Introduction

[Andraste73]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to quickly jump in here and introduce myself - I'm Andraste,
the Community Relations Manager for IGE (goes into bullet-time dodging
gunfire). ;)

I know there are a lot of questions, and misconceptions out there about
what we do and how we do it, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to
not only get to know many of you, but to clear up a lot of those
concerns. Such as - we do not participate in nor condone any sort of abusive
farming or duping practices. But instead of boring you guys with a lot of corporate-ese and party
lines, I thought I would just stick my neck out there and say hi and allow you
guys to ask questions - we're more than happy to discuss them with you. :)

Best,
Andraste

[Feyshtey]

There are no misconceptions at all.

You do, what neither the game developer wants you to do, nor what many of the players want you to do, so that you can make a buck.

You do so without concern for how it effects the in-game economy. You empower individuals who use any means necessary to gain in-game wealth by giving them real-world wealth for doing it. And as a result, you degrade the gaming experience for all (most of which don't know how or why their gaming experience is negatively effected).

You accept no responsibility for those actions, and you take no measures to even lesson the effects. You instead seek to maximize your gains for personal greed.

Was getting the axe here once before not a big enough clue that we aren't interested in hearing your twisted propoganda?

[Labyrrinth]

Go Go Feyshtey!!!

I honestly can't believe that an IGE rep even posted here, which begs the question, why?

[Ieranii]

There are no misconceptions at all.

You do, what neither the game developer wants you to do, nor what many of the players want you to do, so that you can make a buck.

You do so without concern for how it effects the in-game economy. You empower individuals who use any means necessary to gain in-game wealth by giving them real-world wealth for doing it. And as a result, you degrade the gaming experience for all (most of which don't know how or why their gaming experience is negatively effected).

You accept no responsibility for those actions, and you take no measures to even lesson the effects. You instead seek to maximize your gains for personal greed.



I second that wholeheartedly.

On a personal note...hi.

I want to make it clear I carry no personal animosity toward you as an individual but I abhor what you do for a living. I can't give you "numbers and statistics" on how I feel about the secondary market (abusive or otherwise). Suffice to say my mind was made up long ago.

I feel the way I do not based on statistics, or my need for uber gear or my bank account but based on my desire for a clean game and based on what I have seen and experienced in EQ, EQ2, DaoC and Lineage2. Things that were a direct result of the secondary market. That market may always be there in some form but I will not throw my hands up in the air and say "if I can't beat em..join em". That's not how I'm built.

[Niborea]

I hope you're wearing a neck guard along with your armor, seems like you'll need it here :twisted:

As with Ieranii, I do not have anything against you personally, but how you make your living and who you work for is another story.

[LadySirse]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to quickly jump in here and introduce myself - I'm Andraste,
the Community Relations Manager for IGE (goes into bullet-time dodging
gunfire).

I know there are a lot of questions, and misconceptions out there about
what we do and how we do it, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to
not only get to know many of you, but to clear up a lot of those
concerns. Such as - we do not participate in nor condone any sort of abusive
farming or duping practices. But instead of boring you guys with a lot of corporate-ese and party
lines, I thought I would just stick my neck out there and say hi and allow you
guys to ask questions - we're more than happy to discuss them with you.

Best,
Andraste

I am not sure why one would post this on a site that is so obviously against the ideals to which you proclaim to subscribe. It makes me wonder at your, and the company for which to claim to represent, motives.

I do not think that your statement of innocence or of our misconceived notions is productive here and would hope that eventually you and all the others that are in any way involved with IGE or the secondary market will hear the Vanguard community when we say loud and clear, we do not want you here.

[Havelock]

This is a bit of a barrage of questions, but I am very curious and will patiently wait for your responses. Please do not feel obligated to answer them all at once, or in a hurry.

How do you ensure that the money you resell isn't the result of farming or duping? It seems to me that providing a reliable way to turn in-game currency into RL cash can't help but promote farming and duping.

Do you understand the basic economic principles that explain what inevitably happens to a game economy once people start farming and duping for a living based on the activity of your site? Do you care that hyperinflation has a severely detrimental gameplay effect on large numbers of people who play the game?

Why do you think game developers specifically prohibit the activity in which you engage and take action to hinder that activity? Why do you think you are entitled to ignore the EULAs and TOUs, and to induce others to do the same?

What country are you based out of?

Do you inform your suppliers that they need to report their income to the appropriate taxing authority? Do you take any steps to facilitate that reporting and/or ensure compliance on their part?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

[Orlun]

... I thought I would just stick my neck out there and say hi and allow you
guys to ask questions - we're more than happy to discuss them with you. :)

Best,
Andraste

Are you offering any specials or volumn discounts on Vanguard items for SV forum members? :eek:

[Eclipse]

/e lights a torch

:twisted:

"Hey Klem! Come on out here boiy! We got ourselves a good ol fashioned Witch hunt! Bring me shotgun!"

On a more serious note, I'd like to see if those questions could be answered as well. I thought I already knew the answers, so my misconceived simple mind would love to be corrected. :D

-Eclipse

[hiddindragon08]

Hey how're ya?
No hard feelings here.. I prefer to not chew out someone i don't know.. but I do say I am against the farming/duping after i understood what it was doing.. So with that.. How can you help us understand what you guys are doing if its not what we all have a common misconception about? Curious =]

-Nu

[Raya]

Hi, Andraste - how nice of you to come visiting and let us all ask you questions. I know I have quite a few...many of which I have not been able to find answers to. I would love to hear how you became involved with IGE and your take on how it became such a huge venture. That's for starters. I'll ask more when you kindly take the time to answer. Hurry back now, y'hear? :)

[DarQueNess]

google Andraste he starting trolling lots of forums lately, also stating he is from I.G.E. starts a thread and disapears!

[Destral]

Hello again, Andraste. Funny seeing you here. You're pretty persistent, showing your face around here after getting banned from the Official Vanguard Forums. Then again, I was kind of wondering when you'd decide to instead work your way around the devs and wriggle your feelers into the community through the fansites. Is this a Silky Venom exclusive, or do you plan on spreading the love out to the rest of them too? I guess it must be hard for you guys to find a place where spores will take with this game...

Oh, questions, you say? Hmm, yeah I have a few. See if you can answer these for me, please?

- What are your opinions on Sony's Station Exchange service for EQ2? Has it impacted your business within that game, and if so, has the impact been positive or negative? Have you noticed a significant increase in your popularity among gamers after it went live, and has your volume of sales been affected much by it?

- While your company insists that it is there to cater to a demand that already exists, do you realise that this is not a case of 'legitimate capitalism', no matter how liberal a definition of the phrase you take? After all, the goods you are selling do not belong to you. You haven't been granted a license or franchise or any other legally binding contract to allow you to exchange virtual goods created by others for real money. In the same vein, neither has your company obtained a license to provide an in-game service inside another company's game. It's no different than if you were to stroll into my shop, give some goods off my shelves to a customer, and then pocketing the money. Would you agree to this, or is this another popular misconception?

- Considering the numbers that have been thrown around as to IGE's annual volume of transactions, have you guys thought about creating your own MMOG, and then offering the same services you provide, in your own game? "Project IGEtopia" has a nice ring to it, wouldn't you agree? Oh, wait, I forgot, that's far too much legitimate work. Sorry, dud question. So much for Project IGEtopia. Next.

- How many times does the average IGE employee on a WoW PvP server get PKed per day? How about on the PvE servers?

- Do the top dogs at IGE actually play MMOG's for fun, or is it just work for them? Do they even play MMOG's?

- If the top dogs at IGE do play MMOG's for fun, do they actually earn their gear, or do they just pick it up from whatever they have lying around in other characters' bank accounts? Do they earn their exp, or do they just powerlevel themselves? If they get powerlevelled, do they at least give their employees a bonus for that day, or any other similar perks?

- Do you, personally, play MMOG's, and if so, which ones have you played, and which one is your favourite? Or is it just work for you too?

That's all I can think of now, I'll be sure to check back to see if you've answered. ;)

[Sergo]

Bah, I ain't stickin' around for the answers. Just the fact that we're replying to this is exactly what they want. This little premeditated "goodwill tour" of Vanguard fansites has one goal only. To wind up generating dollars for their company.

This thread amounts to an advertisement on the forum, and I, as a community member, request that it be removed.

Andraste, if you want to talk about Vanguard, let's do that. Otherwise, don't let the door hit yer butt.

[Destral]

Bah, I ain't stickin' around for the answers. Just the fact that we're replying to this is exactly what they want. This little premeditated "goodwill tour" of Vanguard fansites has one goal only. To wind up generating dollars for their company.

This thread amounts to an advertisement on the forum, and I, as a community member, request that it be removed.

Andraste, if you want to talk about Vanguard, let's do that. Otherwise, don't let the door hit yer butt.

I see no goodwill being expressed by anyone here towards the OP. ;)

[Verkain]

Bah, I ain't stickin' around for the answers. Just the fact that we're replying to this is exactly what they want. This little premeditated "goodwill tour" of Vanguard fansites has one goal only. To wind up generating dollars for their company.

This thread amounts to an advertisement on the forum, and I, as a community member, request that it be removed.

Andraste, if you want to talk about Vanguard, let's do that. Otherwise, don't let the door hit yer butt.
I heartily agree!

[Nfurno]

WOW! I agree with everyones statement on the boards. The nerve of an IGE representative posting on this forum when we know what he stands for. I have no questions for him, all the answers would be lies anyway. IGE has managed to ruin 3 games that i played and they need to keep there noses out of this game. I really hope that Vangaurd and Sigil plan to take legal action against IGE if they try sell Vangaurd property. Its also really nice to see more people with the same values that i personally have. The Silky Venom website is the main source of Vangaurd info for me, and its nice to see that its members actually stick behind what the site stands for. :)

[Oloh]

Andraste,

I banned your last account because it had IGE in the username, and welcomed you to join the community as a "normal" member.

I told the folks around here to hold off from banning you this time, because it's only fair for you to be able to speak your mind if you legitimately have something new to offer. Hell, I'm sure everyone would have loved to see your answers to some of the questions presented.

But, you have visited this thread a few times yesterday and today, and haven't answered any of the questions that you solicited. It's clear that this was just another attempt (like your last, and on the official forums) for you to come in and promote the same old, same old.

Tell Brock I said hello, and give him my best.

BANNED.

[hiddindragon08]

I don't understand why someone from IGE or any corp. that pisses off gamers like ourselves so much would come in and create a thread like this without serious motovation to answer questions and cooperate.. What does it accomplish???

-Nu

[Alayenya]

I don't understand why someone from IGE or any corp. that pisses off gamers like ourselves so much would come in and create a thread like this without serious motovation to answer questions and cooperate.. What does it accomplish???

-Nu

More often than not, tactics like this are used for two reasons: 1) To ensure that we, the gamers, know that they are still here and have no intention of going away;

2) to increase their notoriety. Many of us are familiar with IGE because of previous games we have played (EQ, EQ2, WOW, Lineage2, etc.), but Vanguard is attracting new people to the on-line gaming world. So, this ensures that the new people know about them as well. To what purpose? Well, new players do not have the past experiences we do to realize just how destructive their "service" is to our gaming world. Some people might even decide to play a game that they could earn money from ... look at the number that did in previous and current MMORPGs. While we know what companies like IGE have done to our previous/current games, some might be enticed to follow the ways of IGE.

[Sergo]

Or, perhaps we are an unwitting focus group, helping them better understand exactly what objections they will need to overcome to expand their business. Why else solicit questions with no intention to answer them?

Regardless, I hope this thread disappears soon, just to kill any name-recognition value it might have for them.

[Feyshtey]

Quite literally, the only thing that will make it so their 'service' is non-destructive to the games, is if it doesn't exist. Or if they take a great deal of effort to make sure that they monitor the economy of every game they exist in, and stop accepting goods, and stop selling goods, if the economy starts to tip off balance. Which effectively minimizes their potential profit from the business.

The latter certainly isn't going to happen. And they'll go down swinging to prevent the former, at any cost to the games.

[Skarlath]

It's a shame that the IGE rep didn't seem to intend to actually answer any of the questions put forward. I would have liked to know of their planned involvement in Vanguard. Obviously, being one of the large next gen games, it would be a good market for them. But with the developers so against what they do, and so adamant to stop them wrecking the MMORPG economy, would they persist? Lets assume that Sigil put down some sort of of legal obstacle to prevent IGE operating within Vanguard. If they found a loop hole, would they attempt to use Vanguard anyway, despite the obvious unwelcoming attitude from the devs and quite probably the majority of the fan base? Even with legal attempts to bar their activity, would they just charge on in anyway?

With a business that operates to the detriment of other games purely for monetary gain I think that the answer to this is undoubtedly yes, but it would have been nice to hear them promise they would not tresspass where they are unwelcome. :)

[Orlun]

Its a given that they will exploit Vanguard as much as possible because there will be players who are willing to pay real money for ingame bonuses. Best Sigil can do is actively and forcefully enforce their rules against such practices. Until damages are awarded in court against the destructive practices that IGE engages in, there will be little to deter them.

I wonder if there is a market for an ultrasecure MMOG. One that players are willing to put money forth and allow privacy intrusions to exist in order to play in a game world that prevents the secondary market. Maybe a stiff monetary bond that must be fronted in order to play with stiff damages to those caught. Its an idea that is both repulsive yet intriguing at the same time.