This is something that has been burning in my mind since yesterday. Promo collecting, in and of itself, isn't bad in my opinion. I think in fact having alternate accounts to get more promos and having /shop buy options are good, as it gets more of the items into circulation. However... the issue I have with some promo collecting methods is more what I want to discuss. I see a lot of people asking for players to sell their Candy Cane Swords. These players target new players especially - the very wording tells you that, as well as the fact newer players will get random PMs from promo collectors asking for them to sell their promo. iArmoni, who is actually a player that has returned to EMC because her main account was hacked, was PM'd asking if she would sell her Candy Cane Sword for 5k. One player advertised people should sell him their Candy Cane Swords for 15k, and even said in the advertisement how to get it. A seasoned EMC player and someone who frequented the forums would already know this. This implies they're targeting newer or players who are unfamiliar with the workings of the Empire yet. The player that targeted iArmoni offered her 5k. For any tool-related promo, I think 5k is... not a good offer. But to a new player, one that was actually new, that would sound like a lot when it really isn't. What is your view on this? Do you think it's okay for players to target newer players like this, or is it bad business practice? Obviously it can't be stopped entirely, but I do want to see what people think.
I think people should not target newplayers for their starter gear and promos because they lack the knowledge of how much they are worth and how they are 'special'
If I see someone targeting a new player for promos I inform the new player not to sell their item, unless it's at a good price. If you see someone targeting them explain to the new player what that promo is and that they should keep a hold of it for a while, don't let people get away with targeting them.
This is wrong. Just use your alts. These series of actions are defeating the purpose of a community, right? Our community is supposed to help and talk, not bribe and steal. :/
It's definitely not really very cool. I remember when I was a kid I had a Daredevil #1 comic and had a neighbor that said he would trade me several other useless comics for it. Daredevil #1 was a Kirby. Anyway I did it. Then he taught me about comics. Sure, was he being totally ethical, no. Are there other times that players buy or sell things that aren't the best possible deals they could get, sure. But that's life. You learn from your mistakes. By the way the best prices are at 10959, just saying.
Not everybody has alts. However, I agree that it is wrong to target new players and try to lowball them.
Obviously not of very high ethics, but you're never going to be able to prevent it. Especially if they are sent pm's, most wont be able to be guided will they? as noone else would even know its happening. unfortunate, but reality can suck.
If I see someone with a promo I would like, I try, to my best ability, give them the fairest price I can possibly give them. Their EMC age would have 0 effect on my decision on the offer. This statement is valid everywhere from a starter sword, all the way up to a special eggnog. It's seriously not cool to ripoff other players, especially people who are new. I can't imagine how much of this happened at the 400k event
This, I think, is good. If you want a promo someone has, by all means, I think it's perfectly acceptable to ask them about it and offer them a fair price. The low-balling of new players that happens all too often is all that bothers me. It's good to see the majority of the community is against targeting, or at least exploiting, new players. I suppose the small minority of players that do try to exploit things are ones that just advertise more often... Interesting correlation.
If you target a new player and you buy a promo from em for a really low price, they could find out its true value and report you for scamming. That is grounds for a ban.
As someone who has been attempting to buy Candy Cane Swords (though not from brand new players), I think this promo is a somewhat unique situation. For one, the release this time around was somewhat discreet. I personally didn't even know that the sword existed until I saw someone in chat buying them, so I could easily see the reason for buyers telling how to claim it as simply informing people that it exists. For another, and this is somewhat subjective, but I really don't think these swords are very good, nor do I believe they'll be all that valuable or desirable in the future. All this means that nobody seems to know the proper price to buy/sell. I've bought a couple at chest shops I've set up for 11k, but I've seen prices as low as 5k and as high as 20k with people happily selling to both. TL;DR: While I agree that taking advantage of new players for promos is taking advantage of them, I think the Candy Cane Sword is a poor example because of the lack of consensus about a fair price.
It is true nobody has a consensus on the price of Candy Cane Swords. I've seen them as high as 30k personally. Though I've seen this with every promo. Even ones that had broadcasts going on about them in-game. I only used the Candy Cane Sword due to the story I had to go along with it, for iArmoni. Bar the pricing, it's still a bit shady this player PM'd them specifically because they're newer. When I was newer, I recall players PMing me specifically about some special items as well. They are surely some fine quality yule logs, I assure you!!
I'm not going to say names, but I do remember someone advertising on the day of the 400k event offering to buy orebusters for 200k "as an easy way to make money" and I was dude, really? Even when there were a few hundred more in circulation after that, they were still worth at least 325k. Sort of related, it's always the giants of the economy that try to do this, at least that's what I have observed. I know for a fact that Kyzoy has a sign set up on smp5 that buys dancer (I think, might be dasher) for 10k and I'm like "man, what the heck is this. This is an easy 40k profit for people who don't know any better."
That sign was put up when they were released. if you did /p you would see they are unable to get to emc....
Actually, outright scamming new players is reportable and will be handled by staff. Now by outright I mean it needs to be severely underpriced and/or be to the level of harassment to any new player. 5k for a sword that the new player may not care about isn't exactly an outright scam.
Perhaps an addition to the tutorial or a brief message needs to be added when claiming a promo. Such a message could say : "This item is not guaranteed to rise in value over time. However before you sell it or use it, you should inquire the forums about the nature of promo valuation. " Something the CONTRIBUTION TEAM should put in the wiki is a page about how to assess value in the promo market.
I'm not certain that this is something that belongs on the wiki, but a sticky in the marketplace forums, perhaps. A link to said sticky could then be given to players whenever they claim a promo. I do like that idea. Ah, Ill keep this in mind! As I said before the new sword was just an example. Luckily I don't see this often, the last time I saw something that was nearing the level of harassment was almost a year ago. I wasn't very knowledgeable then though and just thought, well, that's not nice. And warned the player in question against it.
