HAHAHAHAHAHA
All of you are FOOLS.
I read through this thread and I have to LAUGH.
The EULA against selling online game content wasn't made to prevent anyone from selling the stuff, it was done to give SOE a tool by which they could STOP the MANY MANY complaints from people who COMPLAINED about having bought or sold an item in EQ for RL cash, but did not get paid. There was RAMPANT fraud by people selling items on auctions for RL cash and not getting paid the RL cash after delivering the items.
Joe Noob sells Cloak of Flames for 10 dollars to Sandy Scammer, Sandy gets Cloak, Joe doesn't get paid. What's he do? He complains to SOE, Sandy Ripped me off, I want my Cloak back. Happened THOUSANDS of times, SOE was FLOODED with complaints. Customer Service was BOGGED down to a standstill.
Enter new EULA agreement clause. Joe Noob sells Cloak fo Flames to Sandy Scammer, Doesn't get paid. Joe Complains to SOE, Customer service reply? You are BANNED for selling. End of complaint. No more Customer Service nightmare for SOE. Anyone gets ripped off and complains, they are banned. BAN the seller, BAN the BUYER, BAN BAN BAN if they complain they where defrauded for an out of game agreement. Instant FIX to Customer Service complaints regarding an action SOE can have absolutely no control over, out of game exchanges.
What does this mean for IGE, Supersales, PlayerAuctions?? And why doesn't SOE do anything about them? Because they are a business that is TRUSTWORTHY and does not rip off customers, thereaby PREVENTING any complaints to Customer service about being ripped off, thereaby CUTTING customer service costs to SOE. They provide a service to folks who go out and work for a living and play a few hours a week to be able to trade their RL cash and time for Game cash and time. TIME IS MONEY, in RL or in game. Do you work a RL job for $20.00 an hour and then want to get an item for $10.00 bought from IGE or do you want to camp that item drop for 6 hours of tedious mindnumbing repetitive greenie killing?
Whats more cost effective for you?
That brings me to how IGE and the rest get the PLAT and Items they sell. THEY BUY LOW and RESELL HIGH. Do they have a staff of hackers hacking the game? NO, not cost effective. Do kids who have figured out hacks and cheats sell to them? Yes. Do IGE and Supersales want this stuff? NO!! IT COSTS THEM REAL MONEY to buy dupped and hacked items only to LOOSE it all, items AND the REAL CASH when the hack/dup/exploit is discovered and tracked down.
They prefer to buy stuff from some kid who just spent hours farming the plat to sell it to them for cheap, then they resell for double or triple what they bought it for.
Will SOE stop this activity? NO, so long as it generates no complaints to them about some guy/gal defrauding them by taking cash and not delivering items, or by taking items and not delivering cash, it does not effect the game. It enhances the game for those that would prefer to make RL cash at job and then spend some on game cash since they get items at a cost effective exchange of TIME.