Wtf CCP?

So Somer Blink gets:
A community spotlight
30 Ishkone Scorpions on the sly
Billions more in rare ships and trips to Iceland to lottery, which earns them probably trillions of ISK and $US.
A developer endorsement for demonstrating 'a solid history of trust and reliability' and being 'straight and true in their dealings' on this forum.

And now we learn that they have CCP devs on call via skype while the rest of us saps need to use the ridiculously slow and unhelpful petition system.

And instead of cracking down on them and immediately stopping them from engaging in their EULA-violating activities, you give them a week's notice to cash out their ISK.


I'm gobsmacked at how you spit in the face of your customers. **** this. This is just stupid now.

Seems to be a little bit of a misconception as to what the GTC referral bonus credit actually is in this thread. Only a small percentage of players will see anything close to or exceeding 1bn ISK to actually put back ingame - Somer still has to buy that ISK (some will be covered out of players putting ingame ISK into Somer and losing rather than getting credit from GTC purchases) at PLEX prices to cover payouts.

Somer wouldn't be where they are if it wasn't for CCP hoping to cash in while doing no work.


Mr Epeen

Every GTC sale is 34.99 taken from CCP, not the opposite.

You hit the nail on the head here but somehow arrived at the completely wrong conclusion: SOMER Blink was "conduct[ing] business," which is clearly against the EULA. They've been running a business which has reportedly grossed well over $135,000; a business which is promoted and utilized through their in-game activities (exchange of ISK and items). How is this not a violation? What possible defense is there for this?

For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, here is the relevant passage from the EULA:



Frankly, I'm shocked that Somer et al. were not banned outright once the truth of their business came to light. Just because CCP not only permitted, but also endorsed this operation in the past does not mean that they cannot turn around now and take appropriate action.

I would recommend that all players who are upset over this issue begin issuing petitions reporting Somerset Mahm and all other characters associated with this business as being in violation of the EULA. Cite the business clause, and point to the relevant articles that illustrate the business connection.

If people make enough of a stink about this, then just maybe CCP will actually take action (I know it's a longshot, but at this point, it's about all I can come up with).

It amazes me that people still don't get this.

It doesn't matter if you get anything for your money - what matters is that SOMER gives away ISK and gets money for it.

I, and others, have written extensively on this - we can only bring you to the fountain, we can't make you drink. We offer you the red pill. You have to decide to take it.

SOMER converts isk into cash. It does not matter who wins the lottery - SOMER takes no risk in this venture and they are the RMT'er, not the bidders.

If you look close at what SOMER really does is sell, to a group of buyers, an item. The buyers then randomly decide among themselves (with SOMER's help) who gets to keep that item. SOMER gets paid what they wanted for the item no matter who wins it, and any of the isk that was paid toward the prize that was originally in the form of "bonus isk" is basically converted into cash.

If you cash out then (depending on the auction) you just paid SOMER a 20% surcharge to decide who among the bidders gets to keep the isk. You could have gotten together in a chat and done that for free with a random number generator (especially since SOMER, at least, originally used a 3rd party random number generator anyway). If all of the isk bid was from bonus isks (which with the amount being given out it will be) then they have converted that isk into cash.

As for the billion. CCP is a dupe to let it continue. SOMER is basically undercutting CCP on plex sales for the next 7 days - thumbing their noses at CCP and making cash for it. There is no guarantee there will be more TOTAL GTC sales because of this, just more GTC sales through SOMER in the next seven days. And every 1 bil they give out is 2 plex that no one has to buy down the road to keep their gambling habit fueled. Every GTC sale is 34.99 taken from CCP, not the opposite. They are injecting cash into the market - and it'd be interesting to see what the affect is. CCP needs to shut them down - but I am not sure they really see the threat posed. Clearly their economist has to, or if I am wrong, I'd like to hear from him why.

I facepalm at the folks who talk about it being "bonus credits" and not "real isk" or about how you might not win the item so it isn't RMT. You are not seeing this with clarity. RMT is not about buying isk - CCP doesn't care if you buy isk or they wouldn't sell you PLEX. The evil of RMT is the profiteering off of the game, the conversion of game currency into real cash for 3rd parties and SOMER just ramped it up full tilt and should be shut down for it.

gambling is bad mkay

Well unlicensed, unregulated, unchecked gambling, that is using methods that try to avoid the laws, are bad mkay

Do you actually need licensing for something like Blink? afaik if theres no option of a cash prize and no direct buy in (free tokens with another purchase don't count in most places) theres no need for a license in most parts of the world including most parts of the US.

ISD just pruned the official Somer thread again. they are going in there every day and removing every single critical post. apparently, dissent is 'trolling', and what really is funny, is dicussion of RMT isn't allowed

For most places the only thing that counts (including the UK) is actual cash and I doubt with the way Somer is setup its at all relevant where CCP's servers or even what country they (CCP) do business in is located.

(I'm not arguing the point here just interested in if they actually do need licensing or not)

How Korea handles this sort of thing wouldn't have much if any relevance aside from just general interest; video gaming is very nearly the national sport there and teenage boys will starve themselves in front of a computer or console trying to get be good enough to go pro.

For most places the only thing that counts (including the UK) is actual cash and I doubt with the way Somer is setup its at all relevant where CCP's servers or even what country they (CCP) do business in is located.

(I'm not arguing the point here just interested in if they actually do need licensing or not)

(4)In this Act GÇ£prizeGÇ¥ in relation to lotteries includes any money, articles or servicesGÇö

(a)whether or not described as a prize, and

(b)whether or not consisting wholly or partly of money paid, or articles or services provided, by the members of the class among whom the prize is allocated.

You might want to re-check those UK laws as they go into specific detail about receiving services or articles in return

I posted a while back that CCP allowing player run lottos was going to come back to bite them on the ass sooner or later.

The tears will be epic if you lot manage to actually get them banned and I look forward with much anticipation to seeing the ensuing threadnaughts.

Mr Epeen

They can't be banned, they contribute so much to the community

too big to fail

like Fannie Mae. Quick someone tell Obama he needs to rescue Somer too

Why do you guys complain about Obamacare?

Here in Australia we have Medicare and it works great.

Because it doesn't work. I mean in very literal terms. No one can even get their name on the rolls. They launched it to all this big fanfare and the website doesn't work. It still doesn't work and last I heard there's no ETA on when it will work, although I read that the tech guys at Google, Oracle and some other company were going to step in and rebuild the system from the ground up at god knows what cost. In the meantime, a law has been passed stating that you will be fined if you don't have healthcare insurance, and private insurers are dropping people due to the new law. But you can't get the new vaporvare Obamacare because the infrastructure is horrendous.




If only we could have had Australians in charge of getting Obamacare up and running.