Real World Trading (RWT)

Sahidom

Whether it's allowable or dis allowable through the current TOA, you are seeing more /zone chat where players want to buy Crowns for ESO gold from another player. Of course, there are other sources searchable online that allow players to buy ESO gold, so buying Crowns for gold seems parallel to this form of trading. However, it spins...right or wrong... This announcement caught my attention from CoH HC team:

TL;DR - We've banned 54 accounts for engaging in Real World Trading and removed over 20 billion influence from the game. We're now fully capable of tracking down RWT activity going forward and will be swiftly banning anyone involved.

Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct (available online at https://forums.homecomingservers.com/code-of-conduct/) so that you may conduct yourself according to our guidelines and avoid action being taken against your account(s).

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/10442-pro-tip-dont-engage-in-real-world-trading/

And, this is for a game originally designed in 2006; It surprises me that modern games do not have the same capacity or Will to enforce rules against RWT.

Huyen

1. The gold is already ingame, will only shift around.
2. ZoS is earning money from extra crownsales so they wont ban it.

Buying from goldsellers on the other hand...

starkerealm

So, the rule with crowns for gold is: You can pay someone gold to gift you an item from, the shop. That's acceptable. Take screenshots or video of the negotiations and do it via in-game chat, so if they skip out after taking your money, you can report them. Do not negotiate in Discord or via some other means, because that's not going to be tracked, and you won't be reimbursed if someone skips out.

You cannot pay gold for real money, or real products. I had to explain to a guild member last year that we couldn't sell an Amazon Gift Card in the guild auction. You also cannot pay someone real money to gift you something from the store (though, this would be a lot harder to track down on ZOS's side, still this is verboten.)

Finally, and this one's a little weird, you cannot pay real money for someone to perform a service for you in game. So, helping you grind, for example. And you're not permitted to pay someone in gold for something they do outside of the game, so you can't pay your next door neighbor's kid for mowing your lawn with in game gold.

This isn't quite as strict as Arena Net's rules, but, Gold for Crowns is fine.

Sahidom

@starkerealm I totally understand where you're coming from.

You can fish bone the whole scenario and it still originates where players exchange real world monies for in-game gold; the exception being that ZOS gets paid with these transactions.

For example,
Player buys crowns [ZOS micro-transaction model for Crowns]
Crowns have a real world monetary valuation due to ZOS's micro-transaction model.
Traded crowns for ESO gold [Crowns retain their real world monetary valuation, thanks to ZOS micro-transaction model]
Traded crowns are an in-game representation of the real world monies.

Therefore, you could establish grounds where it's against the TOA; More so on the allowable side, it demonstrates how ZOS violates it's own TOA against RWT conditions by providing the medium that enables RWT between players. The later is an excusable condition since all parties, including ZOS, benefits from the exchange.

Anyways. I thought the announcement was interesting since an old game has the capacity to identify and take action; whereas, it raises the observation whether violations against the TOA targets external exchanges, yet allowable when it requires the micro transaction to gain Crowns - hence, win-win for ZOS.

ArchMikem

And remember people aren't selling CROWNS, they're selling Crown Store Items using the Gifting feature. You can't directly exchange Gold for Crowns.

idk

This is not fish boning anything. Twisting that crown store items have a real world value, hence are RWT, is ignoring what Zos has clearly stated. I have provided their comments below. Gina is an official spokesperson for Zos.

Gina

To clarify, trading an in-game item for other in-game items is allowed; trading in-game items for real-world money or other out-of-game items is strictly prohibited.

Gina

A Crown Store item is considered an in-game item.

Both of those together makes it very clear that trading crown store items for in game gold is very much acceptable and is not RWT.

Sahidom

ArchMikem wrote: »

And remember people aren't selling CROWNS, they're selling Crown Store Items using the Gifting feature. You can't directly exchange Gold for Crowns.

The same analogy applies to crown store items. Each item holds a real world monetary value; again traces back to the micro-transaction model. That said, you can fish bone the scenario and it still traces back to RWT; Not that I'm arguing to ban these transactions but let's call it what it is, it's an allowable RWT.

Edited: I suppose the analyzes illustrates the sly-shady model of the whole scenario where it perpetuates these transactions, as another source of monetary gains by devaluing the spirit of the TOA. Good for ZOS's cleverness.

Acrolas

Sahidom wrote: »

Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct (available online at https://forums.homecomingservers.com/code-of-conduct/) so that you may conduct yourself according to our guidelines and avoid action being taken against your account(s).

Do not engage in real-world trading
For example, do not attempt to exchange real money for in-game services

Sahidom wrote: »

Crowns have a real world monetary valuation due to ZOS's micro-transaction model.

Incorrect.

Sahidom wrote: »

Each item holds a real world monetary value

Incorrect.


If you spent a million dollars on crowns, and went nuts in the crown store, your account's entire net worth would be ZERO.
Your account has no worth. It's not even your account; ZOS legally owns them all. That's what makes trading gold for crowns acceptable. Gold is worthless outside of the game. Crowns are worthless outside of the game. No income reporting required on any of it.

That *** in Ralph Breaks the Internet where somebody wanted to pay $40k outright for Shank's car? That's the practice that's against most TOS agreements. If somebody other than an authorized retailer has some liability to document and just potentially have to report a side of the transaction as income, then it's not permitted.

starkerealm

Sahidom wrote: »

@starkerealm I totally understand where you're coming from.

You can fish bone the whole scenario and it still originates where players exchange real world monies for in-game gold; the exception being that ZOS gets paid with these transactions.

For example...

Let's scratch the example, and get right to the reason these rules exist.

An individual fraudulently obtains access to a credit card. At this point, they have a limited amount of time, and transactions, to turn that into cash. Because of how MMOs function, they're a potential laundering goldmine when you mix unsecured real money trading into the system.

The most obvious is goldsellers. Buy gold from them, then immediately flip it (technically at a loss) through another venue, like eBay. Downside of this being that sites like eBay are going to be more likely to respond to reports and shut auctions down that violate terms of service. So, that's a risk.

Another option is to buy large quantities of microtransaction currencies (which usually cannot be refunded without being passed through the Bank's fraud department, which takes time), then turn that into in game currency via whatever means possible, and then sell the in game currency via whatever channel they prefer. At that point, they're walking away with cash that cannot be traced back to the original credit card fraud.

The huge concern is buying and selling gold. It's the most liquid asset in ESO, and as such, one of the easiest to convert into real world money on the spot, if you're so inclined, and willing to break ToS to do it. Especially if you're not particularly concerned with going market rates, and just want to change it on the spot.

As these things go, this isn't the scummiest tactic. Another, sadly, common example are fraudsters bulk purchasing CD keys, then reselling them at a fraction of the original cost via gray market key resellers. The studios/publishers end up having to foot the bill for the transaction fees, while not getting any money, and watching as a portion of their potential customer base effectively gets the game on their tab. This can be devastating for independent developers who don't have a lot of cash to start with.

That's the purpose behind regulating RMTs. It's not, ironically, about making sure that all money flows to the developers, though that is a "nice," perk. It's about protecting themselves from footing the bill for credit card fraud.

The crown trading system is awkward and risky, and takes some effort to execute, and as a result is not terribly appealing to someone who's looking to convert large amounts of cash (think, thousands of dollars) into assets they can resell, before their account gets shut down because of fraud.