Free Trials: Wonderful, or source of annoyance?
by Krystalle Voecks 
Apr 30th 2007 at 1:35PM
Let me preface this by saying that I'm absolutely notorious for giving out free trial codes. You want to check out WoW and see if you like it? Sure! Let me get you a code -- and get myself 30 days free in the process if you sign up. You think your cousin might dig the game since he plays EverQuest, but you're not sure? Here, let me email you a code to forward to them. For you see, I am every inch the devoted WoW fangirl, and I say that without any shame. As such, it is my mission to share the fun!
Now, with that said, I think I've easily managed to score four or five months of free time from people converting trial accounts to paid accounts. And as WoW gains even more ground, even hardcore devotees to other MMOs are starting to be curious about what all the noise is about. (Well, okay, maybe that's just my older brother who has been staunchly refusing all my free codes and continuing to play City of Heroes/Villains... But I sense his will starting to falter now that he's hit endgame there. Mwahaha!)
Of course, if you listen to Terrorantula on the (European) WoW General forums, trial accounts are everything that is bad with the game. They bring in gold spam mails! They let those advertisers come on and harass us! Now personally, while I'm all for Blizzard writing in some kind of process that immediately bans any account who sends certain gold-selling domain names in chat or mail (and they know who they are) I don't know that I would back the total removal of all free trial accounts.
I can see the benefits of some of the suggestions made in that thread -- like limiting the ability to /w until you are on a player's friends list. Or perhaps, like EVE Online, set up a system whereby people are charged a larger amount of money to send in-game mails to people who don't either have them listed as a contact (friend) or who are in the same corporation (guild) as they are. I think it was somewhere around 2,500 ISK in EVE, so a somewhat similar amount might be 20s50c for a non-friend/guildie to mail you as opposed to 30c for friends and guildies to send you mail. 5 gold spam mails costing over 1g to send might prove to be enough of a deterrent to make these companies rethink that avenue for "advertising." There might even be one day when I log in and don't have spam or scams in my mailbox!
Aside from the fact that trial accounts have managed to get me some free game time, they have also brought friends into the game that I don't get to see very often. Case in point is one of my oldest friends: a woman that I've known since we were in 4th grade together, but who lives several hundred miles from me. Now she has started playing WoW and even joined the guild I'm in. Whereas I only used to see her perhaps once or twice a year, now I "see" her every day. True, it may sometimes only be a quick exchange of hellos before she and I go different ways to quest, it's been great to be in closer contact with her than I was before. Without that chance for her to "try before she bought" she might never have made the jump from EverQuest to WoW, which she has said on many occasions is much more fun for her casual playstyle than EQ was.
So while I am just as frustrated as the next player about the gold spams and whispers, I really think the trial accounts serve an excellent purpose. They bring friends and family in to our World of Warcraft. Better restrictions on the accounts might help somewhat, but many people say (and seem to be correct) that most of this is going on from paid accounts instead of trials. In which case, I can only hope that Blizzard finds some way to block the spam from happening. Mods are nifty, but I'd rather not have to have one specifically for it in the first place, you know?
(P.S. Before i get comments about how we allow gold-selling links in banner ads, we are trying to block them at the source. You can help -- just click here.)
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
fedora Apr 30th 2007 1:54PM
they should make trial accounts on trial servers and offer a free character transfer if the account becomes a paid account. Simple.
Theserene Apr 30th 2007 1:54PM
I think that if Blizzard banned people on trial accounts from sending more than 2 whispered messages a minute or from sending more than 2 ingame mails then we'd see a lot less of this gold selling spam.
I logged on last night to find no less than 6 mails in my box advertising various sites, plus literally couldn't go 5 minutes without another slew of whispered messages from some pathetic gold selling spammer.
It's getting worse. Blizzard, please stop these people from signing up, spamming the place to death and then deleting their accounts. No legit Level 1 character needs to be able to send hundreds of whispered messages.
Lori Apr 30th 2007 2:07PM
I started playing WoW via a trial account an IMO it would be a shame to eliminate them because of gold sellers. If Blizz can implement a profanity filter, they should also be able to block gold seller chat spam, as well. Although it might be a moving target as gold sellers revise their spam to circumvent the filter.
Whatever, I wish they would DO SOMETHING because Checking the mailbox only to find gold seller mail and getting a dozen chat spams a night is getting old.
Swiftlydead Apr 30th 2007 2:08PM
make it so trial characters can't /w or use mail.
done - the end.
Robert Apr 30th 2007 2:25PM
I'm pretty sure we've been over this before.
Gold selling spam is NOT coming from trial accounts. Restrictions are ALREADY in place. Please stop perpetuating this myth.
Flit Apr 30th 2007 2:27PM
@Swiftlydead:
Agreed. Kill whispers, yells, and mail for trials, but add a /9 channel that is only for trial accounts, so those on trials can still ask for help, even if it is only from other trial. Also, allow for /s so they can still ask questions to people who are nearby, but I won't be getting whispers in the middle of my mechanar run.
Ipos Apr 30th 2007 2:29PM
I think that we should have a feature that blocks people from sending tells and mail from trial accounts.
Just like the swear blocking.
Flit Apr 30th 2007 2:29PM
"Gold selling spam is NOT coming from trial accounts. Restrictions are ALREADY in place. "
Bull. I /w my brother-in-law who was on trial account yesterday, and he /w me back.
mr_disco Apr 30th 2007 2:33PM
@1... FTW! I can't believe no one's done that yet... of course, maybe it's too costly for extra servers. People have been crying for new servers for months now, and if Bliz put on a "trial only" server before, some people might get mad... me on the other hand, would LOVE that because it would get rid of most spamming and mailings.
Mad Cow Apr 30th 2007 3:30PM
simple, disable the hook that allows for mass whispering ... done.
brent Apr 30th 2007 2:41PM
being new to game, i would have never tried it without gettina 15 day trial for $2 at my local gamestop. It was an impulse buy, a "lets see what all the hub-bub is about" that turned into a full pay account.
sorry sony... RIP level 71 bard EQ1
John Apr 30th 2007 2:41PM
i started from a trial, so, $2 trial ftw
dojobo Apr 30th 2007 2:48PM
@1,2,4,6,7
kk - but how about we instead stop the *actual* source of most of these messages?
Setting up a trial account isn't an instant process..
..It is much easier and quicker to spam out a key logger targeted at WoW players. Even if they only catch a very small percentage players, they have a pool of accounts to log into, create toons with gibberish names and spam away. *Then* as a bonus you can strip down any pre-existing toons and sell the gold! The most efficient method to both acquire and advertise their wares.
Does anyone really think that this isn't where most of the problems come from? If it was really trial accounts wouldn't Blizzard have already have implemented a filter? Most likely they haven't done so only because it will annoy new players without actually solving the problem.
So - how about we limit the ability for all accounts to mass-mail or mass-whisper? Hmm.. that probably wouldn't be so popular..
Joseph Apr 30th 2007 2:51PM
"they should make trial accounts on trial servers and offer a free character transfer if the account becomes a paid account. Simple."
That is an excellent idea...!
Krystalle Voecks Apr 30th 2007 2:55PM
@Fedora: EQ also had a seperate trial server, but as I remember you could send whispers to people in the regular game. I certainly think it would be a good idea, but I wonder about the resources they'd have to devote to it, both in terms of programming and server space.
@Richard: I haven't seen anything from Blizzard that says for absolute certain if it is trial, regular, or a combination of account types that are doing the spamming. If you have, please do let me know! I'd hate to think I was contradicting what Blizzard has published as fact.
@Brent: Welcome to WoW! I left a beloved Druid in EQ, so I understand. But at least you'll likely be used to DKP when you hit endgame!
Neikem Apr 30th 2007 11:31PM
There is a few ways that they could end this situation for good, of make it where gold spammers have to do leg work to actually spam their message. Either enable a block annonymous /tell or email system, perhaps a feature you can toggle. Another good way to clear it up would be to require the character to be an actual subscriber to /tell and mail to other players with perhaps making you require to achieve level 10 before allowing said messages on actual paying subscribers. This would not only require that the person actually pay at least a month for the game account, but that the player is required to play at least a bit before they can even infect the actual players with the message. I dont think they would be willing to not only lose 14.95 a try at doing the message, not including the time required to get to the level.
The only complaint to this system that could be used against this would be "buy I got my friend to playing this and now I cant even get a message from him letting me know he made their character". If you know them enough to give them your name, you know a phone number....or email address to contact them at or them contact you to let you know the character name.
Just pretty much limit what a new character can do, but anyone above that can /tell that person or mail that person. Problem solved.
Bradley Nash Apr 30th 2007 3:15PM
Getting rid of mail and whispers for trial accounts is stupid. Alot of the people with trial accounts have friends who are helping them in the beginning learn the basic mechanics and what not. #1 has the best idea and wins this thread
Superbeef Apr 30th 2007 3:28PM
Honestly... WoW players are SOOOO spoiled.
Oh no! Someone whispered me asking me to buy their gold. I'm so mad!
Grrr...!
Oh noes! They did it again! I am writing a letter!
Try playing 11 where gold farmers RUINED THE ACTUAL GAME. How about competing against a group of people using hacks to make sure they don't get the moster you do, which has a chance to spawn every 8-36 hours. Where gil selling was so ridiculous that over the holidays in game items jumped up to 8 times the normal price.
Maybe the next time someone whispers you, you can just ignore it like the rest of us do.
Trial accounts ftmfw. Gold whispers for the meh... could be worse. Alot worse.
Armhead Apr 30th 2007 3:27PM
http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowbilling/?id=abl01925p
Key Notes:
A limit on the number of tells that can be sent.
Acceptable Risk Apr 30th 2007 3:45PM
Mail is already disabled in trial accounts and you can only send like four tells per minute. The spam isn't coming from trial accounts.
It's coming from legitimate paid accounts but Blizzard is slow enough to act that they can afford to buy an account, write a script to make a character, log in, blast a thousand tells, then delete the character, and repeat. Then buy a new account two or three weeks later after Blizzard finally gets around to disabling them.