Gold Farming is NOT Farming for Gold, this is just one of the world of warcraft gold secrets that eludes the new players.

Some World of Warcraft players who are new to the game have been confused by the terms gold farming and farming for gold. When you farm for gold you are collecting items off of creatures you kill, mine or otherwise collect so you can take it and make in-game money from it. You make your money when you sell the item, trade it to another player, use it as a component in an item or turn it into something perfectly different. This is the best method for getting rich if you want to level your crafting or gathering professions, while still making a respectable amount of gold.

When someone gets a bunch of gold in the game, and then tries to sell it for cold, hard, cash in the real world they are gold farming. They usually send “whispers” to low level characters in the hopes that these people will be new to the game, and not know this is an illegal practice that will get them banned permanently from WoW. These people don’t care about playing World of Warcraft other than to make money off of greedy or gullible players.

More players are now using AddOns that automatically filter these whispers out and report the violator directly to a Game Master (GM). Players can always use the “report spam” button to report this activity to a GM as well. Illegal farmers also sell gold on websites. Doing this is a direct violation of the game’s terms of service, since all gear, loot, and currency are owned by Blizzard.

Gold farming is illegal, puts unsuspecting new players at risk of being banned from the game and is looked down on as a greedy use for playing WoW by most gamers. Farming for gold is how you bring up your character’s profession skills, gets you able to buy better gear, mounts and companion pets. It keeps you in good standing with other players of World of Warcraft and won’t put you at risk of being forever banned from the game. Farming for gold…good. Gold farming…very, very bad.