devtrackers.gg
BIG UPDATE: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/113068-art-commissions-for-gold/?tab=comments#comment-1633107
We've received some questions about this today based on an official response given through Support, and so we want to clarify that our policies on real-money trading as laid out in the Terms of Service and Code of Conduct have not changed at all. We have no intention of banning people just for advertising services like these.
However, we have no way to identify why you’re trading in-game currency with other players, and that means we can’t guarantee that if you’re making a large number of high value gold trades to other players that you will not be identified by our anti-RMT measures as engaging in potential RMT activity. We also can’t take action against any players who scam you out of currency or services you’ve arranged with them when you make out of game trades. For those reasons, this isn't something we can give our official stamp of approval to, and you are doing it at your own risk.
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"Players are not allowed to purchase something out of the game for in-game gold, or items, and vise-versa." This enforcement won't be applied retroactively.
What does this mean? The biggest impact on this is that you'll no longer be able to exchange gold for art commissions, something that has been going on for 10 years and that even ArenaNet partners have participated in.
It's been a long-standing way for players with wealth to give (virtual) patronage to artists, which helps grow the game further because of the effectiveness of art as an advertisement. ArenaNet even knows the value of commissioned art given how much fanart of the game they commission from various artists, so it appears they actually have a budget set aside for that purpose.
I really hope this decision is overturned.
Source?
The source can't be posted as per ArenaNet's policy about not screenshotting GM tickets. However, it's been confirmed by multiple server admins of large trading and art Discords.
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