Guild Wars Guru staff is no longer mediating trades in game.

We have had a rush of reports that people claiming to be mods and admins from this site are mediating trades and then scamming people in game. Because of this, Guild Wars Guru moderators or admins will no longer be mediating trades in game. I know how frustrating this must be to the community that first off, people who you thought you could trust because of their name would scam you, and second how this service that we willingly offered to the community is now being taken away. Unfortunately I have no other option at this point. The recent amount of scams and hackings in game are unfortunate and I truly hope this is a wake up call to the community to become even more cautious. To persist with ArenaNet support in reporting these type of situations and hopefully safeguards will be put in place to either stop or ban this type of activity.

Just a quick comment.

Recently I have noticed that scamming in game has risen. Now this may be down to an increase in services for the scammers to take advantage of or simply people being less wary, however whatever the reasons it is an increase nevertheless. In my mind scammers represent those lazy and inconsiderate gameplayers i.e those players who we'd be better without. I feel that if such players are left to continue their harrassment of other gamers, then more and more people will be put off this game. The fact of the matter is these people sully the guild wars gaming experience. For this reason I hope that Anet take a hard line on these activities.

As a side note I would like to point out that with the introduction of an auction house system I am hopeful that scamming will decrease.

there will be always scammers in a free mmorph

There are scammers everywhere, not only in mmorpg, its just something you can't get rid of in this world. However, with a little experience and common sense you can easily avoid scams.
What I do mind is that there are hardly any warnings/tutorials for new players. Those are the people who are most likely to get scammed, but information about scams can only be found we you actually go looking for it.
I think that it could well be possible to add a quest or a tutorial somewhere in the game to inform people about known scams.

I can hardily walk and communicate in cities. Trading should be abolished. Nuf said

It's funny how it's called "trading". I don't see people swap weapons for shields or stuff like that.

They trade items for gold.

It's human nature at it's worst, and because of the inherent anonymity of the net, scammers are pretty much free to roam and take advantage of the unfortunate. It's happened to most of us and it will continue to happen as long as people fall for it.

'Authorities' (in this case Anet and perhaps the forum staff) can only do so much, for the rest it's up to the individual to determine who to trust.

Please stay on topic, this is a discussion about scamming. With regards to the idea about tutorials on scamming, I feel that this would be unsuitable since this would give a very negaitive feel to the game. However a tutorial on trading would be very useful. This could subtlely hint at existence of scammers. For example the tutorial could suggest taking screenshots and paying careful attention to switches. Admittedly the process is rather intuitive, however a little clarification goes a long way.

Well I wont be counting on Anet if I were you...
Once i got scammed (Bulwark, early days~100k).
I even got screens of it.
The guy is still online, they didn't do anything.
And I know someone who scammed once (and got reported).
And still he isnt banned, not even 24hrs.

Though i have been banned, i asked Anet why (because i didnt scam or so)
They couldnt even answer it. zomg!!!111 If that isnt retarted im santa

I got scammed a while back, I took screenies and dates and times. The person is now never online. I got my mates to check to and they cant see him either. I am assuming he was banned. However the process by which Anet ban is rather annoying in that they give you no infomation pertaining to the investigation they carry out. However I can understand why this is necessary.

All players must understand a lot of thing:

1° Anet support receive an enourmous number of mail every day.
2° Before ban Anet investigate on him. A pic isn't enough.
3° The banned guy has only a few hours of ban. After he can go scam again without problem. So everyone can scam forever without problem. (Anet said: after a few of ban account will be deleted. yes,sure.. )

This game could be good with a real ban. A serious service after 3 ban delete your account forever.

Response from someone who works with Support every day:

1. True
2. True
3. Not true. It's not "a few hours" even for a first report, and I don't think we do a "first level block" for scamming. I'm fairly sure it's a lengthy block even for a first offense. And be assured that if someone is noted for doing this again, that account is closed. Permanently.

It's really sad that GWG has had to curtail a nice service that they were offering in support of the community. We're working with all those involved in order to bring the miscreants to justice.

its tragic how just a few people can ruin it for everyone. although i never dealt in over 40k at a time, i can see how this will negatively affect quite a few people dealinng in large amounts or many items. and just in time for factions too! yey

edit: oooh gaile posted above me. well, someday my name will have that "arenanet" doohickey title under it. as soon as i finish school and get a resume in. cya then gaile and arenanet people!

I've always said you can never be too careful when dealing with anyone in game, whether it be buying an item or paying for a service.

It would be very beneficial (Spelling? ) to be able to trade in amounts greater than 100k... *Hint Hint* ... but until that time comes you have to try and find a way to make the trade happen in a way that requires only one trade, and not multiple.

I try and make sure that anything i sell, if the ammount goes greater than 100k, I get 100k plus the remaining in ectoplasm. Any item of trade value will do, unfortunately not everyone is able to do this.

The idea/request for an ingame auction system would hopefully simplify trading and secure any trades that do take place, but unfortunately people who dedicate thier time and effort into scamming players out of money and items will always find new ways to take advantage of thier fellow gamers.

If only it were possible to emit painful jolts of electricity through the game and users computer if found/caught scamming.

At this point, the safest means of trading in-game is with stock items such as ectoplasms when cost rises above the maximum allowed rate of 100p per trade. I'd just like to reiterate the importance of vigilance in this situation. If a person's scamming and you can see that they're doing it routinely, report them! Time is a very small price to pay in order to keep the game as clean as possible.

In the future, we may decide to reinstate this service, but for now neither the necessity is high enough nor the cost reasonable enough to continue with the practice. If anyone but the administrators of this site say that we're doing it again, don't listen to them. We will most definitely let everyone know if such a thing happens, through the forums.

Thanks,

Lasareth

Isnt this all the more reason to have an in-game Auction house just as WoW does?

Its great that Guru offerd the service, but its kind of unfair that the community should have to offer and mediate a service which is clearly, and desperatly needed.

What I think is if a moderator wants to continue this service they should get come kind of hard to get item or weapon, that is customized by Inde. Or someone who is well known to this site and can be trusted. That way if someone wants to perform this service all they would have to do is show that customized trinket to verify they are the real deal. If someone was to refuse or deny to show their trinket then the person who needs this service should refuse and seek out other council, not to mention report his name.

To the above post... or a quick PM to the mod with a random word or number in it and then ask both parties in the game to confirm the number. If they both match then the trade is legit.

Regards

I think some type of admin armor it would go a long way