Crown Store Gifting and Potential Scamming

Ley

UPDATE:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/407076/pts-update-18-feedback-thread-for-crown-store-gifting
Based on the feedback looks like CoD isn't a thing for now, in the new crown store gifting system.

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Let me start off by saying, despite my mixed feelings about exchanging real money for in game gold/items/services, while not thrilled, I'm more or less ok with this new feature. Call this gifting or call it whatever you want, it's just semantics. This is essentially creating a new market for players to sell and trade gold/items/services for crown store items (real money). Some players may choose to give these items away for free (gift them) but inevitably players will use this for trade; no matter how well or poorly it's implemented. There are several unknowns regarding the implementation that I am concerned about.

Will it be against ToS to gift crown store items in exchange for in game gold/items/services?

If not will gifting have functionality comparable to the mailing system's CoD?

If it is against ToS then ZOS can at least pretend to not endorse the exchange of crowns for gold/items/services and make the exchange process not conducive to safe exchange. Trade crowns for gold/items/services at your own risk. If a player gets scammed trying to exchange crowns for gold/items/services, then they have no one to complain to because they breached the ToS.

If it isn't against ToS then they may as well embrace the inevitable exchange of crowns for gold/items/services and make the system user friendly and as scam-proof as possible (CoD).

I also find it interesting that they decided to make gifts permanent. In the sense that once you buy an item from the crown store with the intent of gifting it, if it is sent back to you, you cannot claim the item yourself and are forced to hold onto it until you find someone else to "gift" it to. I think a much more fair approach to this would be, if the person receiving the gift declines the gift or the gift expires, then the sender gets their crowns refunded for that item and the item goes away. Otherwise this is inviting players to troll/scam each other by agreeing to an exchange and then backing out after the item has already been gifted. This is assuming there is some form of CoD in place and the other player can't just steal them item outright and not hold up their end of the bargain. I don't have high hopes for this to be changed.

I don't want to even imagine how many support tickets ZOS will have to deal with of players getting scammed, players asking for refunds on items purchased as gifts, players who sent gifts to the wrong person, ect...

I'd like to give ZOS the benefit of the doubt and assume they've considered all of these scenarios and have implemented ways of handling them effectively. I'd hate to see this added to the game and for whatever reasons (legal or otherwise) implemented in a way that makes it very easy to scam other players.

OblivionNW

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

Ley

OblivionNW wrote: »

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

They don't have to endorse it but how would they actively prevent it?

starkerealm

Ley wrote: »

OblivionNW wrote: »

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

They don't have to endorse it but how would they actively prevent it?

If they catch it, yeah, probably.

I'm honestly not sure what's going on with the crown store gifting. It seems a bit odd, given prior positions, but I guess we'll see.

SteveCampsOut

Ley wrote: »

OblivionNW wrote: »

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

They don't have to endorse it but how would they actively prevent it?

All crown store purchases are bound to the player who buys them and are not even sellable. There is no Crown Gifting as of yet though they have mentioned thinking about it in the past, I have not heard anything new on the subject.

starkerealm

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

Ley wrote: »

OblivionNW wrote: »

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

They don't have to endorse it but how would they actively prevent it?

All crown store purchases are bound to the player who buys them and are not even sellable. There is no Crown Gifting as of yet though they have mentioned thinking about it in the past, I have not heard anything new on the subject.

It's in the current PTS build. Which, in retrospect, this thread should probably be over there, rather than here.

Ley

@SteveCampsOut

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official discussion thread for the blog article Learn About Update 18’s Gifting, Daily Rewards, & Combat Changes. Update 18 introduces a selection of additions and improvements for all ESO players, including Crown Store Gifting, Daily Rewards, and combat changes that are designed to help you play the way you want to play. Find out more in this latest preview article!

In case you missed the announcement.

smacx250

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

Ley wrote: »

OblivionNW wrote: »

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

They don't have to endorse it but how would they actively prevent it?

All crown store purchases are bound to the player who buys them and are not even sellable. There is no Crown Gifting as of yet though they have mentioned thinking about it in the past, I have not heard anything new on the subject.

Crown store gifting has been done for at least 18 months now - I know because I've gifted things to other accounts since late 2016. To do so you need to contact customer support, but with update 18, it will be automated as part of the game.

OblivionNW

Ley wrote: »

If it is against ToS then ZOS can at least pretend to not endorse the exchange of crowns for gold/items/services and make the exchange process not conducive to safe exchange. Trade crowns for gold/items/services at your own risk. If a player gets scammed trying to exchange crowns for gold/items/services, then they have no one to complain to because they breached the ToS.

This. It probably won't be actively monitored and will probably only be acted on if reported, realistically they can't know if crown items were traded for gold on every instance the system is used.

Ley

smacx250 wrote: »

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

Ley wrote: »

OblivionNW wrote: »

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

They don't have to endorse it but how would they actively prevent it?

All crown store purchases are bound to the player who buys them and are not even sellable. There is no Crown Gifting as of yet though they have mentioned thinking about it in the past, I have not heard anything new on the subject.

Crown store gifting has been done for at least 18 months now - I know because I've gifted things to other accounts since late 2016. To do so you need to contact customer support, but with update 18, it will be automated as part of the game.

I'm aware, but there's a big difference between having to put in a support ticket to gift an item and being able to manage the transaction yourself in-game.

NewBlacksmurf

Go read the Support topics on/after June 5th

TheNuminous1

So is it or is it not allowed to post in chat WTT X ingame item for X crownstore item? cause I imagine ill be seeing that in zone chat.

and quick question to anyone informed can you gift houses??

smacx250

TheNuminous1 wrote: »

So is it or is it not allowed to post in chat WTT X ingame item for X crownstore item? cause I imagine ill be seeing that in zone chat.

and quick question to anyone informed can you gift houses??

No

Twenty0zTsunami

Honestly, aside form "it can be used to scam" there is no good reason to wish for this type of trading to be averted.

Don't want crown store items? Great, continue on!

Want crown store items but don't have cash? Great, earn GP and buy them from a player!

Have cash but need gold? Great! Buy some stuff in crown store and get all the gold you could ever want.

And before people start boohoo'ing, I firmly reject the idea that buying currency is p2w.

Lake

I think they shouldn't entertain any support tickets about it and make it purely 100% "at your own risk".

Knowledge

And so it begins.

Ley

Twenty0zTsunami wrote: »

Honestly, aside form "it can be used to scam" there is no good reason to wish for this type of trading to be averted.

Don't want crown store items? Great, continue on!

Want crown store items but don't have cash? Great, earn GP and buy them from a player!

Have cash but need gold? Great! Buy some stuff in crown store and get all the gold you could ever want.

And before people start boohoo'ing, I firmly reject the idea that buying currency is p2w.

I don't think it will be an issue the way the crown store is currently structured, but I have played MMOs where real money currency was all anyone wanted to trade anything for; in game currency was virtually worthless (pun intended).

I'm just hoping that when they implement this feature in-game, they do it right.

lihentian

it would be nice if they could trade gift.. this way they make more money off in game crown item trading.

Pennylong

I guess one way around it would be allow them to be posted on the guild markets.

Ley

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/407076/pts-update-18-feedback-thread-for-crown-store-gifting
Based on the feedback looks like CoD isn't a thing. It's hard for me to imagine that ZOS didn't think of these concerns themselves, which means they intentionally designed the gifting system this way.

baratron

From https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/news/post/26375

Unlocking Gifting

Gifting is a feature that must be unlocked. If you are a new player, you need to become an ESO Plus member or make a Crown Pack purchase and wait 30 days in order to gain the ability to gift. If you are an existing player who is not yet an ESO Plus member or has not made a Crown Pack purchase, you will also need to make a purchase and then wait 30 days in order to gain the ability to gift. Gifting is automatically unlocked if you are an existing player with a qualifying history of Crown Pack purchases or ESO Plus participation on the launch of Update 18.

The question I have from this is whether the ability to receive Crown gifts needs to be unlocked.

I think this would cut down a large percentage of scamming.

Invincible

Scamming isn't gainst the tos.

Gilvoth

OblivionNW wrote: »

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

in every other MMO i have ever played we were allowed to sell things from the cash shop to other players for ingame Gold.
why should eso be anything different?
im always in need of gold, and i have crowns to sell.

Will it be against ToS to gift crown store items in exchange for in game gold/items/services?

no? it's allowed?

then i will be selling crowns for good Gold that i need because im a pvp player, and im allways broke.

Gilvoth

any news on this from a developer?

DoctorESO

If it's too good of a deal to be true, then it's probably not true.

Ley

Invincible wrote: »

Scamming isn't gainst the tos.

Not going to read though ToS to confirm if this is in fact true, but if it is, that's surprising to me.

notimetocare

TheNuminous1 wrote: »

So is it or is it not allowed to post in chat WTT X ingame item for X crownstore item? cause I imagine ill be seeing that in zone chat.

and quick question to anyone informed can you gift houses??

Most likely, no. That would probably be bannable. Actually stopping those things? About as preventable as gold selling on websites

ecru

OblivionNW wrote: »

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

Seriously? That's exactly what a gifting system is for. It isn't so people can be nice to each other, it's to increase crown store revenue by allowing players with crowns to gift to players with gold. In Rift this was very common. You would sell REX for gold. REX was a tradeable item that granted store currency that was purchased in the store. You spent money, sold REX, got in-game currency. On top of that, there were also players who gifted store items for gold.

ESO won't be the exception here. I don't see this as a bad thing either as it allows normal players to gift for gold they need rather than botters farming gold/selling it on a website. ZOS gets a cut this way, which is good for the company/game.

Ley wrote: »

OblivionNW wrote: »

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

They don't have to endorse it but how would they actively prevent it?

starkerealm wrote: »

Ley wrote: »

OblivionNW wrote: »

I doubt they would allow people to sell crown store items for in-game gold since its esentially just gold buying/selling, using real money (to get crowns) to get items to sell for in-game gold.

They don't have to endorse it but how would they actively prevent it?

If they catch it, yeah, probably.

I'm honestly not sure what's going on with the crown store gifting. It seems a bit odd, given prior positions, but I guess we'll see.

They won't try to catch anyone doing this. Expect to see players advertising gifting x crowns for y gold as soon as this goes live. Right now the process is gold farmers/botters farm gold -> offer gold on website -> player buys gold. ZOS gets cut out of this transaction entirely aside from the gold farmers accounts possibly paying for ESO+.

The new process will be player buys crowns in store -> offers crown store gifting in chat -> player gets gold. This way ZOS gets their cut from the crown store purchase.

IMO ZOS should take it one step further and offer a tradeable crown store item that grants crowns. You buy it for 1000 crowns, sell it for x amount of gold on a trader or in chat, and the player who buys it can use the item to grant their account 1000 crowns. Same as REX in Rift. No one can get scammed this way either.

ClockworkCityBugs

its legal gold selling
imho its good

ak_pvp

If it is against ToS then ZOS can at least pretend to not endorse the exchange of crowns for gold/items/services and make the exchange process not conducive to safe exchange. Trade crowns for gold/items/services at your own risk. If a player gets scammed trying to exchange crowns for gold/items/services, then they have no one to complain to because they breached the ToS.

This is the best option, trade at your own risk means that less will do it, but if you want to, sure. And its not P2W, you can buy gold of websites for irl money, as long as it doesn't harm the economy.

Malamar1229

I will submit a support ticket and ask since I cant find a green post