doing RMT. He went on to explain how preposterous it would be for a massively popular streamer, content creator, and part owner of the gaming organization One True King to cheat with RMT. According to the video, he was confused why Blizzard had him banned but not the ones he was allegedly cheating with. Asmongold got quickly unbanned by Blizzard, but that did not stop him from commenting on the issue.
According to Asmongold, Blizzard has recently been banning players en masse, often without clear proof. These include some high-profile creators and gamers, like the professional World of Warcraft players Maldiva, Whaazz, and Jellybeans. This might be due to Blizzard's aggressive stance towards cheating with automated systems implemented ahead of the World of Warcraft: Dragonflight release that results in too many false positives.
Asmongold also pointed out what the issue with real money transactions is to the game developer. The streamer noted that you can buy in-game rewards and content as long as you do it with in-game money. However, one can simply buy in-game money with real money using WoW Tokens, and in turn trade those to another player. If done this way, the company gets a cut and has no issues with it. Players can buy WoW Tokens for $20 and turn them into gold by selling them in the auction house. Current rates range from just under 200,000 in-game gold to over half a million gold depending on the region.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC, and the Dragonflight expansion is planned to launch later this year.