There are much better ways to start your day than with a hearty bout of rage, but alas, thanks to this little article by the folks at Reuters about in-game gold spam, I am sitting here stewing.

I hope you’ll indulge me for a moment while I rant for a bit.

It’s just “typical” that the mainstream press does an article about RMT and the best they can do is to regurgitate the publisher’s party line. It blows my mind that Reuters, supposedly a paragon of good journalistic practices, gets away scot-free with a piece that seems to be lacking in some areas.

Is it not the first rule of good journalism to be fair and balanced? Shouldn’t both sides of an issue be explored and presented in such a manner that the reader can come to his or her own conclusions? What Reuters has done is essentially promote an agenda; they’ve colored the news and led the reader to a conclusion. Frankly, considering Reuter’s pedigree and history in tracking and providing financial news, information and data, that’s disappointing and kind of offensive.

No one who plays World of Warcraft, Aion, Warhammer, Everquest 2, FFXI or Age of Conan likes in-game gold spam. Everyone here at EpicToon is a gamer to some degree (some of us lead very successful guilds) and NONE of us appreciate gold spam. Which is why we have banded together with other leading RMT companies to educate gamers on how we can work together to put a stop to it.

If Rueters had bothered to actually do some research to go along with their “report” on the current state of the RMT industry, I think they’d be surprised to find that there’s a reliable contingent of trusted RMT sites that operate in the field. They would have ALSO discovered that gamers prefer these sites, even over “publisher sanctioned” RMT sites. Why? Because they provide superior service and are proven, trusted providers with track records for fighting abuse.

If you want to protect gamers, there is an easy solution. Simply direct gamers to trusted RMT service providers. Don’t exacerbate the issue with banning and draconian end user license agreements that simply force the industry underground and provide fertile ground for scammers and fly-by-night operations in China that care little about gamers OR publisher rights. And let’s stop lumping RMT (the industry) in with the illegal practice of spam.  They are separate issues.  Yes, there are companies involved in RMT that are involved in spam. But that is no different than the thieves one finds in banking, on Wall Street and elsewhere in life.  If RMT was really dangerous, do you think SOE would operate a program like the Station Exchange? Heck no. The Station Exchange and other publisher licensed RMT activities pretty much prove once and for all that the tension in RMT is about the money.  Publishers want as much of the $2bn industry pie as they can get their mitts on.

RMT exists (and is growing) because a substantial percentage of players want the benefits it provides (remember RMT was created by players themselves).  There’s no denying the fact that the industry has seen dark days. Every new industry goes through a rocky patch in its infancy, but there’s also no denying the huge strides taken towards cleaning up the industry, towards providing customers with great, reliable services, and towards making sure customers transactions are safe and secure.

I would like to see publishers work with legit, trusted RMT companies. Perhaps publishers ought to seriously consider some sort of accreditation or approval process. It would help to establish standards, reduce opportunities for abuse by shady characters, and provide needed protections for game players, publishers, and trusted service providers alike. Someday, a publisher is going to understand the massively exciting potential of virtual economies linked to real world money and they will be the new juggernaut in “online games”.

In closing this rant, please allow me to turn my wrath to Reuters once again; shame on you. It would seem Reuters just took a press release and ran down the bullet points. How about a little investigative journalism next time?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to do some deep breathing exercises and play some Okami to bring my blood pressure down.

Register and comment! Let me know your thoughts! This is important stuff!

Early this August, Real Money Trade (RMT) site IGE.com sent out a newsletter tackling a very serious issue; the increasing amount of in-game/email spam, scams and hacked accounts in the MMO world. All of which come from one source – shady Chinese gold sellers.

These annoyances affect both gamers and legitimate RMT companies greatly, ruining the game experience and giving a negative image to a business that was originally started by gamers, for gamers.

Cleaning up the Industry is a campaign that aims to protect players and consumers from fraud and harassment from the Chinese gold sellers; through information and effective regulation of the RMT industry. EpicToon.com fully supports this campaign as an RMT company and also as a group of gamers.

Read the original message from IGE.com:

We are writing to you today to discuss an important issue, one that is important to all of us as dedicated gamers. Please read and consider this information carefully.

Real Money Trading (RMT) is the name used to describe the selling of game accounts and virtual assets for real money.

It is an activity that was first established by gamers, not game publishers, not corporate service providers. It is something that many gamers are involved in, and is an activity which we believe gamers have every right to conduct.

IGE® was established because its founders saw a need, to provide online gamers with services they were requesting at a fair price, with real customer service and with rock solid customer guarantees.

In the 7 years since its inception, the RMT industry has evolved greatly. Today, it is not driven by gamer-to-gamer trades. Instead, it is a billion dollar annual market place, with the majority of currency provided by professional “farmers” working in third world countries. While this has brought the convenience of more inventories for purchase, it has also brought with it a host of problems. The purpose of this newsletter is to discuss those problems, and what we can do together to help solve them.

We believe that fraud hurts all of us. Unfortunately, because the industry is largely unregulated, and gold sellers are often located in countries where it is hard to prosecute fraud, there have been too many examples of abuse over the last few years. We would like to work with you to change that.

Knowledge is power!

We recognize that there is a significant shortage of trustworthy information available for you (the customer). It is practically impossible to find recommendations from experts that allow you to make sound decisions about where (and from whom) you can safely purchase virtual currency. Fortunately, a few excellent resources are emerging. Our favorite is www.wowgoldfacts.com

To correct this, about two years ago, we began quietly providing real insights to our customers regarding virtual currency supplies and industry matters as part of our commitment to ‘clean up the industry’. If currency is scarce, we admit it. If prices are moving up or down, we admit it. If a refund is requested prior to delivery, we give it. For years, we have taken a strong stand against spam and supplier fraud. We require those who work with IGE® to adhere to these same standards or we stop doing business with them. Period.

Setting industry standards:

IGE® has set benchmark standards for your protection:

- Zero tolerance for fraud

- Ethical sourcing policies

- McAfee and VeriSign verified e-commerce sites

- Scrupulous monitoring of our systems to prevent malicious activities…we guarantee that our sites

are virus free

- Absolutely NO in-game, or email spam

- Expert, English speaking and comprehensive customer service

- Clear and documented complaints escalation and refund procedures and policies

- Clear terms of service and privacy policies

Self regulation:

In January, IGE® began reaching out to competitive gold sellers, explaining our goal of building a group of trusted member sites dedicated to standardizing the industry, and stopping all fraud and abuse. Self regulation worked well for Hollywood as well as the video game industry. We think it will work just as well in RMT. We began by eliminating sites which don’t meet the standards set above as well as those with histories of abuse, specifically; buying currency from suppliers who are known to commit fraud, account theft, dealing in stolen credit cards, power leveling abuses where customer accounts are used to farm currency, black hat SEO and SEM techniques which hurt everyone by driving up costs, false advertising, etc.

We are pleased to put forth below a list of companies who conform to the standards outlined above, and from whom you can buy with confidence. There may be other companies that meet these standards, and if so, we will happily recommend them. The list below is not meant to be complete or comprehensive. It is simply the list we have today. These companies operate with high standards of business ethics and you can purchase with confidence, knowing that if there are issues, they will work with you to resolve them fairly. You may ask, why in the world would IGE® recommend that you shop at competitive sites? It is because we believe the issue of “cleaning up the industry” is more important than competitive worries. We are confident that we can, in a fair and clean market place, earn your business.

The sites which we own are denoted by an asterisk (*).

Sites which you can trust (listed alphabetically):

1. www.EpicToon.com

2. www.Gamemasta.com

3. www.IGE.com*

4. Mogs.com

5. www.Mymmoshop.com

6. www.Mysupersales.com*

7. www.RPGtrader.com

8. www.Vipgamer.com

9. www.Videogamegold.com

10. www.WoWgoldpig.com

11. www.WoWtreasures.com

Our message is clear – You have the power to regulate this industry by only buying from trusted sites.

Like you, we all have zero tolerance for fraud, spam and other abuses.

Like you, we agree that “cleaning up the industry” is important.

From time to time, we will refresh the list of trusted sites as it evolves and expands.

This movement resonates with all gamers who want spam-free and fun gaming. EpicToon.com would like to encourage everyone to do their part by shopping only from trusted sites. Do not support the Chinese gold sellers who spam and ruin your game – once you stop supporting the root of the problem, so will the condition of the RMT industry improve.

Here’s to a better and cleaner industry!