Gold Sellers

[Brasse]

This poll will remain open, and you may change your vote at any time.

Today is of course April Fool's day, and NO, we did not sell the site to a gold seller or anyone else. I have to admit that if someone did offer me enough for the site to pay off my mortgage, I may not look too closely at where they got the money... it gave me a lot of food for thought.

If you have comments on gold selling that pertain to this POLL, post here.
If you have comments on the comic and accompanying article, post there.

;-)#

[DancesInTrees]

I couldn't quite believe what I was reading ... but, you had me hook line & sinker.

Now I need to go see what Google has cooked up this year


As for power-levelling - your comment about kids is true I gained quite a few mind-numbingly boring agility levels in RuneScape through one of my sons before he gained access to the skill himself (ie became a paid member). Apart from that & more recently the occasional "just run your lvl 60 through the Great Barrow for me please so I can get that reward" type requests we prefer to play through content at the appropriate level & enjoy it.

[Kwee]

"We all get old and tired..."

I totally believed the comic and commentary, even though I have no idea how such stuff works.  I mean, if someone paid me to write comics and go to game designers' workshops. . . what? I'm gonna say no on principal?

It made me sad, though.  Not because I understood what was involved, but because Brasse seemed sad at selling out, or something.  I have cheated at solitaire, so I know how low my limits are, but I admit I have Brasse (and Brakk and you ALL!) on a pedestal.

These days, putting people on pedestals seems like an occasion for smirking.  When I was growing up - yeah, 50 years ago - it seems like people were sorta there 'til they proved otherwise.  I mean, Disney, Audie Murphy, the guys who raised the flag over Iwo Jima, presidents. . .   Who knew they were racists, drunks, philanderers or people just like me?

Anyway, it appears this whole thing is an April Fool's joke?  Really?  If Brasse had proudly announced, "I am now partners with Gold Sellers International" - or SOE or Chrysler or AIG - and said it in a positive way, would we really condemn her or even be surprised?  Baseball parks sell themselves to corporate names.  We accept commercialization as a price of this brand of capitalism and payoff.  Schools take money from Pepsi to pay the bills, even as teachers rail against everytyhing Pepsi or Frito Lay is or promotes.

I guess I'm used to it.  If Brasse's comic had shown her and Wren and Brakk cheering and been really positive, I might not even have questioned what is apparently a sell-out.  Heck, I'd probably have voted for her for President.

It's what we do, isn't it?

[Brasse]

After I had the idea for the comic, I started drawing, and writing the commentary on the side. It made me recognize that far from being a ludicrous idea, as I had first envisioned, were someone to offer me enough to pay off my house, I could hardly say no. I cannot really make a viable living doing what I love most, and yeah, I admit that I'd sell my dreams to secure my house.  That did make me sad.

Brasse

ps. Not that anyone is stepping forward to offer me that kind of money for the site. I think the highest offer so far is 35 cents.

[Heilig]

ps. Not that anyone is stepping forward to offer me that kind of money for the site. I think the highest offer so far is 35 cents.

Psshhh, I'd bid at least 50 cents.

[Valashar]

Excellent gag, Brasse.  If nothing else, it goaded me to stop lurking and register.

Vis a vis the poll, while I have dipped into grey market gold (and can't honestly say I never will again, although the first time took care of what I'd intended it to and I've supported myself since then), I can't even imagine handing over the password to my account for power-leveling. Just thinking about it makes me shudder.

But again, excellent gag. 

[Brasse]

Of course in buying gold, people hand over their credit card information, and that is enough to get taken to the cleaners (I remember the SOE CS folk talking about the flags that go up when 40-50 accounts are purchased on one cc, and they immediately try to nail it, knowing it is stolen).

Paypal purchases are much safer these days, for the folk who simply must buy gold.

I can't afford it in any case, hehe... sheer poverty makes me honest!
;-)#

[Reginald]

Where's the option for just power-leveling yourself without resorting to children or other types of indentured servants?  Personally I like leveling my own characters, if you let someone else do it then oft times you will miss out on the nuances of the class.  I think everyone has been in a pick-up group where you can TELL the person(s) that have either bought their account or paid to have it leveled up for them.

As far as money goes, I've never had any trouble making money in games.  Especially games with auction houses or some other form of player item exchange for currency.  While gold making takes time away from leveling, it has it's own rewards and is just another facet of the entire game experience.  Using services to get gold in game robs you of that experience as surely as power leveling robs you of enjoying much of the content of the game.

[Bithnar]

These days, putting people on pedestals seems like an occasion for smirking. 

One should only put people on pedestals so you can look up their dresses . . . wait did I say that out loud?

[Mikesterbrau]

   Oh man well after GameAmp just dissapeared at the end of February my mind was fertile ground for the premise that a site might have to make some hard decisions to keep the doors open.   Really happy to see it was a gag.   Good time to reflect on all the goodness Brasse and other site operators bring to us all.   
 

[Valashar]

Of course in buying gold, people hand over their credit card information, and that is enough to get taken to the cleaners (I remember the SOE CS folk talking about the flags that go up when 40-50 accounts are purchased on one cc, and they immediately try to nail it, knowing it is stolen).

Paypal purchases are much safer these days, for the folk who simply must buy gold.

I can't afford it in any case, hehe... sheer poverty makes me honest!
;-)#

The desire to not hand over credit card information (and poverty) is what kept me from following through on earlier surges of the 'wouldn't it make a lot of things less frustrating' pull of gold-buying. But once PayPal had become stable, and I had an escrow account with them that didn't involve any financial data being transmitted (it's how I pay my normal monthly bills and various game fees), I finally gave in to morbid curiosity.

And discovered that, while it did allow me to clear away some of the drudgery of things like crafting pushes and housing, it really didn't change the way I played beyond that. And even though I've long since drained the purchased funds and have various high cost ventures on most of my alts, I haven't really been tempted to load up again. After all, the game's not going away (unlike the last two I played), so there's no rush to get it done NOW.

[Perragin]

Never been interested in buying gold. Gold is supplied in game for those ambitious enough to earn it and if I don't have enough I go without. I just can't bring myself to buy "extra" cartoon money or items with real money. I already pay a monthly fee 

As to power leveling...dude! If you dislike playing the game that much then don't play! Watch a movie or read a book or something! But why pay someone else to play a game for you? 

[Erebethor]

I may consider power levelling 'coz I badly want to go on raids with the kin, but as I am (lvl 20) I would just be a liability. Brasse, I was THIS CLOSE to having  a breakdown.
*sob*
Ereb

[Leon]

Never have, never will probably. Payed for Gold that is.

I am the masochistic type that does not mind leveling as I grind my gathering as I level my Crafting.

Hell, Last time I vivited LoTRO I sat at the side of a pond up North Somewhere near Trestlebridge on a Sunday afternoon for 5 hours, seeing how many Trophy and Collectable fish I could catch. hehe.

Amazing how fast you can level when gathering animal resources in the hundreds.


Leon

[Erebethor]

Cool, might give that a go.
Ereb