Suggestion for Fraudulent keys and PR:

Ytterin

Just a suggestion to bring up for those affected by the bad purchases who have their games taken away:

A limited time discount on buying the game officially. Where this is by no means the fault of Zenimax (people chose to use shady places at prices too good to be true,) it would be very good PR. It certainly shouldn't be a big discount, but just a little bit will likely get a bunch more people back into the game, rather than deciding it isn't worth it.
I mention this because I participate in discussions elsewhere, and have noted to people that while it is their own fault that they purchased from shady sources... that I would mention this on the forums here. I'd love to turn around, say 'Hey, guess what!' and slap a nice big 'Yep, they discounted it when asked nicely.' in front of those people. Mostly because I know most of them would be happy, but I do admit making the ones who cry foul about everything look a little silly. So I wanted to at least broach the subject!

Thanks for reading my crazy little idea!

Danikat

I can't see ZOS (or any company) doing this.

For a start some people would see it as penalising honest customers: If I take the time to do a bit of research and buy an official copy from a reliable source I end up paying more for it.

But also the obvious approach for anyone who happens to be aware of this is to deliberately buy a fake copy from some dodgy website, cry to support and get an official copy cheaply. It loses ZOS money and gives a lot of people a huge incentive to support people who are actually breaking the law (several laws if it's international) by selling fake copies.

MrGhosty

Danikat wrote: »

I can't see ZOS (or any company) doing this.

For a start some people would see it as penalising honest customers: If I take the time to do a bit of research and buy an official copy from a reliable source I end up paying more for it.

But also the obvious approach for anyone who happens to be aware of this is to deliberately buy a fake copy from some dodgy website, cry to support and get an official copy cheaply. It loses ZOS money and gives a lot of people a huge incentive to support people who are actually breaking the law (several laws if it's international) by selling fake copies.

Microsoft is doing it for windows 10 and pirates...similar deal.
The idea itself isn't without merit, though I wouldn't make the price terribly discounted. Sometimes people are just thick and haven't quite figured out that everything on the internet is trying to lie to you yet. Some people are just shady and trying to get the most bang for their buck but if ZOS were to get some of them to come back in via an authorized channel there is opportunity to monetize them down the line.

Elsonso

MrGhosty wrote: »

Microsoft is doing it for windows 10 and pirates...similar deal.
The idea itself isn't without merit, though I wouldn't make the price terribly discounted. Sometimes people are just thick and haven't quite figured out that everything on the internet is trying to lie to you yet. Some people are just shady and trying to get the most bang for their buck but if ZOS were to get some of them to come back in via an authorized channel there is opportunity to monetize them down the line.

Fair point, but I am wondering about the demographic breakdown of the accounts that are actually having their accounts taken away. Sure, a few people have been in here saying that they are impacted, but by and large, there is not outrage boiling over. Maybe some of them are no longer playing the game, or are not reading the email, or did not even get the email for one reason or another.

The biggest consumer of the fraudulent keys might not be innocent players, at all. It may very well be that these are the accounts that the botters and gold sellers have been using in the game. We know they are still in the game, they never left. They just got more careful about how they go about their business. The accounts that they are using had to come from somewhere.

If that is the case, why should ZOS offer them any discounts?

Ytterin

Like I said, just a PR thought. I completely agree it is not required, and you all bring up some valid points.

ZoS could, of course, make a statement that this is 1 time, and only will affect those who purchased prior to a given date... which would prevent the 'Go out and buy shady now!' effect. Then again, we all know people are out there that would still try, but when they got shot down on it there would be obvious 'Your own fault.' ammunition beyond even just buying the shady keys in the first place.

It is true that the demographic may be bad for this. I just noticed it in conversation elsewhere, so figured it didn't hurt to mention it!

Thank you all for the thoughtful discussion!