RMT, ICANN and XIN NET TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

[Darra]

ICANN what? Ugh. Do you know the phrase whack-a-mole? It's a game that's being played with The Pirate Bay, that infamous torrent site. The cops raid it, shut it down, and it pops up again somewhere else, then the cops virtual raid it, get it shut down, then it pops up somewhere else. So even if ICANN or someone else closed the site down, it can still popup elsewhere. Technically speaking, unless gil selling sites are intentionally taking payments and not delivering the product/service they have promised to, they aren't a scam site. If they are infected with malware, they sometimes (usually through users reporting it) get blocked or give a malware warning when you go to those sites. And despite what some people here clearly think, gil selling is not illegal, and no, it's not "unethical" except to those few of you that for whatever reason have decided it's against your personal views.

[Reokudo]

SE could just ban China from accessing the NA/EU servers. The Chinese have their own servers after all.

[kyuven]

SE could just ban China from accessing the NA/EU servers. The Chinese have their own servers after all.

This does nothing, as they just use VPNs or other means of accessing foreign IP addresses to access servers. Even legitimate players do this.

Yeah, let's let government censor even more what they want. This same line of thinking got American's the Patriot Act and now Canadians Bill C51. The terrorizers gonna all get us.

Also cyber crime is still illegal.

I think more of a real problem is a lack of jurisdictions. Cyber crime is illegal in a large number of countries...which is why criminals either don't operate out of or use IP addresses from outside those countries.
Sometimes it's not a matter of a criminal being able to be found and caught, it's a question of there being no law to prosecute them under.
I'm as against police states as the next guy, but the law really needs to catch up to technology.

[Reokudo]

This does nothing, as they just use VPNs or other means of accessing foreign IP addresses to access servers. Even legitimate players do this.

EME, TERA's NA publisher did this back when I played. There wasn't a single RMT there. (This being before cash shop and the F2P change.) So that did work for them.

[KisaiTenshi]

EME, TERA's NA publisher did this back when I played. There wasn't a single RMT there. (This being before cash shop and the F2P change.) So that did work for them.

That's because their free trial accounts were blocked from sending messages of any kind. Once they went F2P, the RMT came back.

If we treated RMT like we treated Childporn, we'd see it disappear pretty darn quick. RMT might actually be more dangerous since it could be laundering funds for crime or terrorism. We, as the player of the game, don't know what RMT is doing, but the fact that they continue to operate suggests that it's organized crime in China and not just a bunch of nerds in china doing it to make a few bucks.

[polyphonica]

That's because their free trial accounts were blocked from sending messages of any kind. Once they went F2P, the RMT came back.

No there still isn't any RMT chat spam to this day, but there's no need because cash shop items can already be traded for in-game currency. There's no profit to be made by RMT companies, since players wouldn't bother to risk going to third-party sites.

Of course, I don't think this solution would be considered preferable either.

[Darra]

If we treated RMT like we treated Childporn, we'd see it disappear pretty darn quick. RMT might actually be more dangerous since it could be laundering funds for crime or terrorism. We, as the player of the game, don't know what RMT is doing, but the fact that they continue to operate suggests that it's organized crime in China and not just a bunch of nerds in china doing it to make a few bucks.

Ugh, this person clearly listens to too many moronic arguments from politicians. "Could be funding terrorism", it could also be funding someone's college tuition fees, or you know, their shopping bill each week. Are you that desperate to get your twisted sense of morality shoved down other people's throats that you're going to start implying a perfectly legal and legitimate business could be something that funds terrorism? Or saying it should be treated like child porn? RMT is at its core a CIVIL issue, it's a contract dispute, stop trying to convince others that it's destroying society and should be an actual crime.

Oh, and for the record, just because a company is legitimate, like SE for example, doesn't mean they themselves aren't funding terrorism or criminal gangs, how naive of you.

[Alistaire]

That's because their free trial accounts were blocked from sending messages of any kind. Once they went F2P, the RMT came back.

If we treated RMT like we treated Childporn, we'd see it disappear pretty darn quick. RMT might actually be more dangerous since it could be laundering funds for crime or terrorism. We, as the player of the game, don't know what RMT is doing, but the fact that they continue to operate suggests that it's organized crime in China and not just a bunch of nerds in china doing it to make a few bucks.

This has to be the best troll ever; my faith in humanity can't go low enough otherwise.

[Risvertasashi]

SE could just ban China from accessing the NA/EU servers. The Chinese have their own servers after all.

Wouldn't help. RMT already uses proxies/vpns (otherwise SE could take out a lot of accounts with a simple site ban.)

[SarcasmMisser]

SE could just ban China from accessing the NA/EU servers. The Chinese have their own servers after all.

You will block legitimate players and many of these guys are not from China. Regional blocks are a dumb exercise in profiling that does nothing, some are from the united states. There was no RMT in tera because its a dead game with no money to be made.

I play with players from the PRC, they are good friends and probably a better player than you.