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Ebay sellers of "Tabula Rasa" are knowingly committing fraud
jpnole
Member UncommonPosts: 1,698
Like I said in the title, "Tabula Rasa" can be seen in numerous listings on Ebay. As an Ebay user since 2002 and an avid gamer I find it offensive that these sellers would KNOWINGLY try to pawn this game off on an unsuspecting customers. Now I'm sure not many people are buying it but I bet there are a few.
I posted in the Ebay forum and the first response I got was "you can still play the game in the computer even if is no longer supported, so what is the problem?" So of course I went on to explain that it's an ONLINE game requiring you to sign in to a server which has been taken down. I reported a few of the listings but there are too many.
Anyway, I just wanted to vent that to my fellow MMO addicts. BTW I was a huge TR fan and subscriber.
Comments
I doubt many people will be affected, it's unlikely the people selling them even know what a MMO is or how they work.
Hell they've been selling outdated mmos at retail stores for years............I won't name any names......but it rhymes with LAME TOP
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Yeah right /rolleyes
They brought it didnt they?
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Yeah I've seen TR being sold at a department store that rhymes with CAR GET.
Hehe.. I saw AC2 marked down to $10 at Game Stop not too long ago.
The fact of the matter is, they know and they don't care.
yeah several of my local wallyworld stores are still seling it as well
A lot of people will probably buy the box as some form of collectable (especially if it's only going to cost them like $5)
The Walmarts around here still have a few of the TR boxes on the shelf (had to explain to a couple of people that buying it would be a mistake as the game is dead). Asked a friend of mine who works for them why they still have it and he said that it is probably due to the company who sold it (NC Soft) to Walmart never bothered to offer the chain a buy back, leading Walmart to continue selling it (at a severely discounted price) to recoupe some of the cost.
But yeah, I wouldnt really say that Ebay sellers are commiting fraud as there will be someone somewhere who might want the package reguardless of the fact the game is dead or not. I mean if someone is interested in the game or actively searching for a copy, they must at least know something about the game and the fact that its not online anymore.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
Good post - I guess you're right, there could be other reasons people buy it other than to play it. Hadn't considered collectors.Some people however may be interested in purchasing an extinct mmo just for the novelty of it. However, sellers of the game should make it clear that the game is no longer up.
EDIT: didn't read the thread... I agree with the above.
Make it so...
I seen many extinct MMO's for sale at a big chain storemany times and I really want toask them why would they sale a game that people can no longer play. Most stores will not let u return a game once u open it, so the store makes their $$ and the customer is stuck with a game they cannot play.
This same store also has many mmo's they used to have a subscription fee but went F2P later.
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Pfft, I walked into a Future Shop and saw copies of the Matrix Online and SWG's Jump to Lightspeed (which is free now) still on the shelves.
These ebay sellers probably barely speak english. They bought the games in bulk, knowing nothing about the game, and they are trying to sell them. My guess is they have no clue.
So Walmart probably knows the people will bring it back asking for a refund after a failed go, at which point they'll say "You opened it so sorry. Contact the company."
Dirty pool. But meh.. it's capitalism. Whaddaya gonna do?
"TO MICHAEL!"
it's one thing for WalMart or some other PHYSICAL store to have it on the shelves til it disentegrates but for eBay to let scammers sell copies of the game when there is No More game it's downright fraudulent practices and I know eBay wouldn't like their name severely tarnished for committing fraud.
There is no fraud unless the seller is making some kind of false claim like saying that the game servers are live. They are selling a disk in a box - what the buyer does with it is up to them. With RG back in game development, it's entirely plausible that fans and collectors would have an interest in picking something like this up.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Honestly it's not the e-bay thats worries me, because just the fact that the buyer has enough knowledge to go to a site like e-bay and search for a game tells me that there is some knowledge of the market, even if minimum, but instead the retail stores that sell boxes to many kids who buy them thinking the games are still live.
I live in Portugal, and it's very usual to see physical boxes of games like Tabula Rasa, Archlord (this one even went F2P before dieing) and many others haging on retail stores. I find that shamefull to the store itself and to it's staff, but even more than that I think thats just like stealing the clients and it should be punished by law
Selling a cancelled game as a collectable is fine if it's made clear in the marketing that it is offered only on that basis. If a seller states or implies that the game can be played, however, then that's another matter altogether. At the very least it should entitle the buyer to return it if he was misled, and if he was knowingly misled then there may indeed be legal implications.
Heh yeah, one by me still try's to sell Shadowbane and one of it's expansions. $20 each if I'm not mistaken.
It's funny when you see them selling "used" MMOs there :-).
Yeah.
Capitalism + bad economy + no business ethics = buyer beware.
"TO MICHAEL!"
Last year, I sold my Tabula Rasa unopened (had two copies, not a collectors)...for 219 dollars. Two game collectors had a bidding war over it, so I watched the price go up.
It is a big collectors thing, I guess...collect mint condition games. Some not sold anymore, some not playable anymore (like MMO being cancelled)...or some that are playable. Game collectors tend to pay the most for games that aren't sold anymore or/and have servers no longer running.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul