The practice of buying or selling gold in World of Warcraft is seen as highly controversial.[88] On February 21, 2008, Blizzard released an article describing the effects and consequences of buying gold. In it, it describes that an "alarmingly high" proportion of all gold bought originates from hacked accounts (see Account security, earlier).

  The article also states that customers who have paid for character levelling services find their accounts hacked into months later, with all items stripped and sold off for virtual gold. The article concludes by mentioning that these companies often use "disruptive hacks ... which can cause realm performance and stability issues". As characters progress in World of Warcraft and take on some of the toughest challenges, many of the rewards received are bound to that character and cannot be traded, generating a market for the trading of accounts with well-equipped characters. The highest noted World of Warcraft account trade was for £5000 (7000 euros, $9,937.49USD) in early September 2007
   In addition to playing the game itself and conversing on discussion forums provided by Blizzard, World of Warcraft players often participate in the World of Warcraft virtual community in creative ways, including fan artwork and comic strip style storytelling.Another popular phenomenon in the community are machinima videos such as the one starring a player named Leeroy Jenkins, showing him and his guild in a staged comedic encounter. Leeroy's popularity inspired more videos and tributes in other games, and he was even part of a clue on the November 16, 2005 episode of the TV game show College Jeopardy!.