Secret wars. We all fight them occasionally. And just like when Dr. Doom fought the Beyonder and temporarily stole his powers, or when Chuck Norris continued to roundhouse kick his way through Vietnam well into the ’80s, recently, the editors of PC Gamer have been embroiled in a secret battle of our very own. The enemy? MMO Gold Farmers.

Lately, 'gold farming' companies such as IGE and Power Leveling — companies whose business is the accumulation and (potentially illicit) real-world sale of virtual MMO property, including gold, in-game items, and characters — have begun running ads in magazines like ours.

For the record, PC Gamer’s official stance on these types of companies is that they are despicable: not only do they brazenly break many MMOs’ End-User License Agreements, but they all-too-often ruin legitimate players’ fun.