Do you have what it takes to be the next Spam Queen?: MMOGrindHouse.com

Do you have what it takes to be the next Spam Queen?

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 · Filed Under browser game, business ethics, MMO scam, online scandal

The massively.com recently posted a blog about the abuse of comment spam on many websites by members of , a free MMO real time strategy browser game. Like BruceonGames.com and other game related blogs, MMO Grindhouse blog is also receiving a bulk number of spam comments like…

Update: Evony.com threatens Bloggers: Don’t Criticise our Game or We’ll Sue

The best way to combat this kind of spam abuse is to directly report it to their support center. So we did try to contact one of the admins a few days ago and gave them the spam related links and screenshots. They admitted it was one of their members who has been bugging us. They have a program called that lets members earn credits by referring new players to the game. However this kind of spamming already went overboard and it’s giving headaches for variety of websites. A few hours later (on that same day we complained), they posted a new announcement on how they will take action against the issue:

Here’s a witty response by Mark for thebigcritique.com

Case solved, my lord! Free from spam forever! (i guess…). Update: The Empire(craft) stikes back, save us from spam, my Lord!

Other blogs about worth to read and laugh with

If you are one of their spam abuse victims, download the banner below exclusively made by thebigcritique.com and spread it out to everyone!

Link the image to http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001286.html

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23 Responses to “Do you have what it takes to be the next Spam Queen?”

Spam Attacks Bloggers | Game Stooge Says:
July 15th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
[...] gamers who used software called to gain credits through new user referrals, according to MMO Grindhouse.]
Mark Says:
July 15th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Thanks for the quote! Watching this issue develop has been quite interesting, they really don’t think much of their customers do they? I don’t think is going to stay alive too much longer at this rate, but it looks like they are already starting to push out NEW mmo: http://cli.gs/bXM1eE thanks Bruce for pointing this out!
The Empire(craft) stikes back, save us from spam, my Lord!: MMOGrindHouse.com Says:
July 16th, 2009 at 2:57 am
[...] was sued by Microsoft for online advertising click fraud. He is also directly involved with this uproar of countless bloggers in the web and now he’s ploying to release an alternate empire to bombard us with spam bots and a new [...]
Bruceongames Says:
July 16th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Does the client software put malware onto your PC? http://cli.gs/v7yLVL
GM_Mogh Says:
July 16th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Re: Bruceongames
i was planning to blog about them a few weeks ago for our featured MMO but we changed our mind when they started spamming our blog comments for many days…that means my computer is totally free from malwares woop woop…oh wait..i signed up at their forum a few days ago so i can post their stupid links and ads…* rescanning my pc with eset nod32*….
Jason Says:
July 17th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
We’ve decided to poke a little more fun by placing ’s “newest” “ad” on the bottom of our site.
GM_Mogh Says:
July 17th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Re: Jason>>> Oh lord, i love your sarcasm LOL!
Jason Says:
July 20th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Hey, thanks for the link! I emailed the ‘ people telling them I had created an ad in their style, and told them they were welcome to it, free of charge. I haven’t heard back yet, however.
Eric Says:
July 21st, 2009 at 9:54 pm
I have no interest in , one way or another. Meer curiosity at most over the flood of ads I’ve seen for it, but no desire to play it.

And while I can understand the irritation over the spam, and think it justified, I find it ironic that the parody banner ad above implies that players of are “f**king perverts” (probably because they clicked an ad with lots of cleavage. And then up the right side of this very page is a link to a page with a pictures of a Japanese AV model in a bikini, or her underwear.

Hmm.

Personally I have nothing against pictures of attractive women in little or no clothing. Even if some of those women are merely CGI (as in the ads). I just find the apparent position of this website to be rather contradictory.
Jason Says:
July 22nd, 2009 at 5:27 am
Eric,
I’m right there with you man. I’ve got absolutely no problem with attractive women minus clothing. Not even when used in advertising, cause let’s face it– it works. I’m sure it’s worked on me a couple times. I would just hope that after clicking on such an ad, you might be treated to at least a couple more attractive ladies, and not a cheap Civilization knock-off.

But you’re right, I didn’t really think about my parody ad as coming across like that. The perverts line was actually making fun of their ads that say things like “play discreetly” and “play now secretly”, like for some reason people should feel guilty about playing a game, which as far as I can tell, is mostly about farming.
GM_Mogh Says:
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:21 am
Eric,
I respect your opinion, but you have to understand this is a blog site that reflects the interest of the blogger as well as the readers. Some comes back because of the MMO stuffs and a few comes back due to our featured rpg stars and hot babes. They know when they click the links here, they’ll immediately access the pictures and videos. Our site can’t be really compared with , first of all we are not selling any products and we don’t host games. Thus, not like the case of , deceiving people for false advertising, bombarding people with spam ads, and even installing spamware/spyware behind your back based on many complains (read here: http://cli.gs/v7yLVL). Are you sure your opinion is not contradictory as it seems you are too familiar with JAV models? I hope everything clears up. Thank you for understanding.
Gee Whiz Says:
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:44 am
@Eric,
I think you misunderstood. What Evil-vony is doing is downright deceptive. They lure gamers with promises of babes and the game doesn’t have that. Then they flood the adsense with their low value sleazy ads. As a site owner with underaged visitors, I had difficult time removing that garbage from my site. My site revenue has plummetted to 50%.
Eric Says:
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:54 am
Jason – fair enough. I see where you were coming from with that. And yes, it is pretty clear that what is doing is classic bait and switch advertising. I would add that the ‘discrete’ comments in their ads are again trying to provide the impresiion that there is sexualized content in their game. Which there isn’t.

GM_Mogh – well, Jason cleared up the misunderstanding as he is the one who made the parody ad and could clearly state what he meant by it, so that’s fine. And it is valid to complain about the bad practices of such a company, so I have no complaints about that.

However this part of your response confuses me – “Are you sure your opinion is not contradictory as it seems you are too familiar with JAV models?”

‘Contradictory’? I said I have no problems with such images, ra6ther that it seemed you did, and yet made such images available. Although as stated, that was a misunderstanding.

‘too familiar’? Now what is that supposed to mean? I clicked on the link on your site and described what I saw there, and now I’m an expert on JAV models?

Gee Whiz – yes these guys are definitely using dirty advertising tricks (and actually I’d say they are aiming at the male adolescent audience, the ads draw them in, and then young male competitiveness gets them to spend money to move ahead in the game quicker). And they are certainly pervasive in their advertising.

However, what their ad is like isn’t really that unusual (well, the one with *JUST* the cleavage was a bit bizarre). Women showing cleavage is used to sell everything from automobiles to yogurt (sorry, couldn’t think of a common ‘Z’ product). You may have underage visitors to your site, but I’m sure they’ve seen worse.

If the kids click on it and sign up, well, I’m afraid that I’m putting that one on the shoulders of their parents who should perhaps pay more attention to what their children are doing while on the computer (or watching on TV, or reading…). They can’t really blame you because as you indicated that ad is rather all pervasive, and no one made them sign up!

As for getting rid of it, you probably want to take that up with whoever is providing your advertising feeds. Between the arguably deceptive nature of their ads, and that their software may in fact be a Trojan, there is grounds for the provider to block the ads entirely.
GM_Mogh Says:
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:56 am
you must not have used the word “contradictory” if you have really understood all the issues we are bringing up, we are not actually attacking at their bobby ads as it would be sound like we are bunch of hypocrites, it’s after all just a parody, and what i meant of “opinion is contradictory” was simply being politically correct” and “as it seems you are too familiar” was more of sarcasm joke…but i don’t want to elaborate them furthur, anyway everything are cleared up!
Gee Whiz Says:
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:46 am
@Eric, Ok I’ll rather not debate with someone who obviously shares the same views with Evil-vony staff. Sure cleavage sells but do you see sleazy victoria’ secret ads on Cartoon network? There’s this thing you call “Appropriate venue”. If you’re someone who can’t distinguish that, then it’s pointless explaining that to you.

Why so defensive anyway, do you happen to be associated with the evil-vony guys? I rest my case. I’m off blocking more useless evil-vony spam.
Anybody here play Evil-vony? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community Says:
July 24th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
[...] And here’s an amusing blog post about spam: Do you have what it takes to be the next Spam Queen?: MMOGrindHouse.com [...]
Ricardo Says:
July 26th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I’m a game dev and i don’t spam, could i’ve a bonus review of my game here in gift for my honesty?
If yes please mail…
Ryan Says:
August 12th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
It’s a horrible fucking game. I got sick of seeing their damn adverts littered all over the internet, so just had to have a look (my lord). I suppose their brute force method approach worked in a way – but I wasn’t actually interested in the game, apart from the chance to see how awful it was.

Went to the site, was able to log in instantly after providing some fake details and started chatting to others who had just signed up. Everyone agreed the game was fucking awful – then, just as I was enjoying criticising the game, the site and their advertising – I was asked to PAY MONEY in order to send more messages via chat. Absolutely fucking ridiculous.

Fuck you and good day, my liege.
Ryan Says:
August 12th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
By the way, love the spam advert parody – genius!
Thor Says:
August 25th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
They also pay bloggers to write good reviews. Here is the exact in-game email I got:

Calling All Writers and Publishers!

The exponential growth of Evony has been amazing to witness in such a short period of time, and we really believe we have the best community of gamers on the web. Since Evony went from beta to live in May 2009, millions of players just like you have joined the vast group of Evony players and discovered what makes Evony the fantastic success it has become.

Now, we’d like to hear your thoughts on the game and content, as well as the latest events and prizes.

Have you written a good review of Evony: Age I? Are you planning to publish a great article on the game? If you have published within the last 14 days or are planning on publishing articles or reviews on Evony: Age I at some point in the future – including specific articles on items or game play strategies – then read on!

Any player who writes a review or article, with a minimum of 400 words, (in your own words) and has it published will have the opportunity to receive a special bonus of 500 cents FREE! Articles will be reviewed by Evony staff and the writers of the best articles will receive the bonus!

Yes, blogs do qualify! Just make it good!

How to qualify:

1. Your account must have been created before the article was published.
2. You must be able to prove you wrote the article (put your lord name and server in the article, publish from the same email as your Evony account, send us the article before it is published, etc.)
3. Send the URL of the successful publication along with your lord name, server and login email to pr@evony.com. We’ll review your article, and if it’s excellent, we’ll be sending you a special “thank you” bonus of 500 cents for FREE in game!

Thanks and good luck!

Best Regards,

Evony Team
Evony trying to clean up it’s image … via lawsuits | Armchair Diplomat Says:
August 26th, 2009 at 6:11 am
[...] yet on how wide-spread the legal canvassing will be, but given that there are hundreds of sites critical of Evony, including ours, you’d better hope they consider the environment and use recycled [...]
Evony.com threats Bloggers: Don’t criticise our game or we’ll sue: MMOGrindHouse.com Says:
August 26th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
[...] you have read my article called “Do you have what it takes to be the next Spam Queen?” it actually explains everything about this obnoxious online game browser, the one that must not be [...]
Navirio Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
hmm after reading this and the guardian post i may have my friend take down his evony help site lol i never played the game my self

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