Is power leveling really ruining the game?

Hey fellow gamers!
I was spending my work day browsing youtube (employee of the month?) and I came across this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qlZNsgYwrM . The video in itself is not what I want to discuss, but I you watch it you’ll that it touches an interesting topic.
Many of the hardcore gamers seems to think that power leveling etc ruins the game since it enables people to “cheat”. But the more I think about it, the more I believe that that’s wrong. I understand that people might think it’s unfair to buy gold, but power leveling? No!
Power leveling is simply a form of time management. It’s not like people won’t be able to reach lvl 80, it’s just that they’d have to spend more time. I guess that the same could be said about buying gold, but that has effects on the virtual economy, which power leveling doesn’t. So, I actually think that it’s good that power leveling companies exists so that people have to opportunity to manage their time like the mom in the video did for her son. WoW is a game, so people should be able to play it however they want as long as it doesn’t affect other peoples gaming experience. I even think it’s ok to buy gear as long as it’s for pve cus all that does is to give other players a better chance to find a good enough geared dps/tank/healers to pug with . I do however understand that it might remove the sense of accomplishment if other people starts to go out and just pay for the gear instead of putting in the time, but people should still be able to play the game however they want to!

 

No, it has no effect. Leveling to the max level is ~2 weeks, so many people have gotten to 80 this fast that changing it isn't doable. :|

 

You said that power leveling does not affect the virtual economy. I does to a certain extent. With more level 80s and more and more gold being obtained through leveling to 80 it creates more demand for gear because of a surge in new endgame toons, and puts more gold into the economy.

With ever new level 80 there is thousands of gold to be spent/made getting their proffesions up which in turn boosts the demand for certain items.