Gold Sellers

bryanhaas · September 2017

I think there should be some kind of Bayesian text chat filter for gold sellers that players can submit text for. But also when an account is flagged as a gold seller instead of getting insta banned why not make it fun for the gold selling haters (such as myself, I hate gold sellers). A call goes out to all players in the area "The doors of Cold Harbour have swung wide and Molag Bal has entered Nirn (prolly not lore compat so suggest something that is). Now all players in the area can go do battle and all who don't have a death get 10k gold after the boss is killed. Consequently the gold seller is then kicked out of the mundus and banned. It would show everyone that yes ZoS IS doing something about gold selling and turn it into a fun event. Maybe even take everything on the gold seller's account and mail it to the person who has done the highest DPS.

grannas211 · September 2017

Yep seems very professional. I bet this goes to top of their to do list.

Nestor · September 2017

As much as I am against Player Enforcers in PvE, this is something I could be talked into.

ThePrinceOfBargains · September 2017

This is silly and wouldn't show anyone ZOS is doing anything about gold sellers because they're not. Again, I don't know why people think these guys are using their main accounts to do this, if they even have one. If they actually know what they're doing, they're not using their personal IP addresses either. They're not going to care if a bunch of players gang up on these fodder characters or if they lose fodder accounts they can get back for less than $15. They'll probably laugh too. Mailing their useless items is pointless as well. Some of the biggest ZOS fanboys could be gold sellers and no would ever know the difference. Some of the community ambassadors act like lapdogs, but they too could be gold sellers and you'd never know.

They're always going to be here. They are an element the developers will never get rid of. They just come back under a new name with literally nothing to lose. Just look at SWTOR, because when you play that game as long as I did, it's a reality you come to quickly. Mail and chat from currency sellers is a common sight. It bothered me, but only because chat was spammed with it and I constantly got ads in the form of mail, which was irritating. That is not an issue in ESO, so I really don't understand why these guys keep getting threads dedicated to them on the forums.

PlagueSD · September 2017

Only way to "beat" gold sellers is to undercut their prices...maybe another crown store possibility???

bryanhaas · September 2017

TheMaster wrote: »

This is silly and wouldn't show anyone ZOS is doing anything about gold sellers because they're not. Again, I don't know why people think these guys are using their main accounts to do this, if they even have one. If they actually know what they're doing, they're not using their personal IP addresses either. They're not going to care if a bunch of players gang up on these fodder characters or if they lose fodder accounts they can get back for less than $15. They'll probably laugh too. Mailing their useless items is pointless as well. Some of the biggest ZOS fanboys could be gold sellers and no would ever know the difference. Some of the community ambassadors act like lapdogs, but they too could be gold sellers and you'd never know.

They're always going to be here. They are an element the developers will never get rid of. They just come back under a new name with literally nothing to lose. Just look at SWTOR, because when you play that game as long as I did, it's a reality you come to quickly. Mail and chat from currency sellers is a common sight. It bothered me, but only because chat was spammed with it and I constantly got ads in the form of mail, which was irritating. That is not an issue in ESO, so I really don't understand why these guys keep getting threads dedicated to them on the forums.

Anyone who has any sense would not use their main accounts yes I agree, however on console since blocking does not work we are constantly bombarded with this bs. One thought that comes to mind is on a console how do they send the repeat messages constantly? I imagine a hacked console so then isn't that violating the ToS for Sony and MS as they are effectively cheating? So at that point we should be able to report them outside of ESO as using a jailbroken console, however perhaps they are only emulating the software so a trivial matter to emulate a different MAC address or whatever identifying identifier is used. I was suggesting a way to cut down on gold sellers and make it a fun activity for others.

Nestor · September 2017

No one is getting rich on selling video game gold. The people who do this are people that are too stupid to get a real job. All ZOS has to do is make it really inconvenient and most of this will go away. I don't think they need to come up with a plan to eliminate it entirely, just like we don't need to come up with a plan to fully protect our homes from burglars. Just lock the darn doors.

Anyway, they already know how to detect a hardware signature as every time I change a part on my PC, I have to re-verify my account. So, start banning these people based on hardware signatures, this is not easy to Spoof as every part of the PC can be part of the signature. Again, just like a deadbolt, this will stop 99% of the people who do this and encourage them to go bother another game. Will some figure out a way around this, probably, but I am good with getting rid of most of it.

Malacthulhu · September 2017

ZoS should split gold into 3 currencies one for each alliance and make the value of the currency scale off the total in the game making the currency weaker if there is more of it. Also they could allow for buying of the other currency and incorperate a gold sink into the exchange so it balances out. Alliance points could even be changed to septims and function as alliance points but have its own value as a normal currency as well. When currency is calculated it should be based off active accounts as well.

jlboozer · September 2017

That would be awesome Bryan, I hope you're doing good bro. Btw, I report every gold seller I see spamming chat....those guys ruin the game

bryanhaas · September 2017

Another idea is let those that have been playing for x number of months access to a different server.

bryanhaas · September 2017

Nestor wrote: »

No one is getting rich on selling video game gold. The people who do this are people that are too stupid to get a real job. All ZOS has to do is make it really inconvenient and most of this will go away. I don't think they need to come up with a plan to eliminate it entirely, just like we don't need to come up with a plan to fully protect our homes from burglars. Just lock the darn doors.

Anyway, they already know how to detect a hardware signature as every time I change a part on my PC, I have to re-verify my account. So, start banning these people based on hardware signatures, this is not easy to Spoof as every part of the PC can be part of the signature. Again, just like a deadbolt, this will stop 99% of the people who do this and encourage them to go bother another game. Will some figure out a way around this, probably, but I am good with getting rid of most of it.

Virtualization is a way around it btw but as you say in all manners of theft you make it more difficult so they move on the person who does not lock their doors.

bryanhaas · September 2017

Malacthulhu wrote: »

ZoS should split gold into 3 currencies one for each alliance and make the value of the currency scale off the total in the game making the currency weaker if there is more of it. Also they could allow for buying of the other currency and incorperate a gold sink into the exchange so it balances out. Alliance points could even be changed to septims and function as alliance points but have its own value as a normal currency as well. When currency is calculated it should be based off active accounts as well.

ESO FX trade, I think I like it.

bryanhaas · September 2017

Malacthulhu wrote: »

ZoS should split gold into 3 currencies one for each alliance and make the value of the currency scale off the total in the game making the currency weaker if there is more of it. Also they could allow for buying of the other currency and incorperate a gold sink into the exchange so it balances out. Alliance points could even be changed to septims and function as alliance points but have its own value as a normal currency as well. When currency is calculated it should be based off active accounts as well.

Btw is your name Mauloch plus Cthulu?

Malacthulhu · September 2017

bryanhaas wrote: »

Malacthulhu wrote: »

ZoS should split gold into 3 currencies one for each alliance and make the value of the currency scale off the total in the game making the currency weaker if there is more of it. Also they could allow for buying of the other currency and incorperate a gold sink into the exchange so it balances out. Alliance points could even be changed to septims and function as alliance points but have its own value as a normal currency as well. When currency is calculated it should be based off active accounts as well.

Btw is your name Mauloch plus Cthulu?

Yes Malacath lol plus Malo double meaning in spanish is bad I think and I am a Lovecraft fan.

bryanhaas · September 2017

jlboozer wrote: »

That would be awesome Bryan, I hope you're doing good bro. Btw, I report every gold seller I see spamming chat....those guys ruin the game

I'm doing good, hope the same of you.

Ardan147 · September 2017

What they should do is implement a system where players can buy and sell crowns (and maybe crown gems as well - although I would lean against it) for gold (like the token system in WoW). The only way to put the bot-utilizing gold farmers out of business is to destroy their market, so they can no longer expect to recoup the cost of each new account they create for this purpose before it gets banned, let alone make any sort of profit from it.

While players paying real money for gold may be distasteful (and reeks of pay-to-win), as long as there are players willing to spend real money on gold, there will be those who step in to supply it. By stepping in to create a crowns-to-gold exchange, they create a system where players can legitimately obtain gold for real money, but one can't obtain real money for any in-game currency or commodity. (The key here is that there be no legitimate way for one to obtain real money for gold; just as is the case with the WoW token system.)

Of course there will still be people who will try to go around the system - sellers who want real money for the gold, and buyers looking to get the gold for cheaper than by buying crowns and trading them on the exchange. Of course, when caught, they will be banned - both buyer and seller. In fact, if I could only ban one party in such a transaction, I would ban the buyer. Ban the seller and he will just return with a new account anyway. Killing their market so they can't even recoup the costs of the accounts they use for farming is the only thing that will get them to go away permanently. (Most likely they'll just move to some other online game where it will be more profitable for them, until that game finds a way to get rid of them. Wash, rinse, repeat.)

Turelus · September 2017

PlagueSD wrote: »

Only way to "beat" gold sellers is to undercut their prices...maybe another crown store possibility???

Or stop terrible people being terrible and actually funding them.

I have a friend who works in the RMT industry (for my shame) and it's interesting to hear them talk about which games are profitable and which are not.

It also is very clear the games which have much more hands on active enforcement have a lot less paid work than the ones which don't.

Whilst you can never beat it entirely, community education about why RMT is bad and ZOS putting some work into better teams and abilities to fight RMT would go a long way to make ESO an unprofitable game to work in.