That's just the problem... there are some people who want everything in the game and apparently are rich enough to buy the game..... and they do. I have not had 1p since Rares Fest in Sakura. Some people seem to have 20p all the time...... it's not questions how they get it.
The Devs should simply set up "stings." They could monitor all gold transactions in game for 1 day and buy gold... 5p... 1p... and 750m... and 250m... all at once. Nail them all and where it came from. Easy enough.....
From a coding perspective, it would be difficult and time intensive to figure out how to block this, if it's even entirely possible. The easiest way would be to block EJ accounts from having access to chat, but that would just be a group punishment for those who don't abuse the system.
It would only take a dev to log into gen chat and perma ban every account as he advertises, it doesn't take rocket science or some hard line of code.
So they should hire someone to just watch gen chat all day every day or take someone off their current duties to do this?
If they sold gold in game I would quit...... like in the first second. That's just insane... I am already mad enough at the people who buy gold. They need to stop the cheaters... not enable them with pay to win.
You should be able to win a game without paying someone for gold.
Well, many years ago you "won" UO by having a few Supremely Accurate Indestructible Silver Broadswords of Vanquishing.... and corresponding armor for a few months at a time before they broke. Maybe a really rare pet like a WW or Dragon, and you had 100 animal taming and could tame them for others. You could get a castle.
Now.... scale that up x10,000. You have to have a bazillion rares. You have to have a blaze Cu. You have to have a Luna house on your home shard and a castle in a prime location. You have to have 16-18 property armor that doesn't even drop anymore. You have to have a 30% splintering, 70% lightning, spell channeling kryss (doesn't exist I know.) Or a matching Bokuto. You just want to be able to get the best of the best.
However these days..... it seems you have to "buy" that armor, as some of it on sell outside of Luna they want 1-3p for. It just sits on auction safes waiting on the right price through ICQ. You have to pay 2-5p for the Blaze Cu. You have to pay 10-25p for a castle. You have to pay 15-50p for a Luna house on Atlantic.
It would be nice if they would stop the gold sellers / cheaters so that the economy could stabilize, and maybe normal players could get some rares at events or make money too. At least the gold buyers wouldn't be able to buy 10p to get what they want............... you cannot "win" UO right now. You can only "Buy" UO right now. Big difference.
That was not a knock on the Devs too (and wish I could reword that last post a ton; I can't it's too late). That is just a knock against those few select people who partake in the cheating, buying, and selling. Again thank you guys like a billion times for the IDOC fix that is in the works. It is the best thing I have saw done for Ultima ever. Thank you guys times a billion. I really look forward to doing some of those again now, and seeing what happens to the economy as well. Trading should pick up for sure.
Yesterday, hoping for an add free day I put Avatar on my ignore list. A short time later I put Avatar2 on my list, followed after another interval by Avatar3.
Developer's time is too valuable to waste chasing him down, unless you want to forgo game development to catch him? Likewise, would you want those with genuine game problems to wait even longer for a GM because the GM's time is being taken up hanging around Haven waiting for him to show up? Clear your ignore list daily, and keep shoving him on it. I notice he's got a 'sale' on for February, that indicates to me that he's struggling. Stop buying from him and he's gone.
I really don't care if someone has got umpteen plat - I don't have a quarter of the gp to reach one. Doesn't affect the way I play the game. You don't 'win' UO, you just enjoy playing it. Or at least I do.
There are money laundering rules/regulations that might come into play if EA/BS did that. I doubt they'd want to do it because of that.
This is the funniest thing I have ever read. You really think that Russia, China or any other country is going to use UO to launder their BILLIONS and BILLIONS and BILLIONS of real ill gotten money with worthless UO gold.
Not to pick on anyone in particular could someone please explain to me how you "win" in UO.
I've never payed real money for in game gold but really if some one else choses to do so how are you effected
We are effected in that "some" of the biggest IDOCers, rares collectors, and even some of the "brokers" (without naming ANY names, as not to break the rules) in UO are in fact gold sellers/RMT people. Some of them are BLATANTLY using scripts/multiboxxing to ensure they get the drops/loot, so they can sell the items in their 3rd party stores, sell the items for gold, and then turn around and sell the gold for $$$. As long as they are allowed to break the rules, we can't compete on an equal basis.
Ban the scripters/gold sellers/multiboxxers and we will all have an equal opportunity.
The way things are now, "honest" players, don't stand much of a chance.
Hopefully that answers your question.
If you sell UO items for R.L. $$$, you need to quit playing UO , and get a BETTER R.L. JOB!
How long has avatar been spamming? If they cared, something would have been done by now. At this point, its a joke. Laugh and move on. Worst thing is, new players seem to think this is official UO spamming it. Maybe it is.... who knows. I help newbies all the time, and this is one of the first questions they ask.
There are money laundering rules/regulations that might come into play if EA/BS did that. I doubt they'd want to do it because of that.
This is the funniest thing I have ever read. You really think that Russia, China or any other country is going to use UO to launder their BILLIONS and BILLIONS and BILLIONS of real ill gotten money with worthless UO gold.
My understanding is that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, goes after both international and domestic money launderers and other types of financial criminals.
Here are links to two recent articles that you ought to read to understand why EA/BS will probably never sell gold in UO and even more likely, will probably never, ever buy gold back from players and perhaps will someday have no choice but to start cracking down on third-parties that do buy gold from players:
Sure, UO may be an older game with a smaller subscription base, but it still seems to have a thriving community of gold sellers. How would any of us ever know if those businesses are involved in stealing credit cards and Paypal accounts and using those credentials to buy sovereigns, purchase in-game items, and then sell them for cash to people who visit their websites? For all we know, because UO has such a small staff to investigate questionable activity and EA almost seems to have forgotten that it exists, it's easier for bad actors to fly under the radar and get away with using UO for various types of financial crimes. We'll probably never know.
Comments
So they should hire someone to just watch gen chat all day every day or take someone off their current duties to do this?
I've never payed real money for in game gold but really if some one else choses to do so how are you effected?
Developer's time is too valuable to waste chasing him down, unless you want to forgo game development to catch him? Likewise, would you want those with genuine game problems to wait even longer for a GM because the GM's time is being taken up hanging around Haven waiting for him to show up?
Clear your ignore list daily, and keep shoving him on it.
I notice he's got a 'sale' on for February, that indicates to me that he's struggling. Stop buying from him and he's gone.
I really don't care if someone has got umpteen plat - I don't have a quarter of the gp to reach one. Doesn't affect the way I play the game. You don't 'win' UO, you just enjoy playing it. Or at least I do.
Ban the scripters/gold sellers/multiboxxers and we will all have an equal opportunity.
The way things are now, "honest" players, don't stand much of a chance.
Hopefully that answers your question.
How long has avatar been spamming? If they cared, something would have been done by now. At this point, its a joke. Laugh and move on. Worst thing is, new players seem to think this is official UO spamming it. Maybe it is.... who knows. I help newbies all the time, and this is one of the first questions they ask.
Here are links to two recent articles that you ought to read to understand why EA/BS will probably never sell gold in UO and even more likely, will probably never, ever buy gold back from players and perhaps will someday have no choice but to start cracking down on third-parties that do buy gold from players:
https://massivelyop.com/2019/07/26/lawful-neutral-mr-krabs-wacky-bucks-and-currency-in-online-games/
https://massivelyop.com/2019/08/09/lawful-neutral-money-laundering-and-micro-laundering-in-the-mmo-industry/
Here is an article that talks about thieves stealing credit card numbers, buying in-game items in online games, and then selling those items to other players for cash: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xwkyb3/scammers-are-using-clash-of-clans-to-launder-money-from-stolen-credit-cards
Sure, UO may be an older game with a smaller subscription base, but it still seems to have a thriving community of gold sellers. How would any of us ever know if those businesses are involved in stealing credit cards and Paypal accounts and using those credentials to buy sovereigns, purchase in-game items, and then sell them for cash to people who visit their websites? For all we know, because UO has such a small staff to investigate questionable activity and EA almost seems to have forgotten that it exists, it's easier for bad actors to fly under the radar and get away with using UO for various types of financial crimes. We'll probably never know.