Gifting Badge Discussion [Merged Threads]

A_Noob_Is1 · March 2019

That was a stupid move kabam. It's like saying " There are cheaters in AW, so let's ban AW"

OMC_Pinto · March 2019

Nikskini said:
Thanks for 300 units just had question if gifting badge returns in future will we be able to trade this 300 units for gifting badge?

AND, the in game units are cheaper than the refund I am requesting from Apple.

Maximus_Spankerson · March 2019

I suggest taking a moment and adding your honest feedback in Apple and Google app stores.

Onmix · March 2019

Fredhorst23 said:

Onmix said:
I apologize if this has already been addressed. I read about 6-7 pages and nothing popped up with search.

When they return the gifting badge (if they do it) will we have to pay $30 USD again or will it be given to us for free?

Another way of asking it is. Are the 300 units supposed to compensate the temporary removal of the gifting badge (for the inconvenience) or is the removal permanent and when they allow it back will we have to pay again ?

Anybody know ?
Unfortunately mods haven't spoken up about any questions, ideas, concerns, etc. pretty much at all in this thread. It's one of those hot lava topics that I'm sure they're told to leave alone until they can close it down. The only resource you have in here is the group of people speaking for kabam unofficially, giving out answers like they have the inside scoop on the situation. So if you decide to, correctly, ignore those voices, the only way you'll find out any info is to play for the rest of the year and see what happens. I ASSUME when the annual gifting events come up it's free for everyone. IF they bring back normal gifting I assume it will just be reinstated to those who had it already without extra charge, and hopefully with some new failsafes in place like higher item costs or level qualifications. But I dont work there so I dont KNOW.

Thanks for the clarification man.

I honestly see no problem if they eventually return the gifting badge to those of us who payed for it.
If they permanently remove it that’s a whole other story.

But there is no point in getting into it now or condemning them without know that first.

Here’s hoping they share some insight with us on that matter.

Woogieboogie · March 2019

Quite a let down. Would like the 30$ back

NiteAndDae · March 2019

This might help explain a bit, specifically names MCOC:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/kotaku.com/criminals-are-using-clash-of-clans-to-launder-money-ne-1827698965/amp

Kura_mi_qjte69 · March 2019

Hi, Guys from Kabam!
If you have problems with some individuals who are cheating it is your responsibility to catch them and sort it out. But why innocent people like me have to suffer ! First of all I didn't spend units for Gift Badge to be compensated with units I spent real money for it and I am expecting real money back or with a simple words we as a buyers have rights! And with your act you breaking the law! As a example imagine that you buy from the shop TV and the producer find out after 3 years that there is manufacture problem with it and they come in your home take the TV back and as a compensation they giving you aerial vouchers! I am personally not happy with your decision and I am not going to claim your proposed unit! Also I am very concerned about any purchases in the future and I hope that other people will support my opinion!

Demonzfyre · March 2019

zeezee57 said:

Demonzfyre said:

zeezee57 said:
@Demonzfyre

My other point of contention is this, with the gifting badges removed from the store already, thus eliminating the means for banned accounts to then create new accounts, is there no way the already purchased badges could've been salvaged while still rooting out the problem? Once an account is banned for this disgusting activity there's no way they could acquire a new badge. Admittedly this solution would take a little longer to fully eliminate the problem and would require a bit more work on Kabam's end, which i know isn't how they operate, but in the interest of customer satisfaction and doing right by the people who purchased a badge and used it appropriately wouldn't this course of action seem better suited to resolve the problem?

Again I agree that something has to be done to keep any form of credit card fraud out of MCOC, this just seems to fall in line with all the other issues where Kabam seems to do the bare minimum with regard to accommodating their customers and their poor handling of situations that clearly matter to the community.
Well we really don't know the extent to what exactly is being effected. What we know is that gifting was being abused through the use of stolen information. We don't know the exact methods or means and they wont tell us and they shouldn't. I've had the gifting badge since the very first time it was offered. I honestly don't know when the last time it was offered up as part of a unit package.

To me, they are doing this at the behest of Google and Apple while they figure out a way to handle this through the justice system. It seems like the "bare minimum" because we can't see behind the scenes. Keep in mind, the community over reacts on just about every issue regardless of how big or small. Most of the failed expectations come from people who don't know what they are talking about (not saying that's you, you're normally level headed) and react without thinking.

Personally, I'd rather give it some time before making any other assumptions. Kabam isn't perfect, I wasn't happy about 12.0, I tend to agree they do more and more to get people to spend and I spend a lot but I also think a lot of this frustration is misplaced and to early.
My bringing this up is in response to their stating this being an issue. I'm merely asking would this not be a possible solution that works in both the favor of players who purchased the badge as well as stamping out fraudulent activity. I'm aware Kabam isn't going to disclose details, it would be unreasonable to expect otherwise, but a general statement as to why there was no solution possible aside from complete removal is a reasonable request, especially when this is something real currency was required to obtain.

Most of what comes after your first paragraph is speculation on your part which I'm trying to avoid. I don't want to raise points based on what I believe to be true without knowing for sure. As usual Kabam could be more forthcoming and transparent with us about things like this. A look into my post history will show I defend Kabam when I believe it's warranted and vice versa. They have a great product which all of us clearly enjoy, but overall they leave far too much to be desired as far as community relations go.

Most of anything said in this thread is speculation and misinformation. The community itself is doing a fantastic job of convoluting the details because of feelings being hurt. Miike has already stated that its coming from Google and Apple as fraudulent/stolen info, so we have that statement already and its not speculation. Miike has said a lot in this thread alone and even admitted that hes being more honest than he should be as well. I am also trying to avoid any speculation and also trying to correct any info that is way off base.

The eternal argument will remain "Did I pay for a gifting badge or did I pay for units and got a gifting badge". Again, the hatred needs to be directed at the criminals not Kabam as a company. I honestly can't think of anything that could be done differently in this situation that would prevent more fraud. I haven't seen any other ideas as well that would fix that either.

Demonzfyre · March 2019

Fredhorst23 said:

Onmix said:
I apologize if this has already been addressed. I read about 6-7 pages and nothing popped up with search.

When they return the gifting badge (if they do it) will we have to pay $30 USD again or will it be given to us for free?

Another way of asking it is. Are the 300 units supposed to compensate the temporary removal of the gifting badge (for the inconvenience) or is the removal permanent and when they allow it back will we have to pay again ?

Anybody know ?
Unfortunately mods haven't spoken up about any questions, ideas, concerns, etc. pretty much at all in this thread. It's one of those hot lava topics that I'm sure they're told to leave alone until they can close it down. The only resource you have in here is the group of people speaking for kabam unofficially, giving out answers like they have the inside scoop on the situation. So if you decide to, correctly, ignore those voices, the only way you'll find out any info is to play for the rest of the year and see what happens. I ASSUME when the annual gifting events come up it's free for everyone. IF they bring back normal gifting I assume it will just be reinstated to those who had it already without extra charge, and hopefully with some new failsafes in place like higher item costs or level qualifications. But I dont work there so I dont KNOW.

That's not true at all. Miike has been all up and down this thread. Just because you haven't seen him comment in a minute doesn't mean hes still not looking at the thread. Could also be not at work too.

Gryphon · March 2019

I understand that fraud happens. You SHOULD take means to prevent it. I'm OK with taking away gifting via units. We should be better compensated for the loss.

Additionally, if you reaaaaaly want "fairness", how about let us gift via resources only gained in game such as Battle Chips, Gold, etc. and limit the ability to purchase to only Alliance mates plus cap it to say 20 gifts total a week/month/whatever? Far better than this knee-jerk reaction.

NiteAndDae · March 2019

DOJ might have gotten involved, that would also help explain the quick action that needed to be taken. I don't think Kabam would intentionally shoot themselves in the foot by taking an action that REDUCES their revenue stream. Has to be external factors:

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/74543/cyber-crime/money-laundering-gaming.html

Wakandas_Finest · March 2019

zeezee57 said:

Demonzfyre said:

zeezee57 said:

Demonzfyre said:

zeezee57 said:

Demonzfyre said:

kpkumardts said:
@GroundedWisdom and do you really know the meaning of PERMANENT

I agree that its rented ( it is permanently rented) but when we bought that badge it says permanent gifting badge so it SHOULD STAY WITH MY ACCOUNT IN GAME till the end of the game or till my account has been closed permanently.
Its still there. They never said removed forever. If they can find a solution to the issue, it will be back. For now, only during special events which is xmas. Lots of time to fixed the issue.
Honest question since you seem okay with this, do you support the decision to still hold gifting events with temp badges for every one? Wouldn't that allow this sort of fraud to be conducted at a much larger scale just for a shorter duration?

As I've said I understand the spot they're in here and that they can't allow large scale fraud to occur within their product, my questions (which I asked a few pages back and as expected will go unanswered) are about the course of action they chose to take and the fact they still intend to open gifting to every one for their incredibly profitable gifting events.
@zeezee57 I do mainly because it won't be until Christmas. Right now, there isn't anything to be concerned about as far as events go. There is time for them to find a solution to fix the problem.
But if that were the case wouldn't the permanent badge be restored already and no need to have special circumstances to hold the event? If gifting is being removed, whether temporarily or permanently, there should be no distinction between the permanent badge that was paid for and a temporary badge. Either gifting can be exploited to a degree that it has to be shut down in both instances or safeguards have been put in place where both forms of gifting are viable. Under the circumstances put in front of us you can't have one and not the other, it just doesn't work.
That's my point in all of this. We only know what is happening right now. There might be a solution tomorrow that fixes all of this and back to business as normal. The community is jumping off the cliff as they always do when a change happens then Kabam usually fixes the issue and we go back to normal. We can't see into the future anymore than the company can. Looking at this from a non-biased standpoint, we should let them do what they need to do as a company and give them some more time.
There may be a solution tomorrow or next week or next month etc, but none of that justifies the fact they intend to keep gifting events as usual regardless. They didn't say "if we can resolve the issue we'll hold our annual/semi-annual gifting event", they're holding it regardless. That's quite contradictory to the stated severity of the situation at hand. There's now way they can reasonably say they can protect against this sort of activity during the event but can't at other times. I understand how profitable the gifting events are but if there's no resolution that reinstates the permanent badge then the events should be canceled along with it. I can't imagine any rationale where one exists and not the other.

Maybe during a scheduled short period of gifting kabam is able to monitor gifting enabling them to be in a better position to catch fraud. You have to realize that cash transaction are handled by google/apple not kabam itself so some coordination would be needed between kabam and the merchants (google/apple). Such coordination is unlikely over the course of the year as it would not be very cost efficient to any of the parties involved

Demonzfyre · March 2019

Gryphon said:
I understand that fraud happens. You SHOULD take means to prevent it. I'm OK with taking away gifting via units. We should be better compensated for the loss.

Additionally, if you reaaaaaly want "fairness", how about let us gift via resources only gained in game such as Battle Chips, Gold, etc. and limit the ability to purchase to only Alliance mates plus cap it to say 20 gifts total a week/month/whatever? Far better than this knee-jerk reaction.

How would it stop fraudulent transactions? Couldn't they just create a Alliance and gift resources gained through fraud?

Plughino · March 2019

for my gaming experience these decisions are the prelude to the end of the game itself, bad kabam strategy

mostlyharmlessn · March 2019

DNA3000 said:

Dshu said:
I go to a car dealership to buy a Corvette. I buy the car with a v8 engine. A few weeks later the dealership comes buy takes my engine and replaced it with a 4 cylinder engine. They can apparently do this because a minority of people were driving too fast and the car is still a Corvette correct. Just trying to understand your logic
This is nothing like the current situation, this is different to an absurdly huge level. In all my experience with buying cars, the actual type and configuration of the engine is specified as part of the purchase, not something you're being given for free when purchasing a car without an engine. And both the car and the engine within it are material goods which explicitly come with property rights: those things can't be taken away from the buyer once ownership is transferred. Neither of these things is true for MCOC.

And finally, even in the case of cars, if there was a problem that was actually harming people, like say a defect in the safety systems of the car, you could still face a mandatory recall that removed a featured deemed to be unsafe and requiring an emergency change, even if you paid for it, until a fix could be engineered. Like, say, a self-driving automation feature. Even if someone claimed that they only bought the car for that specific feature, I'm pretty sure they would not be entitled to a full refund of the car if that feature was temporarily disabled due to a safety problem.

Actually they would be entitled to a full refund and return of the vehicle.

It would fall under lemon laws if that was a feature listed on vehicle.

Gryphon · March 2019

1:

Demonzfyre said:
How would it stop fraudulent transactions? Couldn't they just create a Alliance and gift resources gained through fraud?

Fraudsters typically work based on speed. They want the quick turnaround, so the key is making it so time consuming that they don't want to bother.

1: Members of the alliance (and the alliance itself) would have to be a part of said alliance for a set amount of time before they could gift or be gifted to. I personally wouldn't be adverse to a month.

2: Resources would be limited to personal resources, NOT alliance resources. Want to gift your mate a potion? You have to pay for it out of your own gold/battlechips/whatever thing that isn't Units. This would make it virtually impossible to launder resources for gifts.

3: Limit the amount of gifts. You can give your mates say 5 gifts a week. Not each, *total*.

I'm definitely open to other options and other opinions, but truthfully, I'm actually glad to see gifting done away with, permanently or on a twice-yearly basis. I hate the begging and such that is attached to it.

Demonzfyre · March 2019

mostlyharmlessn said:

DNA3000 said:

Dshu said:
I go to a car dealership to buy a Corvette. I buy the car with a v8 engine. A few weeks later the dealership comes buy takes my engine and replaced it with a 4 cylinder engine. They can apparently do this because a minority of people were driving too fast and the car is still a Corvette correct. Just trying to understand your logic
This is nothing like the current situation, this is different to an absurdly huge level. In all my experience with buying cars, the actual type and configuration of the engine is specified as part of the purchase, not something you're being given for free when purchasing a car without an engine. And both the car and the engine within it are material goods which explicitly come with property rights: those things can't be taken away from the buyer once ownership is transferred. Neither of these things is true for MCOC.

And finally, even in the case of cars, if there was a problem that was actually harming people, like say a defect in the safety systems of the car, you could still face a mandatory recall that removed a featured deemed to be unsafe and requiring an emergency change, even if you paid for it, until a fix could be engineered. Like, say, a self-driving automation feature. Even if someone claimed that they only bought the car for that specific feature, I'm pretty sure they would not be entitled to a full refund of the car if that feature was temporarily disabled due to a safety problem.
Actually they would be entitled to a full refund and return of the vehicle.

It would fall under lemon laws if that was a feature listed on vehicle.

Actually the lemon law requires 3+ repairs for the same EXACT issue before the law can be implemented.

#themoreyouknow

belli300 · March 2019

It’s really a simple fix to shut everyone up. Deal the gifting badge to be worth one Odin and I guarantee there won’t be another complaint about the issue.

Wakandas_Finest · March 2019

As you can see the gifting badge is clearly an add on to the regular unit deal. Since this add on did not increase the price of the standard offer it is attached too that makes it free

Demonzfyre · March 2019

Gryphon said:
1:
Demonzfyre said:
How would it stop fraudulent transactions? Couldn't they just create a Alliance and gift resources gained through fraud?
Fraudsters typically work based on speed. They want the quick turnaround, so the key is making it so time consuming that they don't want to bother.

1: Members of the alliance (and the alliance itself) would have to be a part of said alliance for a set amount of time before they could gift or be gifted to. I personally wouldn't be adverse to a month.

2: Resources would be limited to personal resources, NOT alliance resources. Want to gift your mate a potion? You have to pay for it out of your own gold/battlechips/whatever thing that isn't Units. This would make it virtually impossible to launder resources for gifts.

3: Limit the amount of gifts. You can give your mates say 5 gifts a week. Not each, *total*.

I'm definitely open to other options and other opinions, but truthfully, I'm actually glad to see gifting done away with, permanently or on a twice-yearly basis. I hate the begging and such that is attached to it.

I'm open too but current conditions would still allow for abuse and that's why I said it. I think there will be a workaround for it soon. I doubt they will sit on this until Xmas.

RedEye1812_357 · March 2019

Does anyone know if we will be reimbursed for our gifting badges? We paid $30 for them and only received $10 worth of units at 300 units! Anyone know if there are plans to reimburse us fully for this loss. Also I have multiple accts that I purchased the gifting badge for and I only received 300 units on 1 acct. I understand there are always a few bad eggs to spoil the bunch however I feel it would be fair and proper to get just compensation ladies and gentlemen. If anyone could help with any of these answers I’d be greatly appreciative!! Thank you and happy gaming!

Demonzfyre · March 2019

RedEye1812_357 said:
Does anyone know if we will be reimbursed for our gifting badges? We paid $30 for them and only received $10 worth of units at 300 units! Anyone know if there are plans to reimburse us fully for this loss. Also I have multiple accts that I purchased the gifting badge for and I only received 300 units on 1 acct. I understand there are always a few bad eggs to spoil the bunch however I feel it would be fair and proper to get just compensation ladies and gentlemen. If anyone could help with any of these answers I’d be greatly appreciative!! Thank you and happy gaming!

It wasn't just a few "bad eggs". You won't get a refund since the badge was free with the purchase.

Gifting Badge Discussion [Merged Threads]

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