In the MMORPG Albion Online, 604 players were banned. These players had purchased the in-game currency Silver from third parties.
What led to this ban? The developers explain that they had to ban 604 accounts of the currently very successful MMORPG Albion Online because these accounts had purchased in-game currency Silver from third parties. This is prohibited according to the terms of use.
In most cases, these purchases were said to have been made using stolen credit card information. The developers discovered this because the payments did not go through, and the studio was then hit with refund requests.
It is actually not necessary to buy Silver, as this video shows:
Did the right ones get caught?
What is the problem with purchasing Silver? According to the developers, buying in-game currency from third parties harms the studio. After all, the studio also sells Gold as premium currency, which you can then exchange for Silver in the game. This way, the studio earns revenue from those sales. This revenue is then used to further develop the MMORPG Albion Online.
Additionally, the studio wants to protect the in-game economy. This can only be done if an overview of the Silver sales is available.
How are players reacting to this? Generally, the community welcomes the actions taken against individuals who violate the terms of use. After all, fairness must be maintained.
In the case of these bans, however, there are now calls in the official Albion Online forum for the publication of the players’ names. There is a specific reason for this. Some in the community believe that those who bought Silver from third parties are alternative accounts. If these are banned, it does not really affect the “main players” who continue to play with their regular accounts.
Moreover, some are also somewhat annoyed that the biggest RMT players, i.e., the real-money traders, are still roaming the game unhindered. There is a sentiment that harsher measures need to be taken to also ban the “real” offenders.
What is the use of Silver anyway? Silver is the currency in the game that you can use to buy items on the marketplace, for example.
Albion Online is also among the 5 best MMORPGs for those who are not into classic games like WoW.
