Originally posted by Acebets70 Its basically a criminal act, directly stealing $10 per exploit, i know its dumb but it is legit....
First of all cheating is not a criminal offense. I would love to see them try to bring this in front of a judge.
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Secondly, you are missing the fact that they would let the cheaters back into their game if they paid up. That is unprofessional to say the least.
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Thirdly, it shows they only care about the money not the game.
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Lastly: One would assume they removed the credits or ill-gotten gains from the accounts not trying to charge the owners for it and if they removed them then trying to extort money is even worse than i thought.
Umm technically its theft, and almost grand theft.
I would actually suggest they bring criminal charges against all the players who stole this apex and then once they are convicted sue them in civil court for the money they stole.
Would be a great step forward dealing with exploiting gamers.
I'm sorry but technically it's not theft. The game was programmed to do it.
It's like saying your stealing if a cashier at a shop knowingly gives you the wrong change so you end up having more money before you made a purchase.
IMO they should've bug tested the game more with they way they monetize the product.
Also, I'd actually argue for the ban to be removed and for them to prove I stole anything when the game they published to the public allowed it.
I'm actually shocked at what length people will go to to defend a broken product.
Originally posted by Acebets70 Its basically a criminal act, directly stealing $10 per exploit, i know its dumb but it is legit....
First of all cheating is not a criminal offense. I would love to see them try to bring this in front of a judge.
----
Secondly, you are missing the fact that they would let the cheaters back into their game if they paid up. That is unprofessional to say the least.
----
Thirdly, it shows they only care about the money not the game.
----
Lastly: One would assume they removed the credits or ill-gotten gains from the accounts not trying to charge the owners for it and if they removed them then trying to extort money is even worse than i thought.
Umm technically its theft, and almost grand theft.
I would actually suggest they bring criminal charges against all the players who stole this apex and then once they are convicted sue them in civil court for the money they stole.
Would be a great step forward dealing with exploiting gamers.
I'm sorry but technically it's not theft. The game was programmed to do it.
It's like saying your stealing if a cashier at a shop knowingly gives you the wrong change so you end up having more money before you made a purchase.
IMO they should've bug tested the game more with they way they monetize the product.
Also, I'd actually argue for the ban to be removed and for them to prove I stole anything when the game they published to the public allowed it.
I'm actually shocked at what length people will go to to defend a broken product.
Enn incorrect a more accurate comparison would be the clerk turns away and leaves the cash drawer open and you help yourself. Sorry but the apex is not being gifted to the thieves they are making an action to access it that makes it theft.
Oh and may want to educate yourself on local state and federal laws. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and you may be shocked how many things you do in the average day that is against some law somewhere.
Many states its still illegal to share a domicile with a woman you are not married to.
Enn incorrect a more accurate comparison would be the clerk turns away and leaves the cash drawer open and you help yourself. Sorry but the apex is not being gifted to the thieves they are making an action to access it that makes it theft.
Oh and may want to educate yourself on local state and federal laws. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and you may be shocked how many things you do in the average day that is against some law somewhere.
Many states its still illegal to share a domicile with a woman you are not married to.
Not incorrect as you are failing to state how they are stealing If the clerk is "programed" to hand out more change? The game allowed it because of poor programming. They were not taking anything from behind anybody's back like your implying.
How can you claim it's stealing when the game did gift them apex for doing something within the game? They didn't hack or change any code.
I see it differently then others in this case. I see it like if Trion is laughing at the cheaters that got ban.
Also Trion still got to register that loss technically so they are required to have done everything possible to get some of the money back. Sure some will argue with the way they are doing it, but if they can't bring those people to court then they must try any other way to get the money back. And that is a good way of doing it.
It would be very unprofessional to troll players like that. Your idea of the situation is probably too far-fetched to be accurate.
Duplicating digital products doesn't cause a "loss" because there is no direct cost for each digital product delivered. Also, companies don't have to get money back if they lose it. Corporate policy might want them to attempt to do so, but companies can change their policies like the wind.
The situation is more similar to a new movie theater opening, but the theater left its side-door open. Some people decide to use the side entrance and sit and watch a movie. They get caught on camera, and are told to never return unless they pay for the movies they watched.
My internet forum law degree says there is nothing illegal going on here. It would be illegal if Trion decided to charge the accounts of those who exploited without their consent. It does seem like a bad idea to allow the exploiters back in the game, but it isn't like every exploiter is a horrible person who will just try to exploit again. Who here can honestly say they have never used a cheat code, exploit, or hack in any video game their entire life? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start!
This has to be the lowest a company can go. They would actually re-instate the cheaters account if he paid up.
Even asking for this is unprofessional to say the least.
This is really telling where the priorities for Trion are.
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Trionwreck 2014
You can cheat and exploit as long as you pay up if you get caught.
And this is different how from any game?
You get caught - you get another account - you pay and play again.
My friend was cheating in CoD - his Xbox account got banned - so he just bought another copy and got a new Xbox account setup - and guess what - he was cheating again.
People who cheat don't stop because they get banned.
Hello....
They pay and cheat again, happens in EVERY game.
Your logic amazes me....
"It happens everywhere...so what?"
Instead of defending AA, how about you agree that it's wrong. That would be too much for you though
"This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to. Relax....."
I am not saying I agree with abusing bugs because I don't, But the problem with proving Criminal Charges is the lack of physical evidence in a game, lets say I spent $10 and purchased an Apex, then Duplicated this 100 times this could be done in any game, the problem would be the company now proving in a court or law that I myself duplicated the items myself because I myself being the defender could always claim otherwise that I never had anything to do with duplication of items and the worst that could happen is the account gets banned forever, or possibly a Lawsuit that forbids me to use their service again but that is all due to lack of evidence I would think. (This is when someone could say take a Polygraph.)
The real problem online is Fraud, as Fraud there are all kinds of ways to commit the crime, but some of the most common seem to be Digital Purchases Virtual Currency for example buying Gold from Real Money Traders, or even people who make physical purchases, and claim to have never received the package they ordered a lot of times there are delivery drivers who do not even require a signature on a very large purchase, or do insane things like Leave it with a Neighbor policy, or stuff a product in a mail box so it gets damaged, even throwing a package over a fence.
Gift Card Fraud, This is something a lot of people do not think about always check the back of your cards before you make a purchase to make sure the card is not revealed as a lot of check-out clerks never verify the card so if you purchase a card which someone else has access to then they can use your money.
The third biggest problem is employee who steal from their own store in various ways including Gift Cards, or Fraud because there are a lot of stores which run WI-FI or wireless LAN for their check-out systems.
I mean we have all shopped Electronic Stores before, how often does someone actually take the time to check the receipt and make sure the electronics you are making a purchase of are actually exactly the same one as you checked out with especially when making large purchases of many other smaller items with it this is the reason its important to be aware of Scams, and fraud as both a Buyer, and Seller to watch for such things I learned the hard way myself as a buyer of digital products got scammed once using PayPal, then hear that my purchase wasn't protected so now I just use a Visa Card, and if I don't get my product I report it and get my money back to avoid fraud from the seller.
This all reminds me of this the Wal-Mart price match scam which actually worked, but no one can get into trouble for it because its a Loop-Hole and was legit not stealing, and if I were the one working in Electronics I would have never have fallen for this scam.
Who here can honestly say they have never used a cheat code, exploit, or hack in any video game their entire life? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start!
So, the short of it, basically, Trion is putting exploits in the cash shop now?
Yes - because loss of revenue is what they want...
As whenever there is a cash shop exploit and they have to turn the store off - they are losing money.
So you still believe that it's done intentionally?
Wow... ha
What's funny is that you answered your own question and laughed at it.
Rather than perma ban these cheaters, they'll be fully re instated if they pay up for cheating. It's still ridiculous. Those characters should never see the light of day inside the game ever again. It's a complete and total slap in the face to those who play by the rules. But hey.......The game was a cash grab from "Go!"
If they did mass accounts banned, how many people think that it would not hit the people didn't know about the exploits and did happen to them, even way, it is a mess.
This is a pretty common Asia practice for dealing with exploiters and 3rd party gold buys. I saw it done in Wushu. The whale paid back $3200 to get his account back.
I guess Kano got to this thread late. He spent the entirety of page 4 in white-knighting glory on behalf of Trion.
There is simply no way to defend this if you are a rational person with an ounce of common sense. If you have cheaters and exploiters...get rid of them. They poison games and drive communities away. You don't give them a second chance by allowing them to buy their account back.
Your argument about "well, CCP does it, too" is foolish. When CCP does it, it's wrong, too.
Your argument about "Well, players will simply just make new accounts" is even more absurd. Trion may not have the means to control that. But they do have the means to get rid of accounts that were caught cheating. Period. At least, if nothing else, show the rest of the community that this isn't something that will not be tolerated. Instead, they've waved the white flag and are willing to poison what's left of the community for a quick buck.
Look, if someone robs my house and gets caught, they go to jail. When they are released, I'd imagine there is a good chance they'll do it again to someone else. But, for fuck's sake, I'm not going to expect the police to just let them back on the street because they paid me back for what they stole.
Trion has handled this entire thing like a bunch of amateurs.
Yeah...same thing I thought. I guess DMK doesn't care or see it that way. It's just common practice to him.
I find it hard to swallow. Kick out exploiters the same way you would other cheaters/hackers....by not letting them come back at all. Not like they can't ban your IP
"This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to. Relax....."
It's the same thing as the clerk at the convenience store asking " Are you if your going to pay for that gum in your pocket or do I need to get the police involved?" I think its a good alternative to just banning the exploiters. Trion is out money from the items that were exploited and sold on the auction, so why not try and recover those earnings from the people who stole it. It comes down to these players stole x amount of dollars from Trion and if they pay it back, then let them back in. I would like to know why the op believes that the only answer is banning these players, I think suspension until they pay for what they took is fair punishment for first time offenders.
Lots of problems can be solved without the harshest punishment if the two parties are willing to agree on an alternative and in this case the punishment fits the crime much better than a ban would. Trion is a business and if they ban they lose customers forever and I see no problem trying to reconcile with first time exploiters.
Charging people for the APEX they duped seems like a fair thing to do to me. I imagine most of the duped APEX has already long been moved off the account and / or used for other stuff by the player before they where caught and banned.
I don't find it unreasionable that if the player is willing to pay for the ill gotten and used APEX that they could get there account reopened.
But lets be honest more then likely none of them players are going to pay the insane amount that they owe the company. Cause I imagine most of these are going to be like the case above. 40+ APEX at $10 or whatever the price of APEX is going for.
Again you are missing the point here. They would allow known cheaters and exploiters back into the game as long as they pay up IF they get caught. This is highly unprofessional.
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It's like allowing a thief to pay for the stolen goods and walk free.
You all have a very weird sense of justice and the law.
What do you expect, and don't act surprised.
The inherent nature of F2P cash grab games is to exploit players for cash at every oppurtunity.
I find it hard to swallow. Kick out exploiters the same way you would other cheaters/hackers....by not letting them come back at all. Not like they can't ban your IP
IPs are too easy to change for that to work.
Did you ever cheat at any game? If someone wants to pay for the Apex, let them have their account back. If they exploit or cheat again, ban them. A virtual currency cheat is not that big of a deal to me as long as the currency is paid for or removed from the economy. It isn't like they were soloing raid bosses, wallhacking, teleporting, or killing players from under the ground where they can't be attacked back.
Originally posted by NBForrest1 you`re right it`s not theft, it`s fraud, more specifically it`s wire fraud which is a federal crime. it`s insane that trion is basically telling them " just pay back what you stole and you can come back and steal some more with the next exploit" exploiting in this game is a very low risk, high reward proposition, it`s a wonder that everyone isn`t exploiting.
By your logic, in doing so Trion does commit a crime by not reporting the criminals and enabling them to commit more crimes. They would be an accessory to their own theft. I know it's insane.
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Oh almost everyone is exploiting, that is why they don't ban. The game would be dead already.
I thought the whole point of "APEX" or any other such "video game currency" was to get around certain laws when it comes to RMT as it is considered not to have any value?
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
Guy cheated in game, duped a bunch of currency, used that currency to buy stuff he had no right too, and Trion is in the wrong?
He duped currency, purchased stuff that didn't belong to him.
Duped, exploited, took what wasn't his.
Are you guys getting any of this?
Nobody's saying Trion is in the wrong for the actions of the cheater. Banning them was / is the right thing to do. What's wrong is that Trion is basically telling people who have already demonstrated a marked lack of integrity and a willingness to exploit whatever they can to the detriment of both Trion and other players of the game, that they can buy themselves back into Trion's good graces by paying them for what was stolen.
If somebody exploited once, they'll exploit again. And again. And again... and there's no guarantee they'll get caught every time. Furthermore, I think I speak for the majority of MMO players when I say that I don't want those kinds of people in my game.
They should remain banned, period. Letting those kinds of people buy their way back in shows a complete lack of integrity and professionalism on Trion's part, as well as no small measure of disrespect toward the game's community by allowing proven ne'er do wells to re-enter it. It's also a slap in the face to those who, despite knowing about the exploit, did not take advantage of it and faithfully reported those who did.
Trion needs to fire their entire PR department and start fresh. I don't know what the hell happened, but they've gone from one of the most respected MMO publishers / developers to one of the worst, and in record time to boot.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
I thought the whole point of "APEX" or any other such "video game currency" was to get around certain laws when it comes to RMT as it is considered not to have any value?
No man, it was to deny RMT profits and claiming those profits for themselves. That is the reason there is APEX (AA) or PLEX (EvE).
Comments
I'm sorry but technically it's not theft. The game was programmed to do it.
It's like saying your stealing if a cashier at a shop knowingly gives you the wrong change so you end up having more money before you made a purchase.
IMO they should've bug tested the game more with they way they monetize the product.
Also, I'd actually argue for the ban to be removed and for them to prove I stole anything when the game they published to the public allowed it.
I'm actually shocked at what length people will go to to defend a broken product.
Enn incorrect a more accurate comparison would be the clerk turns away and leaves the cash drawer open and you help yourself. Sorry but the apex is not being gifted to the thieves they are making an action to access it that makes it theft.
Oh and may want to educate yourself on local state and federal laws. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and you may be shocked how many things you do in the average day that is against some law somewhere.
Many states its still illegal to share a domicile with a woman you are not married to.
Not incorrect as you are failing to state how they are stealing If the clerk is "programed" to hand out more change? The game allowed it because of poor programming. They were not taking anything from behind anybody's back like your implying.
How can you claim it's stealing when the game did gift them apex for doing something within the game? They didn't hack or change any code.
It would be very unprofessional to troll players like that. Your idea of the situation is probably too far-fetched to be accurate.
Duplicating digital products doesn't cause a "loss" because there is no direct cost for each digital product delivered. Also, companies don't have to get money back if they lose it. Corporate policy might want them to attempt to do so, but companies can change their policies like the wind.
The situation is more similar to a new movie theater opening, but the theater left its side-door open. Some people decide to use the side entrance and sit and watch a movie. They get caught on camera, and are told to never return unless they pay for the movies they watched.
My internet forum law degree says there is nothing illegal going on here. It would be illegal if Trion decided to charge the accounts of those who exploited without their consent. It does seem like a bad idea to allow the exploiters back in the game, but it isn't like every exploiter is a horrible person who will just try to exploit again. Who here can honestly say they have never used a cheat code, exploit, or hack in any video game their entire life? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start!
Your logic amazes me....
"It happens everywhere...so what?"
Instead of defending AA, how about you agree that it's wrong. That would be too much for you though
"This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to. Relax....."
I am not saying I agree with abusing bugs because I don't, But the problem with proving Criminal Charges is the lack of physical evidence in a game, lets say I spent $10 and purchased an Apex, then Duplicated this 100 times this could be done in any game, the problem would be the company now proving in a court or law that I myself duplicated the items myself because I myself being the defender could always claim otherwise that I never had anything to do with duplication of items and the worst that could happen is the account gets banned forever, or possibly a Lawsuit that forbids me to use their service again but that is all due to lack of evidence I would think. (This is when someone could say take a Polygraph.)
The real problem online is Fraud, as Fraud there are all kinds of ways to commit the crime, but some of the most common seem to be Digital Purchases Virtual Currency for example buying Gold from Real Money Traders, or even people who make physical purchases, and claim to have never received the package they ordered a lot of times there are delivery drivers who do not even require a signature on a very large purchase, or do insane things like Leave it with a Neighbor policy, or stuff a product in a mail box so it gets damaged, even throwing a package over a fence.
Gift Card Fraud, This is something a lot of people do not think about always check the back of your cards before you make a purchase to make sure the card is not revealed as a lot of check-out clerks never verify the card so if you purchase a card which someone else has access to then they can use your money.
The third biggest problem is employee who steal from their own store in various ways including Gift Cards, or Fraud because there are a lot of stores which run WI-FI or wireless LAN for their check-out systems.
I mean we have all shopped Electronic Stores before, how often does someone actually take the time to check the receipt and make sure the electronics you are making a purchase of are actually exactly the same one as you checked out with especially when making large purchases of many other smaller items with it this is the reason its important to be aware of Scams, and fraud as both a Buyer, and Seller to watch for such things I learned the hard way myself as a buyer of digital products got scammed once using PayPal, then hear that my purchase wasn't protected so now I just use a Visa Card, and if I don't get my product I report it and get my money back to avoid fraud from the seller.
This all reminds me of this the Wal-Mart price match scam which actually worked, but no one can get into trouble for it because its a Loop-Hole and was legit not stealing, and if I were the one working in Electronics I would have never have fallen for this scam.
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2014/11/24/dirt-cheap-ps4-amazon-listings-in-walmart-price-match-scam/
Here are some scams to watch out for.
http://www.kpho.com/story/21291286/scammers-now-using-green-dot-moneypak-cards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2OvmWIlJ4I
http://www.cnet.com/news/making-bogus-bar-codes-just-how-hard-is-it/
IDDQD
What's funny is that you answered your own question and laughed at it.
Rather than perma ban these cheaters, they'll be fully re instated if they pay up for cheating. It's still ridiculous. Those characters should never see the light of day inside the game ever again. It's a complete and total slap in the face to those who play by the rules. But hey.......The game was a cash grab from "Go!"
A new twist on pay-2-win. Now it's cheat to win, and pay to cheat.
What a riot!
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2024: 47 years on the Net.
Yeah...same thing I thought. I guess DMK doesn't care or see it that way. It's just common practice to him.
I find it hard to swallow. Kick out exploiters the same way you would other cheaters/hackers....by not letting them come back at all. Not like they can't ban your IP
"This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to. Relax....."
It's the same thing as the clerk at the convenience store asking " Are you if your going to pay for that gum in your pocket or do I need to get the police involved?" I think its a good alternative to just banning the exploiters. Trion is out money from the items that were exploited and sold on the auction, so why not try and recover those earnings from the people who stole it. It comes down to these players stole x amount of dollars from Trion and if they pay it back, then let them back in. I would like to know why the op believes that the only answer is banning these players, I think suspension until they pay for what they took is fair punishment for first time offenders.
Lots of problems can be solved without the harshest punishment if the two parties are willing to agree on an alternative and in this case the punishment fits the crime much better than a ban would. Trion is a business and if they ban they lose customers forever and I see no problem trying to reconcile with first time exploiters.
Say the guy spent $2000 before he started cheating .
Then he will probably be inclined to pay the extra $430 .
Other than that I don't see them paying to get back into game imo . But either way
CRIME PAYS .. For Trion
it`s insane that trion is basically telling them " just pay back what you stole and you can come back and steal some more with the next exploit"
exploiting in this game is a very low risk, high reward proposition, it`s a wonder that everyone isn`t exploiting.
What do you expect, and don't act surprised.
The inherent nature of F2P cash grab games is to exploit players for cash at every oppurtunity.
IPs are too easy to change for that to work.
Did you ever cheat at any game? If someone wants to pay for the Apex, let them have their account back. If they exploit or cheat again, ban them. A virtual currency cheat is not that big of a deal to me as long as the currency is paid for or removed from the economy. It isn't like they were soloing raid bosses, wallhacking, teleporting, or killing players from under the ground where they can't be attacked back.
By your logic, in doing so Trion does commit a crime by not reporting the criminals and enabling them to commit more crimes. They would be an accessory to their own theft. I know it's insane.
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Oh almost everyone is exploiting, that is why they don't ban. The game would be dead already.
Guy cheated in game, duped a bunch of currency, used that currency to buy stuff he had no right too, and Trion is in the wrong?
He duped currency, purchased stuff that didn't belong to him.
Duped, exploited, took what wasn't his.
Are you guys getting any of this?
I think the real issue is what is to stop Trion from claiming ANY account duped and has to pay up?
I thought the whole point of "APEX" or any other such "video game currency" was to get around certain laws when it comes to RMT as it is considered not to have any value?
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
Nobody's saying Trion is in the wrong for the actions of the cheater. Banning them was / is the right thing to do. What's wrong is that Trion is basically telling people who have already demonstrated a marked lack of integrity and a willingness to exploit whatever they can to the detriment of both Trion and other players of the game, that they can buy themselves back into Trion's good graces by paying them for what was stolen.
If somebody exploited once, they'll exploit again. And again. And again... and there's no guarantee they'll get caught every time. Furthermore, I think I speak for the majority of MMO players when I say that I don't want those kinds of people in my game.
They should remain banned, period. Letting those kinds of people buy their way back in shows a complete lack of integrity and professionalism on Trion's part, as well as no small measure of disrespect toward the game's community by allowing proven ne'er do wells to re-enter it. It's also a slap in the face to those who, despite knowing about the exploit, did not take advantage of it and faithfully reported those who did.
Trion needs to fire their entire PR department and start fresh. I don't know what the hell happened, but they've gone from one of the most respected MMO publishers / developers to one of the worst, and in record time to boot.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
Yes, EXACTLY and Trion will let this person back into their game if he pays up. That is crazy right?
No man, it was to deny RMT profits and claiming those profits for themselves. That is the reason there is APEX (AA) or PLEX (EvE).