Gold farmer turns WoW gold into real gold, loses it, sues
Posted on 23.2.11 by Jas Purewal
Adelaide Now reports that Kristina Fincham was a (clearly successful) gold farmer in WoW who sold in-game gold to players in return for substantial profits. She then decided to convert the profits from the WoW gold into real-world gold bullion. [EDIT: as Daniel points out in the comments below, gold prices are doing well at the moment, which is a good reason to buy gold atm]
The bullion was allegedly stolen from her home in March 2008. She is now suing her insurer, AAMI, for failing to reimburse her for that theft. AAMI's response appears to be that the theft was staged by Fincham and therefore it has no obligation to pay her. They said "Ms Fincham was not covered for any loss caused by, or arising from, fraud or fraudulent means used by her or anyone acting on her behalf". Trial is set for May 2011.
THOUGHTS:
So this Australian woman farmed WoW gold, turned it into real gold and then allegedly faked its theft? Good grief.
I'm afraid this case sets no new legal precedents, since the fact she was a WoW gold farmer does not appear to be an issue. The real issue is what happened to the gold bullion. Still, the whole case seems so mad, I had to blog about it!
Of course, this would be a lot a more interesting if she had tried to insure the gold that she farmed from WoW, but I suspect we're some distance from that kind of thing yet...
(NB Adelaide Now reports that this case could be the first case to recount in-game WoW events in a trial. That's not right - it's happened many times before, such as in the WoW Glider case.)
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2 Response to "Gold farmer turns WoW gold into real gold, loses it, sues"
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Daniel M. Ryan Says....Look at a ten-year chart for gold and you'll find the reason. There's one here (in US$):
http://www.goldprice.org/gold-price-history.html#10_year_gold_price
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Jas Purewal Says....@Daniel - thanks, that's a fair point. Have amended the post!
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