Last year MindArk partnered with Sometrics to add the option for players to increase their PED accounts by completing offers provided by Sometrics (further information on the wiki). Some time ago I started regularly checking the Sometrics offers for something to turn up in the "free" category. Then, after weeks of waiting it happened. Here's a picture story: "Online Weather" showing up as a free offer promising 4.88 PED. The description says it's a free desktop widget that delivers weather forecasts and reports for the whole world. I click it. And immediatly after clicking without further notice it I'm redirected to a download page prompting "Click here to start downloading". I click it. The .exe file is just 164 KB in size and downloaded in a second. I save it and execute it. The setup dialogue is asking me to install a thingie called "Delta Toolbar" which says it makes "browsing and searching the internet faster and easier". I'm not aware of any toolbar doing that, no thanks. Using Firefox's standard search window I quickly search for "Delta Toolbar", the results are suspicious, mainly containing guides on how to remove the "annoying" thing, have a look yourself: https://www.google.de/search?q=delta toolbar So I click "Skip" in the dialogue. But it's tencacious, praising Delta Toolbar's features. The option are "Ok" (to install it) or "Cancel". I click cancel. And that's it. No further message or anything. That's all? I click the offer on the EU Sometrics page once more. Download, save, execute. And it's different. This time it's offering "SweetIM - Free Emoticons for Messenger and Webmail". I quickly search for it, results seem to suggests it's even worse than "Delta Toolbar", have a look yourself: https://www.google.com/search?q=sweetim Again, I click "Skip". And that one is tenacious too, presenting another dialogue window with an the following option checked: "Resume download on next start of Windows". I uncheck it. Unlike the Delta Toolbar it offers not only a "Continue" and a "Cancel" button but also another "Skip" button. I click "Skip" again and this time it skips... Looks like I can install "Online Weather". I agree to the EULA/Privay Policy without reading it. The installation takes seconds. Then offering another window with one active button: "Finish". I click it and the window disappears. On the desktop I find an "Online Weather" icon, also a tray icon in the taskbar. I click the latter. The Online Weather Settings window opens. Obviously it's installed. I decide not to set anything. Now, where are my PED? I check the status on the EU Sometrics page. The status is "VIEWED", Completions Allowed says "1", Completion says "0", Earned PED says "--". I wait. I refresh the page. Nothing changes. I wait. I log in again, the offer is not showing anymore but still no PED. I decide to wait longer and search for "onlineweathersetup, see yourself... https://www.google.com/search?q=OnlineWeatherSetup Later I log in again, nothing has changed, I check the transaction history: nothing. I login the game and check the PED Flow Center: nothing. Conclusion: If you have a job or family or friends to beg for 49 cents or whatever ... DO NOT USE SOMETRICS. Otherwise you risk to end up with a malware infested computer potentially causing serious issues and no additional free PED at all. For sure there also positive experiences with Sometrics offers?!? EDIT: In post#3 @Xandra has compiled basic advises to protect yourself when using services like Sometrics: Sometimes you'll be asked for your cell phone number. Never ever enter your real cell phone number, you'll run a high risk to fall victim to a costly fraud, usually via "premium services" or other phone-related payment systems. Even in the best case you can expect to be terrorized with spam SMS' ... Sometimes you'll be asked for your personal address/ email data - never give your real data, or your mailbox (both real and email) will explode with spam! Use a throw-away email-account made especially for this (that will never get checked), and prepare a fake RL name/ address, too - big hotels, big hospitals, big dormitories are a good source of addresses - but be nice, and never use an existing name/ address combo, you might get in trouble ;-) Remember, both email or RL addresses (most often not the name) will be verified for existence ... Get yourself a Virtual Machine for your computer. VMWare, VirtualBox, or the MS Virtual PC (there's more ...). Install an OS, a browser (without security add-ons), basic virus protection, and update this system. Then make a snapshot of the whole system, so that you always have a clear fresh version to start with. Idea is to visit the site (in this case Sometrics), install the junk they want you to install, grab the money, and delete the VM ;-) Careful, some few trojans are able to escape a VM! In any case you should expect a scam/ fraud in one way or another. So be careful and be sure to know what you do. And maybe - you know this old women in the old house, on the other side of the road? You may ask her if you should mow her lawn, or do her shopping - this will yield you more money in the same time ...
Tass you must be really bored to have gone to Some Tricks to make PED lol. Desperation setting in ? haha just kidding :) But yea, don't go here if you have a 1/10th of a brain.
Hi, guess I wrote about such schemes before, just don't remember where :/ And I'm too lazy to search now, it was in one of these forums, but where, when and why? Anyways, I did some of them already. And I have collected a few good advices for anybody that feels like trying it: Sometimes you'll be asked for your cell phone number. Never ever enter your real cell phone number, you'll run a high risk to fall victim to a costly fraud, usually via "premium services" or other phone-related payment systems. Even in the best case you can expect to be terrorized with spam SMS' ... Sometimes you'll be asked for your personal address/ email data - never give your real data, or your mailbox (both real and email) will explode with spam! Use a throw-away email-account made especially for this (that will never get checked), and prepare a fake RL name/ address, too - big hotels, big hospitals, big dormitories are a good source of addresses - but be nice, and never use an existing name/ address combo, you might get in trouble ;-) Remember, both email or RL addresses (most often not the name) will be verified for existence ... Get yourself a Virtual Machine for your computer. VMWare, VirtualBox, or the MS Virtual PC (there's more ...). Install an OS, a browser (without security add-ons), basic virus protection, and update this system. Then make a snapshot of the whole system, so that you always have a clear fresh version to start with. Idea is to visit the site (in this case Sometrics), install the junk they want you to install, grab the money, and delete the VM ;-) Careful, some few trojans are able to escape a VM! In any case you should expect a scam/ fraud in one way or another. So be careful and be sure to know what you do. And maybe - you know this old women in the old house, on the other side of the road? You may ask her if you should mow her lawn, or do her shopping - this will yield you more money in the same time ... Hope this helped, have fun! Edit: I think it's quite important to push this topic every other time. As long as the game providers are promoting such schemes, there will be people trying 'em out. So IMHO it's a service to the community (the younger ones in this case) to point to it. Btw., I know there's ppl that make a (modest) living from such schemes - you just need to be in a country where there's no work, cheap prices, and have plenty of time and an internet café ...
I would agree, though really, even the name is fishy. idk, just over the number of scams out there. This in my eyes is really one of them, free ped, pshht. imho pay to play or go away. Simple really. Some Tricks is just another way to waste your life for what ? It is meant to be entertainment this game, otherwise it wouldn't be a game :) AH the attitude adjustment after 7 years of playing this 'game'.
I can only imagine the dismal revenue this partnership with Sometrics offers Mindark. And to think MA has traded their clients' well-being for this low level marketing gimmic is a bit stomach churning. Someone at MA either didn't do their research or someone just didn't care...
Can I ask did you log a support case for this? I think you should let MA know. If you don't get anywhere with them try telling John Bates about it. I'm confident he will be interested. On Sometrics yeh its a shame it all went a bit wrong with that... ah well. I hear Ped2click are chummy with MA though so maybe there will be an official partnership with them in time instead ;)
Hi, it's a bit strange topic with all these shady agencies - to my knowledge it is rarely forbidden to talk ppl into installing strange browser addons/search bars, or to talk them into revealing their address/ phone data and accepting the selling of it for profit. That's what a lot of advertisement agencies do all day long, you'll rarely find a magazine where there isn't at least a few postcards inside, reading "Fill in your data, give us all rights to use, and you may win a price!" For instance. Even talking ppl into ordering subscriptions of magazines is legal, with some restrictions regarding minors, and certain rights of objection. What Sometrics (and all these others) do isn't much different. They are exploiting gaps in the legislation, and, from what I have learned, they pay quite well to the game companies that enable their services to their players. So basically it's quite legal. And profitable for the game company, because they get guesstimated 2/3 of the ad companies payment. Additionally, such schemes can be rather helpful for new players, that cannot participate in the game economy yet due to their sheer nOObness. And such schemes help, undesignedly, some poor people out there to have some food to eat. Thus I don't want to give a judgment. In my personal opinion it's pure scam, unwanted, ill and nasty. But it has some undeniable pro's, and it's not forbidden in most of the countries. Besides, in my try-outs I didn't catch a real trojan yet, to my best knowledge. But since Sometrics (and all these others) will sell my data, and enable their customers to interact with me, this might be coincidence. I have no idea how well they are examining their customers intentions ... As mentioned, this is a bit strange topic. But would it help to educate ppl to think about what they are doing, to learn to never use their real identity on the net, to learn to create and use aliases, and to be more careful with their data. And that would be good. So I have setup a new XP-VM within a live-system linux now, and I'll do my best to milk them. I can change my MUC as well as my IP in the blink of an eye, and as soon as I reboot this virtual machine all changes will be gone. When they want to give RC for carefully crafted bogus info, the better for me. When more ppl learn how to responsibly navigate the web, the better for them. Have a good time!
Following reading this I tried accessing sometrics the other night. It was greeted with a blank box and not much else. It appeared to be loading something but I didn't stick around to find out
Hi, Update: After several tries that ended as quoted I finally got a (1, One) opportunity. For sure, one of these that cannot be completed without providing a valid cell phone number. :/ Bad luck. Seems Sometrics will not provide me with much PED. Have fun!
I have used many of these programs to earn tiny bits of various currencies for a few years. Sometrics has always been one of the worst and when perusing this type of income i usually stay away from it and most other "offer walls" as they have a tendency to be filled with erroneous entries and more often then not do not pay out. When MA first introduced Sometrics to their site i did try it out and have successfully earned a few PED through it (have not been paid for all completed offers). Most times though the only reliable "offers" on these walls are the incentive offers that require you to make a purchase like domain names or flowers and what a have you. In general though stay away from them. When i was brand new to the game i used a few different PTC or GPT typed websites to earn the funds to up my PED balance. They all paid in Paypal which is now a deposit option. Before sites like EP and PEDtoCLICK I had to use my paypal balance to buy UKASH or UGCs to then buy PED. there was the old ZHEX site that would send a rep into EU and pay out your balance in PED but the community didnt seem as welcoming of that back then as it is now with EP and PEDtoCLICK.com PEDtoCLICK.com uses an In house PTC (paid to click) advertisement system , Virool Video ads, and Crowdflower tasks which all work well (varies based on users location) has recently added an offer wall option that uses Matonomy (slighty better then Sometrics but still generally useless). They have also just revamped the visuals of the site and it looks GREAT! Through my conversations with the avatar that runs PEDtoCLICK.com his relationship with MA and their allowance of him to offer the service is unofficial and based on the observation of certain boundaries ( no gambling, user cannot "buy" PED and so on). I personally use PEDtoCLICK for some supplemental PED and I think it could have a great future as more Entropians take advantage of the advert system there to promote their ingame shops and services.
