Blizzard Entertainment announced that it will not allow GDKP runs in 'World of Warcraft: Forever'. The developer also plans to tighten penalties for gold buyers and actively monitor the in-game economy. This policy was revealed during a 'World of Warcraft' developer Q&A held on September 17 (local time).
GDKP is a system where players bid in-game currency, gold, on equipment dropped in raids—groups formed by multiple players to defeat bosses. For instance, if a 10-player raid team slays a boss and gets a weapon drop, members who want the weapon bid gold for it. The raid member who bids the highest price, such as 1,000 gold, wins the weapon, and the winning bid of 1,000 gold goes into the raid pot. If an equal split was agreed upon, all 10 members, including the winning bidder, receive 100 gold each. This means even those who did not get any gear receive a share of the gold. The actual distribution recipients and proportions vary from raid to raid. Blizzard developer Josh Greenfield stated that GDKP runs will not be allowed in 'Forever'.
The primary reason Greenfield cited is the guild-centered social experience. He explained that if GDKP becomes the standard method for running raids, it could displace the traditional structure where guilds assemble raid parties and share loot together. While players with abundant gold can bid high amounts for desired gear, new players must first secure gold just to place bids. The developers noted that this could lead new players to buy gold from third-party sources to join GDKP runs.
The money used in GDKP runs is in-game gold, but purchasing gold from external sellers with real money constitutes a separate real-money transaction. Greenfield explained that once gold bought with real money circulates through GDKP runs to multiple participants, tracking down and reclaiming that gold becomes difficult, even if buyers, sellers, and bot accounts are penalized. The development team plans to actively monitor the economy in 'Forever' and adjust the supply of materials and consumables.
Blizzard also expressed a firm intent to penalize gold buyers strictly going forward. Greenfield admitted that past enforcement had been lenient and that penalties were easy for some to evade. He warned players against buying gold, stating that even long-established accounts could be permanently lost.
How this policy will be enforced for the Korean service has not yet been confirmed. Trading gold for real money is already subject to penalties under existing terms of service in Korea as well.
