Gold farming, or the practice of collecting virtual credit and items to then sell, is an issue that has now been handed over to the Blizzard legal team in view to possible lawsuits.

eBay announced a few weeks back that it would stop listing items collected in MMOs so now Blizzard are hoping to cut the farmers off at source.

Gold farming is a big business in the far east where labour is cheap and sweatshops have been set up to accumulate items that are then sold for real money.

Companies that run virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft, Ultima Online, and Final Fantasy XI have closed accounts before, and reclaimed virtual credit, however now Blizzard has taken a further step.

A Blizzard staff member has reported, "Blizzard has filed a federal lawsuit against the operators of Peons4hire, a popular gold-selling organization which many of you have no doubt seen advertised”.

“As part of the lawsuit, the operators of Peons4hire have been asked to immediately cease all in-game spamming efforts by all entities and websites under their control."