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Mourning scam, a well compiled case
happydan20
Member UncommonPosts: 260
I'm going to post this here in full in case they decide to delete it on their own forums. I did not write a shred of this, to clear any confusion.
The author is quoting others often, other then editing out the intro I posted it all as he had it.
Also the word scam is cencored on the mourning forum so if you see a **** its most likely scam.
http://www.realmsoftorment.net/forums/showthread.php3?threadid=16978
After one of my clan members pre-ordered the game, it triggered a thought in his mind of how a spurios vaporware game could be "developed" and sold in advance to get people's credit card details.
The idea was developed on our boards, i present to you a summary of that discussion:
quote:
I just had a great idea for a ****
Create a false MMO claiming to be the MMO's player's wet dream. Get someone to make some 3D renders, fake some screenshots etc. Put up a website, forums, etc. Put up beta-applications, followed by some fake accounts saying that they've been accepted in the typical "I'm not allowed to say anything way *hint hint*" way.
Leave it a few months, adding some more screenshots even faked movies here and there and obviously the obligatory progress news reports.
Then you stick up a pre-order option on the website and let the cash roll in. Then "slip" a bit. Maybe put up some fake magazine's review results (though this could give the game away). When the cash has stopped flowing in announce one final slip to be able to deliver a polished product, gather up all the money, leave the website going and dissappear.
You'd have at least a couple of months to vanish before anyone even started looking (and let's not forget about the option of selling the credit card numbers to certain members of the darker side of society).
Almost perfect, no?
It seemed far fetched and Mourning just seemed to good a concept:
quote:
This game does indeed sound too good too be true, and I prefer to think of it as a **** - and nurture a tiny hope that my cynicism will be put to shame. A push-back of 4 months really isn't a problem for me personally, as there is WoW to be enjoyed first - and there's even City of Heroes to go back to when the PvP expansion comes out. So it suits me just fine that Mourning most likely won't be out for a while. They should issue a comment on the release date, though.
If Mourning is for real... then getting it would be akin to getting married. It would sorta prevent me from having short-lived flings with varius moderately interesting games, as I do now. Mourning sounds like it would have real long-term appeal.
So - if Mourning is for real, I will marry the game. But - I am still enjoying my status as a gaming "bachelor", and I have some more wild oats to sow before settling down with Mourning.
Of course, there is also Darkfall somewhere on the horizon... which I, in my garbled metaphors, refer to as my childhood sweetheart and future second wife
Comments
The idea was developed, and a few guild mates started doign some background research on Mourning and its developers and publishers.
Some were'n't convinced:
So Mourning community, please give me the information/links to go back to my community and prove their fears unfounded, lest these rumours spread through the net. We need to quash them.
ouch...
happydan, I think most people are beyond the scam claims. That's really old news, all things considered. The game's PR has serious problems, but not to the degree of being a scam... I have my beef with the game's developers, which I've detailed elsewhere... but it's my personal opinion that perpetuating these scam claims simply makes the Mourning critics look petty.
I wanted to highlight this section for all the preordering folk.
The pre-orders will be billed by a company called "Accentra, Inc." (www.accentrainc.com).
Here's what I have on them;
listed on the Register of Known Spam Operators (ROKSO) - though might be a different Accentra, Inc? (Dunno, I have a bad feeling)
Administrative contact for the website www.accentrainc.com has a @yahoo.com email address.
This is my main focus, the saftey of those preordering. I'm SUGGESTING the company this is going through might not be legit, and IF that were the case youre giving credit card numbers to them.
Very nice put together case
http://www.realmsoftorment.net/forums/showthread.php3?s=39ffa41e7d7cff96070ffd4110a62cee&threadid=18066
That doesnt prove crap. Its a small company in a third world country, thats all that article said. More proof that if it really is a game, its going to be crap.
I thank you for posting that. It's nice to see evidence one way or the other rather then... "youre dumb shut up."
I can't pretend to get a lot of meaning out of it, im no accountant, but it filled in a gap.
BUT
You are forced to take the posters word for everything... There is not one single link in that whole thing. Now granted they gave a decent reason for it... But still, Unlike the post I have given there is no outside evidence supporting the post.
It appears legit to me but, it it WAS a scam... that's exactly what theyd do, post company info with no outside verfication.
No, it doesn't prove crap... but there's all their information and just about all the information anyone is going to get.
It does prove they are a very small company and their performance is directly in relation to that. No surprise there.
I was just as suspicious of the scam claims when they surfaced... but really, I think they've been sufficiently assuaged. Look at all the screenshots released by the beta players. 40, 50+ screenshots...
I highly doubt the game will live up to the hype, but I believe the scam claims are just as unfounded if not more so than the thread above that 'doesn't prove crap' - it's a small development company with piss poor social skills from Romania... doesn't mean it's a scam. Pursuant to your criteria, any company that fails to put out information quickly enough, is from a third world country, and sucks at what it does.. could be a scam.
Meh.
This is an interesting idea. I have never even thought about this. Say you are going to build the mmorpg of the future, get a 3D artist to make some renders, build a webpage, and egg people on to a game that will never be real, yet still has a fanbase. How interesting. I would actually love to do this just for the psycological tests you could do. Seeing how long people can follow a nonexistent game would be so interesting.
"Whoever controls the media controls the mind..-'Jim Morrison"
"When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out." ~Abbie Hoffman
"I'm sorry but your mmo has been diagnosed with EA and only has X number of days to live."
I agree completely, and that is why I'm so interested in mouring... Because no matter how it turns out I think it will set a precedent for MMORPGS. We have been coddled by the big names and so we trust them. We normally never consider a scam, nor worry about our credit card information when we make purchases.
If this thing sours as I suspect it will and hope it wont... It's going to be the most well documented consumer fraud example, as we've all these posts and forums leading around it.
People assume they are safe on this preorder issue but they really aren't. you GAVE someone your credit card information without any real evidence (that I've seen) that a legitimate company exists. It's also an overseas company for most of us this adds a layer of complicated legally and the bottom line is everyone who preorders chooses to do so... so you cant call the credit card company and get it that way. All they have to do is file chapter 11 and they cant be sued from that day forth. they've set a precident of slow information they could easily get a few months head start.
The middle man company dealing directly with the cash has a very similar spelling to a company placed on the scam watch list. The simple fact of this whole matter is that every company involved (save for the german one) has no documentation on the sites that list companies like this... The only records that can be found are on game related sites. Admins for these companies with yahoo email addresses for publishers and the publisher SHARES the site with the developer.
But remember when everyone was so sure that there were nukes in IRAQ? Everyone was wrong on that score no matter how good the circumstantial evidence was.... Although I have clearly chosen a side in all of this, I know that all of my evidence is circumstantial... meaning theres still a chance i'm totally wrong.
In the end I think that a game will be released, and that those who've "believed" in the game will be so grateful they will swallow any alpha version crap with which they ar e presented and call it the food of the gods. Because thats another issue all together... who says any MMORPG released and ready to charge a fee has to work at all? You buy it as is, so even if they release a version of pong... would they be liable for fraud? I doubt it.
Forgive my errors as its nearly 4 am, why did I even bother? LOL
A guild all got there money back on shadowbane after there first 30 days. All credit card charges were put back on ubi-soft.
A guild all got there money back on shadowbane after there first 30 days. All credit card charges were put back on ubi-soft.
Id like to see that article. Either way, UBI is a massive company with a US base and is responsible for there actions. But a small company in a third world country....... not so sure.
The ultimate soldiers!
"Whoever controls the media controls the mind..-'Jim Morrison"
"When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out." ~Abbie Hoffman
Don't forget that Accentra Inc. is an established business in the U.S. . Which means if they are running a scam (of which there is only speculation that I have read so far), then they will be held responsible seeing as they are accepting and handling the credit card issues. Yahoo does offer business email services btw. The oversees company you refer to is developing the game (Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC), not handling your money first hand. If you people are so concerned about your pre-orders. Then place your pre-order with a gift card that only has a $30 limit. That way you can cut your losses in case of a scam.
I have not pre-ordered this game. I do agree they need to release more info on this game. I am following this game, Darkfall, and Dark and Light. So far I have seen no evidence of a scam, at most (in my opinion) this game may possibly never make it to market.
The ultimate soldiers!
lol sad but true
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
Yes the game doesn't exist
And Elvis is still alive and working for the FBI
After the game is released, I hope you guys all come here and post about what complete morons you were for posting this nonsense. BUt you won't of course
With this whole companies issue heres the quote from the piece:
The pre-orders will be billed by a company called "Accentra, Inc." (www.accentrainc.com).
Here's what I have on them;
listed on the Register of Known Spam Operators (ROKSO) - though might be a different Accentra, Inc? (Dunno, I have a bad feeling)
Administrative contact for the website www.accentrainc.com has a @yahoo.com email address.
Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC are not the only people involved. Appearantly another TWO "companies" Quad Software and Newrosoft Research and Development are as well.
As with Limitless Horizons, none have a website and aren't mentioned anywhere other than various game sites.
Also checking out some company registrar websites for Romania turned up nothing on all three.
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Not only do they not have websites they don't appear to be registered companies in their country.
Show me another MMORPG that has this lack of company documentation.
I can name one, my mmorpg starcarft universe... because it's not real and I have nothing:)
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Teich Dragon
Stratics Central APM
UO Stratics News Team Manager
Stratics - The Massive Multiplayer Network
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Lets not forget that the textures are being done by the same person who did the textures in Gothic 2 (Mihai Anghelina). So from what I have found, this game is far from a scam. Below is a pic of Mihai.
http://www.computergames.ro/site/p/articles/o/interview/lng/en/artid/245/mihai_anghelina_and_gothic_ii.html
edit: Btw, there sure are alot of companies at work for a scam that has less than 4000 pre-orders. In the end that is not alot of money for all the proof that exists for this game. Once again I am following this game, Darkfall, and Dark and Light. I do not currently have a pre-order with any of these games.
Good find.
Well, I've been in beta for over 2 years and been playing on and off for this amount of time.
I don't care if I break NDA because I don't plan to buy, or play my beta account anymore. I havn't for over 6 months as it is.
It does exist.
I don't know why people fear an NDA in a game, a new name new board and how are they ever to connect the two? LOL
Could you perhaps address some of the issues then? Do the staff in-game treat people as they do on their boards?
Concerning the screenshots that look fake or incomplete (like the wall thats clearly not 3d and others)
Can you relate any of this in game? Concering your preorder (is that a requirement for the beta? if it is..)
What information did you have to give them?
Also whens the last time you played? how recent is your playing time? (making the assumption that they are improving things.. how old is your info:)
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And for all of you that say its a beta, realise they havent bothered to update sites like MMORPG.COM so according to this info the game is released erm 2 days from now.
That lack of communication aside, I've heard of the open beta only scheduled to last a week... Can anyone more familar with the situation give some insight?
The game last time I played had a full skill line, creatures...dungeons..monsters...PVP. It was a full on game. It needed vast improvment, and the graphic detail even at highest wasn't up to snuff with the screen shots.
I cannot comment on the screenshots he refers too, but I can say the game worked, seemed to be a working real game and the staff was almost never present in the game world. I did however have a GM/Staff talk to me while I was trying to re-create a dupe bug. He asked how I found what I did and such.
I still do not plan to buy this game, but I'm sure it's not a scam. If anyone wants me to fire up my account give me a PM and we'll talk.