Assembly Hall

According to the Forums postings on this issue IE https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=298037&find=unread , CCP had a fix ready to go in the recent Rubicon expansion- but held off because the CSM talked them out of it. Apparently, according to the posts in the forum debate, the vast majority of the players who voiced their opinion want this issue resolved- and soon. Yet the CSM has actively blocked CCP's efforts to present a fix, in accordance with a large portion of the players wishes. Is the CSM like every other elected body? IE: Say whatever you want us to hear to get elected then ignore the majority of the players to focus on a few "special interest groups"... Or are you actually interested in giving the FULL player base a voice to CCP. Considering the forum thread was started by CCP to address the issue, it would seem that they don't have much faith in the CSM's representation, why else would they appeal directly to the players for their opinions? Isn't that what the CSM is supposed to be there for? And why would the CSM actively oppose CCP's attempts to close a technical exploit? Unless, of course, the CSM were the ones profiting the most by exploiting the technical issue. Or are the CSM's just interested in free trips to the land of frozen shark meat... What little faith I ever had in the CSM as a representation of the players has been tainted by the revelation that they openly opposed the Devs desire to fix a technical exploit in the game.

Perhaps the CSM brought up viable uses for the margin trade skill, and that stayed the CSM's hand.

Furthermore, the initial two "solutions" proposed by the CCP Dev have issues which were elaborated on in that thread.

If you want to "fix" margin trading, there is one very simple solution:

Add a "verify order with the broker" function to all market orders. This on-demand function has the game verify that enough funds exist to fulfill the order. Of course, it is proper to pay the broker for performing this check (1m isk or so).

Or even a simple warning, that tells users that orders are not guaranteed and buyer beware.

There is nothing wrong with margin trading or the skill used. The error comes from those who make bad investments, believing they are going to make some nice ISK and blaming everything but themselves.

Unpossible

Nothing needs to be done about Margin Trading. It is pure social engineering. You're made to believe that a too-good-to-be-true deal is at your fingertips, and then the rug is pulled out from under you at the last minute. The best way, as usual, to protect oneself against scams of this sort is to actually be familiar with the market. If something looks off, then it usually is.

Those who complain about the Margin Trading scam really need to ask themselves this question: how does having the rug pulled out from under you via the Margin Trading scam differ from somebody simply happening to fill the buy order before you? I can't think of any functional difference between those two scenarios. You are not entitled to fill a buy order just because you bought some items and have them at the ready for doing so.

The Margin Trading scam is a non-issue that people only think is an issue because a certain skill happens to be used to facilitate it. I can understand why it's easy to think that you're being scammed by some broken aspect of the skill, but that's absolutely not what's happening. The skill is working as intended, and you're being psychologically manipulated. It's not some sort of "I win" button that another player can press and instantly relieve you of your ISK. You have to be ignorant about market conditions. You actively choose, at every step of the way, to participate.