Something has to be done about gold farmers

[kirorx]

And then what? The spammers open a new f2p account and go right back to spamming.

 

This

 

Where there is a will there is a way

 

These people will do whatever it takes to push there merchandise

 

If I has to make a suggestion I would make it impossible to leave starter worlds untill level 10 or completion of the starter planet questline. This would not stop them but may slow them down a bit

[MillionsKNives]

This

 

Where there is a will there is a way

 

These people will do whatever it takes to push there merchandise

 

If I has to make a suggestion I would make it impossible to leave starter worlds untill level 10 or completion of the starter planet questline. This would not stop them but may slow them down a bit

 

I'm fairly sure that's already the case.

[teclado]

Get a piece of some kind of filter that blocks light near the wavelength of the reddish colored yell text and cover the part of your monitor that is your chat window. Nobody else typically uses the yell feature, only the credit spammers.

[Wylf]

I'll type it again because it's obviously easy to miss twice.

 

Blizzard implemented a text filter in WoW so good that spammers had to resort to killing their characters in very specific ways to get their message across... they could not do it in text.

Blizzards text filter mostly consists out of "lol, f2p accounts can't talk in anything aside from /s and /p". Hence why the goldfarmers spelled it out with their bodies - it's easier to get a bunch of test accounts and spell out a website, than gaining access to a number of fully paid accounts, that are capable of actually spamming. Back when I still played, which is now about a year ago, there were still occasional spammers in general chat, as well as a lot more spammers who spammed their messages in /s.

 

WoWs main advantage over SWTOR is that it is a fully subscription based model, where trial accounts are barred from using most chat channels. For a goldspammer to actually spam in WoW they need to first acquire a working account, which either costs them money or requires them to steal an account via phising or similar tactics. There are probably ways (illegal ones) to get a working account for free too, but those require significantly more work than creating a new SWTOR account does.

Meaning that Spammers in WoW can be quickly dealt with for good, because they actually have to work harder to gain access to the game.

 

I'm fairly sure that's already the case.

It is. Edited May 15, 2014 by Wylf

[HiddenPalm]

For the internet new folks (yes even Bioware), you can ban IP addresses and specific subnet domains. People do it ALL the time for voice chat systems like Vent, TS, Mumble. It's really not that hard to prevent these spammers from logging in again. I'd say an active week of monitoring, and they go away forever.

 

DuckDuckGo Onion Router and Proxies. That worked in the 90's and maybe like 10 years ago, not so much anymore when it comes to an organized ring of gold spammers.

 

And what, pray tell, should be done against them? The current system works fine. Report them, ignore them and they will be dealt with in a rather short amount of time. Everything else would be either terribly ineffective or disturb legitimate players.

 

I HAVE THE ABSOLUTE UTTER MOST PERFECT SOLUTION EVER!!!!

 

PVP!!!

 

When a spammer gets reported by said number of gamers as a spammer and said number of ignores, Bioware can flag them as PVP ready, meaning anyone can attack them. Who ever gives them the most damage and defeats these spammers, gets to keep the credits. If Bioware feels like that is too much for the game's economy balance, then spread the credits out to the victors guild. The spammer who was flagged for pvp and gets killed doesnt get to respawn and their account is closed, with the option to repeal in case it wasn't a spammer.

 

This would QUICKLY hurt their business interests in SWTOR as it would be too much trouble for them to deal with all that. The best they can do is stay quiet until they reach a high enough level and form spammer guilds and hide in their guild ships to spam a planet. And that is too much trouble, as they're accounts and guilds would get closed if anything. Another thing they can do is open two accounts, one who advertises and one who secretly holds the credits. I've seen spammers do this in Age of Wushu. If this is the case, it would still be too much trouble for them, as the advertiser would still get obliterated, forcing the secret keeper of the credits to also advertise.

 

The only problem I see is that a guild can gang up one someone they do not like and dishonestly mass report the said player just to steal his/her credits. This can be solved by allowing the spammer of the closed account to repeal and the guild who was dishonest would get penalized pretty heavily, like lose their guild bank and/or have their accounts suspended. This is the only part, I feel might be too much work for Bioware. But I don't think a dishonest attack on a player to steal his credits by flagging them as a spammer would happen to often.

 

This would handle the problem and in a fun way. Bioware you have us, why not use us to send a strong message?

 

BIOWARE! Think of all the money you would save, as it would just require initial coding and development, and then you dont have to pay people to close these accounts anymore, they can do other jobs like helping players with bugs, questions and general problems. As the players would handle all the work for you and it would be fun and maybe even lucrative for us. Bounty Hunter toons would start forming guilds just to do this work for you!!! The only work you would have to do is to help the rare account that got flagged as a spammer that wasn't. Big difference than all the work you gys are doing right now, following up on all the spam reports.

Edited May 15, 2014 by HiddenPalm

[Wylf]

I HAVE THE ABSOLUTE UTTER MOST PERFECT SOLUTION EVER!!!!

 

PVP!!!

 

When a spammer gets reported by said number of gamers as a spammer and said number of ignores, Bioware can flag them as PVP ready, meaning anyone can attack them. Who ever gives them the most damage and defeats these spammers, gets to keep the credits. If Bioware feels like that is too much for the game's economy balance, then spread the credits out to the victors guild. The spammer who was flagged for pvp and gets killed doesnt get to respawn and their account is closed, with the option to repeal in case it wasn't a spammer.

 

This would QUICKLY hurt their business interests in SWTOR as it would be too much trouble for them to deal with all that. The best they can do is stay quiet until they reach a high enough level and form spammer guilds and hide in their guild ships to spam a planet. And that is too much trouble, as they're accounts and guilds would get closed if anything. Another thing they can do is open two accounts, one who advertises and one who secretly holds the credits. I've seen spammers do this in Age of Wushu. If this is the case, it would still be too much trouble for them, as the advertiser would still get obliterated, forcing to secret keeper of the credits to also advertise.

 

The only problem I see is that a guild can gang up one someone they do not like and dishonestly mass report the said player just to steal his/her credits. This can be solved by allowing the spammer of the closed account to repeal and the guild who was dishonest would get penalized pretty heavily, like lose their guild bank and/or have their accounts suspended. This is the only part, I feel might be too much work for Bioware. But I don't think a dishonest attack on a player to steal his credits by flagging them as a spammer would happen to often.

 

This would handle the problem and in a fun way. Bioware you have us, why not use us to send a strong message?

 

You are aware that the spammers are bots, right? The accounts that actually run around and spam also don't hold the money. Those are pure spambots. They log in to spam, while the credits sit on some inconspicuous accounts that are paid for, so they can actually trade (which an f2p account can't).

 

Your system wouldn't hurt spammers at all. Not a teeny, tiny bit.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Wylf

[TUXs]

DuckDuckGo Onion Router and Proxies. That worked in the 90's and maybe like 10 years ago, not so much anymore when it comes to an organized ring of gold spammers.

 

I HAVE THE ABSOLUTE UTTER MOST PERFECT SOLUTION EVER!!!!

 

PVP!!!

 

When a spammer gets reported by said number of gamers as a spammer and said number of ignores, Bioware can flag them as PVP ready, meaning anyone can attack them. Who ever gives them the most damage and defeats these spammers, gets to keep the credits. If Bioware feels like that is too much for the game's economy balance, then spread the credits out to the victors guild. The spammer who was flagged for pvp and gets killed doesnt get to respawn and their account is closed, with the option to repeal in case it wasn't a spammer.

Your mistake is assuming that the spamming account has any of the credits...they don't. Those are the disposable accounts that have zero worth.

 

My suggestion - after say 20 /report, silence the character for 30-60min...it would work wonders for the jackholes in General chat as well as spammers. Any online MMO has to have some form of 24/7 monitoring...send a report to someone at Bioware who can decide if it's legit or not and let them take action on the account.

[Wylf]

My suggestion - after say 20 /report, silence the character for 30-60min...it would work wonders for the jackholes in General chat as well as spammers. Any online MMO has to have some form of 24/7 monitoring...send a report to someone at Bioware who can decide if it's legit or not and let them take action on the account.

 

WoW does it like that. I'm not a 100% sure I like it though, since that system can easily be abused, especially by larger guilds. As an example, imagine you are selling item x and have another guy selling the same item. You happen to be in a large guild, so you ask your guildies to please report that guy for spamming and, after 20 reports, he is silenced and can't advertise his stuff anymore, allowing you to sell your items.

 

Alternatively you just don't like person y, so you and your guild decide to 'troll' them by reporting them over and over. That'll show 'em!

 

Meh. If only MMO communities weren't full of awful.

[HiddenPalm]

You are aware that the spammers are bots, right? The accounts that actually run around and spam also don't hold the money. Those are pure spambots. They log in to spam, while the credits sit on some inconspicuous accounts that are paid for, so they can actually trade (which an f2p account can't).

 

Your system wouldn't hurt spammers at all. Not a teeny, tiny bit.

 

Your mistake is assuming that the spamming account has any of the credits...they don't. Those are the disposable accounts that have zero worth.

 

I addressed that in my post.

Another thing they can do is open two accounts, one who advertises and one who secretly holds the credits. I've seen spammers do this in Age of Wushu. If this is the case, it would still be too much trouble for them, as the advertiser would still get obliterated, forcing the secret keeper of the credits to also advertise.

 

... or quit all together.

 

But thanks for looking at my proposal.

Edited May 15, 2014 by HiddenPalm

[Wylf]

I addressed that in my post.

 

 

... or quit all together.

 

But thanks for looking at my proposal.

 

... or the advertiser logs automatically (since it's a bot) onto a new, freshly created account and continues spamming from there. It's a f2p game. You can create as many accounts as you have email addresses ready...

[TUXs]

WoW does it like that. I'm not a 100% sure I like it though, since that system can easily be abused, especially by larger guilds. As an example, imagine you are selling item x and have another guy selling the same item. You happen to be in a large guild, so you ask your guildies to please report that guy for spamming and, after 20 reports, he is silenced and can't advertise his stuff anymore, allowing you to sell your items.

 

Alternatively you just don't like person y, so you and your guild decide to 'troll' them by reporting them over and over. That'll show 'em!

 

Meh. If only MMO communities weren't full of awful.

Yeah, that's the biggest problem with allowing the community to police itself. My thinking is that Bioware can remove the right of people to report spammers and punish abusers if this happens, but your concern is also one I have with a system like this.

[HiddenPalm]

... or the advertiser logs automatically (since it's a bot) onto a new, freshly created account and continues spamming from there. It's a f2p game. You can create as many accounts as you have email addresses ready...

 

Which would be too much trouble for them as they would all get obliterated by the gamers. It would be a new thing, just to get these guys. If they have a software that creates the bots, they still need someone to level them up to get to the fleet. It would be too much trouble. They would be dealing with thousands of players instead of one or few Bioware employees following up on spam reports. Bioware has an army and doesnt even know.

[Wylf]

Which would be too much trouble for them as they would all get obliterated by the gamers. It would be a new thing, just to get these guys. If they have a software that creates the bots, they still need someone to level them up to get to the fleet. It would be too much trouble. They would be dealing with thousands of players instead of one or few Bioware employees following up on spam reports. Bioware has an army and doesnt even know.

 

I'm slowly starting to realize that I might be getting trolled here. If so, props to you, you're very convincing. If you're, by any chance, not trolling: Ahahaha.

[HiddenPalm]

I'm slowly starting to realize that I might be getting trolled here. If so, props to you, you're very convincing. If you're, by any chance, not trolling: Ahahaha.

 

My ideas have been getting laughed at in these forums since 2010 probably 2009, dont remember when I opened my account. But since then SWTOR is now F2P. We got GSF. We're getting housing. And hopefully they will also fix the chairs. All ideas I have been pushing and helping others push which were once laughed at.

 

 

It's all good. Laughing is good for the soul.

[MillionsKNives]

My ideas have been getting laughed at in these forums since 2010 probably 2009, dont remember when I opened my account. But since then SWTOR is now F2P. We got GSF. We're getting housing. And hopefully they will also fix the chairs. All ideas I have been pushing and helping others push which were once laughed at.

 

 

It's all good. Laughing is good for the soul.

 

I bet you also gave Al Gore the idea to invent the internet, right?

[ikinai]

The only thing to be done is not to purchase from them. That's the only thing that will stop them. Some silly nerd army isn't going to do it, they'll figure a way around it. Nope, the only thing that will stop them is to not buy from them.

[Reno_Tarshil]

The only thing to be done is not to purchase from them. That's the only thing that will stop them. Some silly nerd army isn't going to do it, they'll figure a way around it. Nope, the only thing that will stop them is to not buy from them.

 

Ikinai, you are alive.

 

There were people concerned.

[ikinai]

Ikinai, you are alive.

 

There were people concerned.

 

Hehe, I'm alive, if just. Super busy at work, way too many new people in our IT department. It's worse than herding cats. It's like trying to herd cats over the internet.

[Reno_Tarshil]

Hehe, I'm alive, if just. Super busy at work, way too many new people in our IT department. It's worse than herding cats. It's like trying to herd cats over the internet.

 

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/141795i6D19B59F9C393D7D/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1

[HiddenPalm]

I'm slowly starting to realize that I might be getting trolled here. If so, props to you, you're very convincing. If you're, by any chance, not trolling: Ahahaha.

 

My ideas have been getting laughed at in these forums since 2010 probably 2009, dont remember when I opened my account. But since then SWTOR is now F2P. We got GSF. We're getting housing. And hopefully they will also fix the chairs. All ideas I have been pushing and helping others push which were once laughed at.

 

 

It's all good. Laughing is good for the soul.

 

I bet you also gave Al Gore the idea to invent the internet, right?

 

Age of Empires III "Colonial Resistance" Expansion Pack

 

I used to be CheTzu.

 

Apologies to other readers for being off topic.

Edited May 15, 2014 by HiddenPalm

[Competition]

its simple.... once an IP adress has had 2 or 3 accounts banned for spamming and sells... lock the IP down so that it can no longer make accounts. Simple.....

 

Except for one minor problem. The person(s) notice the IP is banned so they change to another IP and frees up the current IP. Awhile later the IP that was banned from creating newer accounts is assigned to someone else and they want to play but can't. This method would lock out legitimate players and allow in the bad guys still.

[Rasen]

Bioware is already doing something about gold sellers. Galactic Strongholds will allow us to flee from them as they invade fleet. At least I hope they can't spam their crap in my house lol.

[Duskrequim]

Except for one minor problem. The person(s) notice the IP is banned so they change to another IP and frees up the current IP. Awhile later the IP that was banned from creating newer accounts is assigned to someone else and they want to play but can't. This method would lock out legitimate players and allow in the bad guys still.

 

That is why you then Ban the ISP.... You can change your IP easy yes.. Blocking the ISP from gaining access goes along way as well. SWTOR could also Ban access from any Proxy and VPN servers that would force these farmers out. If you are using Proxy servers and VPN servers to play the game... I would consider that you are doing something Illegal anyway...