Tricks and scams in the marketplace

I have to say I disagree with the Libertarianism philosophy that has come up defending these scams. Ethics are always at play. Just because it is the player’s property does not mean they should be allowed to do whatever they want with it. And just because the action(s) can be performed in the game does not mean that they should be performed. This game is strongly reliant upon its community and the act of intentionally trying to scam someone eventually has to be taken out of the in-game context and addressed in a real matter. Because you can only hide behind the “I’m role-playing a scumbag” excuse for so long until you do become a detriment to the community and the game as a whole. If someone is logging in everyday with the sole intent to scam people this play style needs to be addressed by the developers.

A compression example of why this bag naming scam is specifically not okay is player run events. To my limited knowledge, someone can be removed by the owner of the town and/or lot of the event. So if someone wants to be a scumbag and ruin a player event they cannot even try. Their attempt, whatever they may be (use your imagination) is automatically countered by the person in charge of town/lot. On the other hand, using an intended, but defective or unsuccessful part of the game, (the small bag icon looking like pledge items) the player has a much higher chance of being a scumbag selling small bags as pledge rewards versus the scumbag who wanted to crash a player run wedding or town hall meeting.

Nevertheless, perma-banning accounts for a first offense on a subject we are just now facing is a bit much. Because there can be people honestly trying to play the scumbag role to enrich the game for us all. And not knowing what the limits to being a “legal” scumbag and a scumbag that can lose their account makes it hard to gauge how far to go in the early stages of the game. Ultimately we need cutthroats, thieves, murders, but in a controlled environment in the same way we need avatars, heroes, and town owners in a controlled environment. Shroud of the Avatar is not a free pass to get away with whatever you want with only in-game repercussions to worry about. It is much larger than that.

 

Renamed items are in Orange text now. Looks like some players wont be getting any more Darwin Awards!

 

Was someone banned ?

 

Was gold the best color choice for renamed items? Wouldn't red have been a better idea, even if it cannot be seen that well it acts as a further deterrent as it will look almost zeroed out

- Gold is in many games frequently the color of higher tier gear, if the aim was to warn new players, this might have the opposite effect!

I also think from my own experience that a new player is unlikely to have the thousands of gold demanded and is probably not the target of the small bag scam.

Whatever the color, there should be an accompanying message in game saying what it means.

 

I created a nice Topic to this:

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...-player-what-happend-to-us-in-mmogames.60768/

 

I think the challenge here with this situation is that in a game with full PvP a player has a number of avenues available to them to get the "Thief" back, including tracking them down and killing them.

SOTA doesn't allow for this, especially if players are doing this in Single-Player Online mode. The only avenue open for them right now is to rely on what Portalarium can do to limit this type of gameplay to ensure people don't get too upset about being the victims of crime and leave due to feeling powerless to stop it.

 

They even colored the bags green too! How much more hand holding do you need? Should the devs come play the game for you? oh and its not gold, its a dark orange

 

Diet Coke can't be called that over here... It's not a diet product, so it's now called Coke Light... Pretty sure it still weighs the same as normal Coke, but I guess they mean light on sugar...
Now whether those artificial sweeteners are any better is a totally different discussion!

 

I agree. In fact, that is the reason I never played UO, even though I was an Ultima fan who had played all the original Ultimas. UO had such a bad reputation - it was successful only because it was practically the only online game around.

 

I'd like this more than once if possible...

And this one too!

Tricky this one... But a fair question to ask! If someone (And I am not voicing any opinion about anyone - person or group - in this thread *or* in the game specifically!!!) is showing their true colors, and those true colors are opposite to what the ONBE stands for, should they be allowed to keep the ONBE or not? Let's just say I am happy *I* do not have to make that decision!

 

Awww... I like UO. Despite its flaws, there was a fun game underneath. I happily played it for a decade. I can't think of any other game that I felt I could enjoy that long. (Shroud is getting there.)

 

I played UO too, for quite a long time, although at the end it was mostly nostalgia and attachment to my pixels that kept me coming back... Until EA screwed up that creditcard renewal and I lost my house and everything in it... Those exact 'pixels' that had me coming back...

 

The standard convention in many online games of this nature for their gear is plain, green, gold with either blue or purple lurking about. If the aim is to stop a NEW player from being scammed, who may be familiar with other MMO's but not SotA, surely make it as clear as possible, or do nothing, though only a few avatars would get darwinized by this so what's the issue?

As for me, I always appreciate my hand being held if you are offering?

 

If I find any supicious items for sale I am reporting said sellers. We all need to come together and get these clowns banned. They are going to ruin this game for all of us. We also need to put their names on the forums and SHAME them for their actions. Let the community know to never buy good from such persons and create a SHADY sellers list on the player market place.

WE CAN FIGHT BACK!! FOR SPARTAA!!!

 

I disagree. First, I think it is exploit, because it is something taking advantage over other players by in gmae mechanic built for something else. Second, chat is legitimate in game mechanic. Yet spamming it, being racist, and so on is bannable and not "roleplaying a scoundrel".

Just because you can do it does not mean you are allowed to do it. I mean they sell cars that can go above speed limit (I know, Germany is good excuse, there is always exception). Yet it is not allowed to drive above speed limit even though the car can do it.

So, I am for punishing them now, though it would be more interesting to track the gold to alts or mains of people behind. Also I would really enjoy different mechanics than bans. Criminal flags and forced PvP multiplayer for criminals and those who trade them. No NPC sales to criminals, at least not in NPC towns we have. Would be nice to have some criminal towns With working(!!!) justice system in the game, I would be all for in game punishments. With guards doing nothing in towns but complaining you crossed their path, there are only out of game punishments left.

 

Public shaming is not the way to go, and I'm pretty sure it's against the ToS.

Let's all not get carried away, Berek told us exactly what to do if we run into this exploit, let's help Portalarium the way they've asked us to:

 

Thanks zyxe. With that, we're going to close this thread down, as I think everyone has said what they have meant to say on the issue. We appreciate the concerns and are being diligent to responding to each exploit, scammer, and other issues.

Please report all future cases to support@portalarium.com! Thanks everyone.