By: Martuk

Note: Every now and then a topic will arise that will require my own personal attention in the form of a really blog-like maybe even rant-like editorial, but with a good point. This is my own opinion and not that of Tentonhammer, the United States of America, or any other life you might like to blame after reading this. It is all my opinion and mine alone. The events you are about to read about took place between Tuesday and Saturday of last week over about six hours of play-time and it involves Gold seller spam and Turbines inability to apparently slow this growing problem.

Well, I think the title speaks for itself. After the week I have had online, I figured it was time to present a little eulogy on this matter. We all know the current issue with gold selling companies who send tells to us in-game while we are right in the middle of something and annoy us to no end. My patience with this as you might have guessed has worn thin as of late. So without further ado, LET THE FLAMES BEGIN!!!

I am usually a pretty patient person, but events dealing with Gold seller spam in LOTRO over the last few weeks have been striking me wrong in a bad way. Over the last few days alone I have received over 20 spam tells and 8 in-game emails in less than six hours of play. I reported each and every one of them, but they just kept coming. I even took about three days off and came back to six more in my mail box and not even ten minutes after logging on, while still deleting and reporting the mail, I GET ANOTHER TELL!!!

Now I know some of you might be thinking I should put myself on Anon and all that fun stuff, but in truth I don’t think so. I shouldn’t have to hide my presence on an MMORPG I pay a monthly fee to participate in. That is very much like going out to dinner and as you get your food some idiot starts jumping up and down waving a neon advertisement banner in front of your table, so you complain to the waiter, but instead of showing the intrusive customer out, the waiter instead hands you some ear plugs and a blind fold, and tells you to just ignore him and enjoy your food. Tell me, would you do that, or would you have your food somewhere else a bit more peaceful?

Now gold spammers are by no means a new problem. We know some of their tricks and tactics. A lot of us even know how some other MMOs have curved some of this annoyance, but unfortunately for the moment at least, Turbine has failed to learn from the works of others. Because of this, we have to log on each day only to be pestered more and more by these annoying individuals.

Turbine has stated that they have “Plans” in the works to deal with this issue, but this issue needs to be dealt with quickly, more quickly than it is currently being handled. It is not just me that is upset about this little problem, and I am one of Turbine’s stronger supporters. One need only look upon the official forums to see the masses in an uproar.

I can’t hold Turbine completely responsible for this though. Some of the blame lies with some of the LOTRO player base. Gold sellers would not waste the time to pester us with this aggravating behavior that results in their account being banned unless there were people out there dumb enough to actually listen to a strange person they have never met tell them where to go and give money for cheap gold. Save yourself the time and just send me your money. I will rip you off just as equally I promise.

Rants aside, this is a very real problem and it is intrusive, annoying, and very distracting. There is nothing worse than being in combat and getting a tell thinking it’s a friend or something important only to see, “So sorry cheap gold and powa levl www.I’matool.com.” That’s a near actual quote. Now I am no expert in fixing these matters, and it’s not really my job. That job belongs with the company we pay to play in Middle Earth, preferably in peace. Other MMOs have figured out ways to at least keep this to a minimal, why can’t Turbine? My analogy on this topic still stands. Would you put up with intrusions like this with any other service you pay for, or would you take the ear plugs and blind fold and use the, “Maybe if I hold really still they won’t see me approach?” That never works in the horror movies either. In closing I would like to just ask Turbine, "Please address this issue and soon." That’s my thoughts, let’s hear yours.

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