Blizzard has introduced a Temporary Economy Hold system in World of Warcraft: Forever, aimed at stopping gold bought with real money from entering the game's economy, Wowhead reported.
Under the system, an account suspected of involvement in real-money trading (RMT), whether selling gold or receiving illicit gains, can be placed under a hold that restricts its use of trading, mail, guild banks and the Auction House while the hold is in place. Blizzard said some players had already started to encounter the restriction.
Our aim with this new system is to aggressively shut down the flow of suspicious gold before it has been transferred or put into circulation into the economy, while providing us the time needed to investigate more thoroughly.
Blizzard said players who play normally are unlikely ever to see the restriction. A hold is either removed automatically once the activity that triggered it has been investigated and found not to be RMT, or followed by account action if the account is found to have been involved.
The developer acknowledged that the system is new and may produce false positives while it is fine-tuned, but said a hold on its own leaves no permanent strike on an account unless RMT involvement is later proven. Blizzard also said the systems will be deployed to all versions of World of Warcraft if they prove successful.