Nobody wants to get in the way of a hardcore gaming addict. The last thing an addicted user needs to know is their account has been hacked, their weapons and armor have been sold and all of their money is gone.
World of Warcraft is a timeless classic, timeless because you can play it forever, and classic because it’s now going on 4-years old. This MMORPG, like all MMO’s, is account based and your account describes everything about you, your gaming habits and your character traits. It’s the next greatest bundle of important riches aside from your bank account. Shouldn’t it be just as secure?
For a mere €6.00 (or USD $9.46) you can purchase this international electronic device which allows you to press a button to get a secret key to login; the key code is only good for one use so the owner of the device is the only one whom can login to the account.
This system is similar to the PayPal device or some Government Contractor remote login accounts for working from home.
The device is not yet available, but shall be showing up in the “near future.” If you’re a WoW player, consider this because $9.00 is a great piece of mind for hundreds of hours of grinding safety.
PARIS, France. June 26, 2008 — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today introduced an optional extra layer of security for World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Designed to attach to a keychain, the lightweight and waterproof Blizzard® Authenticator is an electronic device that generates a six-digit security code at the press of a button. This code is unique, valid only once, and active for a limited time; it must be provided along with the account name and password when signing in to the World of Warcraft account linked to it.
This optional security measure will be available for a cost of €6.00 at the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational, which takes place June 28-29 in Paris, France. In addition, the Blizzard Authenticator will be made available for purchase via Blizzard Entertainment’s European websites in the near future for a cost of €6.00 plus shipping.
“It’s important to us that World of Warcraft offers a safe and enjoyable game environment,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “One aspect of that is helping players avoid account compromise, so we’re pleased to make this additional layer of security available to them.”
To learn more about the Blizzard Authenticator, please visit http://eu.blizzard.com/security-token/.
There are many World of Warcraft players who basically play half their game in the auction house. I personally know of a gamer who has made thousands of gold pieces buying and selling there (*cough* Derrick). The only problem these people have is that they only have so many hours in the day to log in to World of Warcraft to run auction house sessions.