Trust Your Instincts. It's Definitely a Scam!
Last week we had the biggest scam in the history of video games - or at least the biggest scam for those who were really thinking this project was real in first place. Obviously I'm talking about the disaster that was the release of The Day Before, which for three years through blatantly fake trailers wanted to sell as the best MMORPG of all time.
The Target
I won't talk about what happened because almost everyone has created an article or video about it, but I want to take advantage of this situation because in today's world I have notice many "adults" that are not really capable of identifying a clear scam. This definitely requiere attention!
In this case, it is possible that no individual customer who purchased the game was defrauded because everyone could have returned the game and recovered their money. Knowing they had nothing to lose, most of the people added the game to their wish-lists with no reservation.
What they don't know, is that all the attention and fame due the huge popularity and expectation of these kind of players, was probably used by the scammers to gain investors or selling other products.
On scams there are usually two types of targets. The little fish that is used to spread and promote the scam, and the sharks, which are the real target as they are the ones who put money into these types of projects.
The Red Flags
When something seems like a scam, feels like a scam, and everyone is sounding the alarm, trust your instincts. It's definitely a scam.
The game had a lot of red flags beforehand. Your task as a client or as investor is do your own research and come up with your own idea of the project. Google it, investigate who are the stakeholders in the project, read what are saying about the project in forums like Reddit or X, but the most important thing is that if you decide dive in, you are fully aware of what you are doing.
The most common red flags are empty promises, a sketchy business model, a massive marketing campaign that can reach the spam level, the absence of a legal framework or regulations, and lack of transparency. However, there are a lot of other red flags.
Today was a game, but everyday we had a new crypto/web3/metaverse project that want to revolutionize the space, just to make a rug pull a couple of weeks, months or years after starting. I don't want you to be part of these, ignore the noise, use your judgement.
Don't Think You're Smart Enough
It's kind of funny me talking about how to prevent scams when two years ago I lost a considerable amount of my investment in Terra/Luna or considering that my last company ended operations after an agreement that probably was an a elaborated business scam.
The thing is I knew what I was doing, but I thought I was smart enough to exit in the correct moment. The truth is I'm smart, but there are other gamblers that are smart too. This is just a roulette of fortune in which the winner is the one who knows when to get up from the table.
My advice is not to play. The reason is simple, by gambling you encourage this type of practice to continue, whether you win or lose. I'm sure the company that made the videogame will create a new one under other name within two or three years, and they will win the bet again.
The Bottom Line
Don't cover your eyes and look at what's in front of you. Scams won't stop and you must be prepared. Think with your head and not with your heart, be wise and don't compromise yourself.
Scammers suck, and if you feed them they will continue to grow and develop out of control.
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