Can we agree that as gamers, sometimes we can be bamboozled by the idea of gaining an upper hand? Loot boxes and micro transactions might be tempting to purchase, especially in a competitive setting. Hey, it’s a tough world out there! And if you are playing FromSoftware’s Elden Rings, everything wants to kill you. So, it’s no wonder players want to get their hands on as many runes as possible.
However, if you think buying them off eBay is the way to go, think again. Runes, for those of us who don’t want to get eaten by the “puppies,” are in game currency players use to level up their characters. Apparently, they’re so hard to come by some players are turning to outside sources to purchase them. Hundreds of listings were posted on eBay advertising anywhere from thousands to millions of runes for sale.
Runes could ruin your game
There are three obvious issues with these transactions. First, there is no way to directly send or trade runes in the game, so the seller summons the buyer into their world as a co-op partner, leaves the runes for the buyer to retrieve, and they both depart. Secondly, the sale could be fraudulent, as is a given with any possible scam. And one this popular in connection with a game that is skyrocketing in numbers, well… buyer beware.
But, most importantly it is a direct violation of FromSoftware’s Terms of Service (ToS), which states “No Player shall be entitled to assign to, transfer to, sell to or buy from another, change the name to another’s name of, or provide another as pledge or other security with, any of his/her rights held as a Player, and items, characters and saved data within the game related to the Software which are obtained in the Services (including so-called ‘real money trading’).”
I looked at eBay this evening. As of this writing, there were 370 rune package listings. Of those, none were active or open. All had either sold or closed, even the “pre-owned” options. Ironically, some even offered free, or low-cost shipping. So, either that means eBay has noticed and is putting the brakes on sales, or the sellers know when peak buying hours are.
Regardless of the whys at the moment, the consequences could be fierce. These include FromSoftware wiping the player’s runes remotely, suspension of their account, or an outright ban from the game. Considering some of the rune packages were listed between $5 to $200, that’s a lot to spend for a high-risk gamble.
Via, pcgamer.com.
