Well i'd like to see the online currency exchange to go down, but sadly i think that IGE has more than enough money to fight blizzard with in the CourtHouse , IGE does not only handle WoW but every MMO out there and they make alot of money everyday, not just 1 time a month pr customer
The legal claim that they have made is: "calculated decision to reap substantial profits by knowingly interfering with and substantially impairing the intended use and enjoyment associated with consumer agreements between Blizzard Entertainment and subscribers to its virtual world called World of Warcraft."
They have no hope of winning this case, and are merely suing as a harassment effort. The idea is good, but the reality is that they cant prove any wrongdoing. In fact, they can only make matters worst for Blizzard.
The smartest thing all these companies can do is move out of the usa/canada/uk and move to russia or africa where they cant be sued.
Because of stupid crap like this soon no internet company will want to be in the usa. I honestly dont care if companies sell gold or not i dont use there service, but no matter what they will sell gold. I would rather it be an american company than chinese.
Looking at the issue, my primary question is: 1) If "gold-farming" companies are forced out of business, what is the bottom line impact to Gaming Companies? From my limited understanding of the financial aspect of Gaming, most of the money comes from the original sale of the boxed game, correct? If that's so, and you look at the sheer number of characters Gold Farming Companies utilize, this will be a big impact to revenue gained. Even if it's the other side of the coin, and most revenue comes from the monthly fee, Gaming comany's are still going to see an impact - directly via their number of User Accounts. The associated impacts from this are wide ranging. All that being said, my personal opinion is that Gold-Farming companies - as long as they aren't spamming you in game - are a valid resource for players who don't have the time or patience to grind one spot for hours at a time to make the adena, gold, vis, etc required to support their characters. Perhaps Gaming Companies should take matters into their own hands and sell gold in the Mall type shop. They can always undercut the Farmers, due to requiring no actual labor other than adding one 0 or so to the amounts in the store. Perhaps they could go so far as to create a bit of code that would allow them to assign amounts allowed for purchase based on your actual play time. That way, you could possibly control the fluctuation in the market by artificially controlling available funds in game.
The article also mentioned that dealing with angry customers who want the gold selling to stop and hunting down gold sellers is very pricy for the game company as well. And they're also losing customers BECAUSE of the gold sellers. I know I stopped paying for at least one game I played for the sole reason that the gold selling and power leveling service got way out of hand there. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. So you've got customers who might stop playing if they can't Ebay anymore or you have customers that leave because they can't play the game decently anymore. Hmm...Not to mention all the time and resources it costs to handle complaints and hunt down the gold sellers.
The argument of 'some people don't have the time to grind' is an old one. Exactly why do they HAVE to play a game that takes more time than they have? Why not pick a game that takes less play time then? And even then: why should it matter if they take a bit longer to go through the game? I think the whole issue is more one of 'I don't have the time to be the best/first on the server'. And nothing more. Maybe they're playing the wrong game then?
As for taking matters in their own hands: there are plenty of games that have item malls already. But a lot of people don't play those games because those games are 'free, and free games are crap'. In all honesty, if a game would start selling gold via the site, I wouldn't even start playing the game. I will simply conclude that not a game for me and look elsewhere.
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Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
" my personal opinion is that Gold-Farming companies - as long as they aren't spamming you in game - are a valid resource for players who don't have the time or patience to grind " Ah it is a violation of the rules of the game hence cheating. So you approve of cheating in games huh? What else does your debaised morality allow you to cheat on, wife, work, taxes?
Jumping the gun aren't you?
I could very simply say: If your against buying gold, then you must be for grinding.
That being said, I'm not against buying gold. Though I have never done it myself, if someone else wants to waste thier money and buy non-existant money, it is fine by me. I can see why people buy gold (Avoid the GRIND) and thus am not personally against it. I suppose if you were making enough money that your time is valuable enough to you, then buying your online gold is an alternative. Yes, some people may think it is unfair that they may be "unable" to afford to buy gold, but chances are, if they are paying for a subscription, have a computer, and a broadband internet connection (Who plays on a 56k?) you can most definatly shell out come cash for the gold. Welcome to capitalism, everything, even non-existant money, has a price. I'm against buying gold, and I'm not for grind. I simply do not play games that take more time than I can afford/am willing to spend. I'm also not for gold farmers who keep quest spots busy 24/7 so it takes me two or three times as long to finish a quest. I'm tired of the enormous inflation ingame, caused by gold sellers. So I should buy gold as well and inflate it some more? And buy even more etc.? It's a GAME for christ sake, not the real world. And the lawsuit is exactly about that: a ruined game experience because of gold sellers.
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Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
When you boil it down, virtual property has a lot more in common with tangible property than it does intellectual property, and the only thing that the publishers have to fall back on is their TOS / EULA, and we all know how well those stand up in court.
In this law suit however, it boils down to something different: customers of the game who file a lawsuit against gold sellers who ruin their game experience. A game they are paying for.
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Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
The whole thing seems bit confused to me... The players of games, ie WoW, have made contracts with Blizzard and no one else. They pay Blizzard and Blizzard provides the game. If they have issues with the game then the only people they can take it up with are Blizzard as they are the only people who are obliged to accommodate them.
Even in the example the lawer used. If you're in a cinema and someone is kicking your seat you can turn round and tell them to stop it, but they don't have to. You have to go to the cinema employees and get them to make it stop. The contracts are made between the viewer and the cinema, not between two viewers.
Therefore, if legal action was taken it should either be player X vs Blizzard or Blizzard vs IGE.
I think...
I actually believe that if gaming companies wanted to stop it, i mean really really wanted to, Gold Farmers would be toast. I reckon they benefit too much to stop it, whether just by farmers buying the game and subscribing or whether they actually get a slice of the profits depends on how suspicious you are in nature
I used to work for IGE when they first started out in Spain in 2001.. i was there at the begining... was just everquest back then..
about 6 or so of us at the start hehe... all ran three characters at a time.. soemtimes 6 when someone had to take a brake..
sadly i never got on well with one of the guys there so never carried on..
with i stuck it out considering how big they got
IGE was such a good idea at the time and was deffo a market for it thats why it has got so big.. and many other companies have popped up doing the same thing..
"In this law suit however, it boils down to something different: customers of the game who file a lawsuit against gold sellers who ruin their game experience. A game they are paying for."
so if i go out and buy a nice fast porsche speed around having fun wasting all the other little cars... but thern all of a sudden a ferrari flys past me and totally spoils my fun.. does that mean i can now sue ferrari ?? or maybe the garage that sold that person the ferrari.. humm
I am sorry but thats life some people have more than others.. you cant stop people haiving ferraris because they are faster and spoil other peoples fun lol..
ok that was a bit far fetched but u get where im going with it..
not that i would ever spend real money on some on existant gold lol
anyway just to defend my self this was just a job.. had nothing else to do with Brock or any of them outside of the job.. only after did i find out what they had all been doing at the tiem i did not even know who Brock was lol..
Comments
List of SOE lies
The legal claim that they have made is:
"calculated decision to reap substantial profits by knowingly interfering with and substantially impairing the intended use and enjoyment associated with consumer agreements between Blizzard Entertainment and subscribers to its virtual world called World of Warcraft."
They have no hope of winning this case, and are merely suing as a harassment effort. The idea is good, but the reality is that they cant prove any wrongdoing. In fact, they can only make matters worst for Blizzard.
Because of stupid crap like this soon no internet company will want to be in the usa. I honestly dont care if companies sell gold or not i dont use there service, but no matter what they will sell gold. I would rather it be an american company than chinese.
Own, Mine, Defend, Attack, 24/7
The argument of 'some people don't have the time to grind' is an old one. Exactly why do they HAVE to play a game that takes more time than they have? Why not pick a game that takes less play time then? And even then: why should it matter if they take a bit longer to go through the game? I think the whole issue is more one of 'I don't have the time to be the best/first on the server'. And nothing more. Maybe they're playing the wrong game then?
As for taking matters in their own hands: there are plenty of games that have item malls already. But a lot of people don't play those games because those games are 'free, and free games are crap'. In all honesty, if a game would start selling gold via the site, I wouldn't even start playing the game. I will simply conclude that not a game for me and look elsewhere.
------------------------------------------------
Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny
Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
I could very simply say: If your against buying gold, then you must be for grinding.
That being said, I'm not against buying gold. Though I have never done it myself, if someone else wants to waste thier money and buy non-existant money, it is fine by me. I can see why people buy gold (Avoid the GRIND) and thus am not personally against it. I suppose if you were making enough money that your time is valuable enough to you, then buying your online gold is an alternative. Yes, some people may think it is unfair that they may be "unable" to afford to buy gold, but chances are, if they are paying for a subscription, have a computer, and a broadband internet connection (Who plays on a 56k?) you can most definatly shell out come cash for the gold. Welcome to capitalism, everything, even non-existant money, has a price. I'm against buying gold, and I'm not for grind. I simply do not play games that take more time than I can afford/am willing to spend. I'm also not for gold farmers who keep quest spots busy 24/7 so it takes me two or three times as long to finish a quest. I'm tired of the enormous inflation ingame, caused by gold sellers. So I should buy gold as well and inflate it some more? And buy even more etc.? It's a GAME for christ sake, not the real world. And the lawsuit is exactly about that: a ruined game experience because of gold sellers.
------------------------------------------------
Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny
Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
------------------------------------------------
Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny
Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
Even in the example the lawer used. If you're in a cinema and someone is kicking your seat you can turn round and tell them to stop it, but they don't have to. You have to go to the cinema employees and get them to make it stop. The contracts are made between the viewer and the cinema, not between two viewers.
Therefore, if legal action was taken it should either be player X vs Blizzard or Blizzard vs IGE.
I think...
I actually believe that if gaming companies wanted to stop it, i mean really really wanted to, Gold Farmers would be toast. I reckon they benefit too much to stop it, whether just by farmers buying the game and subscribing or whether they actually get a slice of the profits depends on how suspicious you are in nature
hehe cool..
I used to work for IGE when they first started out in Spain in 2001.. i was there at the begining... was just everquest back then..
about 6 or so of us at the start hehe... all ran three characters at a time.. soemtimes 6 when someone had to take a brake..
sadly i never got on well with one of the guys there so never carried on..
with i stuck it out considering how big they got
IGE was such a good idea at the time and was deffo a market for it thats why it has got so big.. and many other companies have popped up doing the same thing..
"In this law suit however, it boils down to something different: customers of the game who file a lawsuit against gold sellers who ruin their game experience. A game they are paying for."
so if i go out and buy a nice fast porsche speed around having fun wasting all the other little cars... but thern all of a sudden a ferrari flys past me and totally spoils my fun.. does that mean i can now sue ferrari ?? or maybe the garage that sold that person the ferrari.. humm
I am sorry but thats life some people have more than others.. you cant stop people haiving ferraris because they are faster and spoil other peoples fun lol..
ok that was a bit far fetched but u get where im going with it..
not that i would ever spend real money on some on existant gold lol
anyway just to defend my self this was just a job.. had nothing else to do with Brock or any of them outside of the job.. only after did i find out what they had all been doing
at the tiem i did not even know who Brock was lol..