People's Army of Sonoma

Dear all,

Last week was quite a tumultuous one for most of the UO sellers as the majority of the industry's biggest traders, from whom many of you used to innocently purchase gold and artifacts, had their accounts banned for possession and trade in duplicated items. The list of sellers that were banned is long and the names that I know of include Detox, Icy Raine, Leo, Luna Brokers, Malkor, MMORPG Warehouse, Nalithra, Parkay, Ultimas, UOResources, UOTreasures and Vita Drakonia. The only sellers who were unaffected were in fact those that did not choose to buy all the cheap artifacts that were being sold.

I'm sure most of the UO community will commend such a move on the part of Electronic Arts (EA). The banning and deletion of the duplicated items will go a long way to restoring the integrity of the game and accordingly our gaming enjoyment. The massive multiplication of currency and items has undermined, to an intolerable degree, the value of seeking them out for ourselves, winning them in battle or finding them in the strange and glorious parts of this fantasy world that we so love to inhabit. Duplicating items and the selling thereof undermines the very essence of gaming.

And, on that note, I would like to offer my most unreserved, wholehearted and sincere apologies to the entire UO gaming community and Electronic Arts because I was one of those sellers trading in duplicated items. In all honesty, it was a strategy adopted in line with the capitalist fundamentals of maximising profit. But it was also borne of necessity. As the proliferation of duplicated items in the market grew, it became impossible to remain competitive. In short there were too many sellers trading in duplicated gold and artifacts - a scenario that led to the price per million plummeting, squeezing profit margins to unsustainable levels if you weren't able to get your hands on the duplicated stuff.

Nonetheless, after eight years of trading I have lost all my accounts, believe me this has been a sobering experience and I have been forced to re-examine my motives. If the sellers of in-game commodities want to see our industry gain greater acceptance and credibility among the purist gamers and even the game developers themselves, we have to all have to resist and oppose such short-sighted tactics. There is a clear and justifiable demand for the sale of in-game goods and accordingly, I would like to see our 'industry' become a legitimate and sustainable means of doing business. And, so I offer my apologies not only to those in the community who have been prejudiced by my actions, but as a means of challenging all sellers to resist selling duplicated items. The legitimacy and sustainability of trading in virtual items is dependent on our integrity - we need to put the enjoyment of our customers first, not profits. Instead of trying to undercut each other by sourcing duplicated goods, we need to stand together in resisting the hacking of code. Let's meet customer's demands ethically. It can only be to our long-term advantage and those of our fellow gamers and customers.

So, to those I've prejudiced I offer my pledge not only to pursue ethical trade but to promote it too. And I'd like to ask your co-operation - be a discerning buyer and challenge your broker or re-seller to sell you items that haven't been duplicated. Competitors and colleagues - I hope you'll accept the challenge in the spirit in which it is intended. I'm feeling as devastated as you all by the daunting prospect of having to begin acquiring stock from scratch all over again. But more importantly, I share your concern that EA's informal tolerance of the sale of in-game commodities may be swinging in the direction of prohibition. Let us not give them reason to question the value of in-game trade and rather work with them to meet the needs of their gamers, our customers.

Sincerely

Marion

RPG-Bay.com

Sir William wrote:My question is htw do these people learn about these dupes? I mean is there a website or something that all these vendors go to and read "todays article how to dupe a tomartie". I mean come on htf is it that there are so many people on UO that dupe

Malachai wrote:There is a website out there, I've never looked at it but from what I understand you pay a monthly membership and hackers, lamers, cheats tell the latest scams, exploits, bugs, hacks, etc for commonly played MMOs.

I don't know the website but I don't want to either.