Well then... Boycot (is that how it's spelled?) Bazaar I say!
Let's all get back to Freeport where you must trade and deal everything yourself and without having to use your character as a bot! Good old days I tell ya! Good old days!! Me thinks having a zone spammed by trading messages is better than having some kids's parents (because some kids out there prolly ask their parents to buy them those EQ platinums from IGE) being ripped off, and better than ripping players' money who just try to have well equipped chars.
Another option that will, just like the FreePort trading, not happen is that all this will force players to go back to questing and force players to earn the item instead of buying it... But of course that's not likely to happen because (I dont know what I'm talking about here) if those items are so highly priced, it must be because they are hard to obtain and as such, not many people have the chance to earn it themselves.
Ooo... I know, we could all start a website called "Pay now to save later" and collect small donations from all those who are pissed about this situation to hire some expert-hackers who will abolish and destroy all pages selling EQ platinums and high end gears! This would rock!
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I'm sorry... I just find it very very sad and weird that a
GAME has taken such proportions that it is being exploited and so severly taken seriously by some individuals... But then again, I too once claimed that "EQ isn't just a game" (every addict's moto), so I'm not well placed to speak
...
P.S.: My theory is that "The more the people are lazy, the more likely they are to be exploited" because they will be less likely to *be fully conscious of the situation*, and this leads them to be looking for
easy solutions instead of
information. And the less informed they are the more they'll be exploited, and the more the exploitation is severe, the more they look for easy solutions to adapt themselves, etc etc etc... It is a kind of loop, I think. That is until it breaks by the hand of individuals that try to
change the situation instead of trying to adapt themselves to it. That's what needs to be done.
The 4k spells are a good exemple. Earning 4k pp to buy the spell when if one had informed oneself (did I just invent a new word?
) better, he could'a gotten it for 4pp!