WARNING: Yu-Gi-Oh! Scams, Myths, and Free Duels

We recently received several messages at YDP regarding people promising free duelpasses and free duels. Some folks have also asked me where to buy Yu-Gi-Oh! Online Duelpasses. The response to Konami’s free duel lobby initiative has been tremendous as well. I have tackled a lot of the issues thereof but, just to revisit the core issues here, I’d like to issue a general scam warning and myth debunker.

First and foremost, Yu-Gi-Oh! Online no longer features a free duel lobby at the current point in time. This was a promotion and was meant to be temporary. We do not know if they have plans to bring it back as a seasonal feature or something available to new or low-level players only but, when we do get confirmation on this, we’ll let you all know. For now, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Online Duelpass system has been made much more accessible and affordable so we hope it encourages more new players!

Some sites have promised free duelpasses or unrealistically-good discounts. I have scoured the Net myself both as a customer (before I became a Yu-Gi-Oh! reseller) and a business owner. I have yet to find huge price drops and steady supplies from a reliable business. All the sites promise freebies have been scams aimed at stealing passwords, installing spyware, or doing other malicious things to the systems of their visitors. Be wary of any promises of free duelpasses and the like – those are all SCAMS!

I received one particular comment recently which I had to delete due to the obscene content in it (we do have some younger folks in the audience, after all). The gentleman, we’ll call him “King Steve”, said that the selling of duelpasses is a scam (LOL). I’ll quote to make things more fun:

this is a dancing baby scam, its a childrens game, not to mention it says FREE on the website. I would copy and paste but convienently your site has disabled that option. NO ONE should be expected to pay hard earned cash for this wonderful chocolate bar

I substituted his foul language with random phrases, for your entertainment. I have to say that this is the first flame I have received since taking on the YDP-DPO project and I was wondering when it was coming – this is indeed a momentous occassion! I was going to send this gentleman a personal message, just because I am big on good PR and customer service, but you can tell that he is close-minded and will only respond with flames.

Instead, I am taking King Steve’s nasty message as an example of what ignorance set ablaze looks like (drugs are bad, mm’kay??). The truth is that I do not have any moderation settings set other than those that prompt me to approve messages that may be spam or have bad language in them. I copy and paste into WordPress blogs all the time. The greater issue here is the justification of paying to play for Yu-Gi-Oh! Online. Pay-to-play is pretty much the standard revenue model for online games; how else can companies maintain the game and keep delivering high-quality service? Servers, administrators, guides, programmers, graphic designers… This all costs money (and not Monopoly money, either).

Yu-Gi-Oh! Online is *not* free though you do receive free duel [points] upon sign-up and when there are special promotions. Our pricing is essentially determined by the market and what supply channels are available and, believe me, the profit to be made is not that significant as we just barely cover operational costs. Fortunately, we get enough volume to make it all worthwhile. The main reason we are here is because we love the game and we like making the connections we make every day. We’re not here to take advantage of anyone and get rich quick, which is what real scams aim to do.

Yu-Gi-Oh! is not for everyone and, unfortunately, Konami has done to their TCG what Nintendo has done for their console gaming systems: they have sent out the wrong marketing signals. There is a myth that has people thinking that Yu-Gi-Oh! is just for kids. The interesting thing about that notion is that the reality is quite the opposite. On Yu-Gi-Oh! Online, I’ve played against more 20 and 30-something’s than I have teenagers (at least since Konami’s upgrade to “Duel Evolution”). I’ve also personally converted many “grown-up” players to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG way by showing them that it is actually a deep game but, unfortunately, people do not give it a chance because of silly prejudices.

The beauty of this TCG is that anyone can play it but it takes a special something to be able to master the strategy of it all. I’ve found that many kids do not even play with the correct rules so I am not sure of the Konami target of ages 8-15 is really on-point since I don’t see many kids at the age of 8 or even 10 fully grasping the game (at least not without using recipes and structure decks). Of course, it all boils down to the level of intelligence, maturity, and competition that is required in any given scenario; all of these things vary from person to person, regardless of age. People need to keep in mind that suggested ages are just where the focus for marketing efforts lie but it doesn’t mean that a game can’t be fun for people of all ages.

I’ve seen some great relationships (kids playing with their parents, for example) started by this game and, sadly, the gaming snobs and elitists still try to ruin it for everyone else. Everyone has their opinion and are entitled to it but, really, the value in a game is purely subjective and can’t be proven right or wrong (something subjective cannot be objective). Personally, I think Yu-Gi-Oh! Online rocks and World of Warcraft is over-rated but I’d get many people disagreeing with me, which is fine. Opinions are always welcomed, just don’t be nasty about it, folks.

What cracks me up is how this guy makes it sound like playing online games will make you go broke (LOL x2). I hardly think that paying an occassional $5-20 will make anyone’s budget impossible to manage (even if you are unemployed and looking for work – been there, done that, bought a t-shirt). When you consider that the investment can last you two or three months, depending on how often you play the game, it really is worthwhile. Some people spend three times that much in one night to go to the local dive bar and have a few drinks. Others pay as much as $120 a month for a gym membership that they may only take advantage of five times a month. It all comes down to what you like to do to relax and have fun – no one can knock you for your personal preference (though King Steve may try). The beauty of the pricing model on Yu-Gi-Oh! Online is that you only pay for the time you actually play. If that is too hard to grasp for people, I would say that they need to move to this magical world where everything is free and money is not needed… Yes, that was dripping with sarcasm and cynicism, just in case you missed that. *wink*

For the rest of us (the sane ones), I hope you found this information useful – GAME ON!