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SOMER Blink - Microlotteries that Finish in Minutes! 1 QUADRILLION ISK Won!

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Ona Bender
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#2141 - 2013-11-03 04:31:58 UTC
So here's an interesting one... This guy, Napkinzz, got his "Baby's First Blink" achievement over a year after he got his "Somer gave me Harpies" achievement.

http://cogdev.net/blink/?act=profile&id=93502657

I know, it's just data - it can get fouled up, but he just won one of the mini-bonks.
Desmond Strickler
#2142 - 2013-11-03 04:40:00 UTC  |  Edited by: Desmond Strickler
Frying Doom wrote:
JusFooling Around wrote:
Frying Doom wrote:
There is always the truthful statement that Somer blink is acting in breach of the EULA.

Or do you believe the EULA does not apply to you?

oh and my guess is Somer will close his doors on the 6th. Take all the money, and all the isk and close up shop.

So you leave credit in Somer you deserve to lose it.



Certainly the Bean counters in the GTC department of CCP will notice if Blink closes its doors. Of course, if CCP bought the Blink package from Somer, they could fashion the EULA anyway they please or do some other kind of incentive that they could make a wide spot in the rules to fit it in. CCP cannot ignore the loss of revenue in the absence of Blink. They are in business and cash is king.

If Somer does not sell the package to CCP, I doubt the doors will close on the 6th. It is a player run enterprise and players change the way the play the game all the time. As honorably as they have done business, I doubt they will fold their tent in DT and slink away.

Actually while there is likely to be a decline in sales, mostly due to those people that gamble, the total amount of GTC sold is unlikely to vary massively. This is due to the number of people who play EvE Online and the finite amount of cash they actually have as well as a finite amount of need. Yes sales will have increased atm with Somers 'bonus' as people are spending money they would have either spent later or spent else where, they are just after the free 'bonus' to get a better in-game advantage.

It is more likely that people will go back to either subscriptions or the purchase of plex directly from CCP, at which point CCP actually profits more. While those that remain with GTC are more likely to back actual community sites allowing them and subsequently our community to grow again.

Somer is a business out to profit Somer, for the rest of the community it is a cancer.


wow you really hate somer blink don't you?

[b]Part-Time Moon Bear and Full-Time Black Guy

"My other dread is a Swaglafar"[/b]
Frying Doom
#2143 - 2013-11-03 08:06:40 UTC  |  Edited by: Frying Doom
Desmond Strickler wrote:
wow you really hate somer blink don't you?

Actually when this started, no not really.

But as time goes on and they show more and more that they are just in this for them selves, I can honestly say no I do not hate Somer Blink, it just has no place in the community, even the EULA states that very clearly.

When this commenced I had never paid much attention to them, I had played a few blinks nothing else, I am actually partial to the promo blinks, still am to tell the truth.

Then the 'redacted' got brought up and that of any kind, by a third party is bad for EvE.

Then there is the fact that it is illegal for this kind of gambling in so many places.

And then just how a 'for profit business' is taking most of the GTC pie with its 'redacted' and has been for years got brought up. So for years now growing slowly day by day, it has taken more and more, while other actual community sites have been unable to support them selves with GTC sales even though they were built and run by community members for the community.

So no I do hate Somer but no 'for profit business' has no place in our community as it destroys that community for its own desires for money.

Any spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors are because frankly, I don't care!!
JusFooling Around
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#2144 - 2013-11-03 08:19:42 UTC
Rosewalker wrote:
Dizirgee wrote:
Rosewalker wrote:

Because the bonus violated Section 6B of the EULA and CCP's lawyer decided that the GTC Resellers agreements and the rules of the Time Code Bazaar should not override the EULA.


I pretty much doubt it. 1st EULA is from April 2012 , so unless it took CCP about a year to notice Blink there is probably some other reason (like other PLEX resellers complaining to CCP or whatever)
2nd I doubt 6B is matching to Blink. It says you basically cannot sell ingame stuff as [a player]. Plex is ingame item and pretty much its legit for certified resellers to sell it. 6B would than match to every plex site.
And I don't see how Blink is selling any ingame items. They give you 200mil virtual credit (not ISK) for free (under condition you buy plex from their friendly Dragon) that you may or may not transform into ingame item/isk based on your luck in lottery.

Unless I'm missing something you cannot simply buy ISK for $$ on Blink like on gold farming sites.

PS: not native English speaker but I wonder if 6B isn't missing clarification that such actions (transfer/buy/sell) cannot be done for real world currencies (mainly 1st sentence)? Now it can be understood like everyone is violating this by using market/auction in eve every single day :)


The information (except for the part about the rules of the Time Code Bazaar) came from a letter that CCP sent out to all of the authorized resellers of Eve time codes. Linking or quoting from the letter would violate the EVE Online Terms of Service, so I cannot do so.

The part about the GTC Resellers agreement and the rules of the Time Code Bazaar overruling the EULA before this change was announced came from the Chief Operating Officer of Shattered Crystal when he explained why SOMERblink was not violating any of CCP's rules by giving out the bonus. Shattered Crystal is the company that SOMERblink affiliated with up until May of this year. I'm not sure if I am allowed to link to the blog post because it does contain some speculation plus contains information that on 7 November will represent a topic that is forbidden to discuss on the EVE Online forums.

So what I wrote wasn't my opinion or speculation.


I live in the Portland Oregon Area and read the newspaper. It is a matter of public record that Shattered Crystal declared bankruptcy which left their affiliates in the cold for their payments. It is a civil court action and available information to anyone who cares to check the public record or who happened to read it in the public notices part of the Portland Oregonian newspaper. It is not a rumor, it is a court record.
JusFooling Around
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#2145 - 2013-11-03 08:42:27 UTC
Frying Doom wrote:
Desmond Strickler wrote:
wow you really hate somer blink don't you?

Actually when this started, no not really.

But as time goes on and they show more and more that they are just in this for them selves, I can honestly say no I do not hate Somer Blink, it just has no place in the community, even the EULA states that very clearly.

When this commenced I had never paid much attention to them, I had played a few blinks nothing else, I am actually partial to the promo blinks, still am to tell the truth.

Then the 'redacted' got brought up and that of any kind, by a third party is bad for EvE.

Then there is the fact that it is illegal for this kind of gambling in so many places.

And then just how a 'for profit business' is taking most of the GTC pie with its 'redacted' and has been for years got brought up. So for years now growing slowly day by day, it has taken more and more, while other actual community sites have been unable to support them selves with GTC sales even though they were built and run by community members for the community.

So no I do hate Somer but no 'for profit business' has no place in our community as it destroys that community for its own desires for money.



Are you really that unaware of how many corps are "for profit businesses"?
JusFooling Around
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#2146 - 2013-11-03 08:50:06 UTC  |  Edited by: JusFooling Around
[deleted - I wish CCP could do something about this forum where you have to copy what you wrote, hit preview and have a blank screen appear, then paste in your words, then try again, rinse, repeat and eventually it appears on the forum.
Frying Doom
#2147 - 2013-11-03 09:41:20 UTC
JusFooling Around wrote:
Are you really that unaware of how many corps are "for profit businesses"?

Corps that are RL businesses, that are using EvE online as a means to get or increase there profits, no I am not. Maybe you can enlighten me, as besides Somer I have not seen one. Feel free to quote the corps names and how they are using EvE for profit.


Because there is rather a difference between a group of people from the same business playing EvE and a business setting up in EvE for a profit.

Any spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors are because frankly, I don't care!!
Manacubus
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#2148 - 2013-11-03 13:09:37 UTC
I just witnessed the same player winning a Moros 3 times in the space of about 30 seconds, with the same ticket number.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52736346/Coincidence2.PNG

Seriously, what are the odds of that happening outside of some scam or abuse of mechanics?

I guess it would be 1/16 X 1/16 X 1/16 = 0.0002

So pretty much zero chance...
Jack Breacher
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#2149 - 2013-11-03 13:14:48 UTC
And I see the same winners all over again.
Esppiton
Doomheim
#2150 - 2013-11-03 13:28:52 UTC  |  Edited by: Esppiton
Manacubus wrote:
I just witnessed the same player winning a Moros 3 times in the space of about 30 seconds, with the same ticket number.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52736346/Coincidence2.PNG

Seriously, what are the odds of that happening outside of some scam or abuse of mechanics?

I guess it would be 1/16 X 1/16 X 1/16 = 0.0002

So pretty much zero chance...


...and what? I saw out of 10 blinks "Capital skillbook" 5 times was number 13 and running too.
...and in promo 2 week without number 175, and what?
it all random and unpredictable chaos Smile
Manacubus
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#2151 - 2013-11-03 15:40:39 UTC  |  Edited by: Manacubus
Esppiton wrote:
Manacubus wrote:
I just witnessed the same player winning a Moros 3 times in the space of about 30 seconds, with the same ticket number.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52736346/Coincidence2.PNG

Seriously, what are the odds of that happening outside of some scam or abuse of mechanics?

I guess it would be 1/16 X 1/16 X 1/16 = 0.0002

So pretty much zero chance...


...and what? I saw out of 10 blinks "Capital skillbook" 5 times was number 13 and running too.
...and in promo 2 week without number 175, and what?
it all random and unpredictable chaos Smile


OK I just went back and took another look.

I noticed this other guy win 2 Moros' in a short space of time with ticket 6. (OK, here we go again).

So I kept looking and saw him win another Moros, this time with ticket 3.

At this point, I thought - obvious scam is obvious, but let's just keep looking and see what happens next, if he doesn't win this next Moros:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52736346/Gilgamesh4.PNG

.. with ticket number 3, then I'll eat my hat.

I did not have to eat my hat:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52736346/Gilgamesh5.PNG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52736346/Gilgamesh2.PNG

Then, just for some icing on the cake, he immediately won another Moros with ticket number 3.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52736346/Gilgamesh6.PNG

Most of the time buying just one ticket, though if he tires of the last ticket not selling quickly, he will buy that as well.

Never have I seen a more obvious scam. They are normally far less obvious and clearcut than this
Titanium PIg
Escape Velocity Enterprises
#2152 - 2013-11-03 17:33:50 UTC
Quiescence: - a state of quietness or inactivity.

Hmmmmmm.
Nanatoa
#2153 - 2013-11-03 17:49:58 UTC
Leanna Dekara wrote:
[As for your issue, I'm inclined to believe that there's something more to it than you're claiming. I've seen total morons show up in their channel, spitting and cursing, and yet they still get their ISK issues fixed, even if they're summarily told not to come back to the channel again due to their behavior. And I'm not talking only small change either. There are people that have come in asking about multi-billion ISK errors or changes and they've all been dealt with promptly when there was a rep on to handle it. So yeah, I smell a level of bull in your claim.


There are forum posts which make this case pretty clear for anyone and everyone.

Here I post that I participated only because of the unique promotion (this was before the Gold Magnate was withdrawn).
Here I protest at the withdrawal of the Gold Magnate from the promotion event.
Here I ask SOMER Blink for a refund. Both messages posted immediately after the announcement, well before the draw was made.

Please let me know what part of this 'smells' exactly. For a more complete history of posts and ingame messages, including timestamps, see this post.

"Stay the course, we have done this many times before." - (CCP) Hilmar, June 2011
JusFooling Around
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#2154 - 2013-11-03 19:44:16 UTC
Nanatoa wrote:
Leanna Dekara wrote:
[As for your issue, I'm inclined to believe that there's something more to it than you're claiming. I've seen total morons show up in their channel, spitting and cursing, and yet they still get their ISK issues fixed, even if they're summarily told not to come back to the channel again due to their behavior. And I'm not talking only small change either. There are people that have come in asking about multi-billion ISK errors or changes and they've all been dealt with promptly when there was a rep on to handle it. So yeah, I smell a level of bull in your claim.


There are forum posts which make this case pretty clear for anyone and everyone.

Here I post that I participated only because of the unique promotion (this was before the Gold Magnate was withdrawn).
Here I protest at the withdrawal of the Gold Magnate from the promotion event.
Here I ask SOMER Blink for a refund. Both messages posted immediately after the announcement, well before the draw was made.

Please let me know what part of this 'smells' exactly. For a more complete history of posts and ingame messages, including timestamps, see this post.



So are you going to try the gentleman's suggestion and petition CCP as they are the ones who pulled the prize you sought? What can it hurt to try that?
Nanatoa
#2155 - 2013-11-03 19:53:41 UTC
JusFooling Around wrote:
So are you going to try the gentleman's suggestion and petition CCP as they are the ones who pulled the prize you sought? What can it hurt to try that?


See that last link; I put in a petition 4 weeks ago, no answer yet.

And the fact that I filed a petition does not absolve SOMER Blink of their responsibilty for their contest, their rules, and my money.

"Stay the course, we have done this many times before." - (CCP) Hilmar, June 2011
JusFooling Around
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#2156 - 2013-11-03 20:14:59 UTC
Frying Doom wrote:
JusFooling Around wrote:
Are you really that unaware of how many corps are "for profit businesses"?

Corps that are RL businesses, that are using EvE online as a means to get or increase there profits, no I am not. Maybe you can enlighten me, as besides Somer I have not seen one. Feel free to quote the corps names and how they are using EvE for profit.


Because there is rather a difference between a group of people from the same business playing EvE and a business setting up in EvE for a profit.



You have never talked to drunk players from large corps at fan fest have you?

Nice way to bait me into discussing how RMT works and rumor mongering.

My sober (I do not drink or use drugs) recollections of anecdotal comments by more than two dozen (I think 27, but I'm not going to my notes for just the correct number) drunken players bragging about how they could afford to come to fanfest is hardly enough evidence to officially indict a corp of players from all over the world, but more than enough to convince me and certainly more "smoke" than the conjecture of conspiracy fantasies brought about by wearing tinfoil hats a few sizes too small.

I am not a person who arrives at my conclusions sitting on my fat duff thinking about how I would do it and then imposing a low life set of ethics to the possibilities and calling that positive evidence. Sure, people I talked to could have all made it up, but I talked to each one individually at different times from the others, not all in the middle of a night of pub crawling, but mostly when they were still drunk the next morning. My standard questions brought nearly standard responses from more than two dozen people who I talked to individually and not within earshot of anyone else.

If I decide to do any naming and explaining, it will be to CCP and it will be unimpeachable.

Now I hope I have not gone too far to be considered beyond an edge case but I do not care to go any further in the public forums.
JusFooling Around
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#2157 - 2013-11-03 21:05:55 UTC
[
Nanatoa wrote:
JusFooling Around wrote:
So are you going to try the gentleman's suggestion and petition CCP as they are the ones who pulled the prize you sought? What can it hurt to try that?


See that last link; I put in a petition 4 weeks ago, no answer yet.

And the fact that I filed a petition does not absolve SOMER Blink of their responsibilty for their contest, their rules, and my money.


Thank you for explaining and I apologize for not having done my due diligence by spending the time it would have taken to review your correspondence. I do hope you get reimbursed.

A blink official, Andrev nox, stated in a Blink chat that CCP Navigator had approached Blink the same morning the contest was announced with the offer to run it. Accepting it seems like not the best decision Somer has ever made, but probably the same one most in that set of circumstances, in that time frame would have made. Had I been in that position and having the points of information available to me which she had to her and I decided to accept the offer to run the promotion, I would now regret that decision. I doubt that I would refund the ISK to you simply because of the implications and precedent it would establish. For all we know, there could be a terrible crap storm going on between the two organizations about who holds what responsibility for not just you and your circumstances, but for the impact of any decision CCP might rule.

The impact of unforeseen negative consequences for decisions made grows exponentially with the number of people who are affected. i'm sure, from my experiences with large organizations who occasionally have week decision makers, that the attempts to set things right in this situation and every situation it may affect down the road have brought together the largest number of theory crafters possible.

Decision makers whose horizon is no further away than the tips of their shoes can really screw thing up and get a lot of innocent people, as you seem to be, caught in the machinery of unwinding the mess. This particular mess tosses a shadow over a whole lot of groups who are a lot less noticeable, than Blink. I think CCP is walking on eggshells to get yet another mess untangled.

I wish good luck to all and am pulling for the best outcome possible for all. When I say the best outcome possible, I am not talking about amnesty, but just deserts. I feel a little redundant explaining "best possible outcome for all" but I thought I would save any word parsers the trouble of accusing me of wanting ANYONE to get away with anything.
Nanatoa
#2158 - 2013-11-03 21:44:59 UTC
JusFooling Around wrote:
I doubt that I would refund the ISK to you simply because of the implications and precedent it would establish.


I do think the group of people who publicly stated they were participating just for the special promotion before the prize was changed and requested a refund before the draw is pretty small (it might even just be 1 person). That specific set of circumstances would hardly set a precedent, unless they plan on doing another promotion with magically changing prizes in the future.

"Stay the course, we have done this many times before." - (CCP) Hilmar, June 2011
ISD Ezwal
ISD Community Communications Liaisons
ISD Alliance
#2159 - 2013-11-03 22:18:08 UTC
I have removed a rule breaking post and those quoting it.

The rules:
31. Rumor mongering is prohibited.

Rumor threads and posts which are based off no actual solid information and are designed to either troll or annoy other users will be locked and removed. These kinds of threads and posts are detrimental to the well being and spirit of the EVE Online Community, and can create undue panic among forum users, as well as adding to the workload of our moderators.

ISD Ezwal Community Communication Liaisons (CCLs)
Cayell
Steamhouse Enemy Engagement Division
#2160 - 2013-11-04 11:45:23 UTC
This thread is going to need an award or something for "Most ISD posts in a single thread" xD

@Nanatoa - While you've posted a lot of correspondence, I've yet to see any hard evidence regarding the in-game communication, or the initial deposit. It might help your case if you could post a screenshot of the wallet transaction or something. I have to admit that personally, I thought you were trolling from the start because 16B is one hell of a deposit to make.