If you are a dedicated enough World of Warcraft player, you will soon be able to play totally for free… as long as you keep earning gold and purchasing a new type of in-game item.
Blizzard has recently announced the World of Warcraft Token, a new item that can be purchased with real money and then sold on the in game auction house. The token can be redeemed for 30 days of game time.
This is an interesting way to both allow players to purchase in-game gold, and to allow players to play the game without investing real money. Here is how it works. The player who wants to buy in-game gold with real money buys tokens. He then lists those tokens for sale on the auction house. The token selling process will force him to sell it at a price dictated by supply and demand. Tokens aren’t auctioned, just bought outright. So the player looking to feed his habit without spending real world money purchases the token. As a result, one player has spent real world money for in-game currency, and another has spent in-game currency for real world play time. Everybody wins!
It’s also worth noting that tokens cannot be resold once purchased on the auction house. This is to avoid letting players buy low and sell high, making a profit on the token itself.
Source: Blizzard