It can take a lot of time to earn your own money in a gamemode as grindy as Skyblock, and as such, sinister players may decide to take a shortcut at the expense of another player - This thread aims to make sure that the player falling victim isn't you! Please remember to keep these tips in mind at all times, especially around the dodgy auctioning systems, since they have not been designed to adequately prevent scamming from happening. What is scamming? Before I get into how to avoid scamming, it's best to establish exactly what is considered to be a scam. Here's how I would personally define scamming: 'To take advantage of another player for an advantage in-game, at the expense of the other player' Make sure to note the last part: 'At the expense of the other player'. Trickery on its own is not technically a scam if nobody is worse off because of it, however if you were to say, claim an item to have a value higher than you know it actually holds, and then a player actually purchases said item for a price higher than its actual value, then you have tricked them for a financial benefit at their expense, and have therefore scammed them. Scamming is against the rules Do not use this thread as a guide on how to scam, since scamming is against the rules and your account may be banned for partaking in it. The bid increment scam This scam involves publicly auctioning an item of reasonable desirability for an incredibly low price, with hopes that more than one player types /bid at the same time without noticing the astonishingly high bid increment. Here's a non-fabricated image of this taking place, to give an example: Two players noticed the considerably low price-tag and both typed /bid simultaneously, without realizing the abnormally large bid increment of $9,999, thus causing a player to unwillingly bid $10,000 for what is essentially one of the most common and worthless items in Skyblock (Auction was cancelled moments afterwards, so no player was actually scammed by this). This scam can be avoided simply by being more careful. What's the rush, anyways? You have 30 seconds to place your bid in, you don't need to bid on the item the instant that it's put up for auction. If you want to be safe whilst bidding, simply take the added two seconds to directly type the amount that you wish to bid. The command for this is: '/bid (Amount)'. For example, if you wanted to bid say, $500 on a diamond, you'd type /bid 500, rather than simply typing /bid, as another player could bid a substantially high amount moments before you bid on the item yourself, thus causing you to bid thousands more than intended. If you see a player using this scam and refusing to compensate the victim what was lost, then you can report them for scamming, as scamming is against the rules. Fake Sky Essence and other named items This scam, although becoming more noticeable as of late, is easily the most prevalent scam on the server at the moment, and it heavily relies on the ignorance of the victim. Although Sky Essence and Blaze Powder are two very similar items that look identical, there are a few ways that you can still tell the difference between the two. 1) Firstly, in a /trade screen, Sky Essence is blatantly referred to as 'Sky Essence', and has text beneath it that cannot be fabricated by an ordinary player. Here is what it looks like: If you do not see this text when you hover over a piece of Blaze Powder, then it is not Sky Essence. 2) In a public auction, both ordinary Blaze powder and Sky Essence appear as the same thing: 'Blaze Powder'. This often tends to cause players to assume that ordinary Blaze Powder is in fact, its much rarer counterpart, and they will bid into the thousands for it without actually checking to assure themselves that it is in fact Sky Essence. Before bidding on Blaze Powder, always hover over the text of it and make sure that you're presented with this text: If you do not see both this exact name and description, then it is not Sky Essence. Note: Players are able to rename their items to Sky Essence and can modify the name so that it appears as bold and cyan, however players are not able to add lore to the item. Unless the item has the text 'Holds a powerful aura...' then it is not Sky Essence. Since there is a possibility of players wanting to auction ordinary Blaze Powder, you cannot assume or accuse them of scamming unless they specifically claim that the Blaze Powder that they have auctioned is actually Sky Essence. The same goes for rank vouchers - Unless it has both a bold, coloured name and custom lore, you should assume that it is worthless and not purchase it. Renamed monster spawners As already mentioned, it is possible for players to rename items. This may encourage them to rename a monster spawner, in hopes that people will bid on what they think is a better spawner than it is. The spawner was actually a Cow Spawner, however I am able to rename it to Iron Golem Spawner, which would enable me to sell the item for 10x+ its value. The only way of knowing whether an item has been renamed or not, is to check the font of the name. If it is in italic (Italic, not italic) then it has been renamed and you should immediately assume that it is worthless. Other than this, there is no way of guaranteeing that the spawner you are trying to purchase is in fact what a player claims it is, so always remain skeptical when purchasing them. Make sure to capture video evidence of any transactions involving spawners or other high-valued items, and only trade with players of a reputable background. Can I join your island please? I'm like, totally pro! Players that ask to join your island may well be innocent and have no intent of stealing or griefing you, however you should always remain cautious and never invite a stranger to your island, since once you do so, they are able to destroy, kill or steal whatever they wish, and then leave without consequence. Please correct me if I am wrong, though I do not believe that griefers can be punished, seeing as you have willingly given them access to both your island, and its contents. To avoid falling victim to griefers, simply deny any request to join your island. After all, you cannot guarantee that your island will be the same as it was the next day. In fact, I'd willingly bet that 90%+ of the player-base would gladly grief your island given the opportunity, once you go offline. Always keep in mind that you should never invite a player that you do not trust completely, especially if you have met them recently or they are strangers to you. Give me the items, and I'll send you the money afterwards This potential scam is the very reason that we need to be able to add money to the /trade screen in larger increments than $500. If you're completing a large transaction involving hundreds of thousands of cash at one time, a player may claim that to make the transaction easier, you should give them your items in one trade screen, and then afterwards they'll use /pay to send you the money. Rather than agreeing to these terms, simply ask the user to place the items in the Auction House (/ah). Always remember that there is no reason for why a player would be unable to use /trade or /ah, so if they refuse to do so, then their intent is almost always to scam you. "Meet me at /Warp PvP" There are various alternatives to this scam, including "Drop party at PvP area", "Come to PvP for a free rank" or even "Meet me at PvP to see a glitch". For this, just remember that there is only one place on the server where you are able to attack one another: The PvP arena. If you go there, players will attack and kill you, no matter what they have claimed is their reason for wanting you meet them there. "Warp to my island" Although not everybody will intend to kill you, there are a few players that will, especially those that advertise particular incentives to warp to their island that make little sense (i.e. a low level advertising a drop party). Although PvP is disabled, players could set the warp point above a large fall, inside a pool of lava, or in an enclosed area full of mobs. Most of the time the warp will be completely safe so don't let this deter you from visiting your friends in the future, just be skeptical when warping to players that seem desperate for visitors, and make sure to never bring any items with you that you aren't willing to lose (You aren't going to need any of your items on another island anyways, so there's no reason why you shouldn't store them before departing). If you are aware of any other common scams at the moment, then feel free to reply with them and I will add them to this thread Have fun, and always keep these tips in mind so that you can avoid being screwed over by a player that is too lazy to earn money themselves
Thanks for giving scammers more way to scam ,-, And i just noticed in the mvp voucher thingy it say dostryed
I wouldn't say that it would give scammers another way to scam. In fact, it makes me more skeptical about bids and etc. it would take longer now to find loopholes.
