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Interesting news about IGE
Paks
Member Posts: 263
Just posted today:
http://www.igeclassaction.com/?p=24#comment-21
[quote]
Today we learned that the Florida Attorney General’s Office of Economic Crimes issued an investigative subpoena for records to IGE U.S., a.k.a. Affinity Media. The subpoena was issued pursuant to the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act in the course of an official investigation. The subpoena states that the purpose and scope of the investigation extends to possible unfair and deceptive trade practices which involve the advertising and marketing practices of I.G.E. U.S.
The subpoena seeks records relating to the distribution, marketing, pricing and sale of World of Warcraft gold. The subpoena also seeks documents relating to the organization and structure of IGE U.S., Affinity Media, and IGE Ltd. The subpoena seeks financial and sales information, the identity of specific World of Warcraft accounts owned or controlled by IGE, the identity of World of Warcraft accounts that IGE has power leveled, and the IP addresses IGE used to log into World of Warcraft to distribute products sold by IGE. The subpoena also seeks documents which show all websites owned or controlled by IGE or its affiliates at any time.
While the Florida Attorney General’s investigation of IGE is not directly related to our IGE v. Hernandez class action, the Attorney General’s investigation does involve the same cause of action – the alleged violation of Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Newsome Law Firm will follow this investigation with great interest and keep our class members updated on this investigation through this web site.
You can download a copy of the Attorney General’s subpoena here.[/quote]
I find myself giggling. They (IGE/Affinity Media) may have been just a tad too sneaky for their own good.
*hears the sound of many documents being shredded in a backroom somewhere...*
Comments
Its about time that someone do something about that shit. Bad economies get tiring. On the other hand, i wonder how well it will work when they dig up the fact that blizzard sells currency to other websites for sale on there private servers.
whatever.
"And after blizzard takes over the world, they are gonna gather a bunch of lemmings, sit on their fat asses near a cliff, and watch the little fuzzy bastards suicide dive into the ground below. . . . . all just for their own entertainment."
Very interesting read. Amazed the State of Florida has taken their own interest in IGE, and they seldom do things like this in the interest of the consumer. More likely they are going to see if they can claim that WOW gold/account sales should had sales tax added on to them.
Great find, thanks for posting it.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
as awful as that is... its true. blah
"And after blizzard takes over the world, they are gonna gather a bunch of lemmings, sit on their fat asses near a cliff, and watch the little fuzzy bastards suicide dive into the ground below. . . . . all just for their own entertainment."
Probably part of it yes. Maybe they're interested in comparing what IGE has earned to what they've reported, among other things.
I'd also bet they're interested in why IGE and Affinity claim they are no longer affiliated when they are. I noticed in the subpoena they wanted documents outlining their structure and whatnot. Affinity's been using the 'non-affiliation' claim to help them get through some website purchases.
I'm not understanding this... why would they sell currency to sites so they can sell it on their private servers? If you're running a private server you can introduce as much gold as you want into the economy and even create it for sale if that's what you want to do. You don't need Blizzard to produce gold for you.
Ok, you want to know what they really do? Blizzard sells out gold to websites that will only sell in bulk to websites like IGE.
In truth nothing about what THEY do is illegal or against there own codes. But they're not so dumb as to not put there hand into a VERY large cookie jar to reap the benefits. Technically Blizzard isnt responsible for the direct selling of the gold but they definitely facilitate it. Probably make just as much doing that as they do from game sales.
"And after blizzard takes over the world, they are gonna gather a bunch of lemmings, sit on their fat asses near a cliff, and watch the little fuzzy bastards suicide dive into the ground below. . . . . all just for their own entertainment."
Oh P-LEASE!! I suppose they are using Roswell aliens as the go betweens too. You, of course have some solid proof of all of this as with all the law suits flying around lately you never know who will be next and libel actions are worth a lot of money.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
I understand why Gold sellers are not good, they hurt the game economy pretty bad. But i never understood why games cared if you sold your character on Ebay or Playerauctions. EQ uses to make EBay wipe all EQ auctions every couple days. I figure if the guy isnt going to play anymore and he sells his account to someone who will at least i still get to make money off it. But i suppose the greedy bastards just wanted the 49 dollars from the box sell also.
Anyway it would be nice if lawsuit worked against IGE but i doubt that it will.
Oh P-LEASE!! I suppose they are using Roswell aliens as the go betweens too. You, of course have some solid proof of all of this as with all the law suits flying around lately you never know who will be next and libel actions are worth a lot of money.
Actually... i know because i sold gold once and attempted to sell to a whole-seller. they told me no and then why they weren't interested. but whatever.
its not worth arguing.
"And after blizzard takes over the world, they are gonna gather a bunch of lemmings, sit on their fat asses near a cliff, and watch the little fuzzy bastards suicide dive into the ground below. . . . . all just for their own entertainment."
Nice. Blizzard selling to gold sellers but yet trying to sue them. Sounds like some shady dealing going on. Sounds more like " Oh heck they are making more money than us and we gave them the stuff, lets sue them to get our money back and then some! " If indeed that is true even if its your own servers, they're just as guilty as gold sellers by distributing the stuff to begin with. Interesting to see how it turns out.
Oh, so we have the word of a confessed gold seller who was told by a gold selling wholesaler!!!
Well then, why didn't you say so in the first place, that is such reliable evidence (maybe a little sarcasm there by the way!)
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Oh, so we have the word of a confessed gold seller who was told by a gold selling wholesaler!!!
Well then, why didn't you say so in the first place, that is such reliable evidence (maybe a little sarcasm there by the way!)
Seriously i dont understand you guys its like everypost in this forum follows the same trend. Theres 2 options people can take guess which one this and the previous poster took.
First option - Flame the poster with sarcasm or unjustifiably shunning his opinions and facts, instantly ignoring them.
Second Option - Delve deeper into what they have to say so you can create a damn worthwhile judgement and/or opinion.
@Sunrider
Id like to know, what you know you may have been a gold seller so you will know something we might not. Whether i believe it or not is another thing, but its better than bieng narrow minded.
If you look back over the posts i did mention that i hoped he had some evidence to back his claims about what he was saying and all he came back with was 'hearsay' between two people trying to commit a criminal act!!
Secondly, show me where his 'facts' were? Just because he says something it does not make it fact!
On a final note, you will excuse me for not taking the word of a confessed gold seller, who in my 'personal opinion' (<<see that) are the lowest of the low in MMO's. If you look back over any of my posts i am all too willing to back down if someone shows me 'factual' evidence to back their claims and this is no different.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Huh?
If you look back over the posts i did mention that i hoped he had some evidence to back his claims about what he was saying and all he came back with was 'hearsay' between two people trying to commit a criminal act!!
Secondly, show me where his 'facts' were? Just because he says something it does not make it fact!
Especially considering...
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/160191
I don't know why it's so hard for people to understand that Blizzard is against the gold-sellers. And it's an extremely weak argument to say they just want in on the a piece of the pie. Here's a hint, Blizzard OWNS the pie!!! It's the gold-sellers who are trying to make a buck off Blizzard, not the other way around folks.
How can you possibly dig deeper into such a vague and unsubstantiated claim? You can't investigate because there is nothing to investigate.
When a claim is made that is:
a) Hurtful to the person the claim is about
b) Goes against what is commonly believed
and
c) Is in the interests of the person making the claim (a self-confessed gold-seller)
Then it is up to the person making the claim to provide evidence before any effort is put into refuting the claim. Otherwise we would spend all day defending ourselves from completely unsubstantiated lies.
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This doesn't quite jive with what you originally posted, IMO.
"On the other hand, i wonder how well it will work when they dig up the fact that blizzard sells currency to other websites for sale on there private servers."
"Private servers', IMO meant where people set up illegal WoW servers to play the game. They can make and sell their own gold from there.
Regardless, it's really very hard to believe what you're saying.
Why would Blizzard need to sell gold to a company anyway? They rake in money hand over foot and put a lot of time and effort into getting rid of gold sellers to the point of legal action.
Why would a company tell you, a random wannabe farmer, who their supplier is?
I call BS.
But anyway, IGE could be headed for some deep kimchi and that still makes me giggle.
Ah the multitude of WoW haters = as plentiful as they are ignorant.
I think this lawsuit is like opening up pandora's box. Whatever is the outcome of the suit it's gonna set a precedent on future laws about virtual goods. The scenario that I can construct with a.) IGE wins means there's a precedent where a gold seller sites actually wins a suit, so expect more gold seller sites as people jump in the bandwagon, more spam from these sites and game developer's hands will be forced to either accept the gold farmers as part of the business and tie up with them to share the virtual goods market pie or file their own suits. b.) IGE loses and sets a precedent where illegal sales of virtual goods is prohibited, this will lead to more gold seller sites being sued leading to the collapse of the virtual goods economy (or force them to the underground just like in the prohibition).
First of all, by stating what i'm stating i'm not being a "hater" or "ignorant" i dont know if they sell to private servers, whatever. as is they're not suppose to exist, once again, whatever.
Yes, i have sold gold to websites. Do I care what you think of me for doing so? No, no i dont. I was hard up for money and I had enough to sell to pay the bills so i figured what the hell, I dont like late fees or bad credit.
Truth be told, i didnt save the chat logs from my chat with the rep from this one website... i never really thought i'd need to prove anything to anyone. i'll see if i can find the website tho for you. Maybe i'll go and attempt the same thing and this time save the chat logs.
On the other hand, i dont really care what you think, i dont really care that WoW can do no wrong in some of your eyes, and i dont really care about WoW anymore... it turns people into sniveling greedy little puke heads in game and makes for the worse company at times, in particularly if you're a raider. I'd know, i went from MC->Nax and dicked around in whatchamacallit... the first dungeon in BC.
Oh, and for the record, I've bought gold too.
"And after blizzard takes over the world, they are gonna gather a bunch of lemmings, sit on their fat asses near a cliff, and watch the little fuzzy bastards suicide dive into the ground below. . . . . all just for their own entertainment."
Edited - After all, i really couldn't be bothered to give this guy any more time by extending the argument, just not worth it!!
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
There are some vry real concern about selling gold and items.
If a bank holds a share portfolio it values it according to what it would sell for if they sold today. This is used for amongst other things to decide taxation.
If I can show that gold is selling at x amount on the open market and level 70 chars for y amount, then I have a means to set the values of the assets held by blizzard. Since blizzard owns all these items they are liable to pay the tax.
If I can show that a level 70 char has real world value then I have a case for suing blizzard if they remove that char. Blizzard certainly doesnt want its EULA tested in open court. That would binf them and set precedents.
You have completely missed the point of the case i guess. Blizzard will be arguing that all of the items being sold are their property and as such should not be sold! As they are not for sale in the real world they have no value in the real world and as such would not be a taxable asset, so basically they are nothing more than the chairs in their offices or the server code used to run the game.
You also contradict yourself a little by making two seperate opposing arguments, the first being to prove that Blizzard owns all of the 'property' and then a second saying that you could sue Blizzard if they deleted it?? How could you sue Blizzard for deleting it's own property??
In a way you have to look at it in a different way when it comes to MMO's in that we only effectively 'rent' our characters from the supplier. We may own the client that we buy, but everything else is server side and belongs to Blizzard.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.