Is SOE Doing Anything about Krono Resellers?

Seems like SOE is losing money on their Krono system at this point, since resellers such as Illicit group 1, Illicit group 2, and the other resellers are selling for less than what SOE is.

Has there been discussion as to how to shut these guys down? As an attorney, I am aware of past litigation between game manufacturers and gamers claiming virtual property rights, but isn't there a way to shutdown these guys? Krono prices have skyrocketed and are out-of-control. Why pay SOE for a Krono, when I can get one from a reseller for far less? The EULA is one option, but what about a disclaimer saying that Kronos have no cash value and reselling them for $ will be a violation of the EULA?

I know for a fact that we have a reseller on Xegony. He attempted to extort myself an others to stay out-of-the-market on Xegony for a 4 Krono/Month Fee. Surely there is a way for SOE to shut this down. If someone from legal would like to contact me to brainstorm, I'd be all for it. However, I do think the no cash value disclaimer is one option.

-Removed the names, they don't need the advertising. Or they might but I don't want to give it to them. - Piestro

I suspect they're cheering and celebrating.

Do you mean he offered to pay you 4 Krono a month to stay out of the market? I believe that would be a bribe, not extortion. You say you are an attorney, so I'm puzzled why you would use the wrong term.

read that to be "pay me 4/month or ill badger you until you stop interfering with my scam"

Ok.

Still..../ignore?

I don't see how SOE is losing money if there is no hacking or duping Kronos going on (and they recently assured that there isn't). For every Krono that enters the market somebody somewhere overpays SOE a hefty amount (the reasons why people do that were also recently explained). What the 'middle men' do in Bazaar isn't their concern.

If 100 kronos are sold by a middle man at $8 per, that means SOE made $1799 by selling those same 100 kronos in the initial transaction. Seems like SOE is happy with a $1799 sale!

Actually Fanra, I chose that word specifically because it is the right one. Bribery means he gives me something. Extortion means I have to give something to him. Do a little research. If the mob were to come to you and tell you that you had to pay them $400/month for protection or you may fall victim to some very bad life circumstances, such as falling on a knife a dozen times, is that bribery or extortion?

So... someone is willing to give away 4 krono's a month to keep another person from trying to buy krono's in the bazaar? Sign me up!

No need to tell me, "Do a little research", that borders on insulting.

Your post was unclear, it took JackISK to clear up what you meant. Assuming that's what you meant.

Again, how can they have you "fall on a knife" in EQ? Your /ignore don't work?

Also, anyone threatening you in game should be reported. Which would be likely to get them banned, which hurts their business. If they threatened you with real life harm, not only should you report it to SOE, but to the police. In fact, SOE themselves tells people to report real life threats to the police.

The Krono Mafia. I love it. The internet is weird.

I must agree with everyone on this. You meant to say bribe, it's ok to be wrong, even though you're a legal adviser of some sorts.

SoE is getting money from the initial purchase of the Krono, they probably feel no need to stop the resellers due to the volume which they are selling right now. If they weren't getting their cut I'm very sure they'd be doing something about it, it's how SoE is. They hate exploits, but don't mind exploiting people.

Best you can do is report them and hopefully a good GM will take a look and do an IP ban of sorts, which is still very easy to get past, proxy over and bam, back in EQ. With EQ accounts FTP they'll have no problem making another account even if their others are banned.

I would either use their sites to purchase the Krono's, pay the zar price, or pay SoE. As far as them doing something about it, I wish you luck on that.

From this morning on Luclin:

Honestly , there is no way in EQ to extort someone that dont wanna be extorted . /ignore, reports , joining general and pointedly laughing at the guy's antcs ...all of these would deter the guy , if not outright make him spend cash to name change

Take the 4 Krono/mo, use 1/mo to go Gold on another account and use the alt as your new bazaar bot. Then pray they try to extort your new bazaar bot! Wash, rinse, repeat.

Pretty soon you'll be the one selling Krono for half price!

I wish I got extorted like that!

Sounds like someone using in game plat to buy krono to then turn into real money instead of the reverse.

Selling in game items for cash has always been against rules, but I doubt Sony will do anything about it as the more Kronos that go through the economy, the more money they make as long as duping is not involved.

The seller would have to sell lower than soe - or get no business. If I'm going to pay close to market price, I'll buy from the source legitimately. To buy from a second source it would have to be cheap - real cheap with all the risk involved.

But yes, simply selling via PayPal violates the rules.

In a perfect world where our Corporate Overlords get 100% their way, no sales would ever be "lost" because no one actually "owns" anything and therefor can never be resold. Its all Corporate Property that you only buy a use license for, but never actually tangibly own.
This about sums it up:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/03/29/the-coming-war-on-used-games/

Thankfully the world is flawed and we as consumers obtain goods that break/become obsolete before they can be re-sold so at least we have that fleeting moment of gratification that our hard earned money actually yielded some reward. I would love to see the day that I have to rent toilet paper from Scott Tissue. I would be so happy to return it to them if they asked for it back.

Anyway, this thread will probably disappear soon. Good luck with your litigation since who knows what the big deal is. Merchandise is sold and resold 24/7/365.

Aw so someone is trying to buy all the krono then resale krono instead of plat on a gold selling site as away to cash out massive amounts of plat into $?

I was wondering why prices had rocketed so much.

In the end market forces will take care of issue. If krono start costing 500k plus then market will flood with krono as non krono users buy them to gear alts or max tradeskills.

I'm just sitting on plat and buying one krono at a time as needed until market price crash's.

What follows is probably 100% taboo:

Well, with the flood of plat due to all the easy PLing going on, there is probably more money to be made converting cheaply bought wholesale plat into Krono, which can then be converted to discount Krono subs for like 10 dollars or so which are ALWAYS in demand. Buy 500k plat for 4-5 dollars off some beaming powerlever who is paying their rent by selling all that bulk plat they make since the economy/job market blows, flip it into Krono bought for 250-300k plat and than resell the Krono for a couple bux less than the monthly sub price...and BAMCIS. Make'n money. Also if Krono go up to 500k plat, and 500k plat from the same evil gold site costs only $8.99.... you smell what I am stepping in? it will be a tug of war between plat or Krono being in demand but the gold selling site makes money either way. The game poops out plat from thin air every time you kill something and loot, but Krono are only created if someone buys one new from SoE. Thus there could always be a glut of plat but only so many Krono.

Still the whole racket relies on chumps buying Krono for $17.99 to maintain the supply, since they want to honestly buy plat within the rules. Maybe they just need to make Krono only able to be bought with crypto-currency like Bitcoin to add an extra layer of inconvenience. Otherwise how can the whole shadow economy operating on the periphery of the EULA be crushed other than do away with Krono or make plat No Trade, only able to be spent via a SoE controlled intermediary? Kinda like SWTOR credits had a "console" to act as an intermediary between buyer and seller if there was no "Mailbox" option. Still, people would find a way around it.

Ok, so.....the person he referred to is me, I would like to stay anonymous, as most people would like to keep their bazaar mules/trader mules separate from their mains. A few things....

1. I am not selling kronos, nor any other in game item/currency for anything out of the game. Originally, I was only looking to make enough plat/kronos per month to keep my accounts active (I pay for four accounts). As I continued to do this, I realized I enjoyed it, and got better. As such, I have been making a little more than what my goal was (4 kronos), but this is one of the ways I enjoy the game.

2. This person is only upset because I refused to take part in a market deflating maneuver participated in by the other buyers on the server, himself included. The buyers all had an agreement to keep krono prices artificially low in the /barter, I came along, and was willing to pay more in the barter than they were. I was willing to take a smaller profit margin on the margin between /barter and /trader than they were, and as such, angered some.

3. I have in-game emails to back this up, anyone that would like a copy can send me a PM here with their in game server/name, and I will send them copies in an attempt to clear my name. He named me personally in a previous post which has since been edited.

4. He has now threatened to have my account banned. I have done nothing wrong, this is a harassment tactic. While I have nothing to hide, I also do not appreciate someone attempting to bring about GM attention to my behaviors, or actions in an attempt to get a ban through. This puts my account(s) in jeopardy at the discretion of the GMs.

Thank you very much for your time, and I hope you now have a better understanding as to what is truly occurring.