Virtual Gnome Police Crack Down on Spammer Hucksters in 'EverQuest'
When playing massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, the typical player must spend tens, if not hundreds, of hours fully developing his character, earning a significant amount of in-game currency, and obtaining powerful, rare items and weapons. This often lengthy grind has encouraged some players to buy virtual items and characters from others, via real money transactions -- an act that is explicitly banned in almost all MMO end-user license agreements. Making matters worse for both players and publishers, these virtual salesmen spam other players so much that it sometimes discourages honest gamers from playing, thus depriving publishers of a game's requisite monthly fees.
To help combat this illegal spamming, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), a game publisher that runs such MMOs as 'EverQuest' and 'Star Wars Galaxies,' has formed the Norathian Underground Gnome Investigation Team. (Norath is the name of the fictional universe in which 'EverQuest' takes place.) According to Reuters, this nine-member group roams the various virtual worlds, finds spammers and their associates, and permanently bans their online accounts.
The team has already closed nearly 300,000 accounts since its founding, though many challenges still remain. Brad Wilcox, director of customer support at SOE, had this to say about the spammers: "A lot of them are offshore. It's very difficult to stop somebody that's in another country, particularly one where the laws aren't friendly to the United States and it can be very challenging." [From: Reuters]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Robert said 11:44PM on 9-05-2009
Unfortunatly, most of the spammers used hacked accounts and key generators, so innocent players often get banned because someone hacked into their account.
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DANNYSPANN2010 said 10:44PM on 9-13-2009
robert, are how do you know what spammers use? if you know all these things about the key generators they do then maybe you are a hacker yourself. oh and i don't play games online or offline. but it seems that when i am using this website that i like i keep getting disconnected from the page i am on. do you also know about why i keep getting disconnected from the webpage i visit?
please give me a response back thanks
Millerson said 4:15AM on 9-06-2009
Quoting the article, "A lot of them are offshore. It's very difficult to stop somebody that's in another country, particularly one where the laws aren't friendly to the United States and it can be very challenging." _________ OH, BOO HOO - THE US DOESN'T CONTROL THE WHOLE WORLD. CRY ME A RIVER, TOTALITARIAN ASSHOLES.
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DANNYSPANN2010 said 10:32PM on 9-13-2009
You may think that the united states of america doesn't contorl other countries but actually as a matter of fact we do. the reason for this is because the united states wants to continue preventing illegal immigrants from coming to america and just because barrack obama might not agree to what i had just said doesn't mean i am not going to stick up for my country the way i should. i love this nation and i plan on keeping this nation the strongest nation in the entire world. just because you are jealous that america has more rights than your country does doesn't give you the right to talk shit to our country. in other words so that you understand, i suggest you stop talking shit about the united states. this is a country that deserves respect. now millerson if you are a hacker or someone trying to break into comptuers from another country i suggest you pray that you don't get caught in the act because if you do you will most likely have some serious and big jail time coming.