[Moaku Hyena]

Oh, boy this is rich. I don't know how many of you have seen this. This is old as dirt, but it's still valuable in my eyes.

Gamespy interviewed Steve Salyer, the Big Man in Charge of I.G.E, that company we all know and loathe.

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/584/584932p1.html

Oh boy. Yeah, nothing really special there. Then I require you to read this--

http://www.okratas.com/modules.php?o...rder=0&thold=0

That is an email interview from another guy to IGE. My most favorite parts of it are--

Originally Posted by Interview Guy

You just stated that you, “speak regularly with developers and publishers” Tell us a bit, about what those conversations are like. Additionally, which major developers have you made positive inroads with? (SOE, Blizzard, Turbine, Sigil Games?)

PR MOUTHPIECE: THIS IS SOMETHING THAT WE CAN’T DISCUSS FURTHER. CONVERSATIONS WITH PUBLISHERS ARE CONFIDENTIAL.

Editors Note: All formatting, including capitalization, is taken verbatim from email discussions with the interviewees.

And...

Originally Posted by Interview Guy

So now that we know what you THINK the players believe, we want to know what you believe. Who owns the virtual items and characters being sold in the secondary market?

PR MOUTHPIECE: BEYOND WHAT STEVE HAS TOLD YOU, HE’S NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO COMMENT FURTHER ON THIS.

And lastly, the BEST one in my opinion...

Originally Posted by Interview Guy

Let us take for example you invite your friend and myself to your house to play Monopoly . I land on park place and buy it. Your friend then lands on Boardwalk. I offer your friend 5 real life dollars to sell Boardwalk to me, and he does. I now have an in game advantage. Does this behavior undermine the spirit of the game?

PR MOUTHPIECE: I THINK YOU’RE REACHING A BIT WITH THIS ANALOGY. THE SECONDARY MARKET FOR MOG IS A YOUNG PHENOMENON AND ALWAYS EVOLVING, WHICH LEAVES IT OPEN TO A LOT OF DEBATE AND DISCUSSION. HOWEVER, YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT BLATANT CHEATING, WHICH IS NOT WHAT THE SECONDARY MARKET IS ABOUT, IN A GAME THAT IN NO WAY MIRRORS AN MOG. WE COULD GO ROUND AND ROUND ON THIS BUT I THINK STEVE HAS STATED HIS THOUGHTS PRETTY CLEARLY.


Editors Note: Overall I will say that they were very professional up untill the point the heat got turned up. The only question left unanswered is this. How does IGE respond to the rumors that it has offered developers a percentage of its sales in exchange for cooperation? Why offer to pay for what your already taking? Steve if you'd like to answer this, feel free to email us.

And so concludes my failed attempt to ask the hard questions. I hope you found this read entertaining. Feel free to leave some feedback in this ongoing thread. May the next journalist learn from my mistakes, I wish him good luck.

Above all, read the entire interviews, but definitely the second one. And I shall do an email interview myself. If you have any questions for me to put into the interview, do tell. Like I said, the Interviews are a year old, but the info in them are valuable.


And yes, I will post my interview here on FFXIonline.com, just for all of you to see.

[Raydeus]

This is were Vigilantes should kick in, go mpk that guy...



JK... (maybe)

[Moaku Hyena]

Whaa? You was kidding?! And I've already started a Guivre/ Crab Train in the Tunnel! *keeps running*

Note: I was kidding about the train also.

[DakAttack]

Haha, the poor PR got upset, which leads me to believe...

Oh, I have a question, or a comment or something. I would like to know what methods they use to aquire their currency and how it differs from the methods used by independent sellers. I think I already have my answer, but I'd like an official one if possible.

[Rodin]

Originally Posted by IGE Douschebag

HOWEVER, YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT BLATANT CHEATING, WHICH IS NOT WHAT THE SECONDARY MARKET IS ABOUT, IN A GAME THAT IN NO WAY MIRRORS AN MOG.

I don't know if that's irony, stupidity, or a blatant lie. Does that guy KNOW they help people cheat with MMORPGs? Or that their "employees" are using hacks, and cheats to gain an advantatge? What does this guy do? Sit at his desk and whack of to porn all day?

[Raydeus]

Originally Posted by Rodin

I don't know if that's irony, stupidity, or a blatant lie. Does that guy KNOW they help people cheat with MMORPGs? Or that their "employees" are using hacks, and cheats to gain an advantatge? What does this guy do? Sit at his desk and whack of to porn all day?

That was a freaking politician answer, and a blatant lie, but you'll never see those bastards admit anything that can be used against them.

[Mhurron]

Originally Posted by Rodin

I don't know if that's irony, stupidity, or a blatant lie. Does that guy KNOW they help people cheat with MMORPGs? Or that their "employees" are using hacks, and cheats to gain an advantatge? What does this guy do? Sit at his desk and whack of to porn all day?

You do know that RMT isn't forbidden in every online game right? IGE does RMT legitimately in many games (i.e Second Life). So if you don't specify which game(s) your talking about, he's not going to offer up that in some or most of them what they do is assisting cheating.

On top of that, since few actually read the ToS of games they play, a lot don't know why RMT is forbidden and just believe that its just a few radicals trying to make life harder for everyone by calling it cheating. So as long as they say they say they don't support those that do the obvious cheating (MPK, botting and whatnot) most will just agree that what IGE does is not wrong.

IGE is a broker, I doubt they actually hire people who play the game to raise gil, gold or what not. So it is true that their employees do not use hacks or bots to raise their inventory.

[Rodin]

Originally Posted by Mhurron

You do know that RMT isn't forbidden in every online game right? IGE does RMT legitimately in many games (i.e Second Life). So if you don't specify which game(s) your talking about, he's not going to offer up that in some or most of them what they do is assisting cheating.

On top of that, since few actually read the ToS of games they play, a lot don't know why RMT is forbidden and just believe that its just a few radicals trying to make life harder for everyone by calling it cheating. So as long as they say they say they don't support those that do the obvious cheating (MPK, botting and whatnot) most will just agree that what IGE does is not wrong.

IGE is a broker, I doubt they actually hire people who play the game to raise gil, gold or what not. So it is true that their employees do not use hacks or bots to raise their inventory.

In FFXI and WoW (arguably, the bulk of their business) RMT is forbidden. He's saying that it is not cheating in any game. He gave a general statement, "HOWEVER, YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT BLATANT CHEATING, WHICH IS NOT WHAT THE SECONDARY MARKET IS ABOUT..." This (The Secondary Market) would include all MMOs that currently have RMTs in them. So yes, he IS helping people cheat. If he were to only service MMOs that allow RMT, then he would not be cheating. But yes, he IS helping people cheat, because his company has RMT on FFXI and WoW. NOW, the gilsellers have openly admitted working for IGE. I've seen screens of them saying they work for IGE in sweat shops. I'll be looking for some screenies to post here that have RMT admitting to working for IGE.

[DakAttack]

Originally Posted by Mhurron

IGE is a broker, I doubt they actually hire people who play the game to raise gil, gold or what not. So it is true that their employees do not use hacks or bots to raise their inventory.

Yea, I'm sure this will be their prewritten answer, but I'd like to hear it from them. :D

Also, if you do send an email, ask them if they're part of the network called RMT4U, thanks.

[Moaku Hyena]

Originally Posted by Rodin

In FFXI and WoW (arguably, the bulk of their business) RMT is forbidden. He's saying that it is not cheating in any game. He gave a general statement, "HOWEVER, YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT BLATANT CHEATING, WHICH IS NOT WHAT THE SECONDARY MARKET IS ABOUT..." This (The Secondary Market) would include all MMOs that currently have RMTs in them. So yes, he IS helping people cheat. If he were to only service MMOs that allow RMT, then he would not be cheating. But yes, he IS helping people cheat, because his company has RMT on FFXI and WoW. NOW, the gilsellers have openly admitted working for IGE. I've seen screens of them saying they work for IGE in sweat shops. I'll be looking for some screenies to post here that have RMT admitting to working for IGE.

I agree. They should just stick to RMT-friendly games like
Everquest
Everquest 2
Project Entropia
Second Life (Which I play. I am Moaku Mostel on there, in case anyone is interested).


Now, I have once bought from IGE, and that was for Second Life. I have also bought from SLExchange.com (You should see my invention, the Blue Hyena's Multivendor Rental System. 1,000+ lines of hard coded convienence). Why? It was legal. It's encouraged by the Linden Labs. And I can sell my currency. So yes, back then I would do business with IGE when it comes to RMT-Friedly games only.

But ever since I started to see the dirty work of IGE in Final Fantasy XI, where RMT is explicitly forbidden and written and engraved in stone, I've boycotted their asses. Not only that, they have to agree to even follow the TOS when they first run the game. Every time. All the time. So now I only do SL Exchange for my Linden Dollar needs. I can't bear to do business with a company that endorses cheating.

Another grievance with IGE is their GOD &&!%^@ ads, but their WORST one REALLY shows you what they are up to. Now, I will not in no way link you to their site, and I have the advertisement saved on my computer. But here is what it says. If you want to see that advertisement, you can PM me. I also found this while browsing ffxi.somepage.com, where EVERY <bleepbleep> ad on there is from IGE!

Note to mods: This is NOT in any way an RMT offer, nor is this in any way promoting any form of illegal RMT. Why else am I ranting about this? This is only a description of the advertisement from IGE found on ffxi.somepage.com

<picture of a Goblin slides in from the right of the advertisement>"
Do you want to play FFXI at the next level?
<picture of a Taru in goggles slides in fron the right of the advertisement>
IGE is your only choice!
<A picture of a Hume, Mithra, and following an Elvaan come in, not in that order. Then a translucent white comes in>
Gil delivered instantly open 24 hours"

Seeing "IGE is your only choice" led me to conclude that they are INTENTIONALLY manipulating in-game economies to that, in their theory, they will be the only choice in getting anywhere in that game.

That being said, I want to see this interview through. And if in the end I get "banned" from FFXI, or get driven out of FFXI from some of IGE's cohorts, I still had made myself one step closer to nipping them in the rear.