Business And Economy Archive

---

aZTeK wrote:

---

Israth wrote:

---

Smart_Darwin wrote:

This is another one of those issues that won't go away... Vendor spamming is necessary. there is no way to REALLY know what is for sale and where you can buy it. I have experienced this from the perspective of the potential consumer and the vendor. When I am looking for something I can't buy at the bazzar, I go to the busiest starport I can find and see what the barkers are hawking. If they are barking, that usually means they have something in thier venodrs to sell. Only when I can't find someone barking do I resort to the painful vendor search.

As a seller, I don't have a way to communicating what I have AVAILABLE for sale to those people who are looking to buy. This is the core problem that AFK barking solves, and until there is some other way of addressing it, we will have to deal with barkers. SOE may decide to prevent people from doing it, but it is a mistake without providing some other more effective mechanism for selling stuff.

---

Everyone I know that plays galaxies just does /addignore to every spam bot they see. Meaning, I don't know anyone that's ever made a purchase based on a spambot.

---

exactly. i created a new character this past week and i already have an ignore list i have to scroll to see all of.

SmartDarwin that's why I'm saying players with vendors should have a terminal or access on the bazaar terms to post their location, wares, etc... the equivilent to a bulletin board inside a post office or a grocery store or something. Then if you still spam you get disconnected. You're largely being ignored anyway with the spamming and I personally make it a point to avoid spammer vendors.

---

That certainly is your choice. That's why the ignore command is there. Quite frankly, I think you and players like you are overly sensitive... I don't need your creds. I have plenty of customers who value the service I provide.

If you don't know anyone who has purchased from a merchant engaging in barkers, then you have been lied to by somebody (or know very few people). Everytime I bark in front of a busy spaceport I get a flood of new customers (if I time it right). Perhaps my messages are not as annoying; I try to enhance the roleplay value of my messages. Perhaps I happen to connect with those people looking to find something specific. Perhaps I am only reaching those peolpe without the /addignore command on thier tool bar. Either way it works, and until I am offerd an equally effective and more pleasnt alternative I will continue the practice. I don't like doing it, but apparently my 15 buck a month only goes so far =)

By the way, in all seriousness, I love your sig. I actually laughed out loud.

Message Edited by Smart_Darwin on 03-15-2005 04:10 AM

---

Robren911 wrote:

Even more annoying than the spambots are the people who whine about it. but generally those are the same types of people who have a heart attack if someone types in CAPITAL letters.

The planetary vendor map does nothing in terms of telling you if a vendor is stocked. Almost every vendor I regularly buy from, I've found by their spam.

The solution is simple. I spend most of my time in the group chat or IM window. But I'm still able to read the SPAM captions. And not only vendors SPAM. You have the AFK entertainer SPAM. But those guys are often offering free buffs. So why don't we just get rid of free buffing as well.

Perhaps the people claiming that it's just a game, should take a long look at how they view it. If it's just a game (and it is) why do a few extra lines of vendor SPAM really bother you? If something that small offends you that deeply, maybe you're playing the wrong game. It's certainly not enough to ruin my play experience.

---

Actually those who bark at starports don't seem to update their spam with inventory changes either, so you're not helped in that way either.

I'm reinvigorated in my anti-spam campaign after playing for a bit this evening. My situation: I land on Coronet having made a new guy on Bria to see what the community on the server is like. From the time the screen comes up I see nothing by nearly continuous scrolling white bubbles all over my screen. My spatial box is craziness and I get to spend my time making the game more playable for me addignoring the 10 or so fools standing around AFK.

Spamming is annoying and ridiculous. It's a waste of time to have to addignore people all the time. On top of it, even with ALL the spammers I still haven't been able to find the weapon I was trying to locate all evening. Putting a bulletin board terminal for merchants would HELP you sell more stuff. I have to spend too many credits bouncing from planet to planet searching through vendors I hear about. By the time I find it I doubt I'll have any credits left.

You're saying if you can't spam you'd all feel scorned by DEVs? That having a more efficient, less intrusive, obnoxious way to advertise would be that big of a detriment to business? To help merchants advertise the solution is they get to AFK spam the location to their store, making everyone that wants to ignore them waste their time to do so. I swear the DEVs must get a kick out of some of their decisions that just frustrate players.

A terminal or addition to the bazaar that lets merchants post more than just a waypont (in-stock tracker anyone??) in an auction (Which can disappear at any time if someone buys that item.) would facilitate players in finding items they want/need and give merchants visibility across the galaxy rather than standing at Coronet Spaceport doing a /yell COME BUY MY STUFF!!!!