All's fair in Love and Warcraft

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Hook-ups, break-ups, and sex for gold exposed

A few weeks ago, an as-yet-unnamed Night Elf Druid from the Laughing Skull server posted an ad on Craigslist prostituting herself for an epic flying mount. It was suggested that in exchange for the 5000 gold needed for her epic flying mount, the donor could mount her.

"Make sure to send a picture of yourself and a screenshot of the 5000 gold!" she writes. "I play a 70 night elf druid and would prefer someone who was into roleplaying (I have a costume!) but honestly anyone will do as long as you have the gold."

Don't bother trying to find the original Craigslist post or threads on the WoW forums. They've all been torn down since then. But seeing the oldest profession rear its head in today's modern MMO landscape got us thinking about how the line between real life attachments and the fantasy world of WoW has been blurred. The above case clearly illustrates how much some are willing to sacrifice (or score) for virtual goods.

Everyone has stories about online romances - the good, the bad and the ugly. We have seen people '/gquit,' guilds split, and some fairly heated exchanges that have had 30 people involved and picking sides. Some days we wonder if guilds, like modern businesses, should have a "love contract" players have to sign that says if the relationship goes bad they can't take the guild down with them, because for every happily-ever-after online romance, there's five "left the wife and the kids and went halfway across the world to meet someone who doesn't actually look like a night elf and then broke up" episodes.