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Can any legal action be taken against AD sellers?

arakk00arakk00 Member Posts: 166 Arc User
edited March 2015 in General Discussion (PC)
See the title- if action can be taken, now would be an excellent time. If not, please Cryptic- add something to your ToS that will firmly entitle you to sue these people so far into debt they'll never see daylight again.

Now, why do I ask about this? Why am I upset? And why bring it up publically? I'll explain.

As for why I'm saying this on the public board, it's simple- AD sellers are a problem for ANYONE who isn't buying from them, and the community needs to be made aware of that. Now, to explain the problems.

1: AD sellers run spambots. This is more a nuisance than anything, but even the budget wallet warriors buying from them should be bothered by this. They spam the major chats, send you random tells, etc. It's a huge pain to deal with, having to ignore/report dozens every day to have a hope of reading LFG or Zone.

2: AD sellers run CRAFT bots. You know how you're probably taking months to level Leadership for a steady influx of AD? Thanks to bots that aren't inconvenienced by the craft setup as we are, it's done in much less time- without the sellers lifting a finger. And then those hundreds of Leadership bots provide masses of AD for the seller, at a faster rate than any legitimate player could hope to keep up with- again, because bots. Not a single minute is wasted.

3: AD sellers take ACTUAL GOODS off of the market. They don't stop at AD, but instead snag cheap(ish) enchantments, artifacts, RP, etc. from the AH. This is, again, done with bots. If a player undercuts enough, a bot buys the item instantly- no legitimate player gets a chance to buy that item. Essentially, these sellers enforce a standard high price and then sell the 'cheaper' ones for CASH.

4: AD sellers RUIN the Zen exchange. Look at the current state of the exchange right now- MILLIONS of excess AD, filling AD orders at 500:1 as soon as they appear. A large chunk of this is bought AD essentially being a discount to Zen, even at 500:1. Players are buying AD and wanting to trade it for Zen, but there's so much farmed AD out there to buy... Meaning NO Zen is forthcoming for players who gather their own AD and just want to buy a respec token.

5: Most importantly, anyone who has ever touted how much they support the game or yelled at a full free player for not doing so- AD SELLERS ARE DIRECTLY STEALING FROM CRYPTIC. Where usually, your route to getting AD from RL cash would be buying Zen and trading for AD (putting money into the game), AD bought from a seller at a lower rate goes to some ****** running a pile of servers, spamming you, making sure you don't get a 'good deal' on any items.

(TL;DR AD sellers are spamming you, stealing from Cryptic, and bot sniping low-priced items on the AH)

That all said, how much community support do we have for lawsuits against these slimebags, even if it requires a ToS change?
A <Friendly Dragon>!
Post edited by arakk00 on

Comments

  • alexgabriel23alexgabriel23 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 276
    edited March 2015
    ye add them to ignore and pray to god to zapp ppl who will buy "ilegal ad" made from bots
  • iambecks1iambecks1 Member Posts: 4,044 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    I don't think many gold seller websites are run by the kind of people who take court summons and solicitors letters telling them to cease their behavior too seriously .
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  • suicidalgodotsuicidalgodot Member Posts: 2,465 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    ...it would probably set an interesting precedent in - probably - international law :^)
  • azahronazahron Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    ...it would probably set an interesting precedent in - probably - international law :^)

    Some World of Warcraft RMTs got arrested over in China a while ago, so it does happen.
    It's just very, very rare.

    http://www.sk-gaming.com/forum/15-World_of_Warcraft/1144232-WoW_Gold_Farmers_Arrested
    http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/wow-gold-farmers-arrested.163609722/

    There was a more recent case too, but my Search-Fu is failing me atm.
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  • hydrosmurf75hydrosmurf75 Member Posts: 33 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    iambecks1 wrote: »
    I don't think many gold seller websites are run by the kind of people who take court summons and solicitors letters telling them to cease their behavior too seriously .

    Yeah these people

    http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2009/3/4/1236180344646/Gold-farming-China-Wow7go-002.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gallery/2009/mar/05/china-virtual-worlds&h=390&w=551&tbnid=X0E3fbJhW2eAOM:&zoom=1&docid=tZ4PLKcpBrEaKM&ei=I70RVc6zNsvYggT014DYAg&tbm=isch&ved=0CEAQMygZMBk

    http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://expansivedlc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Gold-farming-China-Wow7go-001-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://expansivedlc.com/still-getting-gold-farmer-spam-2014/&h=298&w=630&tbnid=eicPkFvBQbluzM:&zoom=1&docid=aNkW6VcIjvmmwM&ei=I70RVc6zNsvYggT014DYAg&tbm=isch&ved=0CB4QMygBMAE

    Do not care about your/my gaming experience for sure......

    Also Azahron.... Those charges were latter DROPED!
    A year or so ago an investigation was done into exactly why these people get away with ruining games by selling gold and destroying game economies. It was found that those people PAY THE AUTHORITIES a kick back and therefore good luck getting them to HELP the developers enforce any form of punishment.
  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Cryptic doesn't have the financial resources to go after these guys. If they're not operating in the US, it'll be extremely expensive and difficult to do anything...which is why none of these RMT sites operated within the United States.
    "Meanwhile in the moderator's lounge..."
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  • nehemiah217nehemiah217 Member Posts: 181 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    While I can appreciate your enthusiasm, this isn't something that Cryptic could pursue, even if they wanted to. And let's face it, they don't care, they've made that blatantly obvious by turning their blind eye to it. And really, nobody is stealing anything from Cryptic. Is it possible that they are undercutting the Zen Store, but that's no more theft than Wal-Mart undercutting every ShopKo, K-Mart, Sam Goody, Circuit City, and pet store in the country.

    Cryptic doesn't care, so you're just getting yourself worked up for naught.
  • hydrosmurf75hydrosmurf75 Member Posts: 33 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    While I can appreciate your enthusiasm, this isn't something that Cryptic could pursue, even if they wanted to. And let's face it, they don't care, they've made that blatantly obvious by turning their blind eye to it. And really, nobody is stealing anything from Cryptic. Is it possible that they are undercutting the Zen Store, but that's no more theft than Wal-Mart undercutting every ShopKo, K-Mart, Sam Goody, Circuit City, and pet store in the country.

    Cryptic doesn't care, so you're just getting yourself worked up for naught.

    Yeah I have been playing MMO's from the 90's and I must say... I dropped my shield and sword on the ground and gave up on the "Ani Gold Seller" crusade a long long time ago.

    Sadly it is a cancer we have to just "Live With" if we are to play MMO's and sell stuff.. There will be a market for these scum bags.
  • angryspriteangrysprite Member Posts: 4,982 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    There is zero real money ("Legal tender") involved at all. Hence why would a company spend such "legal tender" (and lots and lots of it) to press charges against people who are not doing anything illegal? They are not stealing anything from you, or even stealing anything from the game studio. In fact, they aren't stealing anything at all. They aren't breaking any other laws, either.

    The only rules they are breaking is the End User License Agreement (a.k.a. Terms of Service; TOS); in essences: The game studio's "welcome" mat. The most the game studio can do is to kick them out and lock the door. Except they're *bots* (allegedly, according to you) - and by very nature will immediately create a new accounts and walk right back in.

    There is really no solution to the situation beyond what they are already doing.

    PRO-TIP: Learn to tune it out or there's the door. I hate to sound so brash, but sometimes truth hurts.
  • lewstelamon01lewstelamon01 Member Posts: 7,415 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Legal insinuations and discussions of legal actions are not permitted by the Rules of Conduct. This applies to both arguments for and against any sort of legal action. This is a matter best taken up with an attorney/solicitor specializing in the appropriate area of law.
    ROLL TIDE ROLL

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