Massively

The Perfect Ten: The 10 people you meet in MMO hell

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Humor, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous

"Hell is other people," the jaunty Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in No Exit. In this play, three characters are locked together in a small room, where they gradually realize that they are there to torment each other for all of eternity. Plus, there are no toilets, and that's going to get unpleasant fast.

It's fun for the whole family -- get your tickets today!

We've all met folks in game who leave an unpleasant taste in our mouths for a long time after. With the all of the good of social games comes the seedy underbelly (henceforth referred to as "Camden, New Jersey"), and for every stellar soul you connect with, there is another lying in wait to destroy your day. If MMO heaven is full of supportive guildies and grammatically correct chat channels, then think of MMO hell as a pick-up group gone horribly awry as you run a dungeon that never ends, a dungeon you can never quit.

While we'd never voluntarily go to MMO hell, it was inevitable that some of its denizens have escaped to walk amongst us in our games even today. Who are these nefarious devils? Hit the jump to find out!

Continue reading The Perfect Ten: The 10 people you meet in MMO hell

The Perfect Ten: The 10 people you meet in MMO hell originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rise and Shiny recap: Dofus

Beau Hindman — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Dofus, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, Mac, Casual, Rise and Shiny, Livestream

Years ago I had to find a job in my new home state of Texas. Luckily for me, my wife hooked me up with a friend who helped me get hired at Starbucks. At first, I hung my head in shame. Later, though, I enjoyed dealing with customers and the free coffee. I had a co-worker, a real chin-scratching, coffee house wanna-be intellectual who would often spend more time dreaming about some game than about getting people on their breaks. He even brought his Macbook to work to sneak in time in the game.

I glanced over his shoulder one day and was delighted to see an odd-looking, cartoony, turn-based game on his screen. It turned out that the game was Dofus. I tried it immediately and fell in love with it, but that was years ago. I still found time to revisit the game, but once I started working at Massively, most of my time became dedicated to every other game in the world.

Well, it's time to visit it again. During the first part of this week, though, I thought this was going to be a disaster. I stayed strong and battled my way through bot after bot, spam message after spam message, and eventually found the great game I remember. Click past the cut to see exactly what I found!

Continue reading Rise and Shiny recap: Dofus

Rise and Shiny recap: Dofus originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online devblog discusses account security

Brendan Drain — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, MMO industry

Every MMO suffers the horrors of gold spammers and EVE Online is no different. The RMT (Real Money Trading) industry is massive and EVE's developers CCP have waged a constant war against it in recent years. The PLEX initiative gave players a way to safely buy ISK for cash while at the same time helping players who couldn't afford their subscriptions pay with ISK. The result was a dramatic hit to the RMT market, who had to drop their prices to compete with a legitimate service replacing their own.

As part of Operation Unholy Rage in August of last year, EVE GMs also banned over 6200 accounts belonging to farmers known to be supplying the RMT industry. The effect on the market was instant, with the population in farmed mission systems like Ingunn disappearing overnight. Almost immediately, the farmers reacted with a spate of account hackings to claw back some ISK.

Continue reading EVE Online devblog discusses account security

EVE Online devblog discusses account security originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aion's community address for November

Rubi Bayer — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Exploits, News items

The November community address for Aion is out, and it's mostly good news.

The good news, of course, includes the stunning nine-minute trailer depicting the future of Aion. Player response was overwhelmingly positive, and netted NCsoft more than a few immediate resubs. The Community Team has also been doing a good amount of work that, while not quite as fun to look at as the trailer, brings results that players can't help but be just as happy about. The Aion team has set up a dedicated Game Surveillance Unit focused solely on taking out bots, gold spammers, and the like. (It seems to be working so far, a recent Tweet reports over 27,000 botting accounts banned this week.) The community address also mentioned the ubiquitous grind complaints. Some short-term changes to grind, loot, and risk vs. reward are on the way, and a more long-term solution seems to be in the works.

On the downside, the server transfer system has been delayed until the Community Team can be sure of releasing a solid finished product. It's a frustrating issue for players, but hopefully the delay will be worth it.

The full community address can be read here.

Aion's community address for November originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aion 24/7 GM support 'coming very soon'

Kyle Horner — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

Aion has a lot of great qualities, although one of the biggest issues in-game towers above pretty much any others: 24/7 in-game GM support. Whether it's gold spammers, bugs or some issue that goes above and beyond asking for help in guild chat -- constant GM support is essential for happy customers.

So you'll be happy to know it's coming very soon! At least, according to recent Twitter activities by the community team. As the weeks continue to churn for this newly hatched (at least in the west) MMO, having a quality support team is going to make or break many potential players' opinions when their hesitant friends ask, Aion"Should I pick up Aion?" Thus, this is good news. Not as good as it actually happening, but very close!

[via TTH]

Aion 24/7 GM support 'coming very soon' originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Addressing gold spam in Aion

Brooke Pilley — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

After playing Aion for any length of time, one might think the 'Looking for Group' channel is actually a 'Looking for Gold" channel. Don't worry, it's a common mistake. Since a few days after launch, players have been bombarded with gold spam in the game's various chat channels from general to group to trade and even to personal tell (whisper). Notably absent from Lance Stites' first State of the Game address last week, English Community Representative Ayase just put out an announcement about gold spam and NCsoft's efforts to eliminate it from Aion.

According to Ayase, game masters are working around the clock to identify and ban gold spammers. Players can also block spammers on an individual basis, which does work but is only a bandaid solution. It doesn't seem like NCsoft has this problem under control just yet, which isn't necessarily a testament to poor effort but to persistent and pesky spammers. The developers are working on new tools and processes to ban the spammers more effectively, but until then our chat channels will likely be flooded with spam. You see, the economy is a strong gameplay element in Aion, and where there's a buck to be made, weasels and sharks will prey.

Addressing gold spam in Aion originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The fight against RMT in EVE Online

James Egan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, MMO industry

It's an unfortunate reality that most any massively multiplayer online game running has to cope with outside influences on an in-game economy because of real money trading (RMT). Game developers tackle the problem in different ways. For instance, Final Fantasy XI has an anti-RMT task force and Warhammer Online has a zero-tolerance name-and-shame approach to RMT. Other companies grab the bull by its horns and base their game around a virtual item trade they can regulate.

The problem of RMT has affected EVE Online just as it has other MMO titles, if not moreso given how its player-driven economy and the Interstellar Kredit (ISK) currency is central to the game. Beyond the potential revenue lost to the black market when players pay real cash for their ships and modules or buy huge sums of ISK outright, there are also issues with players getting their accounts cleaned out by the shady companies (ostensibly) selling the ISK. When that cleverly-named player "ajakdsk" links you to his ISK selling site in a chat channel, following that link could infect your computer with a keylogger, resulting in a fire sale on whatever they find in your account.

EVE Online's creators CCP Games have taken a two-prong approach to handling these issues.

Continue reading The fight against RMT in EVE Online

The fight against RMT in EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'Gold Trading Exposed' a look at multi-billion dollar grey market in MMOs

James Egan — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Economy, MMO industry

If there are any massively multiplayer online games on the market (with virtual economies) that *aren't* overrun at times with gold spammers that multiply like cockroaches, we have yet to hear about it. While the various MMO developers and operators have their own approaches to the problem, ranging from public humiliation of spammers to an anti-RMT strike force that exists to root them out and eliminate them, a key (*the* key) part of this equation for grief is the playerbase itself.

"Gold Trading Exposed" is the first in a series of articles tackling the issues surrounding RMT written for Eurogamer by Nick Ryan. Over time, Ryan will look at the multi-billion dollar trade in virtual gold through the eyes of all parties involved -- the gold traders, the developers, and of course the players themselves (many of whom deny they buy gold). Ryan points out there there's no small amount of hypocrisy from MMO playerbases which profess a hatred for the gold selling trade since, after all, there must be a reason that gold sellers thrive and multiply.

Continue reading 'Gold Trading Exposed' a look at multi-billion dollar grey market in MMOs

'Gold Trading Exposed' a look at multi-billion dollar grey market in MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lame scams still profitable in Guild Wars, over 1000 bans every week

James Egan — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Exploits, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion

Would you fall for this? (Please say 'no'...): A complete stranger approaches you on the sidewalk outside of your bank and shows you a rare coin he says is worth twenty thousand dollars. "I want to just give this coin to you," he says, "but I don't want anyone to know we did this... tax issues, you see." The stranger suggests putting it in your safe deposit box, but because he's so concerned about privacy, he wants access to your safe deposit box to be sure the rare coin gets there, with no one the wiser. The problem is that he can only get in there with your express permission...

We're guessing 99.99% of you would never get suckered by something asinine like this, but why then do people fall for the exact same thing in the virtual realm? Specifically, it seems that Guild Wars players regularly turn over their login info to account thieves in hopes of getting something for nothing, as mentioned by Ravious over at Kill Ten Rats. This ultimately leads to a continuous deluge of stolen accounts, tears, and rage.

Continue reading Lame scams still profitable in Guild Wars, over 1000 bans every week

Lame scams still profitable in Guild Wars, over 1000 bans every week originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Arming yourself in the battle against LotRO gold spam

Shawn Schuster — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Legal, Academic, Education

Following the release of their first paid expansion, Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria developer Turbine has released a reminder of their policy concerning gold-selling and real money transactions (RMT). The reminder post was written by Senior Game Master "Nod" on the official forums, and it contains their no-nonsense code of conduct when it comes to dealing with gold selling.

The rules themselves are fairly typical of an MMO's anti-RMT stance, yet this post also gives players information on how they can deal with gold sellers, spammers, farmers and gold-selling websites themselves. For example, to report a gold spammer, "right-click their spam in your chat window, click on Chat, then click Report as Gold Spammer. This will automatically block the spammer and report the spam to In-Game Support." If you've found yourself getting annoyed by the onslaught of gold spammers that plagues games as they increase in popularity (like LotRO), this information should help you in your battle.

Arming yourself in the battle against LotRO gold spam originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Can we solve problems intertwined with MMO economies?

James Egan — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Economy, Game mechanics, Crafting, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Legal, Virtual worlds

In-game economies can make MMOs more vibrant places to play, lending depth to these games that generally isn't found in regular PC or console titles. Then again, the perceived value attributed to virtual currency and items can lead to a slew of problems, not limited to acts of real world violence, the plague of gold spamming, and the slippery slope of ownership in the virtual space.

At least one company out there is working with MMO publishers to create a regulated secondary market, the hope being that it's possible to reclaim the black and grey market commerce so often attached to massively multiplayer titles. Do you think this approach is a viable solution to some of the problems associated with MMO economies? What are your ideas on how these issues intertwined with virtual currency and items should be resolved? Is there even a solution at all?

The Daily Grind: Can we solve problems intertwined with MMO economies? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 25 Oct 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Live Gamer interviewed about regulated RMT

James Egan — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Economy, Interviews, MMO industry, Virtual worlds

We've mentioned a company called Live Gamer in the past here at Massively. Essentially, Live Gamer is attempting to legitimize real money trading (RMT) in virtual spaces, by partnering with game publishers to create a regulated secondary market for item sales and trades. The goal is to integrate RMT with MMOs and virtual worlds and usurp the myriad gold spammers and scammers currently plaguing most virtual spaces that feature economies.

Suzie Ford at WarCry recently interviewed Live Gamer Founder and President Andrew Schneider about how the company plans to change a $2 billion industry presently dominated by the black and grey market. The interview touches on the company's background, how the Live Gamer service works, and overall how they handle some of the polarizing issues of RMT in MMOs. Check out the full interview with Andrew Schneider over at WarCry for a brief overview of what Live Gamer is about.

Does the prospect of having a legitimate, regulated secondary market for avatars, virtual items, and currency in your MMOs seem like a step in the right direction?

Live Gamer interviewed about regulated RMT originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reporting gold spammers in WAR now easier than ever

James Egan — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Economy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Warhammer Online, News items

The gold seller scourge has fallen upon Warhammer Online, as you've likely noticed. But Mythic Entertainment has taken some rather extreme measures to silence the incessant spamming. To help reach that goal, they're making it easier for players to report gold selling activity and harassment. In keeping with their zero-tolerance policy on gold spamming, Mythic states, "We are committed to making life as hard as we can for Gold Sellers in game and maximizing player enjoyment. To that end we have added a new tool to streamline the gold seller reporting process."

That tool is found within the Appeal Interface, as the stand-alone category "GOLD/PL SALES" -- and is not found within the Violation category (which is used for most other types of harassment) as you might expect. Submitting these appeals via the GOLD/PL SALES category is a straightforward matter, as shown below the cut:

Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out our Warhammer guides: Massively's Character Creation Guide and our WoW Player's Guide to Warhammer. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

Continue reading Reporting gold spammers in WAR now easier than ever

Reporting gold spammers in WAR now easier than ever originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The World of Warcraft bot-killer exploit

Michael Zenke — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, Exploits

Tired of gold spammers clogging up the bank square in Stormwind? Lots of other World of Warcraft players feel the same way and have (apparently) found a way to deal with this issue firsthand. The site TechnoLlama notes a technique where Shamans can kill off the Level 1 goldspammer bots, despite being a part of the same faction. By logging off just a moment before their Fire Nova totem detonates, it essentially turns the explosive device into an unaligned item. When it goes off, it does damage to everyone around it regardless of faction.

Even a level 70 totem doesn't do that much to your average player. The damage done is more than enough to kill a level 1 spambot, though. All of this is outlined in a post to the official WoW forums. It's (of course) been deleted, but it can be viewed in whole via Google cache. This unique post and discussion was highlighted by the commentary site Terra Nova. Commenter Greg Lastowka notes that this is a unique response from a fed-up player community. He ties it back to a previous discussion on the site about appropriate levels of RMT control.

What do you think? Should players be allowed to "take the law into their own hands" when it comes to gold spammers?

The World of Warcraft bot-killer exploit originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 23 May 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Public service announcement from WoW Europe discourages gold buying

William Dobson — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Economy, Exploits, Leveling, Making money

Timmy is sick and tired of lagging behind his friends and guild-mates, all because of his inferior flying mount. He decides to purchase some gold with real money and buy his epic mount. Timmy thinks to himself, "It doesn't really hurt anyone, does it?" The answer to that question is, "Yes Timmy, it does". The European World of Warcraft site has listed a gold-selling FAQ that aims to educate players like Timmy on some of the consequences of purchasing products and services from a gold-selling company.

The site lists the obvious stuff, like spammers and bots, which both annoy people and take up Blizzard resources that could be put to better use, but the article also brings up some things that aren't always mentioned. Much of the gold that these companies trade in comes from hacked accounts, and many accounts are hacked after the owner enlists the aid of a power-leveling service. When the companies have access to the account, the unfortunate victim may also find their personal details being used for identity theft and credit card fraud. The bottom line is, without people using these services, the companies could not continue to operate. We here at Massively are also vehemently opposed to gold-selling, and agree wholeheartedly with Blizzard's message. Just say no, Timmy.

Public service announcement from WoW Europe discourages gold buying originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PotBS devlog discusses the gold-spammer issue

William Dobson — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: Historical, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Economy, News items

"Do you annoy not afford new ship?" Anyone that has played Pirates of the Burning Sea since launch will have received countless private messages similar to the above, soliciting the sale of in-game currency. The latest devlog from the official PotBS site talks about how they are working to combat the spamming -- well, they tell us what they can, because if we can read it, so can the spammers.

Some extremely good news is that a new command is on the way that will make reporting spammers a breeze. Currently players have to leave the game or alt-tab out to condemn these nuisances, but those days will soon be over. The process for Flying Lab Software to actually receive and act on these reports is being streamlined as well. Behind the scenes, they say that they are looking at better ways to catch the spammers before they even get to spam, but as per the above reason, don't expect these methods to be made public. FLS has attemped to deal with this problem from the very start, and it looks like the beginning of round two is on the horizon.

PotBS devlog discusses the gold-spammer issue originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Turbine adding to their arsenal for gold-spammer warfare

William Dobson — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Patches, News items

No one likes gold spamming. It's intrusive and annoying, and takes away from your enjoyment of a game. In Lord of the Rings Online, spam in the chat channels has been cracked down on in a big way recently, so the spammers have gone back to doing a lot more mail-based spam. A recent post on the official forums clued us in on what's next for the on-going battle in the spam wars.

Book 12 will include an option when viewing mail to "Report as Spam", greatly increasing the ease of reporting a character for the player, and getting the information back to Turbine much quicker than before. But the really big weapon here is a solution that should already be in place: "...and we now have the ability to delete all mail sent by a character, so some of it you'll never see at all before it's nuked."

The ball is in your court spammers.

Turbine adding to their arsenal for gold-spammer warfare originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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