Bazooka Bamboozle
Gnilraps
MASSIVE SCANDAL REVEALS ALLEGED ILLEGAL ACTIVITY BY PLATO
I do not often write in criticism of eRepbulik, but this time I must.
Citizens of the New World, you have been scammed.
In the world of business, there is an illegal scam known as "bait and switch." This term describes the practice of advertising a particular product, then after the consumer has responded to the advertisement, changing the quality or substance of the product leaving the consumer with less than what had been advertised. It is illegal to practice such a scam.
Exhibit A: New World Cup announcement.
As can be seen by clicking the "Day 2404" Update, the New World Cup contest includes several different types of prizes. Among them is a special regiment-based prize - a "Bazooka Multiplier" which is rewarded to members of regiments which achieve a high level of Prestige Points. Here is the chart:
And here is Plato's explanation:
Regiment rewards
The total number of Prestige Points achieved by a Regiment will award a temporary damage upgrade to Bazookas. The required amount of Prestige Points is calculated based on 35 members reaching a certain amount of Prestige Points. The milestones listed above are the same for every Regiment, no matter how many members they have. So the above example applies to everyone and the first column just explains how the requirements were calculated.
Please notice that Bazooka Boosters, if you have any, will be added on top of the multiplier. The temporary damage upgrade will expire 7 days after the end of the tournament, at the end of Day 2,421.
In short, as a regiment progresses in total Prestige Points accumulated, they gain a damage multiplier for their bazookas.
Exhibit B: Rank Points Promise.
The question was asked of Admin via the official eRepublik Forum as to whether the additional damage done by bazookas would yield a similar increase in the amount of rank points gained by the player who fought with them. (See here where the question is raised, then see here where the question is acknowledged.)
Admin finally returned an answer, and the answer was "Yes". To quote exactly,
Q: Does the extra Bazooka damage give me extra rank points as well?
A: Yes, you will get the rank points according to the damage you deal.
Exhibit C- Plato offers Bazooka parts for Gold in special sale.
If you logged on yesterday, you saw that Bazooka parts were being offered in exchange for your Gold. Normally, these sales are not a very good bargain since Bazooka parts come for free to anyone who fights, and since the amount of damage they do does not justify the amount of Gold they cost.
However, this time it was going to be different. With bazookas promising to award their users with extremely increased rank points, they were suddenly a very good idea for anyone who wanted to rank up extremely quickly without blowing a ton of fights. For any member of an active Regiment, bazookas were suddenly a ticket to greatly increased rank!
Good job Plato!!! I am certain your Bazooka Parts sale was a winner for you!!!
Exhibit D- Many players bought Bazooka Parts.
I am aware of at least two Military Units whose players spent hundreds of Gold on Bazooka Parts.
Myrmidons
Fortele Speciale Romane
I am willing to bet my eRepublik account that there were many others. I myself suggested the strategy to several younger players who asked for my advice.
Exhibit E: The Switch.
In what Admin refers to as a "small edit", the promised rank increase for boosted bazookas was withdrawn.
This "edit" came after the contest had already begun, and of course after many players had spent their Gold on rank-building bazookas which would no longer build their rank.
I do not think you could find a more cut and dried form of bait and switch. A product was described as having certain features, said product was offered for sale, then after the sale was completed the promised features of said product were removed.
In my opinion this is fraud.
And one of the most impressive military units in the game is VERY PISSED.
Listen to the Commander of Fortele Speciale Romane rant for 12 minutes about how pissed he is.
I am glad and lucky that I did not spend any Gold on Bazooka parts. However, I am writing this in support of all of those players who were sold a fraudulent product and now deserve some reasonable remuneration for their loss.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled clicking
Comments
BAZOOKA BAMBOOZLE
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/bazooka-bamboozle-2411019/1/20
I'm sure we could put eRep Labs on a RL court. So then we could talk face to face. NO SMALL EDITS ALLOWED 😃
Those wacky admins...
Erepublik
Tha SCAM game
In most states this practice is a crime and can also be the basis for a personal lawsuit if damages can be proved. The business using "bait and switch" is an apt target for a class action since there are many customers but each transaction scarcely warrants the costs of a separate suit.
Call your attorney first thing tomorrow morning!
🙂
Also report it to the FBI's Internet Fraud Division.
4.8 Access to our Website and/or the eRepublik.com Service is permitted on a temporary basis, and we reserve the right to at any time and without liability to withdraw, suspend or amend any aspect or feature of the Website and/or the eRepublik.com Service without notice or liability. Access to our Website and/or the eRepublik.com Service is provided on an “as is” basis. You should not rely on any Content and/or other material on our Website and/or the eRepublik.com Service to make (or refrain from making) any decision or to take (or refrain from taking) any action on which reliance should be placed. We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such Content and/or materials by any user of our Website and/or the eRepublik.com Service, or by anyone who may be informed of any of the Contents. We accept no responsibility for keeping the information in the Website and/or the eRepublik.com Service up to date or complete or liability for any failure to do so.
"Thank you for filing a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)."
Lets wait and watch. ^_~
al punk, Keep in mind that EULA's/TOS etc can not overrule national laws.
ah, AI Punk, that is some fine legalese they have placed on there. All contracts/ToS can be disputed in a court of law, however.
we do give up the rights when accepting the TOS and i know it says thet
19.1 We may revise this Agreement at any time by amending the pages upon which they appear on our Website without giving notice of such modifications. Such modifications become effective immediately upon posting of the modified terms on the Website. You agree to review the Agreement periodically so that you are aware of any modifications. Your continued use of the Website and/or eRepublik.com Service after any modifications indicates your acceptance of the modified Agreement.
21.1 In the event that any clause or any part of any clause in this Agreement is declared invalid or unenforceable, by the judgment or decree by consent or otherwise of a court of competent jurisdiction from whose decision no appeal is or can be taken, all other provisions contained in this agreement shall remain in full force and effect and shall not be affected by such finding for the term of this Agreement.
so even if you or me or anyone menages to find something they just re update the TOS and thets it. i dont like it but the got their a** covered
If I buy a car, and sign the paperwork, then they present me with a different car and tell me "Well the paper says we dont have to give you what you bought" Do you think that would hold up in court? No it would not.
You can make a User Agreement that breaks the law all day long, does not me it is legal. I can right down right now that I never have to pay my gas bill, does that mean I don't have to now? NOpe, the law says I still have to pay it.
And the law says you can not "Bait and Switch"
All TOS and User Agreement means is they make you drag their ass into court. Because, on the internet that usually means international affair and too much BS for any one person to do anything. So unless the "user" happens to be an international business lawyer with tons of time to spare or the infringement is large enough to bring your country's dept of justice (or however it is for you) there is not much hope of anything coming of it.
Al, TOS and EULA won't protect against criminal charges in the US, nor will they protect you much against civil lawsuits...they will simply make you hire a decent lawyer to get the EULA tossed on it's ass. Furthermore, in most of the EU EULA's are all but completely null in the eyes of the law. I've got no idea how much of a case these guys have on this switcheroo, but if they can argue that the additional rank points were a major draw to using bazookas, and the RP bonus was removed AFTER the sale ended, then I'd imagine the users who bought bazooka parts have more than just a leg to stand on.
@Al Punk, how about I make a site where I sell people into slavery, but I do make a TOS that by clicking "register" you agree with anything done on the site? Would that be legal, according to you?
Hampton if the agrement says. I hereby sign this bllablla under my own will with no one forcing me to and healthy mind. Yes they can. It has hapend is hapening and with hapen again. Thet is why we have to read before signin anything. As for this fcuked up game i detest it to the bones of wat it has becomed
Yeah, if they change the wordage AFTER I sign, that is against the law. Also Any "contract" or "user agreement" that breaks the law, is, well, against the law. They can put right in the Agreement that they will use "bait and switch" And it does not matter, it's still illegal.
Look at Bernie Madoff, People signed contracts with him to invest their money, he stole it, he went to jail, His contracts said there was no guarantee they would make money. Did those contracts hold up for him? NOPE! He had fine print, he had them sign for one thing, then he did another thing, JUST LIKE THIS SITUATION, and he will be in prison forever, if the EUA breaks the law then it is illegal and they can, and should, be held accountable.
gringos wake up http://www.allaregreen.us/
What's this 'gold' you speak of?
Great article! I wasn't sure what all the fuzz was about, til I read this!
Voted!
Plato is a SCAMMER
v
Total support. This is one of the reasons I have stopped spending money on this game and changed my playing strategy completely...
what Mike said X2
Last time I bought something was months ago
Exactly why I've never spent money on this game...
Plato lied!!!
Shame on him!
Plato did something to enhance revenue flow, with no regard to law or player benefit. Why would anyone be surprised?
This is fraud, do u know any lawyer ?
It would be fraud in the US, but the game is based in Romania, so this may be legal there. But it does make a number of gold players unhappy. Some of them may even buy less gold in the future. So this may end up being a short time financial gain for plato, but longer term that is a whole another issue.
I seem to recall over 200,000 active players not that long ago. Now, just a bit over 100K, many probably multis. This game is dying because it is nothing but a bizarre exercise in point-and-click with no real thought or robustness involved anymore - just a simple minded war game scenario with a rudimentary political and economic system.
Shame, shame on Plato ... smh
For Petsku's defence, he DID say he would make sure on Monday that the rank points would be include😛
http://puu.sh/9II7o/78a809ddc1.png
So he just said maybe. Still if he asked it on Monday, it should've been informed on Monday, not after the tournament has started.
It was on Monday that he posted his "yes" that the rank points would be based on damage done. So he said he would answer on Monday. Monday came and he answered. Then on Tuesday - 3:15 into the competition - he changed the answer.
I stand corrected.
Plato should make a "small edit" and return the gold.
I know. Those two words, "small edit"... I can't get over that.
It's all perspective gnilly.
Mount Vesuvius had a SMALL eruption 2000 years ago and caused some MINOR damage to Pompeii. At least from the perspective of those living where Romania is today.
Good old Plato keeps pissing off his few customers left.
ILLEGAL
V
Plato gonna plato
Bonus track: Clopoyaur raging about the "Bazooka Affair"
http://www.twitch.tv/clopoyaur/c/4530203
Added to the article.
Plato would never scam his customers, that's bad for business. He loves his customers and respects them.
HAHAHAHAHA!
Next tournament: the reward for spending the most money gives you a shortcut to the special rank of Titan******* (delayed edit: no it doesn't)
I hope this becomes the highest ranked article in eRep history.
Hey! Someone switched my bait!
I ordered minnows and got puny ass worms instead. :/
Nice article, thank you.