Understanding GM's and Why You Should Avoid Them

[DetCord12B]

Lot's of anger and posts about anger and threads about being angry. We've seen a lot of threads concerning this issue and even more in the IL-2 Steam forums section (that needs some attention devs). It's time for a reality check, gents.

 

What is the grey-market?

 

• GM sites like G2A, Kinguin, CDKeys.com and many others deal in game keys provided by users to sell in their own marketplace. Thusly, you or I could buy keys and sell them there at our leisure. 

 

What is the grey-market really?

 

• Typically keys are stolen, manufactured (manip generated), or outright lifted from users that haven't activated their products, which oddly enough happens more often than most might think. They then take these pilfered keys, keys obtained illegally, and sell them at profit via zero loss. Their IP's and identities are typically protected by said sites so little to no legal recourse is available.  

 

Is this an IL-2/1CGS issue?

 

• No, absolutely not. Ubi, EA, Activision, almost all of the major publishers and even some indie devs have been victims of this malicious practice. Ubi for example banned users and removed products en masse purchased by users back in 2015/16 that were obtained via GM sites, somewhere to the tune of 500K revoked licenses. As have EA, Activision and many, many others.

 

Point being, avoid the grey-market. Give your cash directly to the developers here or on official distro sites like Steam. And above all else stop bitching, moaning, and complaining that your game was deactivated if you picked it up via a grey-market website. You knew what you were doing when you bought there. Now, if you didn't, then you're a moron and you should've read the fine print or performed a simple ten second Google search. Said search would've rendered the results needed to make a cognitive decision if you have an IQ above 85.

 

If you actually purchased the product or products and had your keys revoked then I am truly sorry. The fact that actual customers might be dealing with this is infuriating. 

[Field-Ops]

People out of the know on what grey markets are only shop for the lowest price. The bad thing is that these sites are deigned to appear as if they are legitimate so those who preach against them arent taken seriously. And finally when keys do get revoked its always blamed on the publisher/dev team first before the grey market comes to light as the main problem.

 

Super over-simplified analogy -> but its like buying from China just because you saw they have a significantly reduced price on seemingly the same product. In reality the quality on that may not be up to the task you need it for and you've just bolstered China's economy while leaving the US made product to rot on the shelves. Set aside the fact they have some of the cheapest labor forces on earth. And you may even get away with doing that for a while with seemingly no repercussions. But one day it will and you wont be expecting it because its worked for you for so long. 

[BOO]

One of thing I haven't seen mentioned about the illegal ripping of keys and talk of who the real victims are is the link to wider organised criminality. Whilst Im sure many ripped keys are put out there by lone actors, the grey market provides innumerable easy income streams for more nefarious groups. Even those actors acting on their own are likely to have purchased software, technology and knowhow from within a criminal supply network.Those income steams are not used to buy slightly tatty high performance BMWs or fancy pants but are reinvested into drug supply chains, internet and telephone fraud boiler houses, mass marketing mail scams, trafficking and modern slavery (and yes terrorism to some degree) 

 

One publisher revokes 500K licences in a year - tip of the iceberg within a single narrow sector of a vastly diverse market.But a tip on its own that amounts to perhaps 10 million dollars/pounds.  Govts all over the word (my own included) stroke themselves that crime is falling when in fact its only the traditional types that are (the beauty of choosing to record only what you wish to report).

 

And this will continue because people shrug their shoulders far to easily when they loose a few dollar or are temporarily inconvenienced by a bad purchase whilst the victims their loss has provided further down the line are too vulnerable to either realise or able report a bigger  crime. Often we are not even set up with the right legislation to even recognise the true nature of the crime, making it purely a civil law consumer issue and deflecting the attention away from the ultimate beneficiary and the ultimate result of our actions. 

 

 

TL:DR -

 

buy something that isn't official or buy something that's a fake and (but almost certainly indirectly) you are funding the very people who put drugs into your neighbourhood, kidnap people (including children) to export them like cattle and exploit the most vulnerable people in our societies (who may well be you own parents and grandparents). Through those webs you may also be ultimately funding terrorism, sponsoring the disruption of democratic processes across the world and putting money into he coffers of rapists, murderers, abusers. People who would (and do) kill and act against your own. 

 

 

 

Its very easy to dismiss ones own responsibility and role within such a vast and convoluted chain especially when large organisations online and off are allowed to participate and profit with such impunity. Its only a few dollar after all, where's the harm?

 

But the responsibility and the consequences are there. Every time. 

 

 

[Dakpilot]

But it is muh Marxist anarchist right to have access to these kind of markets! You must be classist and downtrodding the hardworking poor majority, WE HAVE RIGHTS! 

 

seriously joking, and fully agree with your post Boo. 

 

But some of the recent post do beggar belief

 

Cheers, Dakpilot 

[bzc3lk]

Yep, very much agree.

[unreasonable]

Agreed:  apparently someone who can afford a PC, screen, HOTAS, a place and enough time to play computer games is so oppressed by full price software that they are entitled to keep stolen goods even when rumbled, as well as hector and insult anyone who objects as a class enemy.

 

I thought that some of those raving posts might have been satirical, but on reflection they were insufficiently well written. 

[FTC_DerSheriff]

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

I recommend this thread on reddit about the issue. Goes into more depth and more sources here and there.

Edited July 22, 2018 by DerSheriff

[-TBC-AeroAce]

At the end of the day I think it is more a case of education. People that bought from a dodgy site may have believed it was legit and have been scammed so have every right to be angry but just not with the devs but the scammers themselves.

[ShamrockOneFive]

1 hour ago, AeroAce said:

At the end of the day I think it is more a case of education. People that bought from a dodgy site may have believed it was legit and have been scammed so have every right to be angry but just not with the devs but the scammers themselves.

 

It's that last part that we're struggling with some people. 1CGS did a good PR move thing with the situation but form here on out we're going to have to be extra specific with new people coming into the community to make sure they buy from legitimate sources and not go hunting for a bargain and end up at one of these sites.