Steve Bannon Used To Run a World of Warcraft Gold Farming Company

Steve Bannon appears to have walked a different life before joining Trump’s administration as a member of the National Security Council. True to his reputation of being shady and horrible, Bannon previously served as CEO of a World of Warcraft gold farming company. This might not seem so bad at first glance, but WoW gold farmers are often from third world countries and are paid slave wages (think, 50 cents an hour) to grind currency to sell to lazy players that want new gear without the grind. Gold farmers are also often associated with horrible practices like account hacking in order to make amassing sellable gold that much easier.

The gold farming industry is universally frowned upon by game developers as well as the vast majority of players and often violates the terms of service of many online games. This doesn’t keep business from booming, however, as many gamers who desire a shortcut disregard the risks and make the purchase anyway. Games like World of Warcraft have done their best to curb the growth of the industry by banning players associated with gold farming and adding the “legal” way to buy gold via the WoW token, but it still doesn’t stop the companies that are able to offer more gold for less money due to the abysmal treatment of their workers.

Steve Bannon became involved in the practice when he was recruited by IGE, one of the largest players in the industry. Bannon was hired to convince his friends at Goldman Sachs to invest in the company, which they did to the tune of 60 million dollars. He served as CEO until 2011 when he joined the alt-right news site, Breitbart.