Reselling renamed items to scam other players

There have been recent reports of abuse and scams between players in the game. One scam has been that of renaming items to trick players into thinking those items are more valuable upon resale. Since those items are often quickly purchased, the name is the marker for recognizing legitimacy of an item’s value.

We have been banning anyone that scams players. Anyone caught renaming items in a way to trick other players will receive an instant permaban -- no exceptions.

Unfortunately, due to our intention to quickly contain these in-game scams, we mistakenly warned player Kaydrah, who was quickly found to have done nothing wrong. Kaydrah had sold a bag, which was then renamed and resold by someone else. That original bag has her name mark as the player who originally created it. Our sincere apologies to Kaydrah for this error.

When reporting item renaming scams, be sure to report the player who sold the renamed item, NOT the player who crafted it!

We have taken steps to improving recognition of an item’s source, including adding color markers, recognizing who created an item versus who resold or renamed an item, etc.

If you are renaming and then selling items to joke around, to lightly trick friends for fun, or rename them knowing that it’s a very similar name to another more valuable and official item, DON’T DO IT. We take this policy extremely seriously, so you should as well.

To report scams, exploits, and any related disruptive in-game activities, please send a support ticket to support@portalarium.com. Any chat logs, screenshots, and other evidence to back up the concern would be helpful (please keep reports brief and concise).

Thank you for helping to keep our community secure and an enjoyable place!

 

This is a great reminder of why public shaming is a bad idea. Sometimes the wrong person gets shamed.

Glad to see Portalarium is being very aggressive here though. Keep up the great work!

 

There are many innocent pranksters out there so this should probably have it's own stickied thread so everyone can see it at first glance instead of in the middle of this post. Just my .02 since this is such an important announcement.

 

I support this position whole-heartedly.

Some people seem theft and scams as an extension of PvP. Isn't there a pick-pocket skill for PvP players?

Griefing new players who don't know any better isn't meaningful PvP. It is driving new players away from the game by griefing.

 

Berek and our Friends at Portalarium,

Thank you kindly for moving very quickly and publicly to clear the name of Lady Kaydrah.

As a partial founder of Bastion's Point (and my Wife), her reputation and public appearance is of utmost importance to her, as well as all of us in the guild. We stand behind her fully, as we do with all members of Sacrifice. It would have been unfortunate to have the actions of one scammer to place a blemish on what she, and the rest of us have worked so hard to build.

Your actions, both in proclaiming her innocence, as well as bringing the true brigands to justice have reaffirmed our faith in all of you.

With Many Thanks,

Aartemis of Bastion's Point.

 

Have fun then ^^

 

I am having tons of fun... fortunately... ヽ(^。^)丿

 

I am glad to see this as well. But I have mixed feelings. From one perspective, this could feel like players getting challenged over something that may be more of a game design issue. For example, why does the game provide rewards with the same bag art used for pledge rewards? Or why does the game promote thievery in PVP but yet duping somoene in a more artful or covert way out of combat using crafting materials is out of line. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I agree with such behavior (as I do see it as an exploit presently), just saying on a philosophical level it can feel like a conflicted policy for thievery game play. Glad to see the recognition that there is a design issue to address and that some actions are in progress now to deal with it.

*shrug*

 

This is such great news. Another case of devs listening to players. This will greatly help especially new players who unfortunately are the ones who fall prey to this type of scam.

 

If I rename Health Potions I craft as Garlic Gargle Mouthwash, is that okay?

 

@Berek I have seen a vendor with a 'Bag of Tools' and a 'Bag of Keys', clearly bag items renamed to maybe hold tools or keys. IF these items have neither keys or tools, is that an offense? Should we be expected to rename a bag to it's generic name? Also, where will I get my next hit of 'Garriott Ganja'? Does this only apply to items that are renamed to items that resemble official items? Where are the lines being drawn on renamed objects? We'll need more specifics to ensure everyone is on the same page.

 

You may be way ahead of me, but perhaps it would be helpful to include the original name of the item. Perhaps we could expand the 'examine' command to include items and not just characters. It would be nice on a few levels

• Buyer protection - know what the ACTUAL identity of the item is
• With something like a weapon you could name it for RP purposes, but it would still show as 'bronze longsword' or whatnot
• Enhanced viewing of the item (large view) - great for screen-shots for showing off (or adding to wikis etc.)
  • Could list the properties of the item in a stable form rather than dynamic tooltip
  • Possibly for items it would be cool to include a rarity/generation number: like 'Fyndoro's Tablet' (30 of 3000)
• This could even be expanded to allow a 'notes' section for the crafter or owner? Again, RP application (or even gold sink)

Thanks for protecting your players

 

I would just advise to ban everyone trying to sell anything as it is clearly a capitalistic motive and we know where that leads to for the poorest of the poorest casuals... It is for everyones safety!

 

This one is easy. If you play PvP in SotA, it's consensual. All members are agreeing to the chance that they might get the short end of the stick...er... the pointy end of the sword...uh... holes in their pockets. When it comes to vending items, there is no guarantee that the purchaser wants to play a game where they have to scrutinize everything against shady individuals. PvP doesn't just mean in Battle of Arms; it also, conceivably, means the Battle of Wits.

If SotA was presented as "If you play, you PvP, no choice about it" then it would all be fair game, in my opinion. However, it's not. It's presented as "PvP if you want to."

 

The item has the original name in parenthesis when you hover over it.

 

balls! LOL thx LoneStranger

 

One is playing the game as it was intended, the other is subverting game systems in a way they were not designed to take advantage of other players. It isn't artful, it's exploitative.

 

I remember people with dice games in UO running a "casino", on occasion one would pop up and scam.......part of the game in my honest opinion. I just view the renaming of items and trying to sell them as part of a game........it is supposed to be a sandbox after all.

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail"..........Difficult doing that without being banned for something along the way.

 

I think the policy as expressed in the OP is overly broad. I feel that they should have been explicit that the ban would be for trying to rename items to match Pledge Reward items or Add On Store goods. The generic wording is too vague and needs to be better defined.

I want to see fraudsters and hucksters and charlatans doing some great RP in the game. The overly broad and vague policy prohibits this with an overly punitive action.

I think the ban should be limited, at least for now, to Pledge Rewards or Add On Store items. Everything else is fiction and should be fair game otherwise we are killing emergent gameplay before it even has a chance to bring about some truly fun, creative, and memorable experiences.

 

I've removed several posts. This is an announcement from us to clarify a serious infraction that can be made in the game, not a place to complain and moan and go off on extreme tangents. Any further divergence from the primary topic will result in removed posts, or a lock to this thread.