Petition: You Have Been RobbedFollow

*Steps up on Soapbox*

Regarding the Tribute Point reset, this is my petition on eqlive, to Tarew Marr GM. One voice is nothing but many make too much noise to be ignored. Feel free to copy/paste and edit to your specifics if you do not like to write, but please petition one way or another. This was straight up robbery.

Dear Sony/EQ GM/CSR's,

When the Tribute masters went live, I went to donate at the first opportunity as I wanted Mana Preservation IV definetly, and Flowing Thought V if possible.

I cleared out my trader and three other toons of all the lower end items I was otherwise going to sell in the bazaar on my trader, to get Mana Pres IV in an item, as well as a few higher end items that were not selling with any real quickness, or not selling for what I thought was a fair price.

I saw what the Tribute Master was giving for what I would have otherwise sold, deemed it to be a very fair trade-off (unlike the game NPC's who are outright thieves) that would allow me to have the effect long enough for me to win a bid at a raid for such an item, and "purchased" Tribute points in trade for droppable items. I then set the tribute points to spend in ways I thought would better my character and was greatful I did not have to stand in bazaar all day to get the platinum to buy a Mana Pres IV item at this point in time. I was very happy that day, and felt that finally Sony had offered something to the player that was truly useful and obtainable. Something that recognized hard work and rewarded you for it.

Today I log in to find that my tribute points have been downgraded to 6k from 45k, and not only do I htink Sony has done it's loyal EQ players a grave disservice but I am almost positive this is against the law. You have sold a digital effect to me at a set price per digital item on one date, then decided to lower the item's value without giving me the option to completely bow out of the tribute system and recover my digital items.

You could not sell me a car on a Sunday and then on Wednesday
come and rip out the CD player and take the tires off as you have now decided it was too good a deal. You should not be able to come and strip my character of Tribute points that I gave what I thought to equate a fair market value in items for. Had the items only been worth what was offered at the rate you "allotted" to me today (some 0ne-eigth the original value), I would NEVER have given those items as tribute to begin with.

I would have chalked it up as yet another NPC who wants to put the screws to you for anything even remotely decent you are trying to buy/sell to them. As is usually the case with EQ NPC's.

I am asking that all my items be returned, and all your tribute points be returned to you. I choose not to participate in the Tribute System. My choice to do so should be equally as viable as your choice to penalize me for having participated in the first place.

It is almost as if Sony pulled a robbery act on those of us who have stockpiled player items. Less items means less platinum from Trader sales. Less platinum in game means less to be sold to outside platinum sellers, which drives the outside prices of platinum up so high that no one will want to buy it anymore, and you would again be in control of the platinum on each server. (Say the platinum that was created by exploitation not
too very long ago on this server at least?.

That would be a very underhanded (and I am just certain, illegal) way of doing business with people who bought Everquest and all it's expansions, and pay monthly to play, who play legally, investing thousands and thousands of hours building up characters who are capable of high volume equipment storage and trading.

I am sure my lawyer would be very interested in looking up precendence on this subject, as it is new but definetly established, and people are winning suits for this very thing, even as we speak. I love to play Everquest. I do not like to be dealt with unfairly.

Sony tested it, thought it was good, initiated it, then changed their collective mind, deeming it a bad decision. I should not have to pay so large a price for Sony's choices. I wait patiently for patches to finish, for server resets, for server overloads that always happen but are never properly planned for, for random stupidity as well, all for things that were supposedly tested before implementation. I give honest and thoughtful feedback, report bugs when I find them, and try to play as honestly as I can. I pay for two accounts to play the game, and have requested to volunteer my time as a guide on another server. I pay to play, not to be penalized for paying to play.

Since you decided not to roll back the servers on the night that you took the Tribute Masters down, when you might have done so with much smaller difficulty and fallout, it is my opinion you should have eaten whatever foolishness occurred up until the point where you put the tribute masters back up at a FAR lesser trade value than originally offered. You did not, and in doing so, the end product is that you have robbed me of many items after allowing me to think it was a fair deal. I want them back. ASAP.

Sincerely,
"Real name On Credit Card"
Account: "Account Name"
aka: "Player Name" of Tarew Marr

Don't know about that...

http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/32441.html

quote from link:
"Online auction houses like eBay and Yahoo Auctions have seen users buying and selling items in virtual game space -- such as stashes of virtual money or powerful game weapons -- for real-world dollars.
Even major companies like IBM (NYSE: IBM) -- which recently released a commerce system specifically designed for virtual worlds -- have acknowledged the potential for the world of online gaming to move quickly into the mainstream.

Xinhuanet called the case the "first virtual property rights dispute case" in China, but it appears to be a world first with a lack of precedent even in the litigious United States.
However, the case is not the first time that virtual property and game server security breaches have left players feeling cheated. "

it is not the "real_dollars_bit", as the whole report says more to it. well, I only quoted parts of the site, as I thought, that one would actually look the link up if he's interested. and of course, every case is different. but just the fact, that there are courtcase out there is what counts.

more quotes from site http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/32441.html

"In most cases, online players have too much invested simply to start over or forget about lost rewards, equipment or status in games.
"People very definitely feel they have a real investment in these possessions, and they definitely feel entitled to what they've earned," Russell said."

I definetely would recommend talking to your lawyer.

Edited, Thu Feb 19 07:50:08 2004 by Kajolus

Or anything. Sony could let you wrestle around with its herd of high priced lawyers for a few months and, for your trouble, reset your old Tribute values once you've blown ten grand in legal fees. Restitution granted and problem solved

first id like to quote "Keep in mind, most of the gear given was lower end items and SOE's best defense is to say that someone of this person's experience would easily be able to replace such items."

Since the trivial loot rule went into effect that is not as doable as one might hope

Your not serious right? Because this is probably the silliest thing I have ever read.



You own nothing. You can summarize your whole petition as follows:

/petition I exploited the system, it came around and bit me. wahhhhhh


added link to EULA

Edited, Thu Feb 19 11:17:07 2004 by xythex

I have to agree with Xythex on this one. The people who turned items into the tribute masters and actually beleived the number of tribute points was correct for the items turned in must be crazy. You exploited a bug. It's that simple. Even without using animated bait people were accumulating enough points to keep several buffs maxed for weeks on end. I can assure you that SOE did not intend to give everyone permanent FT V and focus effects for turning in fine steel weapons.

This game sux anyway. The game mechanics have and always will be bugged.

I play so I can act bigger than I really am in RL.

Just my honest opinion.

Edited, Thu Feb 19 15:39:21 2004 by Leapwater

If you really want to get SOE's attention, kill yourself in front of your PC with your character logged in and some "female" character names written down nearby. SOE will certainly take notice and use the incident to increase exposure and publicity.
As to making actual changes in SOE's policies or in-game actions, you're SOL (no, not the expansion).

I agree with the fact that SoE really fumbled this one. Their attemp to fix the problem also blew up, if the posts on several boards are correct. However, a petition is not the way to go. If you want to get SoE's attention, arrange a walk-out. If you can pull it off such that, for a pre-determined and publicized week, a significant number of players refuse to log into a given server, it might get their attention. Then again, they might just say 'Cool, low bandwidth cost this week'.

Have you still not learned when something seems too good to be true, it will get nerfed, espeically during first few weeks of a new expension?

Did you really expect and still continue to beleive that few K pp worth of items could buy you perm (effectively perm if you keep turning in a few vendor junks to tribute guy every other week) uber focus effects?

Do you sue the bank if you tried to withdraw 200 dollars from an ATM but it coughs out 1500 dollars, and the bank is taking the 1300 back?

Edited, Thu Feb 19 23:57:42 2004 by Assailant

tad bit of info about the EULA, it is not a contract that is binding in any court.

As SoE has allowed knowingly for IGE and others to buy and sell items, accounts, etc without banning as per the EULA, SOE has made that agreement null and void in the eyes of the law.

there is a thing called common practice. this is more important then a contract in the eyes of the law. if a company has a contract and consistantly does not inforce this contract, then the practce they are performing becomes the real contract and thus the only contract inforcable via court action.

in other words if you say you are going to do one thing then do an other, its the doing of the other that is now binding and not what you said.

so basicaly those 2 quotes out of the EULA mean absolultly nothing when it comes to legality of anything as SoE has consistantly and blatantly ignored the fact that companies and people buy and sell in game items and accounts, both of witch are in direct violation of the 'EULA', thus by their inacction and greed they have made their own EULA worthless and not inforcable.

Go Here and read up on what is being talked about on the EQ Tech forum.

lots of ppl just do not understand some basic facts about business.

the fact is what SoE did was needed to an extent, but the way they did it was majorly wrong. it is a classic bait and switch in addition to defective product accourding to their own admitance. ie. the last 2 patches, the bringing down of the faction merchants, the bringing down of the casinos yet again.

the faction merchants and the casinos are for 1 reason and 1 reason only. SoE does not like the fact that player have all this coin and items in their accounts so they make ways for ppl to waist their money and to take it without any form of compensation.

why do you think they let this 'bug' slip into a live release of an expansion? this big of a 'bug' was not something that could just slip by even the worst of QA departments. this was done intentionaly. you can not tell me that SoE did not honestly think something like this would not get used.. if you are thinking that, then you are only fooling your self and SoE is winning in doing just that. fooling you.

thus the old statement:

the fool and his money are soon seperated

well, if you feel you have been fooled, then file a complaint with your CC company and requrest a chargeback. look on the 2nd page for some details on how chargebacks work folks.

you want to get SoEs attention, the only way to do that is by hitting them in the only place they give a damn. in thier back pocket. take $$$ out of their pocket. if only 2% of the total advertised accounts request a charge back that would hurt SoE, by roughly $300k in 1 month.

that my friends would get SoE's and Sony's attention big time.

don't even fight...you won't win. if you COULD even win this, think of the madness it would cause. people sueing them left and right when the power drops during a quest hand in. server hiccups and people lose the kill or drops from a raid, etc.

you really WANT something like that to be legal? you want to be able to strip money from Sony, and think they will provide a decent service (or a service at all) if people start sueing the money out of them?

I personally like playing EQ...start sueing and draining the money out of them and you will be the first to complain when they shut down because the cant economically support it anymore. thats assuming you would win, which you won't.