Alphaville Herald

Lead Architect begins liquidating holdings on TSO, plans operations in other MMORPGs

In this interview we talk to Lead Architect, a big player on TSO as seller of simoleans and rares, and (as his name suggests) home design. But the buzz on TSO is that he is liquidating his holdings of simoleans. What are Lead?s plans? It looks like he is going to stake out territory as a dealer in at least a dozen other MMORPGs. Read on for details.

urizenus_sklar: Lead, rumor has it that you are liquidating your supply of simoleans and are going to be branching out to currency sales in many other games (as your new site suggests: http://creditsfast.com/). Any truth to the rumor?
Lead Architect: yes
urizenus_sklar: lol, so what's the long term plan -- I mean besides becoming a Really Big Dog.
Lead Architect: i don?t have a long term plan i am just tired of seeing my sales falling from where they were a few months ago to what they are now i need to move more volume if i want to stay ahead rather than just sitting on my stock waiting for it to gain value
urizenus_sklar: Do you think the drop in sales reflects a drop in users on tso?
Lead Architect: no i think the drop in sales reflects the growing interest in the virtual vending business that has sprouted over the course of this summer, there are alot more sellers now than before and many more choices for consumers than previously, even tho supply is still just as hard or even harder to come by now days
urizenus_sklar: If there is so much competition, how come the prices are holding, if not going up?
Lead Architect: because simoleans are still incredibly slow to produce, i try to find people to buy from rather than wasting time producing them myself, it is just a fact that its faster to buy them than to make them
urizenus_sklar: Well, ok, but you have, by many accounts, accumulated a huge inventory of simoleans. Some say you may have up to a billion. Care to comment on the size of your tso inventory?
Lead Architect: no comment
urizenus_sklar: lol, but you are currently looking to sell off a large chunk of your inventory?
Lead Architect: yes
urizenus_sklar: Is the though that you will reinvest it in the other games listed on your site?
Lead Architect: yes i will invest in those games plus i will invest in even more throughout time, to this day i have always been a 1 person operation but i may consider following the lead of success that another big name company has set as precidence
urizenus_sklar: are you talking about IGE or Online Gamebucks?
Lead Architect: i am talking about IGE, onlinegamebucks sells for IGE, although that is a good way to start it doesnt validate your position.
urizenus_sklar: Well, I notice that for now, for most of the 12 games listed on your site you have click-throughs to IGE. I gather that in the fullness of time you would like to have your own operation in those games?
Lead Architect: i will indeed have my own operation in every one of those games and every server on each of those games
urizenus_sklar: :o
urizenus_sklar: every server in every game?
Lead Architect: well out of the games i have listed on my site, but i definitely plan to be in at least a few more games than just those
urizenus_sklar: Sounds like you will need some help, if for nothing else then for deliveries.
Lead Architect: i don?t plan to stay a 1 person operation for much longer
urizenus_sklar: How are you going to compete with IGE? Will you be less expensive?
Lead Architect: i wont have to compete with them really all i have to do is offer everything that they do at a very close price to them just because they are well known doesn?t mean i cannot become as well, look what i did in tso in only 7 months time from scratch
urizenus_sklar: true, so you think the market is big enough for several players then
Lead Architect: i believe it is for those who have the desire and drive yes but it takes dedication and it takes pre-thought out planning
urizenus_sklar: Since this is now the Second Life Herald, let me ask when you think you might be up and running in Second Life.
Lead Architect: I have no official date set yet as to when i will be vending my own currency in second life, however i plan to be in the game within a month
urizenus_sklar: Do you have an agent there, or will you set up your own account in the game.
Lead Architect: i will set up my own account in the game
urizenus_sklar: Are you going to continue offering other services like home design?
Lead Architect: probably not, because of the time constraints that just doing what i do now sets on me.
urizenus_sklar: What about rare objects. will you still be selling those in tso and other games?
Lead Architect: yes i will
urizenus_sklar: Is the cannon business still booming in tso?
Lead Architect: absolutely not, but i never thought it really would get that big considering the massive amounts of cannons introduced into tso by ian
urizenus_sklar: and he did all that with his temp accounts?
Lead Architect: i will not assume anything that i dont know for a fact so all i will say is i do not know how he did it or even why he did it on such a large scale as i believe if he had introduced maybe even just 5% of the amount he did he could have made a much more long term profit on them as well as other sellers
urizenus_sklar: well how on earth could he get those cannons without using his temp accounts?
Lead Architect: i personally got quite a few cannons into tso myself without the use of a single temp account, i actually purchased the full games from wholesalers and then gave them away for free to people who agreed to become a referral for me.
urizenus_sklar: Last question: have you been having any trouble with clones lately? or has that problem dissipated.
Lead Architect: i havent had many recent complaints or questions about clones so maybe he has decided to do something different, in any case most people are already educated about them thanks to your article
urizenus_sklar: OK Lead, keep us posted. Especially let us know when you are up and running in SL.

Gaming Open Market suspends trading after being defrauded

Our friends at Gaming Open Market have suspended trading in all game currencies except Second Life Lindens after being defrauded for $3K US by a buyer of ISK and SWG credits. As might be expected, it is the usual scam taking advantage of the fact that PayPal refuses to honor purchases of "virtual" goods. (Remember Julian Dibbell's problem with this last October?). Also, as might be expected, the lazy fucks at Sony are doing nothing to help GOM in this matter. Kudos once again to Linden Lab for being supportive of GOM. Jamie Hale's press release follows.

Sunday afternoon, a new client purchased over $3000.00 worth of ISK and SWG credits. He nagged us for delivery, and then immediately after receiving the goods, reversed the charges claiming we never delivered. He was making use of a well-known loophole in PayPal's chargeback policy that favours the purchasers of "intangible goods" over the sellers. He explained this to us in an email he sent today. He claims the ISK and credits he stole are "payment" for the lesson he tought us.

This incident has been reported to the FBI Internet Fraud Department, and tomorrow to the RCMP. We have compiled as much information as possible on this person, including his name, address, phone number, email addresses and the IPs used to log into our site. All of this information will be turned over to the authorities.

Now, the complaints registered with the FBI were two-fold. The first was about this person who scammed us. The second was about PayPal. PayPal's policy rewarding the perpetrators of this type of fraud not only makes it easy, it actually *encourages* it. Please take this as a lesson learned the hard way. If you deal in any "intangible goods", be it downloaded software, music, documents and data, or game currencies or items, PayPal is *not* your friend.

We are currently providing as detailed information as possible to the PayPal fraud department, but we're not holding out hope for a favourable settlement. Our PayPal representative has made it very clear that we can provide any evidence we want, but that it doesn't matter - we deal in intangible goods and hence have no rights.

*** NOTE: Any employees of CCP or Sony Online Entertainment (or any other game publisher for that matter) are encouraged to contact us. We know we violate your user agreement - we just want this behaviour to stop! It hurts everyone, *including* your paying clients! I know you have detailed transaction records proving exactly when and where those transactions were made. This information could help get the ball rolling. Linden Lab has worked with this. So can you! ***

Now we have always called ourselves a "secure way to trade". By that we mean that we *actually* provide seller protection because *we* guaranty delivery. We are holding true to this policy, and absorbing this $3000.00 loss. This $3000.00 is approximately 70% of our profits since January. We didn't build GOM to make us rich. We built it as an experiment in digital world economies, and to provide people like you with a cheaper and more efficient alternative to eBay. We cannot afford to be tought another lesson.

Until further notice, all trading in *all* games except Second Life is halted. All currency you may have on deposit with us will be returned to you at a mutually convenient time. Please request a withdrawal and contact either Tom or myself to schedule it. PayPal withdrawals will also be made on our regular sporadic schedule.

Linden Lab (creators of Second Life) is the only publisher to support our efforts. Second Life business will continue as usual. Please accept my apologies for this delay. Linden Lab has worked with us before on this type of fraud, and we're confident that our future with them will be long, happy and prosperous for all. :)

Keep yer stick on the ice.

Jamie Hale
President - Gaming Open Market Corp.
[email protected]

Open Letter from AV?s Home Designer: Keep Guard up Against TSO Hackers

Recent surges in hacking have led to many problems in The Sims Online. This is an issue I need to alert you people of. My account along with other Big Companies or ppl such as Lead artitect have been tampered with. It is vital that anybody playing The Sims Online should do the following. Do not open or download attachments sent from a source that claims to be EA. Electronic Arts NEVER SENDS ATTACHMENTS TO CUSTOMERS. Never open something you?re not sure of. And always do a full scan of your computer from norton or McCafee. Many "Hackers" have been linked to several Scammers and Mafia's throughout Alphaville.(but they can attack whenever they want). If you feel your computer has been hacked, DO NOT Change your password through the computer, because the hackers can just get the new one as soon as you type it in. INSTEAD call EA Games and change it thru the phone. Pleae contact me for more information. Thanks

-Submitted by: www.AlphavilleDesigns.tk
=====
President of Alphaville Designs
Ebay: leaddesignertso
AV: Home Designer
BF: Roof Designer
JP: Lead Designer
CC: Home Builder
DG: Home Builder
MF: GI Kelly

Second Life Real Estate Sales Picked up by Press

Seems like the sales of "real estate" by the Lindens (and the "taxation of it) are catching a lot of attention, starting with this Reuters article, and this meta-discussion on Terra Nova. I wonder what MMORPG Reuters was referring to with this remark: "The Second Life world is a little over a year old, but in its accelerated ecosystem, where players fly and don't waste time eating or going to the bathroom, a commercial society has quickly emerged -- complete with stores, artisans, charities and social clubs. "

Gaming Open Market Rocks On

Even though Gaming Open Market has left TSO (and who can blame them!), we still like to follow their project. Following is their latest press release. One thing that caught my eye is that when version 1.4 comes onstream in Second Life they are going to have full service tellers. Nice.

Rock on Jamie!

Here's a short but exciting update:

Congratulations! You have traded over $100,000 through us since we launched! What do you think - $200,000 by September? :)

Sign In
=======

You can now sign in using your email address instead of your account number. We used account numbers to start to make it more .bank-like. but I'd say that a good 30% of the support emails we get are for lost account numbers! Another 40% are for lost passwords. You can now reset your own password simply by entering your email address and the answer to your security question (the one you picked when you registered).

New Games
=========

You can now trade your Magic The Gathering Online event tickets. Tom has set block size at 1 event ticket.

Fees
====

As of midnight tonight (EST . if I'm awake to flip it over), sellers will pay 3% of the amount sold instead of 3 cents per block. All other fees will remain the same.

There?
======

We've had some relatively bad news about There, and the future is a little unclear. As a result, the bottom fell out of the TBUX market. At today's rates, you get 2700 Therebucks per $1.00 spent instead of the standard 1787 that There Inc. give you. Not a bad deal at all.

Second Life
===========

Those of you who have made deposits at the in-world ATMs over the past few days might have noticed that your account hasn't been updated. Or perhaps it has been updated but it took a very long time. I've spoken with Cory and he says they're working on it. And today I get to dig through all the deposits that have been made and make sure that your accounts are correct.

Second Life 1.4 is getting very close. Watch for full service ATMs when it arrives.

Also, as an incentive, I've noticed that Second Life is offering There members a discount on their membership. Those of you who are pessimistic about There's future, or even just interested in trying out something new, can get the details here (http://secondlife.com/thereians/join.php).

As always, Gaming Open Market makes it very easy for you to move your accumulated wealth into other games. Just watch the markets for a good time to trade!

Help Wanted
===========

We're swamped, but we still have *huge* plans. :) We have started development on GOM 2.0 and we're looking for some hardcore geeks to help us out. You must be Canadian, preferrably near Toronto. We're not prejudiced. It's just easier that way. Hard to meet for beer and wings if you're not local! PHP programming experience is an absolute requirement. Preference will be given to those of you who have used Mojavi and Smarty. You will be compensated either in equity or through a profit-sharing program. If you're interested in helping us push GOM to the next level, send your resume to [email protected] NOTE: Please send PDF or ASCII text only! Word documents will *not* be opened.

Sincerely,

Jamie Hale
President - Gaming Open Market Corp.
[email protected]
http://www.gaminopenmarket.com