Body Tickets (2014 & Before)
We have recently been asked why body tickets are no longer a supported feature of VZones. In this blog post we explain our reasons for discontinuing this feature.
In past years, 2014 and before a feature of VZones included body ticket AW items which could be purchased to provide an AW body. These tickets were assigned to an avatar and then with the help of an Acolyte could have the name changed to another avatar or cleared so to a blank name so it could be traded avatar to avatar which was paid by real world money or in world tokens typically selling for $25 each.
Some avatars never change a body, but for others and role players it can be something that is changed multiple times a day.
Below we explain a few of the problems related to body tickets:
Fake Tickets:
In early 2019/2020 we became aware of a high number of fake body tickets and a high number of body tickets that were created under the previous ownership in 2014 with an abuse of in world powers, as an example we would find turfs which contained hundreds of body tickets and no purchase records to match the original sale.
As tickets were traded from member to member it would be impossible for us to work out exactly which tickets were purchased originally and then traded fairly to which were fake.
Member Complaints about clearing time:
The process of clearing body tickets, changing names required an Acolyte (staff member) to be online and meet the member to make the change which has a real-world cost. This caused upset with some members when they had to wait for an Acolyte to come and do the request when in past years, they were used to having multiple friends working as staff who could do a change as and when they needed it 24/7.
VIP Member Complaints:
In 2017 we launched regular accounts with 2 avatars and VIP accounts with 4 avatars. The VIP account includes a popular benefit that avatars can change a body unlimited times, 24/7 and without needing an Acolyte to do it. In 2018/2019 we had a lot of complaints from VIP members because a small number of members were basically selling at low value and renting tickets to regular members so they could change body easily and at little to no cost which upset VIP members. When we looked further into this and we would find examples of an old member coming back, having a turf imported from pre 2014 and having 100+ body tickets which had never officially purchased.
Scam Sales:
In 2021 we had two reports of a member selling body tickets and requesting payment via PayPal in which members paid but then never had anything delivered and unfortunately due to PayPal terms and conditions virtual purchase items cannot be refunded for any reason.
Solution to the problems:
With a view of reducing work load on Acolytes, giving members the ability to change a body 24/7 without an Acolyte and stopping the sale of fake tickets we discontinued the ability for body tickets to be traded. We setup a system for body ticket owners to use the body ticket and change a body as much as they want via the bot.
The downside to this solution is that a member cannot trade a body ticket with another member but based on 80% of members being on a VIP account it is a very small number of regular members who have lost the ability to purchase a body ticket from another member. To help balance this out we added more body options in Nu-Yu for 5000T.
