EVE New Citizens Q&A

Dear CCP

You must put an end to the rampant scamming of new players by old players that is going on in Eve if you really intend to attract new players and continue growing your customer base. There is no tutorial warning new players of the various scams.The local channel has effectively become SCAM Channel especially in trade hubs in high sec were new players usually reside. There is no moderator to warn new players of the scams going on, and nothing is done against the offenders.

I understand that scamming is part of Eve but to allow the exploitation of new players makes you lose new customers... I see in the forum that you do not allow the baiting of new players in certain systems. Well the baiting and subsequent loss of a rookie ship is trivial compared to the damage being done by Scammers in local channel and Scam email offers.

For example how am I supposed to know as a two week old player that unlike in the market where a navy issue Augoror is actually a navy issue Augoror, in direct system trade ship items can be renamed by the player, so that you think you are buying a navy ship and it says so in the trade window... Except when you accept the trade, you find out that the ship is actually a normal Ship not a navy issue, it has just been renamed by the seller to navy issue to deceive the buyer... And just like that my hard earned 320 million isk, poof, Houdini style!

How did this happen? Simple, no tutorial pointed it out. Before I made the trade I even asked in the rookie channel if I can be scammed in direct trade but no one said I should look out for this. And so now I am turning to you the developers of Eve... I am asking for this to be rectified.

I have already written you a petition with the name of the offender and the details of what happened. I want my isk back and please implement some system to prevent more of cases like this, whether an addition to the tutorial or moderators in local or some way for a player based flagging system against scammers, especially those targeting new players.

Believe me, the silent condoning of the exploitation of new players will make you lose players, who just like me will quit Eve forever if justice isn't done. And when new players who planned to to be your paying customers for years to come, get turned away because of unscrupulous scammers, it's is no longer a selling point for you, it's an Achilles heel. The whole world of eve - as well as the profit margin of your company - will be worse off.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I have high hopes that CCP will make a positive and proactive change in this regard

Best Regrads

Valerian Dardanides

Note: any smarty-pants player who would invoke caveat emptor and tell me I should have seen the scam myself, I answer that I usually do... But Eve is a huge game with so many facets and quite a complicated UI... You can not expect a new player to know all the nuisances of the system even though I completed all the tutorial missions and read hundreds of pages of info about it. And considering the vast majority of scammers are targeting new players, one can not guard against them all absent any advice from tutorials or moderators or repercussions against the offending scammer.

Hello there.

I can understand that its very frustrating to loose ISK to a scam when you are a young player, but im sorry to say that CCP will most likely not reimburse your loss.

However i do agree that there should be some sort of warning in the tutorial that makes it perfectly clear that scamming IS legal in EVE, and encourage new players to do some research before they accept any contracts or similar. Please note that if there is such a warning in the tutorial i am not aware off it my self.

I will also admit that if there are scamming going on in local in the starter systems this might be something that should be changed and align more with the rules in the recruitment channel (no scamming IN the channel, however the people are still allowed to convo you and of course from there you can get scammed). It would make it a bit more of an effort for people who are deliberately going after new players because they are more likely to fall for a scam, without completely removing the threat.

But i can not say i would like to see new players being fully protected against scams for a certain amount of time. EVE is harsh, its meant to be, and putting down rules along the lines off "cant scam a player that is less then 1 month old" would do more harm then good i think...

Sorry but EVE is a love or hate game. You get scammed at an early age and one of two things happen.
a) You learn a lesson, never trust anyone again, and note the name for payback some time in the future.
b) You rage quit.

I wish you the best of luck tho, and remember you can recover from any loss. It takes time, and its frustrating, but it is possible and things like these are what makes EVE such an unique game.

Might as well learn early.

It's a right of passage, a trial by fire, a weeding out process to see who quits easily and who pays attention to details and rolls with the punches when necessary.

Oh, and caveat emptor

This ^

Its a hard lesson. I can understand your pain, sucks. But if new players leave because of this they were never meant to play EVE in the first place. One of my favorite things about EVE is all these crazy scams that goes on, puts you on your toes for sure.

Good luck!

Well changing something as simple as adding in a warning about scams in the tutorial wont really change much. Its information that can be found elsewhere, but having it in the tutorial means that a new player will have no excuse not to be aware off it (if they dont do the tutorial or proper research its their own fault).

It does not make the game "easier", just allows for more..awareness? and a new player can prepare them self better for what is 95% sure to happen at some point during their EVE career.
Older players that get scammed normally knows that it was their own fault and have grown used to the fact that this happens, thus wont take it as hard as a brand new player.

For those posting positive feedback or insight, I say thank you. Much appreciated.

For those who have regaled us with their turds of wisdom, here's my answer to some of the posts above...

No, scamming new players is not "trial by fire" to "weed out the weak"... This is Eve, not the F@&$=#% Navy Seals.

This is not a "valuable lesson"! I play Eve to have a good time, not to get "valuable lessons" courtesy of some punk in his mama's basement.

And as for the luminary virtuoso who said that Eve is already doing great... Why should they change... you display no notion of understanding how businesses work. "Why change [for the better]" is the modus operandi of most companies that end up filing for bankruptcy.

Yes make no mistake, Eve is ultimately a Business. And the health of a business depends on the influx of new players, especially in a game where it is the new players who pay with real money whereas many old players pay with isk.

The developers must realize this since they tried to curb baiting new players in starter systems into duels... If duels are bad then scams preying on new players are infinitely worse because it is a form of market pvp and it is through a system that is "on" by default... Eve mail and Eve local chat, and what makes it really bad is that the damage done is so great that the player will likely rage quit, and rightfully so because allowing this sort of thing to happen is total BS... It is akin to driving school teaching someone how to drive in a Nascar ring during a match!

Even the army has a bootcamp, they don't throw you in with enemy combatants from day one... They train you first in a controlled environment. That's how you learn without losing an arm and leg.

Eve must give new players a heads-up on the scams going on in a safe tutorial-like environment...

Scammed players will feel spurned and many spurned players will leave Eve and never come back. 9 out of 10 of those who rage quit will not file a complaint... They will simply go away. I am doing the company a service by taking a couple of hours of my time to write this and give them a heads-up on what's going on.

And it gets worse. Statistically satisfied customers inform one person on average about a product they like. However when they don't like the product, particularly if they feel they have been wronged, they tell ten times that number. The opportunity cost in this is immense.

Eve has nice players who are interesting to talk with... But unless scamming against new players is curbed, new players are being primarily exposed to the unscrupulous bas@#%* who intentionally target new players and lurk where new players are found. Just check local chat channel in any hub and you will see what I mean...

All companies encounter circumstances that lead to customer dissatisfaction... The ones who gain their customer's loyalty and stay in the green on the balance sheet are the one who address their customers complaints, make sure it does not happen to others and do damage control by reimbursing the affected customer thereby turning a negative into a positive. I hope whoever handles customer service for Eve has the business acumen to do that.

You won't last long in this game, better to give me whatever stuff you have left now.

A proper newbie wouldn't have the cash, not after 1 week, to buy a Navy Augeror unless he's an alt or he "cheated" his way past the isk problem using plex (or RMT) frantically wanting to power game.

Apart from that, deal with it. Outside the designated starter systems it's a free for all and it doesn't matter if you get exposed to it early or later on. Also, it would be impossible because at what point does a person become responsible for his own (in)actions... 1 week or 2, perhaps 3 months?

In short: Welcome to EVE.

Yes using plex bought from the developers to their benefit should be frowned upon...CCP should discourage players from buying stuff from them because joe shmoe considers it "power gaming"...

Dimwit.