Interesting story about a gold seller.

seabass2003

Anyways I was just hanging around in Angmaur(spelling?) dilly dallying when I hear that little chime you get when you recieve a tell. Low and behold it was a gold seller. Son of a bitch I thought we got rid of these. So I fill out the form and send it off to whomever. About a minute later a GM contacts me that says something to the effect of "Thanks for sending the report." About 30secs later the same guy sends me a message again. I about shit my pants, and /responded to the GM who had sent the generic tell. They were like "The same person just sent you another one?" I was like "Yeah, about 30 secs after you contacted me." The GM then responded "This person will no longer be bothering you as they have been anihilated." I just had to laugh, but man they were quick and polite about everything.

But here is the disappointing part. Later that day I was just kind of watching the Kinship chat but not really saying anything when someone stated "Geez gold is really hard to come by, I am so glad I spent $10 to get 4 gold or I wouldn't be able to afford a horse." I just don't understand why these types of people play games in general. What is the point of playing if your just going to have everything handed to you?

Well, maybe this story wasn't very interesting after all.

BTW Where is spell check on this thing? I don't think I spelled anihilate correctly.

Nevarion

Why? I dunno, really. Personally I think the "excuse" it's just a game doesn't hold any water. You agree to terms for social interaction and rules set forth and gotta abide by them. At least in a gaming environment like MMOs. I'm nowhere near of nodding of any law just cos it's there but come to think about.



You engage to have a fair and fun game. Play fair, play nice and have equal chances. Buying gold isn't in my book if it's against the agreed upon rules of the online community. Hey and you DID agree to them then you log in, didn't you?



I guess some simply don't care.

Keogh

Originally posted by seabass2003


Anyways I was just hanging around in Harangmar(spelling?) dilly dallying when I hear that little chime you get when you recieve a tell. Low and behold it was a gold seller. Son of a bitch I thought we got rid of these. So I fill out the form and send it off to whomever. About a minute later a GM contacts me that says something to the effect of "Thanks for sending the report." About 30secs later the same guy sends me a message again. I about shit my pants, and /responded to the GM who had sent the generic tell. They were like "The same person just sent you another one?" I was like "Yeah, about 30 secs after you contacted me." The GM then responded "This person will no longer be bothering you as they have been anihilated." I just had to laugh, but man they were quick and polite about everything.
But here is the disappointing part. Later that day I was just kind of watching the Kinship chat but not really saying anything when someone stated "Geez gold is really hard to come by, I am so glad I spent $10 to get 4 gold or I wouldn't be able to afford a horse." I just don't understand why these types of people play games in general. What is the point of playing if your just going to have everything handed to you?
Well, maybe this story wasn't very interesting after all.
BTW Where is spell check on this thing? I don't think I spelled anihilate correctly.

Thank you for sharing. Reading the following quote was entertaining.

"This person will no longer be bothering you as they have been annihilated."

Techleo

Another good thing to do is ask the person who bought the gold who they got it from. Politely act like your interested. Get the name and report them both. I've done that numerous times. Albeit one time I lost half my guild That wasnt exactly the intent hehe.

A lot of people have NO desire to be good or bad. They just do what they want. If they dont like the grind they get around it.

Its a fact many people dont have a sense of fairplay or the desire to feel anything but instant gratification.

I for my part love the adventure and have never purchased gold. I did pay my brother to level my charecter in WoW though, with cookies and milk

Wordaen

Personally, I love the militant approach they take to these damn gold farmers. Accidents do happen but overall, keeping these cockroaches out of the game will help alleviate some of the issues that plagued wow, and ultimately drove me away from that game.

iffymack

I hope they got bitten to death by neeker breekers

killerwig

I hate neeker breekers....

Anyway... seabass, I found the story interesting. I count myself lucky that I haven't seen a single gold seller yet (apart from in open beta on the US servers). Glad that you got to nail one up though.. heheh.

I think that people who buy gold don't realise that they are ultimately part of the cause of a bigger, looming problem. Either that or they don't care. More money in the economy means that prices go up on the AH, which makes life harder for everyone else who has to put in the work for their in game money. I think LOTRO could do without that, and the other problems it creates.

CognetoJoe

the new mozilla has built in spell checker, it underlines word that are misspelled, Yah Gold farmers seem to be on the ver Down low on my server, cause the community will crush them !

Sinfay

National Public radio (NPR) (yeah I have a long commute to work in the morning) has a short series on Gold farmers and interviews them in China. If you google NPR Gold Farmer you should find it.



Some interesting facts include:



-~20% of US gamers buy gold/services from these guys

~ They get about $100 USD per month

~ They are not solo, they have enough folks to do a raid.

~ They see themselves as doing a valuable service, and say players are very thankful.



It's like trying to stop people from taking drugs. There will always be sellers, because there will always be buyers.



For that playertype, (competitive) it's like telling him he should use a huffy for his weekend mountain bike race. He'll just look at you like your nuts



~S~

Suplyndmnd

Yeah, i've started to run across gold sellers.  The only thing I dont get is, why?  I mean, i can understand it in most game but in this one? Why?  I can make a gold in 3 days and i'm not even up to the level (or remotely close) to getting a mount.  By the time you reach 35 you should be able to buy 6.  So again, why?  You dont have to buy armor, resources for crafting are freely available for little to no cost, you dont have to buy weapons, you can sell things to merchants for quick and easy cash.  So again, why?



Things like this confuse the hell out of me sometimes.

zoldar57

Some people buying gold/virtual currency consider it a viable trade off for time spent vs rewards gained.

e.g. a guy needs 1 hour to collect 1g in lotro playing, but he can get 4g for 10$ through a gold farmer. He considers it a good deal because the 4 hours he would spent obtaining that amount can be spent doing something different or maybe compare it to how much money you would make these 4 hours.



IMHO I consider buying virtual currency something that takes away the feeling of the game, since you begin to consider every aspect of the game in money terms, especially in games where property loss/destruction is an issue (like Eve Online).

However, I do not consider the reason mentioned above as something outrageous.



just my 2 cents

DonnieBrasco

Originally posted by Suplyndmnd 

So again, why?  You dont have to buy armor, resources for crafting are freely available for little to no cost, you dont have to buy weapons, you can sell things to merchants for quick and easy cash.  So again, why?



Things like this confuse the hell out of me sometimes.

Well, you're definitely not a scholar, that I can tell

BTW - I loathe gold sellers and look at gold buyers in disgust too - and will report and annnnnihilate them whenever I can

I was thinkink about making a character and start saying -  "I need gold, please help mee!" on OOC and then report the damn bastards. Is that a good idea?

DB

BigMango

Originally posted by DonnieBrasco



I was thinkink about making a character and start saying -  "I need gold, please help mee!" on OOC and then report the damn bastards. Is that a good idea?

Haha, lol.

Kyleran

Originally posted by Techleo

I did pay my brother to level my charecter in WoW though, with cookies and milk

Believe it or not, if you let your brother level your character even for free you just violated the TOS and are actually no better than the gold buyer.  You are chosing which rules you think are "right" to follow.... that's all the gold buyers are doing.

Kyleran

Originally posted by killerwig


More money in the economy means that prices go up on the AH, which makes life harder for everyone else who has to put in the work for their in game money.

Your statement is only partly true....most mmo's suffer from mudflation, which is a result of the economy not being properly balanced with enough "drains" to take out the extra currency.



WOW is an excellent example of how gold farming, though rampant, remains in control.  Prices there are higher than when I started out..but not excessively so....  I'll grant you, some games like L2 or FFXI got out of hand, but with proper game design and control the effects of gold farming on other players can be reduced.



Besides.... higher prices on AH means that when you have something to sell, you get more money for it you know...sort of works itself out.

Hairysun

Originally posted by CognetoJoe

the new mozilla has built in spell checker, it underlines word that are misspelled, Yah Gold farmers seem to be on the ver Down low on my server, cause the community will crush them !

   I switched to mozilla a couple weeks ago.....keep thinking to myself, damn, I should of done this long before now.  I thought it was mmorpg.com that added the spell check.....mozilla huh?  I do like this mozilla.

   I've take a screen shot of the 3 times a gold farmer has spammed me.   Sent it directly to Turbine.   Two of them were the same guy, same night.   That was  not long after retail release.   I  havn't seen one since.   It was funny cuz  when he started spamming the ooc chat pretty much exploded.   It's good to see these issues taken care of expediently.  The guildy that openly admitted to buying gold.....pffft.

Kyleran

Originally posted by Suplyndmnd

Yeah, i've started to run across gold sellers.  The only thing I dont get is, why?  I mean, i can understand it in most game but in this one? Why?  I can make a gold in 3 days and i'm not even up to the level (or remotely close) to getting a mount.  By the time you reach 35 you should be able to buy 6.  So again, why?  You dont have to buy armor, resources for crafting are freely available for little to no cost, you dont have to buy weapons, you can sell things to merchants for quick and easy cash.  So again, why?



Things like this confuse the hell out of me sometimes.

You have the Midas touch, most of the player base doesn't.  Friend of mine just got to 35....is 700 silver short of buying a mount, I'm level 27 and have about 3 gold..I should be ok..but I spend a heck of alot of time farming old deeds, my son who doesnt, is also level 27..and is under 2 gold.



Not everyone figure out the economy like you...... (and I'm not sure I really believe you btw..unless you're exploiting something like the old expert farming thing)

DonnieBrasco

Well, my main toon is a lvl 28 loremaster, and my cash is hovering around 1 gold (+/- 200 s) all the time.

But, in the same time my toon is a Master Expert Scholar - and that tells a LOT in this broken crafting/AH that LOTRO has at this moment

(for those not familar with the Historian profession: the only harvesting comes from the extremely rare pitchers/urns/vases in ruins, and thus the ingrediants cost a FORTUNE in the AH - I am sure I spent at least 4-5 G just on raws so far...)

DB

KinslayerX

People buy gold because they want to play the game, not spend their timing grinding. Normal work is a grind and people play games when they come home from work precisely to escape that.



That's the why answered, as for how they they justify it? Simple. I play golf and i'm not very rich so I go and buy a second hand set of basic clubs and teach myself how to play. My friend also plays and he's very rich so he lavishes money on custom made clubs and pays for lessons.



When that friend then beats me, has he 'cheated'? Not really. His victory may not be quite as rewarding in the long run but I seriously doubt he's that concerned.



Personally, I wouldn't give a monkeys about gold buyers and gold farmers apart from the fact that what they do has a direct impact on me and makes the game's harder to progress in for me as they drive the economy up.

DarthMaulUK

As kinslayer said.



Alot of people out there play these games on a casual basis as they are extremely 'time poor'. They have money in RL and pay people to either level up their toon, or buy gold to fund things in game. So long as there is a market for this, gold farmers will always be around.



The rules don't prevent it (SOE even created their own ingame version of ebay to sell items)

DonnieBrasco

Originally posted by DarthMaulUK

As kinslayer said.



Alot of people out there play these games on a casual basis as they are extremely 'time poor'. They have money in RL and pay people to either level up their toon, or buy gold to fund things in game. So long as there is a market for this, gold farmers will always be around.



The rules don't prevent it (SOE even created their own ingame version of ebay to sell items)

As most generalizations, this is utterly and painfully wrong.

Having a limited amount of time to play has nothing to do with someone willing to pay IRL money for gold. It is a matter of habit and personality. If I had a million hours to play per week, I would not buy ingame currency. Unfortunately I have 0-3 hours per day (sometimes only 4-5 hours a week) to play MMOG's, and I would never, ever, every buy gold, because I think it is the lazy, ignorant and pathetic way, and gives me NO sense of achievement - buying "gold" is for losers in my opinion.

DB

DarthMaulUK

Just because you don't do it, doesn't mean that it doesn't happen for the reasons stated. It does. Everyone is different. Not everyone will purchase gold but people do - hence the market for it. Its always a topic of hot debate but if publishers and developers didnt want it, they would take serious action.



kicking someone out of the game for advertising farming is not serious action

DonnieBrasco

Originally posted by DarthMaulUK

Just because you don't do it, doesn't mean that it doesn't happen for the reasons stated. It does. Everyone is different. Not everyone will purchase gold but people do - hence the market for it. Its always a topic of hot debate but if publishers and developers didnt want it, they would take serious action.



kicking someone out of the game for advertising farming is not serious action

I agree that it is not serious. They should be IP-banned at least, although with Dynamic IP addresses, it is not easy.

I understand that there is demand for the gold-farming business, no question about that. Also, it is plain that it is VERY bad for the ingame economy, and don't even mention the roleplay experience. Game mechanic will always be such that gold farming will have a ground. Therefore - only strict measures can/could help, supported by community help - reporting all these accounts and banning them asap.

DB

KinslayerX

Blizzard go about stopping gold farmers all wrong IMO.



When people were illegally downloading music did the fact companies like Napster were getting sued stop it? No, people just found other sites. The only time people really started to get a little concerned was when the music companies started suing the individuals who were downloading the music rather than the sites providing it.



Your average farmer will probably have access to several IP addresses, various bank accounts to pay from, etc. Even if you do lock them down they'll be back up and running within a few minutes on a different account.



Now, when you identify a farmer, looking at where he's been sending the gold to and tracing it back to the consumer is going to have a much bigger impact. Instead of closing down one farmer account, that farmer may lead you to 10, 20, 100 consumers. IP block those and blacklist any bank accounts they may be using to pay and you're going to have a much bigger effect.



Word will spread through unofficial/guild forums and players who are banned will find it harder to get back up and running again.



The real issue here though is are Blizzard willing to take the loss in subs this will cause to clean up their game?

Suplyndmnd

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by Suplyndmnd

Yeah, i've started to run across gold sellers.  The only thing I dont get is, why?  I mean, i can understand it in most game but in this one? Why?  I can make a gold in 3 days and i'm not even up to the level (or remotely close) to getting a mount.  By the time you reach 35 you should be able to buy 6.  So again, why?  You dont have to buy armor, resources for crafting are freely available for little to no cost, you dont have to buy weapons, you can sell things to merchants for quick and easy cash.  So again, why?



Things like this confuse the hell out of me sometimes.

You have the Midas touch, most of the player base doesn't.  Friend of mine just got to 35....is 700 silver short of buying a mount, I'm level 27 and have about 3 gold..I should be ok..but I spend a heck of alot of time farming old deeds, my son who doesnt, is also level 27..and is under 2 gold.



Not everyone figure out the economy like you...... (and I'm not sure I really believe you btw..unless you're exploiting something like the old expert farming thing)

Heh, don't need to believe me but I can tell you how I do it.  If you go to lone-lands and kill the goblins and trolls there.  They drop recipes like crazy and the sheath things that sell for 1s+ each. Recipes to merchants get a minimum of 4s.  Then you take into account the weapons and armor pieces that drop, they are 1-5s each. then you can get the harder Orcs that drop 1s just for killing them.  And their weapons and armor and miscellaneous stuff along with the Furry creatures with items that drops worth 1-2s each.  Amazing how quickly this all adds up.  I just merchant it and boom, money.  The key is not dying as well.  That eats up money in repairs.  I have no reason to lie about it as anyone can do it. 



And for the person who nailed it, no, i'm not a scholar lol I'm a tinkerer.  I also dont spend money on armor and weapons as I get them from drops, quests or i make them or a kinship mate makes them.  All that is free.  Let along, the quests give you 2-10+s just to finish them.  I started Farming Thursday morning around 9am (it's Friday 2:06pm now) and I have about 430s.  I was down to 2s.  If you do what i said above for about 2-3 hours, you'll have crazy money then you'll believe me

alyndale

Here is an interesting article I found.  Some of you folks might like to read this.  Actually I did learn some things, but for the most part, I had a feeling all along that these things were going on.



news.mmosite.com/interview/content/2006-07-03/20060703025547459.shtml