...would that calm things down?

Often a company will provide goods for an auction, with the proceeds going to charity. I wonder if Somer Blink pledged to use some of their extra income from the unique ships to prepare a plex for good fund, we'd feel a bit less pissed off?

It could make good publicity in the future too ("internet nerds in charity drive" news articles for example). Better than the current publicity anyway

No...

Why does Somer deserve the prestige of precious in-game resources...

No, because selling something as a result of it results in more PR for them.

The only way to rectify this is to retract all favoritism towards them, and never mention them in any official channel ever again.

A good deal of damage has already been done. :-/

Please don't derail the argument. This isn't a discussion about whether CCP made a good call or if Somer deserved these gifts (obviously massive no's on both counts).

Given that a large event in Vegas has already been planned and booked, we're in damage limitation mode here.

I'm suggesting that Somer should voluntarily set aside some of the profits for this venture for a future plex-for-good initiative.

Please don't derail the argument. This isn't a discussion about whether CCP made a good call or if Somer deserved these gifts (obviously massive no's on both counts).

Given that a large event in Vegas has already been planned and booked, we're in damage limitation mode here.

I'm suggesting that Somer should voluntarily set aside some of the profits for this venture for a future plex-for-good initiative.

...would that calm things down?

Your suggestion is to give Somer even more PR and traffic than they've already profited from this? Are you a somer alt by any chance?

Seems likely. I don't know for sure, but if somer wanted to send out a shill casting about for damage control tactics, what the OP suggests is exactly what they would do. Astroturfing also comes to mind. It's trying a bit too hard to appear reasoned and serious. If not alt/shill then definitely fanboi.

Apologies in advance for a little 'self-necro'

...would that calm things down?

Often a company will provide goods for an auction, with the proceeds going to charity. I wonder if Somer Blink pledged to use some of their extra income from the unique ships to prepare a plex for good fund, we'd feel a bit less pissed off?

It could make good publicity in the future too ("internet nerds in charity drive" news articles for example). Better than the current publicity anyway

I just read that Somer Blink donated 4000 PLEX towards the charity drive.

...they scammed from me.

Just too many people butt-hurt that they haven't done anything close to the effort Somer.Blink put in. A Somer was getting officially recognized by making a real life profit that was at the time outside of the EULA and went unpunished. Hardly a problem.

That "gate" crap in the US's scandal-naming-convention is about the dumbest crap our media ever came up with besides "every firearm is an AR-15, and every dog attack is done by pit bulls"... it really needs to stop.

It's not clever. It's not unique. It's not cheeky, funny, or hip. It's stupid.

...would that calm things down?

...would that calm things down?

Often a company will provide goods for an auction, with the proceeds going to charity. I wonder if Somer Blink pledged to use some of their extra income from the unique ships to prepare a plex for good fund, we'd feel a bit less pissed off?

It could make good publicity in the future too ("internet nerds in charity drive" news articles for example). Better than the current publicity anyway

How did they scam from you?

How did they scam from you?

Then when he didn't win, he demanded his money back.

Before I didn't win, 1 hour and 7 minutes after they swapped the prizes, several days before a draw was done.
This is all a matter of public record, I'll repost links to all the public posts made about this if you like.

Since I believe (not sure, but how I would run it myself, haven't read the Somer rules) all ticket sales would have been final, Your real beef isn't with Somer all that much.

I think this really shows just how scummy SOMER really is.

If you want to give charity, give it for the sake of charity alone.

You shouldn't do charity as a form of damage control. That's pathetic. It implies that they wouldn't give charity at all if they didn't have an incredibly negative image associated with them at the moment.

to CCP and then CCP advertised the donation during the live stream, same as they advertised the donations by others.

Lots of butthurt about Somer, who in most of the controversy haven't actually done anything wrong..

RMT has always been against the rules, last I checked. While failing to punish it was definitely the greater ill, Somer is a far cry from "haven't actually done anything wrong".

RMT has always been against the rules, last I checked. While failing to punish it was definitely the greater ill, Somer is a far cry from "haven't actually done anything wrong".

But they were not doing actual RMT..

Conclusion: If your RMT scheme is convoluted enough, people who are bad at math and don't understand how gambling works will defend it as not-RMT.

But they were not doing actual RMT..

I'm just saying they were not doing actual RMT.. They were making actual money but they were not actually breaking any rules.
What they were making money from is referrals to a GTC seller.. so in effect they were getting paid for advertisement and many websites do. CCP asks them to stop giving the isk bonus so they did.

They are still making real money through the same process, they are just no longer giving a bonus to the people that buy GTC's through their referral link.
So while they are maybe making less money due to the lack of bonus credit it probally hasnt overly affected them

Ahhh, yes they were.

They have a referral system in place and to encourage people to use that system they gave ISK bonuses.

So effectively, they valued 200,000,000 ISK + blink credits at $1.75 (or whatever real money they received back per purchase) and paid that to each player that used their referral. That's RMT - get real money, give ISK.

You can call it a 'bonus' or whatever you like, it's still RMT. Give money through them, get ISK in return.

They were converting ISK into real money.

But they were not doing that at all.

They were getting paid to advertise a product, and offered a incetive for people to go through that means

As per my post above

And as per my earlier post, it's really impressive how, if you make an RMT scheme just a skosh convoluted, people will be simply incapable of understanding how it's RMT.

In this case, the simple step of adding a third party to the transaction has been adequate.

So the EvE torney that is coming that offers Cash prizes count as RMT?

First of all: You're really trying to analogize a for-profit player's RMTing with a CCP organized tournament? Really?

Secondly: Which players are receiving in-game value in exchange for money? They're being rewarded in cash for participation and placement - no other player is receiving in-game value in exchange for that money.

There's no transaction between players, there. No transaction is not the same thing as a transaction involving 3 parties, although I see how you could totally mix those two things up.

Somer received money and, in exchange, gave people "credit" on his site. More than 0% of that credit was cashed in for IG value, ergo, very basic RMT. It doesn't matter if Somer was paid by proxy.

So here Blink is giving you credit to participate, and you only get a reward is you place, by having the winning ticket there is no differance there

the New Eden Open can be overlooked as RMT here because it is run by CCP

But there are other parties out there that want to hold compitions in EvE and offer cash prizes, but in your view that is RMT and not allowed

So here Blink is giving you credit to participate, and you only get a reward is you place, by having the winning ticket there is no differance there

the New Eden Open can be overlooked as RMT here because it is run by CCP

Here's it nice and simple for you.

Tom places 10 bets of $10m each. This being a silly coinflip casino, he wins half of his wagers, and Alice pays out $50m isk.

Yes but that 'graph' is based on you get isk/items.

What if Tom loses all his fictional credit because Alice's game is just a scam?

Let's see if I can deobfuscate this for you. I don't have any crayons handy, but I'll do my best to put it into terms you'll be able to digest.

(bunch of text)

This is RMT.

The presence of Bob as proxy in the payment between Alice and Tom does not make it any less RMT.

The fact that the isk was presented in the form of gambling credit does not make it any less RMT, either - it just reduces the real value of the isk to a fraction of its presented value (in this case, the expected value is 50% because the game is a fair coinflip).

Your example is based off palyers doing actual RMT that is fair..

But somer blink was adveritisng for a legitimate buisness selling a product that is not in breach of the RMT policy
They got paid for their advertisment.

That is buisness and as I said they are still doing it the only thing has changed is that they are no longer giving bonus credit..

What if the Cubs win the world series some day?

Not actually pertinent because we're not discussing a hypothetical scenario - we're dumbing down a process that actually happened.

Yes... you know why they're no longer giving credit?

Because doing so was ******* RMT.

(I work in Compition & Comsumer Law)

What?

I work for the Austalian Compition and Consumer Commission

So you work for an agency that you can't spell the name of, and we're expected to accept your legal opinion as valid?

Lol fair enough..

Carppy keyboard and no spell check


I'm not a lawyer.. but I do report to the lawyers with my opinion to determine if we move forward with legal action

I think I'll trust CCP to be able to interpret their own EULA when they want to and determine whether a third party practice needs to change.

Yes... and the practice hasnt really changed, only no more bonus credit. Which was a Knee jerk reaction to the people crying RMT.

SomerBlink is still getting paid just in a slightly less amount