IGE, Sigil, and CG

[Aadwen]

I don't like IGE or others like them. We all know Sigil does not like them. So what do you guys think of this article? It's a tough call for me, but I know Sigil did not know what the advertisements would be mouths ago when they made this deal.

http://www.warcry.com/scripts/column...404&colid=9642

I also found this posted about this subject.



Quote:
Originally Posted by SV FAQ
26.3. How do you feel about players selling accounts, items, and other in-game ‘property’ outside of the game, in auctions and/or for real money?

Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15 [ sharable link ]
It's too early to announce actual policies, but we will say we've never been fans of selling items outside of the game. Ideally we enter these virtual worlds to escape the real world... who we are, how much money we have, etc. What we earn in-game should have little or no bearing on what we've accomplished in real-life.

When you encounter another character in-game who is equipped with rare items, it's bad enough when you think he might have twinked without warrant, and even worse when you find out he just bought them on eBay. To us, it diminishes the accomplishments of those who actually earned those items by playing the game.
Source: Official FAQ


#1) Sigil's policies regarding IGE and fan sites won't change - fan sites that accept advertisement from secondary services will not be allowed/accepted into the affiliate program.

#2) Regarding game magazines and web sites - there is nothing that either MS or Sigil can do about them accepting advertising dollars from the secondary market. If we cut them off, we would be cutting off one of our primary avenues of attracting new customers.
Source: Taranis

What do you guys think?

Aadwen

[Greymain]

I have no problem with buying and selling virtual items in a game designed to handle that system. It does not appeal to me and I wish to play a game without this feature. So I fully support Sigils stand and will not hesitate to report any infringements in the game to the GM's.

Having said that, I fear that it may be impossible to prevent this potentual corporate cash cow in the long term. We will find virtual shops appearing in games as well as advertising... \shudder.

[Xanoth]

i see the irony, but its simply unfortunate.

Sigil can't control the magazine company, nor can they dictate to them who they can take money from to place adds there.

i agree with sigils decision to prevent sites from being affiliated if they have gold selling ads on their site. but i dont think having Vanguard feature in a magazine that does feature such adds undermines this, as if they avoided featuring in such magazines, Vangaurd would appear in very few, as most seem to have gold sellings ads these days, as they pay well. more and more or taking a stand, but i dont think it would be wise for Sigil to hold out.

[Zberyn]

After watching the nightmare of EQ characters of friends being sold, and only finding out when the new owner admited they weren't the person you knew, I seriously hope that Sigil can keep this under control. I was most unhappy to see that SoE decided to offer servers where the buying and selling of characters, coin and items in EQ2 was perfectly accepted, and in fact encouraged. Buying and selling characters, coin and items with real cash distorts the balance of a game, IMO. It creates a pool of players who have high level characters and no skill with them, which becomes a burden on the rest of the community.

This doesn't even touch on the distasters caused by coin farmers taking up common camps in order to farm out stuff to sell and build their outside market. Bot farmers have got to be amongst the lowest life forms in an MMORPG.

The more Sigil can do to keep the outside market under control, the better.

[Taronn Anvilmarr]

I really like the way EQ2 handled this issue. They decreed if anyone wanted to do the buying/selling of gold, chararacters, etc.. then only on one or two servers but that was it. They did the same for PVP. I really appreciated that they at least made the attempt to serve that community of people in at least a small way and did not intrude upon my community.

If Sigil wants to avoid those issues the more power to them. I agree that they are just harmfull to the surrounding community, but we have to at least acknowledge that the idiots just wont go away. I applaud Sigil's way of handling this so far (as much as i know of it) but they may want to at least look into EQ2's solution.....

....because (and you have to admit this) it is a significant revenue stream.

[Sorengard]

Originally Posted by Taronn Anvilmarr

I really like the way EQ2 handled this issue. They decreed if anyone wanted to do the buying/selling of gold, chararacters, etc.. then only on one or two servers but that was it. They did the same for PVP. I really appreciated that they at least made the attempt to serve that community of people in at least a small way and did not intrude upon my community.

If Sigil wants to avoid those issues the more power to them. I agree that they are just harmfull to the surrounding community, but we have to at least acknowledge that the idiots just wont go away. I applaud Sigil's way of handling this so far (as much as i know of it) but they may want to at least look into EQ2's solution.....

....because (and you have to admit this) it is a significant revenue stream.

I think that when SoE started those servers, they also started to condone the buying and selling of in-game materials for RL-money. I thank what came to light when SOE did what they did, was that they never really were against Botting and the selling that goes along with it. They were just upset that they could not get a piece of the pie. So now that they are getting some of that pie, you will still continue to see the same amount of botting, buying and selling on the other servers as you did before. Well actual I take that back, because from what I hear after I left EQ2 their is not that many people left to do the buying.

As for the magazine, that is just bad luck. I think Sigil has no control over that.

As for IGE, you have to hate them. But as long as they have customers they will be around. I hope that Sigil does the best they can to fight back but thats all you can hope for, because IGE and those like it will always find away. All you can do is try your best to stop them and limit their impact on your customers, but for them to actually be stoped it is up to the customers and their demands.

Oh and If I don't make any sense, please forgive me. Sometimes I can not get my thoughts out on post so others can understand them, instead just a bunch of garble comes out.

[Quester]

Good thread Aadew: Looking forward to questing with you!