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Somer Blink is a variant on the "Penny Auction" scam that CCP fell for hook line and Golde

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Xaen
Telepathic Death Mimes
#21 - 2013-09-27 00:09:21 UTC
$1000 jeans?!?

I missed that.

I get shouty crackers a lot. Deal with it.
Vald Tegor
Empyrean Guard
Tactical Narcotics Team
#22 - 2013-09-27 00:10:06 UTC
mechtech wrote:
Blink and Penny Auctions are entirely different models. Blink is closer to a slot machine.

Blink isn't a "scam", it's a casino. The amount you win over a long enough time frame is guaranteed to be lower than the input isk. Extra devious is the bit where players are "better off" if they redeem more blink credit and keep grinding their isk away in the Blink system until it's gone.

Without any scamming component, they can still make trillions and trillions by running things legitimately. If I were running blink and trying to extract as much profit as possible, I wouldn't scam their beautiful business model or loyal customers in any way, shape, or form. Only if Blink was suddenly put out of business somehow would I take the deposits. Simply put, they don't need to scam, they make the most profit with the casino model.

The scam is in achievement credits. The free credit you get conceals just how much you are consistently losing. Then achievements dry up but you're too hooked to notice and stopped keeping track of your actual wins and losses. The blink stats are also designed in a way that lies to you without displaying false numbers to artificially inflate win rates and results.
Xaen
Telepathic Death Mimes
#23 - 2013-09-27 00:10:06 UTC
ACE McFACE wrote:
So what your saying is all casinos in the world are scams?


Just like palmistry and tarot card reading they are I think required by law to disclose that they are "for entertainment only" which is the laws way of saying, "This is a scam, idiot."

I get shouty crackers a lot. Deal with it.
Xaen
Telepathic Death Mimes
#24 - 2013-09-27 00:10:29 UTC
Vald Tegor wrote:
mechtech wrote:
Blink and Penny Auctions are entirely different models. Blink is closer to a slot machine.

Blink isn't a "scam", it's a casino. The amount you win over a long enough time frame is guaranteed to be lower than the input isk. Extra devious is the bit where players are "better off" if they redeem more blink credit and keep grinding their isk away in the Blink system until it's gone.

Without any scamming component, they can still make trillions and trillions by running things legitimately. If I were running blink and trying to extract as much profit as possible, I wouldn't scam their beautiful business model or loyal customers in any way, shape, or form. Only if Blink was suddenly put out of business somehow would I take the deposits. Simply put, they don't need to scam, they make the most profit with the casino model.

The scam is in achievement credits. The free credit you get conceals just how much you are consistently losing. Then achievements dry up but you're too hooked to notice and stopped keeping track of your actual wins and losses. The blink stats are also designed in a way that lies to you without displaying false numbers to artificially inflate win rates and results.
this man gets it.

I get shouty crackers a lot. Deal with it.
Vald Tegor
Empyrean Guard
Tactical Narcotics Team
#25 - 2013-09-27 00:11:14 UTC
Cierra Royce wrote:
CCP has no business directly enriching and vouching for the honesty of Player organisations.

This is really the core of the matter.
Captain Tardbar
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#26 - 2013-09-27 00:18:13 UTC
Well real life lottos are scams.

You are more likley to die in a car accident than win the jackpot.

Looking to talk on VOIP with other EVE players? Are you new and need help with EVE (welfare) or looking for advice? Looking for adversarial debate with angry people?

Captain Tardbar's Voice Discord Server
iskflakes
#27 - 2013-09-27 00:22:11 UTC
Blink is indeed a scam in the same way a casino is a scam -- long term, you are guaranteed to lose money as long as you play normal blinks.

What makes this scam particularly clever is some people DO make a profit on blink from playing the promos. For every person who plays the promos and wins big, 10 of their friends sign up, deposit a billion, lose it, then decide blink isn't for them.

About the recent blink prizes, I don't think any player group should be endorsed with unique items. How would we feel if CCP declared Goonswarm Federation to be the official EVE alliance, and sponsored them with Gold Magnates?

CCP, if you want to giveaway unique ships then run your own lottery. If you want to endorse third party sites, give them affiliate marketing agreements so they can cover their real costs. If you want to anger your fanbase, give one specific group of players some unearned unique items that nobody else can ever have (bonus points if you reintroduce an old item to screw over long time collectors too).

-
Garandras
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#28 - 2013-09-27 00:23:16 UTC
Yeah its a simple lottery.. I chuck in some isk, win some lose some..

Keeps my flying my pvp frigs and that is all I care about.. I have pretty much garbage skills for ratting, so I will rather loot a few wreaks get some isk chuck in into Blink win some isk to buy a new frig when mine goes pop
Andski
Science and Trade Institute
Caldari State
#29 - 2013-09-27 00:43:32 UTC
iskflakes wrote:
How would we feel if CCP declared Goonswarm Federation to be the official EVE alliance, and sponsored them with Gold Magnates?


Surreal

Twitter: @EVEAndski

"It's easy to speak for the silent majority. They rarely object to what you put into their mouths."    - Abrazzar
cynthia greythorne
Blue Cat Instrumentality
#30 - 2013-09-27 00:54:33 UTC
iskflakes wrote:
How would we feel if CCP declared Goonswarm Federation to be the official EVE alliance, and sponsored them with Gold Magnates?


I shouldn't like that much, either, but at least I have heard of the Goons. I never heard of Blink Somer before this controversy arose, but I imagine that now they will be well known to everyone, and even more isk will flow in their direction.
Trii Seo
Goonswarm Federation
#31 - 2013-09-27 00:59:57 UTC
iskflakes wrote:
Blink is indeed a scam in the same way a casino is a scam -- long term, you are guaranteed to lose money as long as you play normal blinks.


And that's the answer.

Blink works like a normal casino. Convince you that you're winning and force to deposit more money and lose it all. Look at the gift system - you can receive a gift from the casino if you gave more than you took.

That said, in all that there's people that make profit. If you figure out how, you can make a profit. If you don't and wind up hooked you lose more than you win, the house takes it all and you wind up trying to "warn" people on EVE-O forums.

Proud pilot of the Imperium

Arek'Jaalan: Heliograph
Xaen
Telepathic Death Mimes
#32 - 2013-09-27 01:23:35 UTC
Trii Seo wrote:
iskflakes wrote:
Blink is indeed a scam in the same way a casino is a scam -- long term, you are guaranteed to lose money as long as you play normal blinks.


And that's the answer.

Blink works like a normal casino. Convince you that you're winning and force to deposit more money and lose it all. Look at the gift system - you can receive a gift from the casino if you gave more than you took.

That said, in all that there's people that make profit. If you figure out how, you can make a profit. If you don't and wind up hooked you lose more than you win, the house takes it all and you wind up trying to "warn" people on EVE-O forums.
I don't know if you're implying I fell for it...I've never given them 0.01 ISK and never will.

I get shouty crackers a lot. Deal with it.
45thtiger 0109
Pan-Intergalatic Business Community
#33 - 2013-09-27 02:34:31 UTC
Xaen wrote:
45thtiger 0109 wrote:
Cierra Royce wrote:
Xaen wrote:
Dear CCP,

You have been scammed by Somer Blink. They are taking you for billions, if not trillions of ISK if you count the uniquely special and uniquely effective vouchsafing PR, that you already gave them for free. This is called favoritism. Just like when T20 gave BoB T2 BPOs, except worse, because you do not even realize you got scammed.

Let me reiterate: You already got scammed, and publicly announced that you're going to continue falling for it.

Since apparently half the EVE playerbase including CCP had either never heard of this particular scam, allow me to enlighten you:

http://www.fraud.org/penny-auctions

I never made a big deal of it before because I simply assumed that most other EVE players realized it was a scam and just liked blowing ISK on it. I have never given them 0.01 ISK and never will because Somer Blink is just another EVE scam!

I, and every other player that knows a penny auction scam when they see it has been denied access to new ships. Yay, favoritism because CCP fell for a scam!

That was a super important paragraph sentence, so please read it again.

Let me reiterate, since CCP is apparently rather thick: CCP fell for an in game scam, and fell so hard that they planned to resurrect a part of in game history and give to them for their exclusive profit.

And since I refuse to become a SomerSucker™ I am effectively denied even the chance to get one of these ships because I am more scam resistant than CCP Navigator and the rest of the devs who are too gullible to figure out that Somer Blink is a just another penny auction scam with a couple of insignificant twists on it to further obscure the scam. To say nothing of the people who have been banned from Somer Blink, the result of which is CCP treating even more of their customers unfairly with respect to Somer Blink.

But it is still a scam.

The only way to fix this is to stop pimping Somer Blink revoke any special privileges that they scammed you out of, publicly admit Somer Blink is just another EVE scam, stop falling for it, and never use them again.

If you're thinking "Xaen cannot possibly be correct!" Read below, then read this post again. Keep reading it until you get it through your thick skulls that Somer Blink is just a penny auction scam, EVE style, that CCP fell for hook, line, and Golden Magnate.

It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.

—Mark Twain


Read this folks and let it sink in, both Xaen and Mark Twain are spot on the money here. Blink is a cleverly designed variation on the penny auction system, and CCP has no business directly enriching and vouching for the honesty of Player organisations.


How the hell can Somer Blink scam when people invest ISK not RL money.

I have won more sub caps in somer blink than I have invested isk which I am ahead.

You better get the facts right before you get into trouble either by CCP or Somer Blink.

Because you are faming CCP & Somer Blink

Thats my two cents worth.




Read the quote again.

You're in my list of easy marks now.

Fly "safe"!


BTW What do you mean by easy marks is that a threat on me also.

Well to threaten someone CCP does not take kindly to that sort of thing.

CCP please close this thread please

Thanks you CCP

**You Have to take the good with the bad and the bad with the good.

Welcome to EvE OnLiNe**
Red Templar
Viziam
Amarr Empire
#34 - 2013-09-27 02:59:37 UTC
Interesting article about penny auctions. Never knew that.
On the other hand, i never even heard of Somer till today. Not a big fan of casinos, lotteries and all others "too good to be true" schemes.

But lets face it, if game media will not pickup on this, it will be shushed and CCP will pretend it never happened.

[b]For Love. For Peace. For Honor.

For None of the Above.

For Pony![/b]
Loed Kane
Stimulus
Rote Kapelle
#35 - 2013-09-27 03:16:49 UTC
>.< jesus i think this dude is mad at somer.
Liam Inkuras
Furnace
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
#36 - 2013-09-27 03:29:14 UTC
Pshhh. CCP isn't losing d!ck. they simply type /spawn Gaurdian Vexor, and bam. There's your trillion isk. Like they care they get scammed in the very game they create.

I wear my goggles at night.

Any spelling/grammatical errors come complimentary with my typing on a phone
Xaen
Telepathic Death Mimes
#37 - 2013-09-27 03:42:23 UTC
45thtiger 0109 wrote:
Xaen wrote:
45thtiger 0109 wrote:
Cierra Royce wrote:
Xaen wrote:
Dear CCP,

You have been scammed by Somer Blink. They are taking you for billions, if not trillions of ISK if you count the uniquely special and uniquely effective vouchsafing PR, that you already gave them for free. This is called favoritism. Just like when T20 gave BoB T2 BPOs, except worse, because you do not even realize you got scammed.

Let me reiterate: You already got scammed, and publicly announced that you're going to continue falling for it.

Since apparently half the EVE playerbase including CCP had either never heard of this particular scam, allow me to enlighten you:

http://www.fraud.org/penny-auctions

I never made a big deal of it before because I simply assumed that most other EVE players realized it was a scam and just liked blowing ISK on it. I have never given them 0.01 ISK and never will because Somer Blink is just another EVE scam!

I, and every other player that knows a penny auction scam when they see it has been denied access to new ships. Yay, favoritism because CCP fell for a scam!

That was a super important paragraph sentence, so please read it again.

Let me reiterate, since CCP is apparently rather thick: CCP fell for an in game scam, and fell so hard that they planned to resurrect a part of in game history and give to them for their exclusive profit.

And since I refuse to become a SomerSucker™ I am effectively denied even the chance to get one of these ships because I am more scam resistant than CCP Navigator and the rest of the devs who are too gullible to figure out that Somer Blink is a just another penny auction scam with a couple of insignificant twists on it to further obscure the scam. To say nothing of the people who have been banned from Somer Blink, the result of which is CCP treating even more of their customers unfairly with respect to Somer Blink.

But it is still a scam.

The only way to fix this is to stop pimping Somer Blink revoke any special privileges that they scammed you out of, publicly admit Somer Blink is just another EVE scam, stop falling for it, and never use them again.

If you're thinking "Xaen cannot possibly be correct!" Read below, then read this post again. Keep reading it until you get it through your thick skulls that Somer Blink is just a penny auction scam, EVE style, that CCP fell for hook, line, and Golden Magnate.

It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.

—Mark Twain


Read this folks and let it sink in, both Xaen and Mark Twain are spot on the money here. Blink is a cleverly designed variation on the penny auction system, and CCP has no business directly enriching and vouching for the honesty of Player organisations.


How the hell can Somer Blink scam when people invest ISK not RL money.

I have won more sub caps in somer blink than I have invested isk which I am ahead.

You better get the facts right before you get into trouble either by CCP or Somer Blink.

Because you are faming CCP & Somer Blink

Thats my two cents worth.




Read the quote again.

You're in my list of easy marks now.

Fly "safe"!


BTW What do you mean by easy marks is that a threat on me also.

Well to threaten someone CCP does not take kindly to that sort of thing.

CCP please close this thread please

Thanks you CCP


For scamming. Because you fell for Somer Blink so hard that you defend it as not a scam. Meaning you are an easy mark for future ISK scams that you think aren't scams but are.

I get shouty crackers a lot. Deal with it.
Xaen
Telepathic Death Mimes
#38 - 2013-09-27 03:43:27 UTC
Loed Kane wrote:
>.< jesus i think this dude is mad at somer.

No, I'm mad at CCP.

Somer is just the folks that succeeded in scamming CCP themselves. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

I get shouty crackers a lot. Deal with it.
Xaen
Telepathic Death Mimes
#39 - 2013-09-27 03:44:38 UTC
Liam Inkuras wrote:
Pshhh. CCP isn't losing d!ck. they simply type /spawn Gaurdian Vexor, and bam. There's your trillion isk. Like they care they get scammed in the very game they create.
CCP is displaying favoritism, going back on their word and violating their own EULA, and giving Somer (which is nothing more than a scammer) billions.

tl;dr: CCP got scammed, and is getting more scammed, at my expense, since I will not have access to any of the stuff released through them because I'm not as dumb as the SomerSuckers™.

I get shouty crackers a lot. Deal with it.
KIller Wabbit
MEME Thoughts
#40 - 2013-09-27 05:19:02 UTC
Wonders if this was reported to CCP IA - cause PLEX for Snitches, am I right?