Trying to beat in-game spam
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 23rd 2007 at 4:01PM
Polonaise over on Suramar has defeated a lot of enemies in Azeroth, but there's one she can't beat: the in-game spammers that flood the chat channels with nonsense crap and links to their websites. These guys are tough to beat because they do it by rolling level one alts (usually with nonsense names so that they can make them quickly without having to come up with a unique name on the server), /joining the chat channel they want to spam in (chat channels have no level or space restrictions, so a level one alt can spam the Hellfire Peninsula chat), and then ditch the alt before players can react.Neth, as an official Blue response, says Blizzard is working on it, and the best thing to do is simply report the spammer through the usual channels. Works for her, but it lacks the instant revenge factor, and even if the GM deletes the offending account, most of the spammers use free accounts to do their dirty work anyway. Some other players suggest doing a little vigilante work (feels better, I agree, but could probably get you in trouble eventually). There's always the option of leaving chat (which I'm doing more and more lately), but then there's the chance you might miss out on something important).
In the end, we go back to Polonaise for what seems like the best solution so far: allow players the ability to turn off messages from every character below level 10, unless whitelisted on your friends list. At the very least, it would make spammers play for two hours before running spam messages, which might push their investment over the top of profitability. In fact, I'd go as far as to suggest giving players the option to ignore all messages that don't come from friends or guildies. I doubt that'll ever happen (Blizzard wants this to be a social game, and shutting everyone out goes against that), but it's a definite solution to the problem of seeing spam all the time.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Unkle Jan 24th 2007 11:43AM
I don't understand why people get so bothered by chant channels?
Just don't read them, or turn them of if its that bad for you.
I miss the old global channel. And while I never commented in there for fear of being shunned, I enjoy reading the off-topic banter here and there. I wish they'd just put in a general "global channel" with no other use than to talk. The social aspects of this game are really poor compared to other MMO's i've played where people actually talked, instead of just insulting people or strictly lfg.
I do agree with the spam in-game-mail problem though. I don't much like seeing my mail icon, getting excited that something in the AH may have sold, and then find out its just some a-hole trying to sell gold.
Kahja Jan 23rd 2007 4:16PM
You'd have to friend list everyone that you ever want to do business with then. That solution puts a damper in my lvl 6 bank alt.
Having only guildies and friends wouldn't work because you'd have to have people respond to your /2 ENCHANTING blah blah in trade which would just get tiresome when like 5 people respond...
Flit Jan 23rd 2007 4:29PM
The lvl 10 thing is brilliant. If you have a "bank alt", don't use them for trading, or level the damn guy 4 more levels.
Let the lvl 1-10 talk to each other so lowbies can get help (if they need it) and then spam stops at lvl 10! This could be an option to turn on and off (in case you really really enjoy helping sub lvl 10's for some reason) but could be turned on for those of us who hate the amazing amount of spam that is taking over the servers.
good idea.
Niekon Jan 23rd 2007 4:37PM
I have so many of the chat channels turned off because I didn't care about the General chat or Trade chat... only a few things are left open on my characters: party, whisper, guild, say... and I think that's about it.
On occasion I will get a spam whisper but my chatbox is relatively quiet which makes me a happy camper...
But good luck to them trying to deal with the spam... I remember at some point when I didn't have General off... or Yell off there would be spam coming across every few minutes from a new character name... and doing a /who brought back one of a couple results: player not online or Level 1 in
Chris McDonnald Jan 23rd 2007 4:41PM
The general chat advertisements for gold aren't nearly as bad as the useless chat that generally resides there. The only type of advert spam I can't stand is the one that sends you a private message. For that I have come up with a simple but effective macro.
/macro spam
/r NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO .... you get the point.
Then I just spam that hotkey over and over until I see that user is no longer online.
Buruko Jan 23rd 2007 4:48PM
I just create Multiple tabs, I have a Raid Tab with appropriate chat settings. A Trade tab with appropriate settings along with a Grind for soloing, Group for group, and All for information over load.
Select the appropriate tab and I'm all set. I also keep the combat log in a seperate window instead of inside the chat
James Jan 23rd 2007 4:53PM
Don't ban level 10 and lower from chatting. Ban level 10 and lower that are on a freebie account. Free accounts already are banned from trading and mailing, so I imagine its only a few extra lines of code:
If user's account is free then
If user's level < 10 then
user no talkie in chat
End if
End if
Frankly, I don't mind the spam. As someone mentioned before, unless its really horrendous, it is no worse than the mindless halfwits already hanging out in the trade and general channels of Stormwind City who think that the rest of the player base is interested in hearing whatever random thought is bouncing around in their pinheads. Spamming for gold certainly is not worse than hearing insults over asking too little or too much for an item, advertising a trade (any trade, doesn't matter), insulting lowbies for asking where things are, insulting higher levels for trying to sell things from Outland, insulting each other for insulting others, or describing the fantastic dump they just took. I've gotten to where I turn it all off in the capital cities and starting areas.
chaz Jan 23rd 2007 5:07PM
To save our bank alts...
perhaps they could allow us to turn off "new accounts" chat. Meaning, if you don't have a character above level 10 (any character on the account) they can be ignored.
This accomplishes the same goal by forcing them to level a character to 10, and allows us to keep our lowbies and use the trade chat. If any toon on their roster gets reported for spamming the whole account gets deleted and they have to level a new toon to 10 on another test account. Surely this will slow them down.
RogueJedi86 Jan 23rd 2007 5:06PM
The goldfarmer advertisements are especially annoying. I wish Blizzard would go after them. They're making 1.4 billion a year off this game(not counting the 2.4 millino who bought BC on Day 1), why can't they just shut some of them down? Seems like the best way to cut down on that spam.
Though I suppose putting a restriction on levels 1-10 in chat would help that. Then again, the farmers would just grind to 11, then spam it. And the problem starts itself again.
Tigraine Jan 23rd 2007 5:14PM
On my german Server Spam isn't that bad.
But I guess it would be a real solution to simply kick out those 10 day trial passes from general chats etc.
Or restrict them so they can only be seen by people below lvl 10.
So those spammers would be forced to pay 20$ per spam they want to send.
And yes, Blizzard would still need to improve their customer service program so spammers get kicked faster. A 20$ normal WoW account would still be profitable if they can spam around for about a week or two. If they get banned 8 hours after being reportet this would really cut down their profit on that.
Pougen (ER) Jan 23rd 2007 7:57PM
If Blizzard would just STOP giving out free passes, it would clear a lot of this crap up. What the hell are they thinking with this mass mail AOL free trial crap anyway?
It's not like they don't have 8 MILLION PLAYERS, with an estimated 90% of them upgrading to TBC. We are paying for Blizzard's GREED.
Uncle Vinny Jan 23rd 2007 5:47PM
I don't see much legitimate purpose for a character in Darnassus to post a message on Outland general chat. In all my time in WoW, I've never wanted to participate in chat from another zone. So why not just disable that feature, or disable it for some subset of users as discussed above?
UNI Jan 23rd 2007 6:44PM
Didn't they disable that a long time ago?
I remember when everybody was checking into the IF chat from around the world to continue trading while grinding.
They somehow stopped that with a Patch. very interesting that it is possible to join another Zone-Chat, thought they fixed that.
Acceptable Risk Jan 23rd 2007 10:04PM
Can trial accounts use the general channel? I know I couldn't when I was on the trial. That was over a year ago, though.
Not like it'll make a big difference, though. As long as there is a way to make advertisements, they'll do it. I've seen people /yelling across the Barrens, standing in the AH and /saying whatever they feel like, and of course /telling everyone they can get ahold of.
Finnicks Apr 5th 2007 11:22PM
I've said it for months, and I've posted it so many times on the suggestion forums that it isn't even funny:
Steps to Eliminate this problem:
1) Isolate the Newbie Zones with their own General channel and /yell channel.
2) Apply new chat restrictions such that any character less than level 6 cannot send whispers to anyone over level 5, not in their guild, or not in their party.
3) Apply new channel restrictions such that any character less than level 6 cannot use /trade, /localdefense, /guildrecruitment, or any non-newbie-zone /general channel.
Being forced to level a character to level 6 before being able to send their advertisements would be a solid deterrant to this annoying new method of spam.
Dirtyboy Jan 24th 2007 2:37AM
I did like Blizz said last night and reported one of the spammers, and over an hour later I get an automated response that they are looking into it. I would think even if they delete their toon after spamming that Blizz has some record of it and could trace it back to the account, but who knows what really is going on behind the scenes. All I know is I constantly see the bots and farmers running around day after day and not really much seems to be done about it. Of course, if so many people didn't buy the gold in the first place, they wouldn't be in business...
BTW, typical interaction that happened to me yesterday as my level 60 priest was browsing AH.
*trade window pops up, closing my AH screen*
whisper: "make"
whisper: "water"
me: "I'm not a mage"
whisper: "yes"
whisper: "make water"
me: "I AM NOT A MAGE, GOODBYE"
*hits ignore*
Moosli Jan 24th 2007 6:16AM
@ No 12
There is nothing wrong with Blizzard giving out free trials mate, it brings more people to the game and makes good business sense to Blizzard. As if the top dogs at Blizzard are gonna walk into Warcraft HQ one day and say - 'hey - we now have 8 million gamers subscribed!! Stop giving out 10 day trials because we make enough money now!'
To everyone on this thread that is moaning saying that they hate spam - blah blah blah. Its not hard just to ignore it like i do - or just leave the chat that is grating on ya nerves! Its not rocket science after all. Blizzard have given you the opportunity to ignore it if you want to, so why not use it instead of moaning?
If you ask me the real problem lies with the critters that actually buy the gold from these gold farmers ( as mentioned by No 15). If nobody bought the stuff in the first place - there wouldnt be any spam about it because it would be a waste of time.
I have always wondered why anybody would buy gold anyway. I have found that buying weapons etc at early lvl's (and higher lvl's to a certain degree) is pointless because you are bound to find better or something almost the same questin anyway.
As for bringing in rules about stopping anyone under lvl 6 joining chat channels or whispers - they pay the same subscription as you dude. Why cant they join the same chat channels and make the same whisps that you can? Taking this away from the masses of players out there that are actually serious about the game is the wrong way about it, its not fair on them.
Im just glad i dont have to work out a way to stop this sort of thing and be fair to everybody. It must be hard for Blizzard to come up with a valid solution - good luck with that blizz.....
Kabira-Fenris Jan 24th 2007 11:38AM
The ignoring
Kabira-Fenris Jan 24th 2007 11:39AM
OK... my whole post is gone... except the first two words. Weird. Oh well...
Trasketor Jan 24th 2007 12:18PM
I CANT STAND THESE PPL!!! I mean c'mon seriously. I get spam mail on my normal email address, i get junk mail at home, the last thing i need is junk mail in a video game. I honestly think this is one of my biggest peves in this game. EVERY time i get mail ingame from these stupid sites i immediately report it. But now that i think about it, its been a while since i got mail from any of these sites, so maybe blizzard did something about it.