I
imported_revenant2
Guest
One of the fallacies that's put forward about scammers in Ultima Online is that, like in real life, dishonest people who lie will come along, and when that happens, the onus is on you to be aware of what's happening and not fall for scammers' tricks.
I've known all along for this not to be true from practical experience. My (quite elderly, now dead) grandmother was taken in by a group of scammers who were staying in her house with her, tending to her needs and things and appearing to befriend her. All the while, they were stealing the money in her bank account in a scam-like way. When it was found out, the people were charged with a *crime* and went to *jail*, and the court ordered the money paid back (which, over time, it was).
Here's a recent case I just came upon, one which more closely resembles what we see in UO. A direct link to the news story is here:
http://www.pe.com/localnews/rialto/stories/PE_News_Local_D_video18.3b82d06.html
A scammer made a phone call to a taco joint and lied, and scammed them out of a bunch of food. Because they actually made a video of themselves doing it, they provided enough evidence of their crime to get charged.
Now the point being here: The UO perspective is that the behavior itself is, in general, permitted. It's not a case of the UO policy saying that there can never be enough evidence; therefore, there's nothing that can ever be done.
When someone agrees to sell you item #1, and then puts something up in a trade window and the item looks very similar to the thing you want to buy, then you click your diamond, and the thing that lands in your pack is a much less valuable item #2 - - - this represents a bona-fide scam. In UO, this scammer can even brag about it right afterward, and even in those cases, calling the only possible equivalent of the police (the GMs) does not result in the scammer being dealt with as the thief that he is.
Have you ever heard a real life scammer try to justify his actions to someone else? I have. They say the same things I hear out of the ones in UO (you can hear the ones in UO if you see a scam happen and confront the scammer personally). They blame the victim and act condescending and try to make you think that the mechanics of the scam itself makes it not qualify as stealing. They are psychoes, and the way that they sound so similar to the UO ones makes me think the UO ones might be the same breed of person.
UO has done a lot to take tools away from scammers. Trade windows used to be very problematic in this, and much of that is fixed now. Secure house trading via the house sign now exists. They've really done a lot.
If someone at some point in that effort said "this technical effort replaces the need to deal with the remaining types of scamming", I raise issue with this.
I'm not saying that every single scam needs to be chased down by the GMs and resolved, but the policy of permitting scammers to boldly and openly scam people is no good. As one really easy example, there are clear-cut cases where a scammer will be standing there doing the behavior, and the behavior is easily verifiable by the GM showing up on a normal player account and appearing to fall for the scam. There are other cases where the scammer will brag about the behavior or engage in other speech with the victim that evidences what happened.
If GM account privileges are not powerful enough to do a good job at things like this, maybe they should find a way. Maybe pick one senior GM per shift who will deal with the stuff effectively.
I know that GMs can't rectify all scam incidents and that the GMs have to be careful not to be scammed themselves. But it should still be possible to take a harder line on scammers as the thieves that they are, and the possibility of returning scammed items to their rightful owners should not be out of the question.
The position that it's acceptable to scam and lie to take money from someone else isn't valid, and this is most evident in the way that justice systems the world over deal with real scammers. Yes it takes human resources to deal with it, but that's the price you pay for getting the job all the way done.
I've known all along for this not to be true from practical experience. My (quite elderly, now dead) grandmother was taken in by a group of scammers who were staying in her house with her, tending to her needs and things and appearing to befriend her. All the while, they were stealing the money in her bank account in a scam-like way. When it was found out, the people were charged with a *crime* and went to *jail*, and the court ordered the money paid back (which, over time, it was).
Here's a recent case I just came upon, one which more closely resembles what we see in UO. A direct link to the news story is here:
http://www.pe.com/localnews/rialto/stories/PE_News_Local_D_video18.3b82d06.html
A scammer made a phone call to a taco joint and lied, and scammed them out of a bunch of food. Because they actually made a video of themselves doing it, they provided enough evidence of their crime to get charged.
Now the point being here: The UO perspective is that the behavior itself is, in general, permitted. It's not a case of the UO policy saying that there can never be enough evidence; therefore, there's nothing that can ever be done.
When someone agrees to sell you item #1, and then puts something up in a trade window and the item looks very similar to the thing you want to buy, then you click your diamond, and the thing that lands in your pack is a much less valuable item #2 - - - this represents a bona-fide scam. In UO, this scammer can even brag about it right afterward, and even in those cases, calling the only possible equivalent of the police (the GMs) does not result in the scammer being dealt with as the thief that he is.
Have you ever heard a real life scammer try to justify his actions to someone else? I have. They say the same things I hear out of the ones in UO (you can hear the ones in UO if you see a scam happen and confront the scammer personally). They blame the victim and act condescending and try to make you think that the mechanics of the scam itself makes it not qualify as stealing. They are psychoes, and the way that they sound so similar to the UO ones makes me think the UO ones might be the same breed of person.
UO has done a lot to take tools away from scammers. Trade windows used to be very problematic in this, and much of that is fixed now. Secure house trading via the house sign now exists. They've really done a lot.
If someone at some point in that effort said "this technical effort replaces the need to deal with the remaining types of scamming", I raise issue with this.
I'm not saying that every single scam needs to be chased down by the GMs and resolved, but the policy of permitting scammers to boldly and openly scam people is no good. As one really easy example, there are clear-cut cases where a scammer will be standing there doing the behavior, and the behavior is easily verifiable by the GM showing up on a normal player account and appearing to fall for the scam. There are other cases where the scammer will brag about the behavior or engage in other speech with the victim that evidences what happened.
If GM account privileges are not powerful enough to do a good job at things like this, maybe they should find a way. Maybe pick one senior GM per shift who will deal with the stuff effectively.
I know that GMs can't rectify all scam incidents and that the GMs have to be careful not to be scammed themselves. But it should still be possible to take a harder line on scammers as the thieves that they are, and the possibility of returning scammed items to their rightful owners should not be out of the question.
The position that it's acceptable to scam and lie to take money from someone else isn't valid, and this is most evident in the way that justice systems the world over deal with real scammers. Yes it takes human resources to deal with it, but that's the price you pay for getting the job all the way done.