The only winning move is not to play.

Dear CCP,

You have been scammed by Somer Blink. They are taking you for billions, if not trillions of ISK if you count the uniquely special and uniquely effective vouchsafing PR, that you already gave them for free. This is called favoritism. Just like when T20 gave BoB T2 BPOs, except worse, because you do not even realize you got scammed.

Let me reiterate: You already got scammed, and publicly announced that you're going to continue falling for it.

Since apparently half the EVE playerbase including CCP had either never heard of this particular scam, allow me to enlighten you:

http://www.fraud.org/penny-auctions

I never made a big deal of it before because I simply assumed that most other EVE players realized it was a scam and just liked blowing ISK on it. I have never given them 0.01 ISK and never will because Somer Blink is just another EVE scam!

I, and every other player that knows a penny auction scam when they see it has been denied access to new ships. Yay, favoritism because CCP fell for a scam!

That was a super important paragraph sentence, so please read it again.

Let me reiterate, since CCP is apparently rather thick: CCP fell for an in game scam, and fell so hard that they planned to resurrect a part of in game history and give to them for their exclusive profit.

And since I refuse to become a SomerSuckerGäó I am effectively denied even the chance to get one of these ships because I am more scam resistant than CCP Navigator and the rest of the devs who are too gullible to figure out that Somer Blink is a just another penny auction scam with a couple of insignificant twists on it to further obscure the scam. To say nothing of the people who have been banned from Somer Blink, the result of which is CCP treating even more of their customers unfairly with respect to Somer Blink.

But it is still a scam.

The only way to fix this is to stop pimping Somer Blink revoke any special privileges that they scammed you out of, publicly admit Somer Blink is just another EVE scam, stop falling for it, and never use them again.

If you're thinking "Xaen cannot possibly be correct!" Read below, then read this post again. Keep reading it until you get it through your thick skulls that Somer Blink is just a penny auction scam, EVE style, that CCP fell for hook, line, and Golden Magnate.

It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.

GÇöMark Twain

Blink and Penny Auctions are entirely different models. Blink is closer to a slot machine.

Blink isn't a "scam", it's a casino. The amount you win over a long enough time frame is guaranteed to be lower than the input isk. Extra devious is the bit where players are "better off" if they redeem more blink credit and keep grinding their isk away in the Blink system until it's gone.

Without any scamming component, they can still make trillions and trillions by running things legitimately. If I were running blink and trying to extract as much profit as possible, I wouldn't scam their beautiful business model or loyal customers in any way, shape, or form. Only if Blink was suddenly put out of business somehow would I take the deposits. Simply put, they don't need to scam, they make the most profit with the casino model.

Just because some people fail to understand a system does not make it a scam.

The only winning move is not to play.

I don't intent to play. My time is better spent actually earning isk. Might be a scam - might not. Either way, I'll never know.

Welp, CCP got scammed by a player organization. It was bound to happen eventually I suppose.

Read this folks and let it sink in, both Xaen and Mark Twain are spot on the money here. Blink is a cleverly designed variation on the penny auction system, and CCP has no business directly enriching and vouching for the honesty of Player organisations.

How the hell can Somer Blink scam when people invest ISK not RL money.

I have won more sub caps in somer blink than I have invested isk which I am ahead.

You better get the facts right before you get into trouble either by CCP or Somer Blink.

Because you are faming CCP & Somer Blink

Thats my two cents worth.

Oh and i'd like to point out that most of those who complain about favouritism
wouldn't have done so if it was them receiving free stuff to make profit off.

Oh my, how can i think so badly about you ...

Blink and Penny Auctions are entirely different models. Blink is closer to a slot machine.

Blink isn't a "scam", it's a casino. The amount you win over a long enough time frame is guaranteed to be lower than the input isk. Extra devious is the bit where players are "better off" if they redeem more blink credit and keep grinding their isk away in the Blink system until it's gone.

Without any scamming component, they can still make trillions and trillions by running things legitimately. If I were running blink and trying to extract as much profit as possible, I wouldn't scam their beautiful business model or loyal customers in any way, shape, or form. Only if Blink was suddenly put out of business somehow would I take the deposits. Simply put, they don't need to scam, they make the most profit with the casino model.

So what your saying is all casinos in the world are scams?

The scam is in achievement credits. The free credit you get conceals just how much you are consistently losing. Then achievements dry up but you're too hooked to notice and stopped keeping track of your actual wins and losses. The blink stats are also designed in a way that lies to you without displaying false numbers to artificially inflate win rates and results.

CCP has no business directly enriching and vouching for the honesty of Player organisations.

How would we feel if CCP declared Goonswarm Federation to be the official EVE alliance, and sponsored them with Gold Magnates?

How would we feel if CCP declared Goonswarm Federation to be the official EVE alliance, and sponsored them with Gold Magnates?