YouTubers are not the only ones promoting these shops. According to user reports, they appear on Facebook or even as official YouTube ads on the website.
If you are urgently looking for items, the YouTuber recommends as an alternative “Patches Emporium“, where players can trade or give away items without major problems or rule violations.
In general, the advice is: Stay away from such offers. It’s generally not worth it and is also prohibited. You are only wasting money, risking a ban or even worse. Ask around in the community if you urgently want a specific item.
What do you think about it? Have you had any experience with such offers? Were you perhaps a victim of scams or prohibited item gifts?
The hype around Elden Ring has apparently attracted some dubious characters looking to profit from it. They sell all kinds of items through web shops for real money. This is actually prohibited, yet some YouTubers even promote such offers on their channels. More and more players are warning about scams.
What is the problem? Elden Ring is primarily an action RPG that can be played either solo or in co-op. There is also PvP. There are no in-game shops or offers to spend real money on items. This concerns so-called “RMT” or “Real Money Trade”.
Dealers sell all kinds of items that you can find in the game through dubious websites and demand real money for them. For example, you might end up paying 17 euros for the Sword of Night and Flame. One of the strongest weapons, but actually, it’s not hard to obtain.
YouTuber ParagonDS, who has been making videos about FromSoftware games for years, criticizes other YouTubers for promoting these shops.
Note: We will not delve further into the various offers and how they arise. These are clear violations of the guidelines, and we only want to inform about them, not create additional advertising.
Item sellers apparently recruit YouTubers to advertise illegal items
This is what the YouTuber says: In his video, ParagonDS warns about item sellers. Since these items are offered as generated mass-produced items, they are considered “illegal”. If such an item is found in a buyer’s inventory, it can lead to a ban for all online modes. The servers of Elden Ring can filter out such items.
This has also happened in another case, when players distributed the underwear of NPC Fia to unsuspecting players in online multiplayer. Some of them became victims of a ban after unknowingly having this item. The underwear should not even be in the game and was reintroduced by modders; merely possessing it is already considered a violation of the guidelines by the game.
These are the official guidelines on the subject: In the terms and conditions of Elden Ring, it states:
No player is entitled to transfer, sell, or buy their rights as a player, as well as items, characters, and stored data within the game related to the software and acquired through the services (including so-called “real money trading”), to another, change the name to that of another, or pledge or otherwise secure them with another party.
eldenring.jp/eula
ParagonDS’s main criticism is that the mysterious shop operators use other YouTubers to advertise their offerings. This is problematic in multiple ways:
- Buyers of these items are often unaware and do not suspect that their purchase could lead to a permanent ban.
- It is unclear whether the YouTubers are aware of this and are accepting it, as they benefit from it, or if the shop operators are also exploiting ignorance.
- Either way, these YouTubers are advertising “illegal” products and might profit from this scheme through affiliate links.
He does not name any names, but it is suggested that not only smaller YouTubers are advertising for it. Apparently, some larger channels also have such affiliate links under their videos for Elden Ring. There are even discounts on purchases when the links from the respective videos are used.
The whole thing is sold as a regular advertising deal on YouTube, even though it is not a “normal” offer.
ParagonDS calls for ignoring these item shops and not advertising them further: “If you see these companies contacting you and wanting to recruit you, it’s best to just ignore them.”
Looking at the operators of such websites, it seems odd. The YouTuber mentions an example of a shop whose company is based in England while the company owner lives in China. There are also fake reviews to create a better image, and so on.
Why do YouTubers promote such offers? This can only be speculated, and ParagonDS has little understanding of it:
Given how far information is spread today, it is a mystery why these channels voluntarily participate in such actions and, even worse, still promote them for their impressionable audience, and we should call them out when we see them.
“More and more people are trying to sell items in my Discord”
Why is he even concerned about this? The YouTuber has commented on this issue before, but at the time, he felt it was not a big problem and hardly affected him.
- But now he finds that more and more people from his community are joining Discord and trying to sell their items there.
- He himself has also received multiple offers from companies behind such offers, suggesting a partnership.
- There are also numerous complaints from players in his community who have become victims of such offers and warn that there are furthermore dubious scams.
- Individual reviews on such websites even warn that credit card information has been stolen.
YouTubers are not the only ones promoting these shops. According to user reports, they appear on Facebook or even as official YouTube ads on the website.
If you are urgently looking for items, the YouTuber recommends as an alternative “Patches Emporium“, where players can trade or give away items without major problems or rule violations.
In general, the advice is: Stay away from such offers. It’s generally not worth it and is also prohibited. You are only wasting money, risking a ban or even worse. Ask around in the community if you urgently want a specific item.
What do you think about it? Have you had any experience with such offers? Were you perhaps a victim of scams or prohibited item gifts?
