Blizzard's World of Warcraft recently saw a small update that prohibits players using free trial accounts from inviting people into their groups, thus removing their ability to spam people with advertisements.
The huge population in World of Warcraft has made it a profitable venue for spammers. The latest tactic involved creating thousands of low-level characters on these trial accounts who would invite unsuspecting players into parties where they would be inundated with repetitive, unending verbal ads for everything from virtual gold and item sales to "mal3 enhanc3ment."
Blizzard's response, while undoubtedly effective, will do nothing to stem the tide of spammers using the "/yell" command to shout their ads across public channels. It will however, prohibit people on trial accounts -- those most likely to need assistance from more experienced players -- from using the game's most helpful social tool, the party system.
Then again, since these are free accounts, it seems to be a case of gamers getting what they (did not) pay for.
Trial Account Limitation Changes [World of Warcraft Official Forums, via WarCry Network]
