I was scammed. That gave me an idea for future gifting events.
Alado1977
Member Posts: 12 ★
So, long story short, I was scammed.
With my own brooding shame my thoughts went into something productive and I would like to share an idea with KABAM for future, maybe next year, gifting events @Kabam Miike. Apologies if this was already suggested.
The primary concern and bottleneck of the existing gift process is "who goes first". If we remove that part of the process, the majority of complaints would cease.
How?
Use a process similiar to Incursions:
1. A similar menu to incursion after you choosen a friend or alliance member. If the other player isn't online he would receive a notification that player X wants to trade.
2. Instead of choosing champs, it would allow you to add the gifts (I'd say 3 types of items) and quantity.
3. The other player would do the same, both sides always visible.
4. Once chosen the items are locked. Either the trade happens or it's cancelled.
5. To confirm the trade, both players would have to hit "OK" or "Trade" or any other confirmation action. If no action is taken after gifts are locked, trades would be cancelled after X minutes.
6. Both players would receive their gifts at the same time. No need to go first for anyone.
This would still allow for generosity gifting. Only one player would put up gifts and both agree on a trade.
This would make gifting slower but more realiable. With happier players, maybe spending could increase?
TL;DR
Had an ideia to eliminate the "who goes first" part
Use a variation of incursions matchmaking method
Thank you for reading.
Happy new year everyone!
With my own brooding shame my thoughts went into something productive and I would like to share an idea with KABAM for future, maybe next year, gifting events @Kabam Miike. Apologies if this was already suggested.
The primary concern and bottleneck of the existing gift process is "who goes first". If we remove that part of the process, the majority of complaints would cease.
How?
Use a process similiar to Incursions:
1. A similar menu to incursion after you choosen a friend or alliance member. If the other player isn't online he would receive a notification that player X wants to trade.
2. Instead of choosing champs, it would allow you to add the gifts (I'd say 3 types of items) and quantity.
3. The other player would do the same, both sides always visible.
4. Once chosen the items are locked. Either the trade happens or it's cancelled.
5. To confirm the trade, both players would have to hit "OK" or "Trade" or any other confirmation action. If no action is taken after gifts are locked, trades would be cancelled after X minutes.
6. Both players would receive their gifts at the same time. No need to go first for anyone.
This would still allow for generosity gifting. Only one player would put up gifts and both agree on a trade.
This would make gifting slower but more realiable. With happier players, maybe spending could increase?
TL;DR
Had an ideia to eliminate the "who goes first" part
Use a variation of incursions matchmaking method
Thank you for reading.
Happy new year everyone!
Post edited by Kabam Porthos on
22
Comments
In my case I've followed every precaution. Only traded with someone I "knew", from the alliance, in our own discord server, that joined the alliance almost a year ago. It was a long con.
I'm just saying that the system of delivery could be improved.
Though, the new steam trading system is much better, but has to be done outside of game to prevent scamming.
Could be a good idea, but I doubt Kabam wants to put their resources into something so intricate that's only used for 2 weeks out of the year.
I'll agree with everyone else, don't trade unless you know the person, that they are reliable and you've garnered a friendly relationship with them. Global is a cesspool is idiocy.
I've never personally been scammed, but I can extend my thoughts beyond myself as I've always been in a trustworthy alliance with mates there. If you want it to be a gifting event, then this system allows you to add nothing and receive a gift. It also prevents scams, which for as much as you say "just trade with people you trust", there is always a chance someone will take your gifts and run. Additionally, not everyone plays in long terms alliances, not everyone has trusted friends in the game. There is a world outside your specific circumstances, and trading is good for those players.
If we use real world examples of what gifting is, when I buy a gift for someone I don’t expect to receive anything in return and especially not the exact same thing that I just gave. And if we look at what the idea of Christmas gifts came from, I very much doubt the Wise Men expected a trade with the newborn that they just gifted.
“It is better to give than it is to receive”.
There will always be scammers, in game and in real life. There will always be bad actors who will take advantage of a situation without thought of the repercussions that it has on another person. But it is what it is. The best anyone can do is take precautions to ensure they don’t fall victim. Once burned, twice cautious.
If Kabam made it a trading event, then so be it. But for now it’s not that, and we as a community shouldn’t confuse the two.
We don't walk up to strangers and say "Hi, I need to give you this thing so I can earn points can I trust you to give me a present back?" If that were the case, then yeah, I'd love a system in place where this stranger offers me up something in return and guarantees they won't leave me high and dry. But this is not real life, it is an event in the game for which we earn points. And the way we earn those points can be by gifting yes, but I doubt many people gift away more than a small percentage of their total without anything in return.
The milestones in the solo event take 3600 units worth of GGCs to collect, that's over 100 dollars. Do you think most people are gifting away that much? No, so a system to prevent scams of up to 100 dollars is not a bad thing - whatever Kabam's intention for the event is there is always the reality of what is happening to consider.
Their intention can be kept alive while squashing scams, the analogy of a book as a replacement hammer is a little off. Instead of a replacement hammer being a book, which doesn't perform the original intention as well - it's more like using a hammer with a claw on the back. It does the original intention exactly the same (you can still gift if needed), but it has another function as well (the claw).
Also your analogy of the gifting event is wrong, the expectation that someone is going to give you anything back because you want points for milestones is irrelevant because the points aren’t earned when you receive something back. They’re earned when you gift. Receiving is a bonus, not a requirement.
And yes I’ve had strangers and online friends gift me 100s of dollars without the expectation to give them something in return, albeit on a different platform. This notion that people won’t do something for someone that involves a monetary value because they’re not going to receive something back is ludicrous.
And you completely missed the analogy of the book and the hammer. Anything can be used as a hammer, it doesn’t mean that is what it’s intended use is.
Stop confusing the meaning of a gift with the meaning of a trade.
Again, missing the point with the milestones. People more than often save units to gift because they want to trade those units. People don't post in chats "who wants a free gift" as often as they post "who wants to trade". You can pretend otherwise but it's quite simply untrue. Yes people use this to gift, and the current system allows it. People more often use it to trade, but the system doesn't protect that, it allows scams. So yes, the act of gifting gets you the points, but there are no measures in place to stop people being scammed.
Ok great, I'm happy you've had people gift you that much. But you're missing my point again. If I say most people aren't using it to gift away 100s of dollars, and you say "it's happened to me", you're not making any semblance of a decent point. I didn't say it's never happened, so your point of "it happened here" doesn't apply. If I say most of the earth is covered in water, and you point to land and say actually there's no water here, it's not exactly relevant.
I got the analogy alright, I just don't think it's remotely relevant and should not be applied, so I suggested a more fitting one. Your analogy of the hammer (current gifting system) being replaced by a book (new system) meant that a book cannot perform the original task (gifting) as well, when in fact, the proposed new system (book) can perform the original task literally just as well, it just offers more. Your analogy is bad, but I got it.
Keep the gifting system as it is and establish a parallel trading system because that is what majority of players do in the game. You want to still gift? Go ahead. But for this eunable to find partners in alliances or close friends , let them use trading system
(Oh and to prevent any “scamming”, there are milestones you still receive for gifting.)
1) It's a lot of effort to code that kind of system.
2) It's literally a 2 week annual event. I don't think Kabam will be willing to invest too many resources to just for that. It hurts to say it, but I can't see this being their priority. Yes it sucks to be scammed, that won't change, but this system is a tall order.
3) If they screw this up, and considering how buggy new mechanics have been recently, then it could lead to a lot of outrage. From what I can see, gifting is one of the big money making events for Kabam, and a system, if implemented and found to be bugged, could cause a lot of players to quit or refrain from spending. Again, I have no actual numbers, but I don't think they would want to take the risk.
4) If there is a bug in the system, then how would they solve it? They'd have to have an emergency maintenance, and who knows how long it will take, or if it even will be solved. It's a limited time event, and I don't think they'd take chances here.
5) Testing the system would be another roadblock, since this is an annual event.
6) There is still room to be scammed, regardless. If scamming has to be fully stopped, it should probably have to become a proper trading event and not a gifting one.
7) There are probably stick going to be technical issues to implementing. @DNA3000 had explained some in a similar post a while back.
To reiterate, I'm all for people not getting scammed. I do want Kabam to find a way to prevent hte scams. It's just that there are some loopholes in this particular idea.
The scam happened. I’m to blame even if I took all the normal precautions. I’ve created an expectation on some return and got nothing. It happens but it’s only a game and a virtual currency. I can buy or amass more in various content.
There might be better ways to gift. Some of you already identified flaws in my idea.
Some might have a better way to gift and if KABAM wants to make changes, good.
If not, the current system works, with flaws, but works. It’s like parry. It works. A bit wonky.
When someone posts in chat that they have x number GGCs to trade, I'm not sending to them until I've received the promised amount. After all, they were the one initiating the exchange in the first place.
Guys….come on. Everyone trades during this event. And now I know I say that and there will be few little rando’s pop up saying “nah man I just gifted everyone in my alliance 100 GGC’s each dude” but like…99% of the community trades gifts, so your 1% generosity doesn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things