I dont usually post in forums but this is very close to my heart.  I am no spring chicken and remember the days when hacking on a commadore 64 was fun.  I have been playing on-line games since ultima online and currently play 2 titlles and beta test 2.

My friends and family call me a professional gamer as illness restricts me to my home.  I have 2 computers one is for gaming only and one is for surfing and genersl computer stuff. They are never on the net at the same time and live behind a significant firewall. 

I have never been hacked in over 20 years that was until the beginning of this year.  I was playing a popular game and my 6 Characters were at 50 with alot of crafted and huge currency reserves.  In simple terms I was rich.  My favorite part of any game is playing the market buying low selling high.

The enevitable happened .  I was accusedby the company of going to Rmt sites of being a gold farmer etc etc.  What annoyed me was at no time was the company ever going to admit they were wrong or negligent. It is all the players fault.....would be interesting to have a class action on that 

If I have money in a bank and i leave the bank details lying around then I would be to blame if i had money stolen but if a bank gets robbed I dont think it is my fault at all. To cut a long story short  I tracked the hacker to find the isp was in wait for it.........no not china.............no not korea.......no it was the good old  USA.  I spoke with the Isp and they issued a please explain notice to their customer.....I threatened to Sue using a US lawyer

........Received a cheque in the mail in US$.  This took 10 months. 

Although I have no evidence I believe the companies account server was hacked and details taken.  You were forced to use the same login/password for game and web page---i missed that doh!

Whatt has this to do with Wow a company who is very good at restoring accounts and items very quickly but at the same time are very poor bank managers.  The one thing common with all games/sites like this one they ask for your email address.  Then they send an email before it is activated.  How is it then you do not have to confirm via your email that any changes you make to your account are valid or activated until you send a confirmation or some other evidence should your email change. For some reason they just let it all go through without a challenge. This is very bad practice and easily remedied

I have never played WoW yet I get 3 or 4 Spam emails every day  Game currency has a real life value so companies have to be bankers and need to secure accounts and make sure their servers a secure.Players need to take reasonable steps to protect themselves.  Get an IPad for xmas and whilst playing in full screen mode surf for the info you want and never the twain shall meet.  Do not leave your wireless connection open how many I know who do.  Encript all your passwords ---free downloads available.  Have a great xmas/new year wherever in the world you are and I am sure I will hit you or you me in the new year.