Comments on: On WAR, RMT, and Goldspammers

By: The Failure of the Surge? « The Ancient Gaming Noob

The Failure of the Surge? « The Ancient Gaming Noob — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:57:18 +0000

[...] griping about the sever-wide pop-ups to announce gold spammers being banned, and some people were a bit skeptical about the sincerity of the war on gold sellers, which in turn led to a fruitful post, if only in [...]

By: MMORPG Info » Developers Focus on Gold Selling

MMORPG Info » Developers Focus on Gold Selling — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:42:33 +0000

[...] Zenke of MMOG Nation weighs in with his view of the real problem: On WAR, RMT, and Goldspammers The truth, though, is that people wanking about the dishonor of goldbuyers and the scourge of [...]

By: Matt K

Matt K — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:30:51 +0000

So, why is it, exactly, that every time I enter Bree in LotRO, I have to hit the “report gold spammer” button about three times? I’m a very casual player (not a game developer, or a 40+ hour per week player), and I’m pissed off about it. Sure, you can say that Turbine hasn’t done enough to disincentivize gold selling, but I don’t think that means they WANT me to be annoyed by spammers.

By: JoeW

JoeW — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:26:59 +0000

Realize, it does affect the players in the end.

When the fraud skyrockets, so does the GM enforcement. With more GMs and staff on farmers, the less on your ticket. Which is what we have now in WAR.

Your solutions above. Sorry to say, but they aren’t solutions. They are just how those particular games managed to bring the farmers underground. The farming is still there, the farmers are just more quiet. This is why the farmers buy up fansites. (Yes, it is still happening)

The situation is MUCH worse than people know. MJ has a habit of saying what he probably shouldn’t. There is a reason that companies tend to be very vague about the farming situation.

Think about it this way. Farming/Selling is extremely profitable for all involved. Consider it not much different than drug selling. They don’t stop, they simply become more clever, more underground, and in larger numbers.

The level that the farmers are currently working on has changed dramatically over the past year or so. Much if this the general public is only vaguely away of. You can find statements from Smedley about some of this as well. It only scratches the surface.

By: How To Stop Gold Farming « Broken Toys

How To Stop Gold Farming « Broken Toys — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:58:26 +0000

[...] leave a comment » Link 1: Mark Jacobs describes the “naming and shaming” Warhammer is doing re: gold farmers Link 2: Syp, Warhammer blogger, on the above link, with his own take Link 2: Tobold on the above 2 links, with his own take Link 3: Michael Zenke on the above 3 links, with his own take [...]

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:24:47 +0000

Game devs are more than just pissed about this, Snaf. I don’t care if you buy gold. I’ll just say that right off; I have no fundamental problem with people trading real currency for virtual.

The problem is that in order to get the gold, common practice is to buy stolen credit cards, buy accounts, farm with them, and then chargeback the monthly fees to the companies when the law starts to come down on them.

That’s REALLY bad for MMO businesses, and can be crippling to companies big and small. That’s a big problem, and is the real issue ‘behind’ goldfarming.

By: Snafzg

Snafzg — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:18:44 +0000

I’ve always been of the mind that:

1) The game devs have a good reason to be pissed off about this
2) The hardcore, 40+ hour per week gamers have a good reason to be pissed off about this
3) No-one else has a good reason to be pissed off about this…

Seriously, aside from your own moral code being affronted, is there any way that gold farming negatively affects people aside from #1 and #2 above?