So there's a guy on Harbinger, Imperial Fleet, that's selling Twitch codes, basically he's mass-creating fake accounts to make Twitch accounts with, and signing them up for Amazon Prime to get the promo codes and selling them to players on fleet.

 

Something about this screams to me that it's against TOS/EULA. I've already reported him, just to be on the safe side, and let BW handle how that should be investigated, but I'm not overly well versed on the ins and outs of the game rules. Thoughts or insights?

As long as he's not selling them for real money, that sounds like an issue to take up with Amazon or Twitch.

Yeah I was wondering about that if you kept making new accounts while having amazon prime, and keep linking them if they gave you a separate code for it or not, seems like he's not only exploiting but messing around with some bad juju his way once they find out what he's doing.

I'd say he's violating one of the TOS since it's an advertisement promotional deal that can potentially involve real money. Amazon could prosecute as it's directly interfering with their profit. Yes, they have a free trial month, but that doesn't matter. Amazon prime is a fee based subscription. Unless he's creating twitch accts from his Amazon prime but somehow I see that backfiring.

I've already reported him, just to be on the safe side,

 

We're all a lot safer now, thank you.

 

and let BW handle how that should be investigated

 

Most generous of you.

 

Thoughts or insights?

 

Stay out of other people's business.

 

P.S: I have nothing to do with said person, I simply find snitches despicable.

Edited May 6, 2017 by Schoock

It's almost certainly against the tos of twitch/amazon. Whether or not it's in any way illegal and thus prosecutable entirely depends on your country.

if ppl are stupid enough to pay for it.....twitch is for free, prime trial is for free and VPN aint hard to set up...

 

guess u didnt get a "u r a hero" ticket response or what`s the reason behind this thread?

Stay out of other people's business.

 

So if you see someone exploiting or hacking the game, its acceptable to you to just let them continue?

if ppl are stupid enough to pay for it.....twitch is for free, prime trial is for free and VPN aint hard to set up...

 

guess u didnt get a "u r a hero" ticket response or what`s the reason behind this thread?

 

The person was probably curious as it's been acceptable to sell referrals for credits.

Saw them forsale for 20mil in game already.

Aren't they free?

So selling them in game for ANY amount should be treated as "credit sale spam" and dealt with accordingly

Aren't they free?

 

Technically yes but Twitch is only available in a few countries. Also some of us are on networks that have Twitch blocked and can't access the website.

 

I for one can't get the code. I have other walkers so I'm not worrying about it. It's not like we have in chat "Hey dude. Is that the 'xyz' walker with green running lights that you picked up with the 'abc' offer? Sweet!"

Edited May 6, 2017 by dr_mike

This may answer your question OP:

 

http://tos.ea.com/legalapp/WEBTERMS/US/en/PC/

 

6. Rules of Conduct

 

When you access or use an EA Service, you agree that you will not:

 

Sell, buy, trade or otherwise transfer or offer to transfer your EA Account, any personal access to EA Services, or any EA Content associated with your EA Account, including EA Virtual Currency and other Entitlements, either within an EA Service or on a third party website, or in connection with any out-of-game transaction, unless expressly authorized by EA.

 

Also on here:

 

http://www.swtor.com/legalnotices/rulesofconduct

 

General Rules and Guidelines

To keep the Service a compliant, fun, fair and safe gaming environment for everyone, you may not engage in any of the following behavior:

 

Buy, sell, transfer or auction (or host or facilitate the ability to allow others to buy, sell or auction) , or offer to transfer, sell or auction, or buy or accept any offer to transfer, sell or auction, any game Account or game Content, including (without limitation) game characters, character attributes, items, objects, currency, credits or copyrighted material, or any other intellectual property owned or controlled by the Services, or its our licensors, without first obtaining our express written permission, nor may you encourage or induce any other player to participate in such prohibited transaction(s).

 

 

So to answer your question I would say yes he can't do that and should be reported. The above could also apply to those that sell referral links in game.

if ppl are stupid enough to pay for it.....twitch is for free, prime trial is for free and VPN aint hard to set up...

 

guess u didnt get a "u r a hero" ticket response or what`s the reason behind this thread?

 

It's not really a matter of using VPN or not. Amazon will check your card's credentials; and if you're not part of the listed countries you will be unable to get the code.

It seems more like a legality issue on Amazon's side since this is hosted by Amazon and the fake accounts are on Amazon with the express knowledge to exploit the whole thing to try make money off it in game or real world, the fake accounts on swtor are merely a means to an end.

 

Just to be safe you should report these suspicions to Eric Musco in a PM about this and file a ticket with Amazon as well, there will have to be actions taken regarding any suspicious activity if there is any and Bioware as a partner in the promotion would have to make sure it's all above board.

So if you see someone exploiting or hacking the game, its acceptable to you to just let them continue?

 

Depends. This is neither exploiting nor hacking the game, this is helping people get some promotional rewards, which can be acquired with a free trial anyway, even if they're not doing it selflessly. If Amazon has any problems with this I'm pretty sure they have the manpower to deal with it. The OP isn't helping anyone.

I'm sure it violates terms of service for Twitch and Amazon as this is clearly exploiting the promotions program (which is meant to be for personal use only). The intention of this program is to get Twitch members to try Amazon Prime on a 30 day trial and then continue to subscribe to it if they like it. The running joke here is that you can only get one trial per account, so unless you subscribe to Amazon Prime, the best you can do is Twitch Turbo.. which you also would have to pay for, but would not get all the promotions being offered.

 

I doubt if violates terms of service for SWTOR ... as long as they are not selling the codes for real life items. But.. if in doubt.. report it.. and the studio will review and act as they feel is appropriate.

Edited May 6, 2017 by Andryah

Stay out of other people's business.

 

P.S: I have nothing to do with said person, I simply find snitches despicable.

 

A despicable statement for a player to make in my view.

 

Sorry pal.. but seeing something in game that appears that it may be a violation of the ToS/EULA is NOT "snitching". It's reporting an observed behavior of a questionable nature. You are confusing gang rules with real life commercial contract rules.

 

We are encouraged by the studio to report suspicious or questionable behavior and move on. The studio will assess and, if needed, act as required to what is reported.

Edited May 6, 2017 by Andryah

A despicable statement for a player to make in my view.

 

Sorry pal.. but seeing something in game that appears that it may be a violation of the ToS/EULA is NOT "snitching". It's reporting an observed behavior of a questionable nature.

 

We are encouraged by the studio to report suspicious or questionable behavior and move on. The studio will assess and if needed act as required to what is reported.

 

be an unstanding citizen for a day

Is this any different to people selling the referral link on the fleet (something that Bioware have been oddly quiet on whether or not it breaches the ToS)?

Genius.

A despicable statement for a player to make in my view.

 

Sorry pal.. but seeing something in game that appears that it may be a violation of the ToS/EULA is NOT "snitching". It's reporting an observed behavior of a questionable nature. You are confusing gang rules with real life commercial contract rules.

 

We are encouraged by the studio to report suspicious or questionable behavior and move on. The studio will assess and, if needed, act as required to what is reported.

 

snitch noun [ C ] us ​ /snɪtʃ/

​

infml a person who secretly tells someone in authority that someone else has done something bad:

Don’t be a snitch.

 

Source

 

That's about the English part. On the moral part, our friend here hasn't been affected negatively by the actions of the person he reported, it's very likely that the overall state of the game didn't suffer because of it either (like in a case of a credit exploit, for example), so he's not done anything bad, even if it was against the ToS.

This does sound ban-able.

Is this any different to people selling the referral link on the fleet (something that Bioware have been oddly quiet on whether or not it breaches the ToS)?

 

I think it's only a breach of the ToS if you sell an in-game thing for real world money. Credits or in-game item trades seem to be okay. I'm not 100% on that though.

Is it wrong and against the TOS?: Probably.

Will Bioware do anything about it?: Probably not.