diff --git a/src/server/game/Server/WorldSession.cpp b/src/server/game/Server/WorldSession.cpp
index f209dc334..7fb45d33d 100644
--- a/src/server/game/Server/WorldSession.cpp
+++ b/src/server/game/Server/WorldSession.cpp
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ bool WorldSession::Update(uint32 diff, PacketFilter& updater)
         
         /// If necessary, kick the player because the client didn't send anything for too long
         /// (or they've been idling in character select)
-        if (IsConnectionIdle())
+        if (sWorld->getBoolConfig(CONFIG_CLOSE_IDLE_CONNECTIONS) && IsConnectionIdle())
             m_Socket->CloseSocket();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/server/game/World/World.cpp b/src/server/game/World/World.cpp
index 768616e40..27797c0a2 100644
--- a/src/server/game/World/World.cpp
+++ b/src/server/game/World/World.cpp
@@ -689,6 +689,7 @@ void World::LoadConfigSettings(bool reload)
     else
         m_int_configs[CONFIG_PORT_WORLD] = sConfigMgr->GetIntDefault("WorldServerPort", 8085);
 
+    m_bool_configs[CONFIG_CLOSE_IDLE_CONNECTIONS] = sConfigMgr->GetBoolDefault("CloseIdleConnections", true);
     m_int_configs[CONFIG_SOCKET_TIMEOUTTIME] = sConfigMgr->GetIntDefault("SocketTimeOutTime", 900000);
     m_int_configs[CONFIG_SOCKET_TIMEOUTTIME_ACTIVE] = sConfigMgr->GetIntDefault("SocketTimeOutTimeActive", 60000);
     m_int_configs[CONFIG_SESSION_ADD_DELAY] = sConfigMgr->GetIntDefault("SessionAddDelay", 10000);
diff --git a/src/server/game/World/World.h b/src/server/game/World/World.h
index a6d37e25f..7e4843d98 100644
--- a/src/server/game/World/World.h
+++ b/src/server/game/World/World.h
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ enum WorldBoolConfigs
     CONFIG_CALCULATE_CREATURE_ZONE_AREA_DATA,
     CONFIG_CALCULATE_GAMEOBJECT_ZONE_AREA_DATA,
     CONFIG_CHECK_GOBJECT_LOS,
+    CONFIG_CLOSE_IDLE_CONNECTIONS,
     BOOL_CONFIG_VALUE_COUNT
 };
 
diff --git a/src/server/worldserver/worldserver.conf.dist b/src/server/worldserver/worldserver.conf.dist
index 81815f97f..35ecb8494 100644
--- a/src/server/worldserver/worldserver.conf.dist
+++ b/src/server/worldserver/worldserver.conf.dist
@@ -212,6 +212,15 @@ MaxOverspeedPings = 2
 
 GridUnload = 1
 
+#
+#    CloseIdleConnections
+#        Description: Automatically close idle connections.
+#                     SocketTimeOutTime and SocketTimeOutTimeActive determine when a connection is considered as idle.
+#        Default:     1 - (enable, Automatically close idle connections)
+#                     0 - (disable, Do not close idle connections)
+
+CloseIdleConnections = 1
+
 #
 #    SocketTimeOutTime
 #        Description: Time (in milliseconds) after which a connection being idle on the character