Ripoffing Artists

By Theonlyjohnny Resident

Thieves are always out there. No matter what you do, there will always be thieves. Though the marketplace wasn't void of thieves, before, they used to actually somewhat respect people's wishes. If someone said not to sell something for more than a certain amount, and they sold it, they wouldn't go over that amount.

However, today, it seems as if all people care about is money. From selling freebies in a vendor, for 900 linden (you know who you are), to using bots to promote your own items. One person went beyond that, and decided to not only sell a freebie for 30 linden, but not even give the creators, Arcadia Asylum, credit.

The item in question is a hover scooter, and I know most of you are wondering why it's such a big deal. Well, firstly, Arcadia Asylum's admins work really hard to give people their free items, and they deserve credit for it. Secondly, upon receiving any item from Arcadia Asylum, you will also be given a notecard, that says, and I quote,

"*YOU CAN NOT RESELL ANYTHING IN THIS BOX FOR EVEN ONE LINDEN DOLLAR*."

Now some people wouldn't see the problem, thinking the person might not have read the notecard. However, it's a bit hard not to read a notecard that is named: "*****STOP***YOU MUST READ ME FIRST ***STOP*****". It's nearly impossible to not read it. However, even if they didn't read it, they had the means to, right there, so ignorance is not an excuse.

To make matters worse, the seller also decided to promote the stolen item, in the lowest way possible. He created bots, whose sole purpose was to simply buy from his store, and give the items 5 star reviews.

If you're wondering how I know they're bots, well it's simple. No actual person would buy an item, leave a 5 star review, but will only put "ty" or "nice." They would say why it's so good. Plus, in the seller's store, which is comprised of a bunch of stolen items, most of the people that review his items were made the exact same day. All of the people share one thing in common though, their profiles are all blank. Not even a profile pic or a description, yet most of them have been around for at least 8 months.

It's people like this, that make me weary of going to the marketplace. I don't know if the item was stolen or not. However, there is a way to tell if it was stolen, first off, think back, if you have seen it at another store then there is your answer. Another way, is to ask around. What ever you choose to do, always be cautious.

Theonlyjohnny Resident.

Editors Note: Shortly after Johnny sent me this article, he came across another ripoff. There was a package of furry avatars up for sale for 50L. But upon closer inspection, it contained works from Curious and Aventity which weren't yet retired. Be careful that your "bargain" isn't really from a burglar.

Zynga and "The Sims Social"

Most anyone who has a computer has been on or at least heard about Facebook. The website where you connect with friends online or locally around your geographical area. Besides keeping in touch with your friends by posting on their walls, there are lots of mini games to get involved in like Farmville or Mafia Wars. There’s no real end to these games, or goals as you keep gaining levels in any of the Zynga games. The games are just a way to connect with friends and end up eating up a lot of your free time.

 

Right now EA is suing Zynga for violating copyright laws for ripping off their popular game, The Sims and making their own version “The Ville.” Playing the original sims when it first came out, I had a good idea what to expect from the sims. “The Sims Social” made by EA is their Facebook version of their very own Sims. Like the Sims series, you create your own person and interact with people throughout the Facebook network with various requests for more energy or items to complete sets of items. You use energy to do actions like the Sims like being social with your neighbor or eating some pie. Also you get to pick out clothes and a characteristic for your sim. I picked out a charming personality. Just like original Sims you have to keep an eye on the needs gauges making sure your sim makes it to the bathroom and gets enough sleep.

Playing The Ville seemed very much like playing EA’s the social Sims. You do the same actions and the ville offered the same personality types and similar clothes and goals. It seemed confusing whether I was playing either EA’s “The Sims Social” or Zynga’s “The Ville.” The Sims animations when talking to other Sims seemed identical. Also the gag of your sim eating a tiny or big bite from the pie is in both versions. When you sim has a tiny bite, he or she shrinks. A big bite will make your character bigger. The music also seems the same the easy breezy music style of the Sims as the game loads up seems identical when you play Zynga’s version. 

 

It seems very clear that Zynga wanted to ride the popularity of the widely successful Sims from EA and create their own version. My question was it worth it for Zynga to carbon copy the Sims and put themselves in a bad position to be sued? Zynga already has popular games like Farmville on Facebook and many others. Seemed like an unnecessary risk to take over a single game.

 

I wonder how the lawsuit will turn out? Zynga’s future seems cloudy now when before it had a strong standing with Facebook making endless games that tend to be addictive. Sometimes you have to leave a classic idea alone and move on to make your own classics hopefully Zynga will learn that lesson.

 

For more information, check out the article from CNN. 

 

Grease Coakes