Over at The Corporation (the link’s over there, lazy ass), some guy named Jiffy had gotten a letter from NCsoft about his City of Heroes CD key … it’s a dupe. So NCsoft wants Jiffy to jump through a bunch of hoops to prove he is the rightful owner and the “other guy” is the duper. Or NCsoft is the duper.

Which brings me to my Short List for Dealing with Game Companies:

1. Take it to the mattresses. Actually, the rule is “Take it to the phones”, but I like to throw in a Godfather reference whenever I can. People at work don’t like to be bothered by phone calls; I’ve been known to feign hysterical deafness so I don’t have to answer. Using the phone is the closest you will get to being “in their face”, so unless you’re willing to fly out to their offices (and if you are, seek help — you’re a catass), use the phones.

2. If the Game Company is unwilling to resolve an issue to your satisfaction, have them cut you a check for the box price + subscription fees paid to date. Until they’re willing to do that, you’re not going away.

3. I’m not jumping through hoops, so just send the fucking check already. Takes less of my time to make phone calls than to paw through boxes of receipts. (Hint: takes them less time to make YOU jump through hoops than to resolve issues on their end. See the “game” they’re trying to play?)

I think Game Companies get away with this shit because a large portion of their player base are children that are intimidated by threats of character deletions and the FBI crawling up their ass with a microscope.

Not me, I can be bought. And my price is box price + subscription fees.