Gold seller spamming overworld map zone

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Kara Brae, Aug 15, 2016.

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  1. Drocis the Devious

    Drocis the Devious Avatar

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    Based on my experience in other games, this doesn't happen. The developers are just lazy about it and don't do anything proactively.

    If they spell stuff out in l33t speak then you just adjust your script accordingly. It doesn't catch everyone, it just makes it harder on them to be effective at building awareness of their site. It's like anything you're trying to make more secure, you don't expect to stop everyone from putting up a 6 foot wall, just the people that don't have 7 foot ladders.
     
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  2. Mykll

    Mykll Avatar

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    Ive seen the spammers use all sorts of horrible letter to disguise their spam from the auto-catchers. For the past 10+ years.

    www
    w w w
    w.w.w.
    vvv
    vv vv vv

    And on and on, and that is just some examples for the www part.
     
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  3. Korim Rackham

    Korim Rackham Avatar

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    I can partly understand what your saying, however i personally refuse to give port another $1 of my money until they produce an EP1 that shows that the few dollars i do have pledged wasnt a complete waste. Just to be clear i wont buy gold either, i just dont see the issue with people selling it gold spammer or otherwise, and yes in pretty much every MMO gold selling is considered an illegal activity, however SOTA has made it clear its not an MMO, so not sure how that applies. By the way i consider SOTA an MMO, but everytime i try and hold it to MMO standards i get told its not one.
     
  4. Umuri

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    @Berek -

    It just so happens someone's just put up a pretty good example post I think.
    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...s-10-60-bonus-gold-picture.58879/#post-624217

    Now I know this guy has gotten his gold through the "normal" methods of buy low sell high on the public vendor and grinding up raw materials, I've bought a ton of his raw materials for crafting in the first week and he's been a staple seller on the Owl's head public vendor the past ~6 releases or so, i'm sure a ton of people bought his ores/wood.

    What, if anything, differentiates him from a "gold farmer" from an official perspective?

    EDIT: WOW That got taken down fast. Less than a minute or two. Great response by portalarium. :)
    So to recap his post, he was offering in-game gold for store credit.
    So now we know that's a hard line, which is good.
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2016
  5. Berek

    Berek Portalarian Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    It doesn't, we hid the post and bar anyone from selling gold in this manner on official channels.
     
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  6. Umuri

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    Just to doublecheck, if he had offered it for GCotO's, it would have been alright?
     
  7. Berek

    Berek Portalarian Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    Maybe, it kind of depends on the style and intention of the post. They can write something up and we can evaluate it!
     
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  8. VZ_

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    I didn't know selling gold was a bannable offense. I didn't know spamming in zone was too. Block the player and move on.

    I for one am thrilled gold farming is coming/come. Buy COTOs for what they do in game, buy gold at better exchange rates. Sounds great.
     
  9. 4EverLost

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    Don't you want more improvements to the game though? If you bought the COTOs from Port instead of the gold farmers, thinks it goes into the development pool instead of leaving the game.
     
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  10. Korim Rackham

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    Considering how much they have raised they shouldmt need money for more improvements at this time. Give us a polished EP1 already, and restore consumer confidence, im sure if the EP1 kicked butt was fun, and shut down alot of the concerns they could raise just as much as they already have or more for improvements, EP2 and beyond.
     
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  11. Grave Dragon

    Grave Dragon Avatar

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    Uh, so at what point did anyone say selling gold wasn't allowed in SotA? There is a player marketplace for goodness sake.

    I'm not saying I like it, but this is a scenario Portalarium created with allowances for virtual goods for RL dollar transactions. If I can sell a house, why can't they sell gold?

    Think about it.

    I warned about this a long time ago...

    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ut-on-your-armor-because-theyre-coming.25254/

    ...and I was crucified by people stating portalarium wouldn't let it happen and now, they've created a perfect environment for gold sellers and we are going to ban them for doing what everyone else is doing with houses and lot deeds?

    Shameful.
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2016
  12. Korim Rackham

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    Can you elaborate on this? its clear as mud.

    Whats an appropriate style/intention versus a non appropriate style and intention? I think intentionally having vague answers is not appropriate. Unless of course the policy is case by case, if thats so how do you justify banning one person over another? Hopefully not based on pledge level.
     
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  13. Umuri

    Umuri Avatar

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    Out of curiosity Korim, are you just looking at the big number on the page or actually considering what it would buy?

    From the main site:
    $9,769,768 Raised
    Portalarium's staff size:
    34 on linked-in
    Time game has been in development:
    Kickstarter launched March 8, 2013
    So lets be nice and call it 3.5 years in development so far.

    so 10 million, divided by 3.5 years, is roughly 2.8 million a year, divided among the staff size listed (which is probably low), is only 82k a year.
    that's not counting operating expenses, server rentals, licenses for unity, money for the website, fees for payment processors, etc.

    I think it's not unreasonable to say that for how much they've spent, they've stretched it further than a lot of companies. Yes it's unfortunate the game hasn't delivered yet, but in terms of the time spent on it, the funds are far from plentiful, and they probably know that.
     
  14. Korim Rackham

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    Im looking at the big number, and i believe the math is alot more complicated than your post. But by that logic, we will never see an EP1.
     
  15. Korim Rackham

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    Just to clarify i think we will see an EP1, and i DO play the game atleast 3+ hours a day, but im just saying the math above doesnt tell us anything.
     
  16. Umuri

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    I agree it is more complicated, i wouldn't be surprised if after overhead most of the devs are working for 60k or less in order to ensure it gets out the door. :) I'm sure we'll see ep1, they wouldn't work this long to have it die at the end. It just means that they do still need funds to ensure they can make it, so i won't begrudge them the desire to preserve their income stream, and make the game appear slightly less gold farmy.
     
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  17. Kal

    Kal Avatar

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    agreed, the dev response to this is very poorly done

    gold selling is supposed to be allowed. advertising it in the game through spam is not supposed to be allowed.

    how can it be bannable offense to sell gold for dollars yet perfectly fine to buy items/houses/lots in the game with gold and then sell it for dollars.
     
  18. Edward Newgate

    Edward Newgate Avatar

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    so wy should i ever buy gold?
    I mean go farming and in blink of an eye you can easly have 100k plus.
    chees if i dont have time for farming then i dont have time for the game and shouldnt play it.
    If nobody buys it they will go away.
     
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  19. Mykll

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    Kickstarter: "Give us $1 million to get you Episode 1, and for a lot of tiers, Episodes 2-5 as well."
    Backers: "Sounds good, here's $2 million."
    Add-On Store: "Keep giving us money we don't have enough just for Episode 1."

    o_O

    So when so many people don't have to pay for Episodes 2-5, and so many people have sunk what they can spare, and even more, and can't give any more, especially in hi priced housing, how are they going to fund 2-5 over the next 5+ years, when all they needed was $1 million from KS, and we delivered twice that?
     
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  20. VZ_

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    Basically. They have 10M raised + private funds. That and 3 years is enough to have a functioning game, not this BS we have now they forced into persistence.

    I've given them hundreds. Many, many hundreds. I'm done. If ep1 is nice and polished within 6 months, they will get more from me for cool add on store items.

    $1/1-1.5k gold in game is too expensive right now. I want better rates from farmers. I'm a professional with a social and family life, my existence does not and will not revolve around sota. I just want a complete game I can have fun in as return on my hefty investment (not to mention the folk who've given thousands).

    They still need to fix this broken economy brought upon by letting single player mode amass wealth and resources into multiplayer. As is there isn't even an mmo portion to enjoy as every town is deserted
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2016
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