Check the Ferengi Smugglers post from Stomrshade:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=96466
...
If you come across someone offering to sell you in-game currency for real life money, please report them in-game. You can do this by right clicking on their name in game and select the option to report them.
...
We want you to know that we do take the buying and selling of in-game currency for real money very seriously.
If we have proof that you have bought in-game currency, or are caught trying to sell in-game currency, we will ban your Star Trek Online Account. No one would like to see this happen, so please, don't buy in-game currency for real money, and if you see someone trying to sell in-game currency, please report them.
Comments
"It's OK if we get a cut!"
The dev response right now is that they're coming up with an official response on whether this is trading in-game currency for real money or not. My take is that it isn't... but that it is trading in-game currency for a real life SERVICE and is therefore advertising and offering to trade something that is Cryptic's property, not yours. (They own your energy credits and your inventory and rent you access to them. Therefore you couldn't be able to offer them, IMHO.)
However, the current word is that until a policy is drafted, no infractions or disciplinary action will be taken and that (likely) once a policy is drafted, we will be informed and any offending posts will be deleted and any offending posters will receive a warning and, provided the policy outlaws what they did, they will receive disciplinary action but only if they persist in doing it after Cryptic takes a stance (which will likely be to delete the offending posts and ask people not to do it again).
So the idea of people getting bans or infractions over this is a bit alarmist when we have a dev who says that they won't and that, at worst, they'll get a deleted post and a gentle warning/notice without any infraction points.
Annoying Gold Spammer: /tell Hey, give $40 to AnnoyingGoldSpammerCompany and I'll give you 1 million credits!
Me: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr *uses report spammer*
Totally Acceptable Scenario:
Annoying Referral Spammer: /tell Hey I noticed you're doing the tutorial, give $40 to GameCompanyThatMakesTerribleMarketingDecisions, use this code, and I'll give you 1 million credits!
Me playing my new alt character in the tutorial: /reply C'mon dude, you already *$*#@* asked me this 5 minutes ago. *tempted to use report spammer*
THERE IS NOT OFFICAL POLICY ON "GIVING AWAY" E-Credits to get people to use your referral code over any else who is not "Giving Away" credits. The referral is not being sold... it's still being given away and used for advertising for the person to buy the game from Cryptic/Cryptic approved vendort and subscribe to cryptic's service.
Honestly, I don't think they are going to argue it as it means more profits for them. The selling of E-credits for "Green" has no benefit to Cryptic.
P.S. I hope cryptic comes out with an official polity statment on this issue.
I'd still be cautious - offering friendhsip or help for a referral is perfectly reasonable, oferring to pay for it, no matter how indirectly is at best a grey area and is certainly against prior statements until today.