World of Warcraft: Forever players want a streamer banned for accepting hundreds of gold from strangers, but Blizzard only took the gold back.
The streamer in question, Mohamed “Ziqo” Beshir, accepted the trades barely a week after Blizzard warned that gold buyers risked permanent bans, and with a $100,000 dueling tournament set to begin on October 17, critics argued the windfall bought him a head start.
WoW Forever players call for Ziqo ban over gifted gold
Clips from Ziqo’s stream showed a level one character trading him 380 gold, a huge sum in a beta that had been live for less than two weeks, before a second level one character named El Delivery handed over another 175. Ziqo remarked on stream that the gold couldn’t have been earned naturally, then accepted both trades anyway.
On September 28, community manager Kaivax posted on the official forums that Blizzard would increasingly act against buyers as well as sellers, which could mean removing illicit gold or closing accounts. The post didn’t name Ziqo, but it warned that recipients who “knew or should-have-known” the gold was illegitimate could face account action too.
Blizzard then wiped the gold from Ziqo’s mage, including gold he had farmed himself, and left him with nine silver. On ZNN, he confirmed the studio “did sweep up all my gold on that mage,” although his other characters kept their gold and his account received no ban or suspension.
That outcome fuelled anger on the WoW Classic subreddit, where players accused Blizzard of a double standard. One Reddit user argued “Yeah the fact that you can get perm banned for buying gold but streamers can “accept donations” is coo coo bananas” while another pointed out that “Blizz should step in and stop this before it snowballs into live.”
On the official forums, others pushed for permanent bans on anyone caught in real-money trades and asked Blizzard to make an example of streamers.
Some players also called on the tournament’s organisers to bar Ziqo entirely. The Forever Open Tournament is run by Tips Out, Xaryu and Esfand (not Blizzard), and it started with a $50,000 prize pool before TimTheTatman matched the pledge. One forum post argued that gifted gold lets streamers level professions and buy materials and consumables straight from the auction house, which other entrants would have to farm themselves.
Blizzard hasn’t said whether it will take further action against Ziqo’s account. The $60 beta runs until October 21, and WoW Forever launches in full on November 4. The gold dispute is the latest enforcement flashpoint in the beta, which also saw Blizzard pull access from players with offensive character names last week.
