I’m a gadget guy.  I like to have all the shiny new stuff.  I’ll admit to being skeptical about an Apple phone though.  I’m really not interested in a phone that plays music….  I mean I have an iPod (that I use on planes and in my car) and I listen to iTunes on my computer, but I’m not into it on my phone.  Partially because of battery life issues.  Anyway, personal bias aside, I think the Apple iPhone (or whatever it ends up being called after the being sued by Cisco) looks really cool.  I like the interface and that it does all the things a smart phone does and seems to make browsing better. 

I have a Motorola Q now, for which I was forced to switch to Verizon.  I guess in June I will be forced to switch to Cingular to get the iPhone.  That sucks, because after some of the issues I’ve had in the past with Southwestern Bell (subsequently SBC, then AT&T, and now subsuming Cingular too) I swore never to give them another dime.  I’m going to rationalize it by pretending Apple gets all the money.

Also of note, was the Apple TV (originally called iTV).  I ordered one.  I’ll post a review when I get it.  It looks like it could be cool.  And I’d be glad to see DVDs (and this whole stupid debate between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) disappear just like CDs did.

Kudos to Apple for again releasing really cool products!

Less than one week to The Burning Crusade.

Accounts for sale on eBay:  918 (up 325!)

– Under the old system:  439 (up 155)

High Price:  $1,500 ( 6/9 T3 Warrior with Gressil [Kel’Thuzad sword] also has two other Naxx weapons)

Highest Price w/ Bid:  $1,500 – same account as above, it actually has 7 bids

Accounts with Kel’Thuzad weapons:  4 (up 3) Accounts with Legendary items:  38 (Up 1)  (This number is somewhat inflated because it counts splinters of Atiesh and a lot of people have those – not too useful though unless you’re in a guild that can kill KT.) 

Gold: 

• 1000g on Tichondrius (Alliance): $200.28-$285.77 (trending down about $50)
• 1000g on Frostmane (Alliance): $129.27-$371.39 (about the same)

Sources:  EZgaming, IGE, MOGs

COMMENTARY

Gold seems roughly stable.  A ton of accounts are going on sale.   It looks like a lot of people are  getting out (or cashing out before TBC).  Probably a lot of the really hard core people are just trying to get some cash and will either play alts or start new characters with the new races (Blood Elf or Dranei). 

I’m also seeing a lot of things that look like scams as I browse the accounts for sale.  Be careful. 

I’ll admit two things up front:

1. I don’t use Second Life.  (I would say play, but IMO Second Life is a social experience and not a game.)
2. I’ve really resisted writing about anything Second Life related.  (Although I did briefly mention it and Anshe Chung once.)

Now, on to the good stuff.  There have been a ton of recent articles about Second Life, largely started by a set of articles / press releases about an avatar named Anshe Chung (in real life she is Ailin Graef) becoming the first real world millionaire from Second Life.  Uhm, I’m not sure I said that right, but you get the point.  If not, well you can find it.

So this spat of Second Life press took a turn for the worse (well from Second Life’s perspective anyway) a week or so ago when Clay Shirky questioned their numbers.   That’s an interesting story and relevant to any high profile web company – numbers are important.  Anyway, I don’t want to talk about that either, I’m just catching you up in case you haven’t read the billion Second Life stories that are all over the place.

In Second Life users can own property.  This is different from other MMORPGs where the game company claims ownership of everything (which creates a ton of issues, but again that’s another story).   So Anshe Chung owns property in Second Life and, in a sense, has become something of a celebrity.  Possibly the first real celebrity avatar….

So, she has some press conference in a digital theater in Second Life.  I don’t know what it was about.  (But I’m going to guess she was talking about how rich she has become or how great she is based on all the stories I’ve seen.  Oh wait, disregard that.  I’m a respectable blogger and I’m not supposed to start rumors.)   During this event a group “sabotaged” the even with giant animated penises.  LOL.  She didn’t like this.   I say, hey if you want to be famous, well you can’t expect everyone to love you.

So this really isn’t that interesting.  Celebrities and politicians face protests, hecklers, etc. all the time.  Right?   Right.   How is this any different.

I got this from News.com:  The legal rights to your ‘Second Life’ avatar

So this is what makes it interesting (from the article):

Afterward, a video of the attack was posted on YouTube. When Anshe Chung Studios filed a complaint with the popular video service claiming that Graef’s copyrights had been infringed because images of her avatar were used without her permission, YouTube promptly removed the video.

A quote from the Guntram Graef (her husband), also from the article:

“I have to point out to you that you, most likely by accident, posted an image that contains artwork copyrighted by my wife Ailin Graef and by Anshe Chung Studios, Ltd. and without obtaining our permission to do so,”

Uhm, well, I disagree.  I’m no lawyer, but if Anshe Chung is famous, well she can be stalked and her unflattering pictures can be posted everywhere.  Or at least that is what my understanding the law through analogy logic says.  I’m sure Britney Spears doesn’t like having all those pictures of her with no panties on floating around either.  (Well maybe she does, but that’s beside the point.)  It’s news.  Just like the “sabotage” was news.   So hey fair use and all.

So I say boycott Anshe Chung for being Second Life’s biggest hypocrite.   Anshe:  You can’t have your cake and eat it too. 

• If you want Second Life to be like reality – which I assume you do since you are bragging about making millions of real dollars in it
• And you want to be famous – which I assume you do with all the heavy self-promotion, even if it is just to drive up virtual real estate prices to make you more money
• Then you have to accept being famous with all the goood and the bad that brings. 

So to Anshe Chung, perhaps the world’s most famous avatar, I say welcome to reality.

Oh, and I respect Linden Lab for saying this (from the News.com article):

“Copyright law is applicable to works created in Second Life. Copyright law includes fair use and it includes provisions regarding infringement,” Linden Lab wrote to CNET News.com in a statement Friday.

So I recommend that everyone that cares about these issue avoid transactions with Anshe Chung and her affiliates.  Let the boycott begin!

WARNING:  Buying World of Warcraft (WoW) accounts on eBay or via Paypal is very dangerous.  This is the first in a series of articles on how to identify these scams and how to protect yourself. 

I previously posted that eBay should have a flag option like craigslist.  This would help.  So, in the interest of explaining how messed up this stuff is, I will show the anatomy of a really bad eBay scam.  (Well really, it is more like a scammer.)   The proliferation of fraud related to virtual items is a significant problem.  It’s perpetuated by three things:

• eBay’s stance on virtual items.  Which, to the best of my understanding is:  they don’t get any protection because they aren’t real.  I find to be really silly given that eBay is one of the biggest web companies and virtual items are a big, high value market.
• Paypal shares eBay’s position on virtual items.  I guess this isn’t surprising since eBay owns them.
• The game companies (particularly Bllizzard) perpetuate fraud by not allowing secure character and gold transfers.  Look, I know some of these companies are purists, but the reality is that people are going to buy/sell these accounts.  They can let their customers (people that want to play their games enough to pay) get ripped off or they can facilitate these transfers and make money.  They are in denial about reality.

OK, so now you know why these scams exist.  Let me show you one.

On eBay right now, I can do a search on “curulet2007” (you have to do an advanced search with the box checked for Search title and description) and get these results:

• WoW World of Warcraft 8/9 Tier 3 Warrior + Thunderfury
• 10 x Nintendo Wii Consoles – Special Lot .BRAND NEW.
• WOW World of Warcraft 7/9 Tier 3 Priest – Full Atiesh
• World of Warcraft WoW 60 Rogue 8/9 tier3 Kingsfall r14
• World of Warcraft WoW 60 Hunter 8/9 Tier 3 – 70 Epics –

Now, you’ll see that there for world of warcraft accounts there.  Each has 7/9 or 8/9 tier 3 (which is very hard to get) and one of the best possible weapons for it’s class.   It would be impossible for one person to have created all these characters.  These accounts should be going for $1000-$1500 (if they were real).  Except in this case they are all the same guy using several  different eBay accounts.  You can look at each one, he uses the following ids (in the same order as the auctions above):

• scutumboy (1)
• lisar915 (34)
• lisar915 (34)
• powerjunkie68 (52)
• powerjunkie68 (52)

Only scutumboy and powerjunkie68 have any feedback that still links to an auction.  Scutumboy actually looks vaguely real since it has (1) feedback and that feedback is selling a $500 remote controlled car set.  Powerjunkie68 bought a “fake doctor’s excuse” $9.99.

This is another important way to detect fraud.  (The first being a seller listing several items that he can’t possibly have.)  I look at feedback and click the links.  If the person has just bought a bunch of < $10 items that look useless they are probably just racheting up their feedback for the big score.  It looks like this guy probably rotates accounts at a frequency that makes it difficult to spot what he has been doing.

Virtual goods are also difficult in feedback, because in some cases the seller can “steal them back”.  In the case of World of Warcraft accounts this is thanks to Blizzard’s policy since they do not recoginize account changes the original owner can just call up, request a new password, and boom the account is their’s again.  At that point you have limited recourse.  You can’t even go give the seller negative feedback if you already gave them positive feedback.  So they can just sell it again!

BTW, the same thing pretty much happens if they give you nothing – you don’t have a lot of recourse.  Although you can leave them negative feedback in this case, since they never gave you anything.

In some cases you can do a chargeback on your credit card which forces Paypal to refund your money.  This doesn’t work if your Paypal drafts from your bank.

Anyway, back to the fraud.  In every listing he says contact curulet2007@yahoo.com before bidding.  This is usually a bad sign.  If they don’t want to be contacted through the eBay channels, that is usually a big red flag.

There is one more thing that sets off the fraud alert in the case described above.  The 10x Wiis listing.  I went and looked at that as I was looking at all his listings (when spening money on virtual goods it is important to do as much research on the seller as possible).  So when selling Wiis and PS3s it is common (it used to be required, but I’m ont sure if it still is) to show a photo with your receipts and a written note with your eBay ID – to prove they were yours.  Well, the 10x Wiis here are listed under the “lisar915” eBay ID and the picture has the ID “alexmichalas” in it.  Woops!  Run away.   BTW, a quick search for ebay member “alexmichalas” reveals he has been selling Wiis (in Europe) and has the exact picture in all his listings… with, shock, no mention of “curulet2007”.

So, here we have one scammer spotted and identified.  Of course, I can’t tell eBay about it or flag it.  So what should I do?

1. Write this blog post.
2. Stop people from getting scammed.

So I attempted to contact kotura (331) who has a current bid of $1,425 on the 8/9 T3 Warrior (first listing).  It’s the only one with meaningful bids.  BUT, get this, I can’t contact this person because I have had a transaction with them – I might be trying to rip them off.  Oh, the irony!

So I tried to keep this buyer from getting ripped off.  It almost makes me want to start a “verified” eBay listing or something.  Or eBayFraudAlert.com.  But really, eBay should be doing this.

We are two weeks away from TBC, the first expansion to World of Warcraft.  It’s a big deal, largely because, well quite literally, it will change the game.

The biggest thing:  the maximum level moves from 60 to 70.  Why is this so important:

1. People have been sitting at level 60 for about two years.  This means that level hasn’t been that important as a differentiator for a long, long time.  So since everyone has been stuck at 60 they’ve differentiated across different axes:
• Equipment:  There are currently 3 tiers of equipment that are dramatically different.  Even the people with tier 1 are dramatically more “powerful” than those in “tier .5” or “tier 0″…   And there are very few with full sets of tier 3.  But basically all this stuff will be obsolete withing a few months of the expansion release (since people will be 70 and the level 70 stuff is better than even tier 3).
• PVP:  This has been fun.  The rewards, however, are all equipment.  So all the PVP people have been doing was a fun game, but all the “output” again gets washed away.  Start over when you get to 70. 
2. People haven’t “levelled up” in a long time.  Getting a PVP rank used to be comparable, but they took that out in Decemeber and it was crazy hard (like 80 hours a week) past a certain level.  So the feeling of advancing a level will be back, at least for a month or two, which will be fun and energize people.
3. New areas — there have been a lot of patches with new areas in the two and half years of WoW, but they were almost exclusively dungeons and battlegrounds.  There will be new dungeons and battlegrounds in the expansion too.  But, more importantly, there will be a giant new land mass.  This will bring back the joy of discovery and exploration.  I think it will be a lot of fun.
4. New races — this will appeal to the hardcore folks who want to try something new.  It might also be good for new people who now have some vague advantage to entering the game now (they get to be one of the new races).

So I think there might be a resurgence of playing, but I’m not sure.  I have not been to Outland (the big new area) in TBC, although I have played the beta.  I messed around as a dranei and a blood elf (the new races) and it was pretty fun.  But I couldn’t bring myself to level up to 70 only to have it wiped when the expansion is released, so I haven’t seen the high end stuff.  I’m looking forward to checking it out.

I’ve noticed now at dinner, having drinks, etc., that if someone checks their Blackberry (or other smartphone) everyone else is almost compelled to do so as well.  It’s like a yawn – once one person yawns everyone else almost can’t resist yawning themselves.   

Burning Crusade Relase is 01/16/07 — just under two weeks away.  People are running out of time to sell their major T3 accounts before they drop in value a lot. 

Accounts for Sale on eBay:  593 (new system for counting) 

Under the old system:  284 (up 74)

High Price:  $1,400 (6/9 T3 R14 Hunter)  [This account is not worth nearly that, the seller is smoking crack.]  This is down $100 and prices are trending down at the high end fast.

Highest Price w/Bid:  $1,000 (6/9 T3 Warrior w/ 3 Naxx Weapons)… there is also a rogue at $960 with 6/9 T3 and Naxx daggers.  Last week the highest price with a bid was $760, so it looks like people are buying. 

Accounts with Kel’Thuzad weapons:  1 (down 1)  – there is also a priest with Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian which one could argue is a KT weapon.

Accounts with Legendary items:  37 (Up 6)  (This number is somewhat inflated because it counts splinters of Atiesh and a lot of people have those – not too useful though unless you’re in a guild that can kill KT.) Gold (1000g Tichondrius): $258.50-$313.21 (up $70) (1000g Frostmane) $307.68-372.50 (up $170)

(Gold prices from IGE, EZgaming.   Alliance.)  Starting next week I will add WGSeller and MOGS to the list.  For comparison, WGSeller is $299.7 on Tich and has no gold on Frostmane, while MOGS is way underpriced on Frostmane at $129.77 and the same on Tich at $299.77.  (If they look identical next week, I’ll use both.  Also a previous commentor said IGE owned EZgaming – which may be true, but thei prices are a lot different.)

COMMENTARY

Gold is up dramatically.  I’m not sure why, could be a few reasons:

• People are stocking up for TBC.
• People are agressively buying stuff (in prep for TBC or PVP?)
• Blizzard is doing a better job of enforcement.
• Gold is harder to farm.  (I find this unlikely.)

But in the last two weeks gold is up well over $100/1000g.  That’s a lot of appreciation.

Accounts seem to be selling in the $600-$900 range for well equpped (6/9 T3) accounts ahead of TBC.  We’ll see what happens in two weeks.

If you want to sell your account:  DO IT NOW!  There will ikely be a dead time starting a few days before TBC and lasting until people start selling well equipped level 70s.  I could be wrong – maybe a lot of new people will sign-up with TBC and want 60s out of the gate.  But my bet is that anyone buying an account for TBC is going to want to have it transferred at least a few days before the expansion hits so they can start playing immediately.  And right now transfers are at TWO DAYS.

From CNN.com:  Pat Robertson: God told me of ‘mass killing’ in 2007

Some fun quotes:

Evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday that God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would cause a “mass killing” late in 2007.

“The Lord didn’t say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that.”

It’s good to know that he can fill in the blanks for the “Lord”.   Anyway, the article also discusses his previous predictions, some of which have come true.  However, since most of them are vague it hardly matters.  Anyway, my favorite part is when he says:

“I have a relatively good track record,” he said. “Sometimes I miss.”

So, excuse me Mr. Robertson, but your God is supposed to be omniscient.  So if you “miss” at least one of the following must be true:

1. Your God is lying to you.
2. Your God does not exist.
3. You are making this all up.
4. Your God is not omniscient or makes mistakes.

I’m going to steer clear on 4.  I believe it is either 2 or 3 (or both).  I’m open to being convinced on option 1.  If I were God I don’t think I’d be spending much time chatting with Mr. Robertson.  But that’s just me.

So, uhm, I predict the following for 2007:

• The housing bust will continue.  (So, to be clear, I’m right as long as it doesn’t dramatically improve.)
• There will be a terrorist event against the U.S.  (I hope I’m wrong on this one, but statistically it’s pretty low risk.  However, if there isn’t a major “terrorist attack” I’ll claim that attacks on U.S. troops on Iraq counts.)
• The U.S. will lose more troops in Iraq.   (Free…)
• The U.S. won’t pull out of Iraq in 2007.   (This is the low risk bet too.  See, even if they pull out some, I’ll still be right.)
• The stock market will make a major swing.  (LOL, now I’m being dumb.)
• Amazon will have its BEST CHRISTMAS SEASON EVER.  ( 😉 read this post.)

Ok, enough of this.  Predicting the future makes me ill…. and makes me feel kind of slimy.

Anyway, it’s morons like this that give religions a bad name.  I do, however, love the picture CNN picked for this article.  ROFL.  Nice sleazy smile and all.  Although it makes me sad that this got above the fold coverage on CNN.

Oh and in honor of this, and I’m sure the plethora of articles I will now blog about, I have created a new category:  Religious Nuts.

Maybe I’ve been living under a rock or something, but this is the first time I’ve seen this:

Hilarious!  Got to love it when genres (or perhaps age ranges) collide. Grand Theft Auto meets Mario Brothers! Brilliant! Robot Chicken is funny.

I’m sitting here looking at an auction that ends in 58 minutes.  It’s current bid is $353.18 (it is listed in pounds, hence the weird number).  So the lister has 100% positive feedback (29) and is in the UK.

However, I know this listing is a fraud.  It’s a World of Warcraft character (you’ll note that I’ve been tracking character sales in a weekly entry), so it is by definition unique.  This particular one was previously listed (the listing went down today) and this new listing is identical, including the picture.  It went up, with a shorter auction, while the other one was still there.  So I know one of them is a fraud and I’m assuming it is the more recently listed one (this one). 

This happens a lot, especially on virtual items.  If I could flag it I could save someone the pain of getting ripped off for $350-$400.  And since it is a virutal item it will be a royal pain to get it back since eBay and Paypal’s point of view on virtual items SUCKS.  That’s another blog entry though.

So if you are thinking of buying a World of Warcraft account on eBay (or anywhere else) be very careful.