Gold Spam revisitedFollow

They're also in the newbie Archet area (level 1-6) spamming the OOC channel. Level one and standing just outside the gates. Which is why I didn't switch off of anon even when Turbine issued the "fix", because I knew it would only be temporary. I mean if violating ToS doesn't matter to gold sellers, I highly doubt making a work around hack matters to them either.

All of it is getting really old. I leave my anon off since I am an officer but I get really really tired of the incessant spams in the channels, the spam tells and the emails. Apparently, the "fix" either doesn't work or Turbine is not taking it as seriously as they say they are.

I don't like to be the naysayer, especially since I like the game, but these maggots really need to be dealt with far more harshly than game companies are willing to. And until MMO companies take a more aggressive stance globally, these damned gold sellers and lazy *** gold buyers who don't have any business in a game will continue to ruin every game they come into contact with and drive away static income for the game company.

Personally, I would like to see more IP bans instead of just that particular account. Rather than ban an account that is a throw away for these people, banning the associated IP and credit card used to purchase them would make a dent in the practice. The same should go for the tools who buy gold.

In regards to people who buy gold, they should have their account, credit card and IP banned and all their gear either deleted or given to the person who reported them after it was verified they are a slimeball who has to buy gold.

But I am a militant type.

Ban the BUYERS and go after the bank accounts along with the spammer accounts... That will hurt them more and discourage gold buying. Make it public knowledge how many accounts your banning and for what "general" reason.

Yes, you'll probably get a few people who didn't really buy gold caught, but they can appeal and have a closer look taken at their account history and such.

My suggestion for it would be to have a dedicated security team per server that did nothing but check on this kind of stuff. They get the reports of gold buying/selling and boom, off they go to investigate. They catch them, detail the accounts and maintain a database that is tied in to the login server or whatever they use to track user accounts. Then they make a public announcement each week that they have caught x number of buyers AND sellers per server and list the servers and numbers caught, IPs banned and so on.

For example:

Week of November 1 - 7, 2007
Meneldor
Sellers : 125 caught and banned
Buyers: 18 caught and banned
IPs banned: 45

Nimrodel
Sellers : 125 caught and banned
Buyers: 18 caught and banned
IPs banned: 45

This way no names are listed, nobody is giving out confidential information but the community is made aware that the security team is catching these losers and sharing details with us. And this also lets the scumbags who have to resort to this crap know that they can and will be caught.

Oh I still enjoy the game, this is just one facet that has been a thorn in my side since my EQ days.

I think they are farming our character names from the boards, here and on LOTRO forums too. My Lore-master has been ANON for a long time, and recently I posted his name in the LOTRO forums in my signature. Soon after I started getting tells, and emails from gagora.com -- these guys are by far the worst. So at this point I am removing my character names from my signatures.

IP bans are probably the most effective way to go on these particular bastards.

IP banning doesn't stop it, it is easy to change your IP with the proper know how and chances are these gold sellers have the proper know how. I don't think we will ever stop gold selling it is just a fact of MMOs but if we keep banning we might be able to slow them down.

Actually, they can probably IP ban based off the IP the account was created under, if they do what other companies do and log the IP used at account creation time along with the account name.

Well, if the internet cafe is hit then so be it. Maybe doing more aggressive stuff like that will tell companies that allow these bastards to run their scams that it is not wanted.

Bottom line is that there is no easy answer but the current practice of "ban x character or y account when reported" is obviously not working. These little maggots just keep coming up with new ways to **** off and drive off the player base but the game companies are too afraid to take an aggressive step to curb it.

Maybe if there was a more definitive answer to the "intellectual property" thing in regards to code and how it is disseminated, it would make more of a difference, I don't know, I'm not a lawyer or versed in intellectual copyright law. I get the feeling these <expletive string 5 miles long> are sitting in that gray area that nobody seems to want to take a stand on and capitalizing on player laziness and MMO terror of alienating players and having a field day ruining games.

In fact, when I logged in last night, within a 5 minute period, 3 of these assclowns from spammed the ooc channel and sent ppl tells incessantly. ONE got banned. One. Multiple people reported all three but two were still there, happily spamming away and ruining everyone's gametime. And how are annoyed ppl treated when they comment? "Turn off the channel", "put them on ignore" etc etc. No wonder players like me get tired of MMOs.

"Farmer Maggot Mushrooms - TURN RIGHT NOW!"

only a few /t spams since they implemented the spam fix, however, i've seen plenty of /ooc spammers. indeed, just last night i was running through bree and there were not, but two /ooc spammers for a gold selling/buying and PL'ing site.

it's brazen sometimes.

i just /ignore and then /report--only tools we have right now, so i'll use them.