"Pocket Empires" Spam

Java on Mobile Devices Android
#1

Is anyone else annoyed by the “Pocket Empires” spam in all the comments? I simply cannot be bothered to remove the spam all by hand.

I figured Google doesn’t really care (they never respond to inquiries), the developers encourage it (http://pocketempiresonline.com), so the only thing to do is to add a referral system to my own games. As much as I hate it, it’s really simple to add a referral system to pretty much any game. Get players to post your referral code to unlock the last level or something…

#2

Yeah I’ve noticed that too, I always remove it. I’m starting to wonder if Google even logs that it was “marked” as spam…

#3

The thing is, the players that post the “spam” probably can’t be banned Google. They are most likely paying Android Market users. Also, it’s the game that forces the players to post all the spam.

I tried (pt8302):
http://pocketempiresonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=661

#4

They’re not gonna stop because they’re benefiting from it.

#5

Please don’t contribute to the spamming of the market place. :-\

That being said, lots of these so-called MMORPG games have referral code systems, but only Pocket Empires users are spamming the market with their referral codes. I do wonder if all of those users are legitimate.

#6

Here is a chat log. This takes place all the time… (Pocket Play is obviously the developer)

[quote][4/18/2010 9:05:19 PM] Pocket Play: Any players wanna help me out?
[4/18/2010 9:05:20 PM] Michael Lytle: aw ok my bad
[4/18/2010 9:05:23 PM] Saltrix: how so?
[4/18/2010 9:05:29 PM] Michael Lytle: ill help
[4/18/2010 9:05:40 PM] Jf: how
[4/18/2010 9:05:40 PM] Pocket Play: Could use some help advertising our game on the market. I’ll reward anyone who helps with 200 gems.
[4/18/2010 9:05:57 PM] Michael Lytle: hell i cant donate so what u need
[4/18/2010 9:05:57 PM] Kevin: what about country wars
[4/18/2010 9:06:04 PM] Jf: how would i do that
[4/18/2010 9:06:38 PM] Kevin: put the purchase of gems on Droid market and I will buy some
[4/18/2010 9:07:20 PM] Pocket Play: Basically, I need some people to go to apps and post >>one time<< per app about our game.
[4/18/2010 9:07:24 PM] Pocket Play: So we can spread the news.
[4/18/2010 9:07:51 PM] Pocket Play: Not every app needs to be done but just some.
[4/18/2010 9:07:59 PM] Jf: sure count on me doing that
[4/18/2010 9:07:59 PM] Michael Lytle: done and done ill post every where without my reference code
[4/18/2010 9:08:16 PM] Saltrix: no spamming for me, sorry
[4/18/2010 9:08:33 PM] Michael Lytle: 4pca ill start on droid defense
[4/18/2010 9:08:39 PM] Michael Lytle: lol
[4/18/2010 9:08:43 PM] Pocket Play: Just post something like…
[4/18/2010 9:09:14 PM] Pocket Play: “Want an awesome online medieval war game? Search up Pocket Empires in the market. 40,000 and counting.”
[4/18/2010 9:12:25 PM] haakjes-pocketplay: i’m off, good night all
[4/18/2010 9:12:30 PM] Kevin: how do u add comment in an app
[4/18/2010 9:12:52 PM] Pocket Play: You have to rate it first
[4/18/2010 9:12:56 PM] Pocket Play: Rate everything you comment on 5 stars
[4/18/2010 9:16:10 PM] Kevin: everyone is using this to try and gems they r using their referal code not trying to grow the game greedy people
[4/18/2010 9:17:15 PM] Michael Lytle: Try pocket empire’s online its free and addictive rts on the phone oh by the way its FREE Search pe. For what is one of the hottest games on the droid . thats my post sound good?
[4/18/2010 9:17:41 PM] Saltrix: except its not really a rts, i dont think
[4/18/2010 9:18:02 PM] Michael Lytle: its a real time stratagy
[4/18/2010 9:18:09 PM] Michael Lytle: lol pardon spelling
[4/18/2010 9:18:41 PM] Saltrix: i guess maybe it is, but if you told me that ahead of time, i would expect something different than this
[4/18/2010 9:19:16 PM] Jf: i posted comments on two games on the market advertising empires
[4/18/2010 9:19:45 PM] Pocket Play: Sounds awesome Michael
[4/18/2010 9:20:27 PM] Michael Lytle: lol i guess its a difference of opinion. cause all i play is rts and thats why im stuck on this game
[4/18/2010 9:20:44 PM] Pocket Play: Hehe =) I’m more of an mmo player but rts is awesome too
[4/18/2010 9:20:58 PM] Jf: i still haven’t figured out how to use the referral codes
[4/18/2010 9:21:11 PM] Michael Lytle: ne ways did 6 posts going to do more
[4/18/2010 9:23:42 PM] Jf: anyone been able to defeat a monster castle yet
[4/18/2010 9:23:53 PM] Pocket Play: <— But I dont count
[4/18/2010 9:24:03 PM] Pocket Play: Michael whats your ref code
[4/18/2010 9:24:06 PM] Jf: lol
[4/18/2010 9:24:17 PM] Michael Lytle: 4pca
[4/18/2010 9:24:28 PM] Michael Lytle: im aralin
[4/18/2010 9:25:35 PM] Michael Lytle: at work and paypal didnt work on my phone: (
[4/18/2010 9:26:02 PM] Pocket Play: :stuck_out_tongue: all good.
[4/18/2010 9:26:10 PM] Pocket Play: Theres your 220, keep up the good work
[/quote]

#7

Not surprised.

Have you sent a mail with this to Google? Not that I’m impressed by their responsiveness on Market issues, but one might hope that they’d at least react to this kind of spam behavior.

#8

I posted it here:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?fid=173b4c35501e989300048528e0868310&hl=en

#9

At least he told them to give your game 5 stars.

#10

Probably they are banking on people not wanting to mark as spam comments that give good ratings to games they like. Though I’ve still seen several games where the spammers have given very varied ratings.

Unfortunately, it seems like Google is slow to react - as usual (assuming that they even bother). The only upside is that they seem to remove the spam comments fast (although the ratings seem to remain) - so one can hope that they are on the case, and just haven’t decided what to do yet.

Certainly, if Google doesn’t react to this with some real consequence for the game developers, we will be seeing a lot more spam on the market in short order.