Let's face it, the SK community is driven largely by its economy. There is only so much the game offers. After clearing essentially what is just the same levels over and over again (except everything being randomized), what else is there to do? Acquire gear to clear those levels faster, PVP, and trading. The last topic leads me to my point: why is spamming bannable? Or more specifically, why is trade spamming bannable? I'd understand if you're spamming nonsense repeatedly for the sole purpose of annoying players, but for trade spamming?
I'm asking this now as I received the generic message which I assume every player who has been "caught" spamming gets, that spam is illegal since it annoys players. I'm ignoring the fact that I probably do the same thing as every other player trying to sell something, yet I'm the only one receiving a warning (using the term 'only one' very loosely; meaning that the majority of other players trade spamming are not getting a warning). Just stating that spamming is illegal is not sufficient. There are questions where no official answer can be found. Where should we go to ask them? I'll leave my questions here now for posterity or if anyone can point me to an official answer.
1) What is an acceptable time between sending the same message in the Trade channel?
2) Is sending trade messages in places other than the Trade channel (i.e. Zone channel, shouting, general chat, etc) considered illegal?
Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to follow the rules, or at least what is considered acceptable, but I don't know what is. The following is more or less just a rambling on trade spamming and to elaborate on my questions or my personal experience, so feel free to read or skip it if you'd like.
I don't mind debating points to strengthen my argument or to find flaws in my judgement. I've read through recent forum topics on the subject but they didn't satisfy me, where the majority of the thread consists of players offering conflicting advice on what they feel is and is not acceptable. For anyone curious, the places I've spammed when I have something to sell is the Trade channel and in Haven 1 by shouting, together, usually as quick as it is allowed (before your voice gets hoarse). If they instate a period between how fast you can send messages in a channel, doesn't that lead to the conclusion that if you send a message as quickly as you are allowed, it is within the established limits and is not illegal?
So let's assume that the previous point was not the reason why I received a warning. Then was it because I was shouting in Haven 1? I'm going to make the general statement that every person spamming something in the Trade channel is also parroting the message elsewhere. Why? Because it gets the message to more people. So does that mean I have the right to report every single player I see in Haven 1 trying to sell something through shouts to GMs, and they will all receive warnings and eventually be banned if they continue?
When you want to complain about a user, the system gives you multiple chances to cancel your complaint by just ignoring them. I understand that this is most likely to cut down the amount of incoming complaints from players, but that leads to the following question, does OOO consider harassment to be less serious of a problem than spamming? That makes zero sense to me. I also understand lots of people have huge ignore lists from ignoring trade spammers, as I used to do it too when I first started playing. But since then, I've learned to leave trade chat or not join Haven 1. Trade spamming never interferes with my game playing experience if I do both, for when I want to chat or anything else. Guild halls and being in the Bazaar or Arcade works too. There are plenty of alternatives if just ignoring the player is not enough, although I don't see why.
If spamming is considered illegal because of the fact of how it annoys players, then what about beggars and people who randomly trade? Are you saying you don't find this annoying? Should I report these players too instead of ignoring them? I feel like that would be pointless, just like banning people for trade spamming is.
I do have some suggestions though:
Suggestion 1: I'm sure everyone knows that Haven 1 is probably the highest traffic channel, meaning that spam is inevitable. So why not just make Haven 1 as sort of a traders' paradise (as if it isn't already), where any sort of trade spamming is allowed. If you're going to Haven 1 to talk, you'll obviously need to leave Trade channel and not be in the Market area to be able to do so. But to tell you the truth, I don't do either and I still get by fine.
Suggestion 2: Why is the chat only scrollable via clicking the arrows? A scroll bar or making it so you can use the mouse wheel to scroll would make it heaps easier to scan through trade spam.
:D Get ready to be crushed