World of Warcraft players know that the game has long been plagued with sales of in-game gold. It came to light in late 2016 that Trump’s campaign manager, Steve Bannon, was heavily invested in one such blight on the game. It just proves that one should always be careful where they spend their hard-earned cash
Old McBannon Had a WoW Gold Farm – Ee I Ee I O
In 2006, Bannon was hired by “IGE”, or Internet Gaming Entertainment, with the express purpose of bringing in venture capital for a WoW gold farming business. Bannon leveraged his connections to former employer Goldman-Sachs that invested $60 million in the company.
Gamers have questioned the selling of pixel items for real world dollars since sales of such began early MMO history. While Blizzard has been zealous about protecting WoW, it did not file any type of action against IGE. One player, however, started a class action lawsuit that ultimately brought down the company.
As a result of the court action, IGE sold off the farm and rebranded itself “Affinity Media“. The company now runs a variety of MMO-themed community message boards. Bannon remained on board as CEO until he landed at Breitbart News. He stayed there until he started as Trump’s campaign manager. Bannon now holds sway over the White House as Assistant to the President & Chief Strategist.
What We Think
Sometimes the best response is a lip curl.
Source: Mother Jones & PCGamesN
William Murphy
On one hand I’m like “Oh cool, he played WoW.” Then I’m thinking… dammit, he’s also the scum of Azeroth.
Christopher Coke
I think it fits. I mean – from one evil empire to another, right?
Robert Lashley
Now Blizzard does it to themselves. Sounds like a trendsetter to me.