Reading the latest entry post on the site, as an outsider I am conflicted. I would first like to point out that I am not a scammer, not because it's morally wrong, but because I don't see the point in it. I understand why someone could feel so negative towards scamming- people potentially lose money due to socially engineered greed of another human being. However, I do not see a distinct difference between us "Markeers", the jackals, or even the scammers. We are all here doing what we do, at the expense of someone else, to make a profit. Traders steal from Blizzard(time that should go into making a new character, besides going against the terms), jackals do highly illegal vengeful activities against potentially innocent people, and scammers obviously steal from other people. But, you can not seriously hate scammers for being there, and heres why. The only reason scammers are here is because trading IS illegal, and there will never be a way to stop them, because both scamming and trading are considered to be doing the same crime(like a triangle of illicit activities that can not live without each other). Sort of like blaming a drug dealer for ripping you off- it is your own fault for entering the risk of the market, and it is inevitable that people will rip you off if they think that they can, especially when the law is against both parties. Blizzard sees no more sympathy to the account traders as they do the scammers, as both parties are potentially "stealing"(god I hate that term) money from them.
Look at some of the websites advertised around the site(toonstorm, K4Gaming, ForsakenFarmers, for example by just browsing around this screen). They all buy accounts at really low prices, only to jack them up really high. Scammers, if they were as resourceful, would probably do that too regardless of breaking the rules or not, just because it could turn up a profit.
So, say WoW was patched to allow account trading/selling. There would be no scamming. But there would be no markee community, nor would there be any any account businesses. So, having scammers is just a necessary evil, as anyone really can be a scammer if they saw an easy profit on it(who honestly can say that ripping off potential strangers in an IM box and internet windows won't let them sleep at night). The reason people don't scam is because either a) they have lives(but then they wouldn't be buying/selling/looking for trades all day anyway) or B) They are not good at, have had experience with scamming already, or don't think the benefits weigh more than the cost(yes-- cost, just not monetary) of scamming.
In the end, there is a balance between scamming and being legit-- when you have too many scammers it turns more a profit to be legit, and vice versa. So, you don't have to thank the scammers, but don't ruin their lives either. They're just in the same game as you, whether they know it or not. Although I can account for the fact that they don't know what theyre doing/getting themselves into most of the time(and are really bad at it, unless the scameee is stupid), they are a necessary and inevitable evil.
I would love to hear any opinions or disagreements on said topic.
Look at some of the websites advertised around the site(toonstorm, K4Gaming, ForsakenFarmers, for example by just browsing around this screen). They all buy accounts at really low prices, only to jack them up really high. Scammers, if they were as resourceful, would probably do that too regardless of breaking the rules or not, just because it could turn up a profit.
So, say WoW was patched to allow account trading/selling. There would be no scamming. But there would be no markee community, nor would there be any any account businesses. So, having scammers is just a necessary evil, as anyone really can be a scammer if they saw an easy profit on it(who honestly can say that ripping off potential strangers in an IM box and internet windows won't let them sleep at night). The reason people don't scam is because either a) they have lives(but then they wouldn't be buying/selling/looking for trades all day anyway) or B) They are not good at, have had experience with scamming already, or don't think the benefits weigh more than the cost(yes-- cost, just not monetary) of scamming.
In the end, there is a balance between scamming and being legit-- when you have too many scammers it turns more a profit to be legit, and vice versa. So, you don't have to thank the scammers, but don't ruin their lives either. They're just in the same game as you, whether they know it or not. Although I can account for the fact that they don't know what theyre doing/getting themselves into most of the time(and are really bad at it, unless the scameee is stupid), they are a necessary and inevitable evil.
I would love to hear any opinions or disagreements on said topic.
