Exactly what it says on the tin. Should people who use the Darkfall advertising links get them removed / their topics about them get deleted?

For those that don't know: Aventurine is paying players $10 for each and every player they bring into the game ( via buying it ) and this sounds ridiculously like grass shoots marketing ( which is illegal ) and a bit of a pyramid scheme in it's own way ( which is also illegal ).

So, should those with it in their signatures have it removed / their posts on it deleted?

EDIT: To those that don't get it, read this: Darkfall Community Publishing Program Offers Money Making Opportunities

i say no as it shouldnt be happening but everyone should be free to post what they wish unless its a gold seller or something like that in which case i would agree but i dont think this is the case care to elaborate ? more info would be helpful

I have no problems whatsoever with MMORPG.com being filled with ads - the site has to make money to stay afloat.

But if people start running their own ad campaings in this forum  - that should be dealt with, imho. I guess a number of users here have their own companies - what's to stop them from spreading ads here as well?

So yes, remove these darkfall ads. .

Don't understand what this OP is trying to say...

This doesn't actually sound ridiculously like "grass shoots marketing", it just sounds ridiculously like "recruit a friend", but instead of getting in-game items, you get 10 bucks. RIDICULOUSLY LIKE THAT

A pyramyd scheme would be if they got an amount of money also for players brought to the game by the player they originally brought to the game, and for the players that those players brought, etc.

Heh......... just when I started thinking about trying the game out.

No way I'm going to now. F' viral referral link BS.

GG Darkfall.

What the hell are you folks complaining about?

Most games do this, WoW, EvE, LOTRO, EQ2, WAR, etc etc... the only difference is, AV gives you 10 bucks, the other games give you a free month of gameplay (15 bucks).

This isnt new, its not sinister, its not evil, and it sure as hell isnt illegal.

Its called word of mouth / affiliate marketing. Welcome to the internet folks.

As long as people keep their Darkfall Advertising in their sigs and not creating a mass of new threads about them then no, I dont agree with OP's suggestion.
Anyone is supposed to be free to have whatever crap they want in their sig, unless it violates mmorpg.com's Rules of Conduct, which I am too lazy to read xD. If it does, whatever we say will be meaningless anyways ;p.

well darkfall is in the list of games on this site. if its just some random company spewing crap that has nothing to do with any of the games on this site it should be a no go but to say noone should post any links refering to a game seems kinda silly.  like i said before if the link is in fact nothing more then gold sellers or something of the like no it should be deleted but everyone should be free to post whatever link they feel as long as it has to do with a mmorpg. which kinda makes sense alot of games would probably never be heard of if not for someone posting a link on this site so idk just a thought .

Originally posted by Pyrostasis

What the hell are you folks complaining about?

Most games do this, WoW, EvE, LOTRO, EQ2, WAR, etc etc... the only difference is, AV gives you 10 bucks, the other games give you a free month of gameplay (15 bucks).

This isnt new, its not sinister, its not evil, and it sure as hell isnt illegal.

Its called word of mouth / affiliate marketing. Welcome to the internet folks.

sorry but no cant agree with youu there one is actual monetary gain where the other is non monetary you really cant sell "ok you can but still" that free month as its a free month going on your acct 10$ is 10$ anyway you look at it being payed money and being given a sub are two different things at least imo

Originally posted by Pyrostasis

What the hell are you folks complaining about?

Most games do this, WoW, EvE, LOTRO, EQ2, WAR, etc etc... the only difference is, AV gives you 10 bucks, the other games give you a free month of gameplay (15 bucks).

This isnt new, its not sinister, its not evil, and it sure as hell isnt illegal.

Its called word of mouth / affiliate marketing. Welcome to the internet folks.

The problem is that its money, not free gameplay. Its the difference between buying poker chips to  play at a reputable casino and playing 3 card monty on the subway.

Whats to stop gold selling companies giving you real cash for having their link in your sig? What about computer companies? Maybe even your ISP could pay you some money for an ad in your sig.

Aventurine is ridiculous.

If the game's promotion is based on required posting in non-official forums with either a referral link or having to post a link within that games official forums pointing to the off-site post, then yes they should be moderated.

If the poster's only reason for being on MMORPG.com is to promote their referral, yes they should be moderated.

If a poster is compensated with out-of-game rewards other than subscription time, yes they should be moderated.

If a minimally active member of this forum posts about their "buddy key" (or whatever title you want to give it) within a thread that is set up for that, no they should not be moderated.

If a MMORPG.com member posts normally and has an appropriate graphic signature with a referral link preferably stating it is a referral and is for a MMORPG game, no they should not be moderated.

 Essentially if it is SPAM and/or the poster is rewarded in the real world for posting a referral then it should be moderated.

Originally posted by Pyrostasis

What the hell are you folks complaining about?

Most games do this, WoW, EvE, LOTRO, EQ2, WAR, etc etc... the only difference is, AV gives you 10 bucks, the other games give you a free month of gameplay (15 bucks).

This isnt new, its not sinister, its not evil, and it sure as hell isnt illegal.

Its called word of mouth / affiliate marketing. Welcome to the internet folks.

As someone else mentioned, to get the benefits in other games, you usually have to play with the person, AND they get a trial. For Darkfall, you just post a referral link, big up the game and have those people drop $50 or whatever and you get a fifth of that. It's like the difference between INTRODUCING a friend to something and SELLING a person something.

Originally posted by conanaras

As long as people keep their Darkfall Advertising in their sigs and not creating a mass of new threads about them then no, I dont agree with OP's suggestion.
Anyone is supposed to be free to have whatever crap they want in their sig, unless it violates mmorpg.com's Rules of Conduct, which I am too lazy to read xD. If it does, whatever we say will be meaningless anyways ;p.

Easy enough:

Advertisements
MMORPG.com does not allow users to advertise products or companies in our forums. If you want to advertise, contact support@mmorpg.com.

Referral Links
MMORPG.com does not support its members posting links for which they are entitled to reward. This constitutes advertising on the forums. If you wish to purchase advertising with us, please contact admin@mmorpg.com.
 

So I'd say the answer is yes, they should be reported and removed, as they violate the site's Rules of Conduct.

I don't really understand why people are up in arms against this promotional idea; I've been considering doing it myself and I just started playing the game.  It's not as if posting a link to the game purchasing/account sign up will suddenly pursuade some unsuspecting individual into buying the game.  The only thing this is doing is allowing more interaction with Aventurine and it's playerbase, giving incentive to advertise the game (which happens anyway due to word of mouth) and gives the company possible new subscribers which benefits the player in the end anyway.

It's a smart move on their part, getting the players involved with more incentive to play and tell their friends etc as well as a potentially cheaper method of advertising the game for the company.  What's the difference between the banners you see plastered all over this site and someone posting a banner on a website/forum?

 Most games can have a sticky in their forums for referrals and the referrals could be limited to 'x' number per month or something like that (by the publisher). For example, EvE allowed me 3 per month whereas WoW might allow 5. Since DF has opted to go the "commision" route, a sticky wouldn't really server the same purpose as it does in other forums. 

For that reason, I don't really have a problem with sigs that have it, but would get a bit annoyed if a bunch of threads started flooding the forums. Let's hope DF doesn't get enough players to cause that sort of problem! (kidding!). Really, it's all down to the site ToS. If you don't like them and feel they violate the rules, report them and let the mods sort it out.

Originally posted by mklinic

 Most games can have a sticky in their forums for referrals and the referrals could be limited to 'x' number per month or something like that (by the publisher). For example, EvE allowed me 3 per month whereas WoW might allow 5. Since DF has opted to go the "commision" route, a sticky wouldn't really server the same purpose as it does in other forums. 

For that reason, I don't really have a problem with sigs that have it, but would get a bit annoyed if a bunch of threads started flooding the forums. Let's hope DF doesn't get enough players to cause that sort of problem! (kidding!). Really, it's all down to the site ToS. If you don't like them and feel they violate the rules, report them and let the mods sort it out.

This sounds like the perfect balance.  Yet I still see both irrational sides being unhappy with it.

Letting players hype a game they like is fine.

Mostly what I'd like to see reduced are links with referral IDs in them.  But I'm not sure if it's even feasible for the site to enforce such a rule, and it'd be more realistic to err on the side of not doing anything about it unless things really get out of hand (but I'm sure if we see even 20% of threads being darkfall ad spam, they'll get closed down by mods.)

Players hyping their favorite game is fine and good.

An army of zombie advertisers spamming referral links is less good.

I think the votes speak for themselves.  Haha. 

Yes, advertising is agent the terms of use on the site.