Terms of Service and Pay to win with Powerleveling service provided on marketplace

Here is a link to a market place post of someone selling XP for real money that's been going on since Oct 2017.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...-forms-of-payment-in-post.101589/#post-932408

Here is the link to Terms of Service that specifically says that this behavior is against the terms.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=47863

In case you don't want to read the whole thing, here is the part about power-leveling,

Third Bullet point under:

You agree that you will not, under any circumstances

(c) performing in-game services in exchange for payment outside the Game, e.g., power-leveling; or (d) participation in the trade of items gained through the means listed above, or any other means violating this agreement.

Where is the line drawn here. New player can come into the game and park their toon outside the monkey room and exploit the fact the monkeys can't hit, but still be in range for xp and do absolutely nothing with no risk of death to their character, while the service provider/high level toon receives $15 per hour and in return the payee gets 1 Million xp (1 Million Xp, not gold or items or gear or any other digital item, but Experience Points) while the high level player does all the heavy lifting. Why isn't Portal just capitalizing on this and selling obsidian potions that give a million xp per swig for $15 and cutting out the middle man. Am I missing something here? This smells a great deal like pay to win, and I didn't think Shroud was going that route.

If this is ok, it will be time to start up my own service. Could charge $10 an hour and still make good money. Forget mining gold or selling gold for real money, power-leveling is where it's at, gaining xp and being payed to do it while someone mooches a little off me for real money, Inconceivable! Time to start a power leveling business.

Would like to see how the developers justify this pay to win activity. Even if it's not a violation of the Terms of Service someone with $15 can pay a person to level their character without contributing to the actual xp gain with Zero risk to their character during the xp gain and get ahead by 1 Million XP over a person without $15 or someone unwilling to pay $15 to gain the xp.

In many of our eyes portal you're selling the xp yourself right from the store, because it's on your market place and apparently Berek is condoning it. You've given anyone with money the chance to be just as powerful as the person offering the service just by paying money. Terms of service or not, exploit or not it's still Pay to WIN.

 

And how exactly is that affecting YOUR gameplay?

Yes, yes you could, so be thankful and do so, or quit crapping on someone else's dream

How is this any different than the gold selling business, or the artifact selling business, or the lot deed selling business etc, when it has zero effect on what YOU can enjoy and do in the game?

 

Wrong, it says specifically you can't exploit the game for this purposes, you quoted just half of the text.

Exploit the Game or any of its parts, including without limitation the Game Client, for any commercial purpose, including without limitation (a) use at a cyber cafe, computer gaming center or any other location-based site; (b) for gathering in-game virtual, items or resources for sale outside the Game; or (c) performing in-game services in exchange for payment outside the Game, e.g., power-leveling; or (d) participation in the trade of items gained through the means listed above, or any other means violating this agreement.

 

It's different in that he's not selling gold or items he is selling Experience Points for Real Money/commercial purpose: (According to 18 USCS § 31, term "used for commercial purposes" means the carriage of persons or property for any fare, fee, rate, charge or other consideration, or directly or indirectly in connection with any business, or other undertaking intended for profit.). You cannot buy experience points in game with gold or items. He is using a line of sight exploit to make real money selling xp to power-level people. Even if he took gold instead of Money someone could just buy gold off the Market Place and still pay him for XP. You can pay him $15 to level your character in a location that has zero risk for experience point gain. What's the difference in portal selling the xp and the seller selling xp?

Since when is buying XP not pay to win especially if Portal Condones the transactions on their own market place? With this method any new player could come into the game and be brought to a level of existing players with zero risk without actually putting forth any effort other than putting a charge on their Paypal account. Just go to dance parties for fun and when you're AFK pay someone to level your toon outside the monkey room in KRUL and come back later and have a million xp without actually having done anything. Gain adventure levels by giving someone money. Get leveled to the point of being able to solo the monkey room yourself without ever once doing any work.

Portal is condoning and allowing pay to win, since xp actually allows character progression and level gain.

 

Can't post right now, to busy making millions of dollars .

 

1. I just read the new agreement, should I pull my post down or do you pull it down?
   
   
   
2. BerekSenior Community ManagerModeratorSOTA Developer[/paste:font]
   Hi Mac2,
   
   Could you point me to where we have the policy of concern, and where your post is that you are worried about? I'll check it out.
   
   Thanks!
   Berek
   
   Berek, Feb 2, 2017Report
   Quote
   miss reading this. This part here.
3. 
   
   Exploit the Game or any of its parts, including without limitation the Game Client, for any commercial purpose, including without limitation (a) use at a cyber cafe, computer gaming center or any other location-based site; (b) for gathering in-game virtual, items or resources for sale outside the Game; or (c) performing in-game services in exchange for payment outside the Game, e.g., power-leveling; or (d) participation in the trade of items gained through the means listed above, or any other means violating this agreement.
   
   I thought this meant I could not sell exp/ power level for money no more. If this does not pertain to the service I provide, forget I said anything, and thanks for the response.
   
   Mac2, Feb 2, 2017Report
   Quote
   
   
4. BerekSenior Community ManagerModeratorSOTA Developer[/paste:font]
   
   I don't think that's exploiting the game in the sense of what we are trying to get at here. We're talking about hacking the client, using bots, trying to circumvent normal gameplay, or specifically trying to make money outside the game. You should be ok!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   happy now? Does this settle this now?

 

Seems legit to me.

 

once again the problem is in the fact that you are not reading the first part . Exploit the Game or any of its parts, including without limitation the Game Client. anything after that is referring to "exploiting" SO... if you playing as intended this is not a problem ...

 

Sure does this means Portalarium condones Pay to Win even if they're not selling it themselves. Good to know. The new trusted trader of Experience points look out Markee Dragon new power leveling service in town. So how do you actually confirm they received 1 Million xp and what do you do if they say otherwise? Do you require they post a screen shot of their xp before and after the hour? Can they train skills while they wait outside the Monkey room in Krul and while you gain xp for them? Do you give them a rain check or IOU if you have to leave in the middle of the hour for some reason or another? Do you offer a partial refund if they don't get the full 1 million in under an hour? What sort of rules or regulations are in place to moderate these sort of Experience point transactions? If someone is a new player and they have no forum posts and you cheat them out of their money and they complain on the forums, who will believe them?

 

Caveat Emptor.

 

How is earning xp for someone by exploiting a game mechanic, killing stuff on the other side of a wall staying within the 40m xp eligibility range with zero risk to that person paying for the xp without actually contributing to it's actual gain not pay to win or power-leveling? Exploit Definition: to utilize, especially for profit or (in a video game) the use of a bug or flaw in game design to a player’s advantage or to the disadvantage of other players.

 

You guys dont understand, if you are playing the game SPECIFICALLY to sell stuff or make money, you are EXPLOITING the game because you arent using it the way its meant to be used. Exploiting the game simply means that you are doing something that ISNT INTENDED, e.g.: power leveling for money is exploiting the game for commercial purposes. You dont need to hack anything for something to be an exploit.

Same goes for selling items from the game. You can do that all day for whatever you want. But IF you are playing the game to SPECIFICALLY sell items for money, you are exploiting the game for commercial purposes and are in breach of the agreement you made with Portalarium when you agreed to the terms of service. End of discussion. Good luck proving anything though. THat is why nothing happens, the ToS is just a wet noodle.

Berek is 100% right. Notice the use of the word "specifically", maybe you should of filled him in on the fact that you are doing it for 15$/hour.

my 2 cents.

 

Thanks for spelling it out better than I could.

 

LMAO, ok, well, I guess I will just listen to berek telling me it was ok, For some reason, I think he has more authority and knowledge then you guys do on this issue.

 

lesigh

 

Pay to win just give Mac $15 and he gives you xp.

 

For you guys, 45$

 

$5, but I take $2 for business cards made, another 1$ use of my band name, and $2 just because I say so and I am the boss. Now, your fired, get out of my office.

 

You should reread it, he charges 15 per million. Need me to quote it?