DON'T BE SCAMMED!!!
When you first log into the game Goonzu (you start inside hanyang castle), you might notice a few players with an ad stating that after you reach a certain level, they will give you cash and items, but only if you 1. start all over, 2. create a new account and then, 3. after making a new character in that account, put their name as the “recommender”. This is called the reco-scam and its very rampant in the game.
Here is a picture of a reco-scammer inside hanyang:
Notice that the scammer named ChloeJadeNicole put up 3 of his own character with ads offering money and items if you put his name as recommender.
Why is it a scam?
Simply because the “recommender” system is used in the game as a way to give out rewards to those who invite friends and other people to play Goonzu (I will enumerate what rewards can be received later). Basically, if you are invited by a friend to play Goonzu and you put their name as the recommender, when you play the game and gain levels and also spend on the item mall, your friend gets rewarded, the more you level, the more you spend on the item mall, the more rewards your friend get. THAT is the way the developers of the game would like the recommender system to work, but some players abuse this system and would do anything to fool newbies into making them as recommenders, so they would get huge rewards. Yes, they offer marbles and items to the poor and unsuspecting newbie, but what they offer to the new player is way too cheap than what they would get from the system.
Why is reco-scamming bad?
Basically it kills the game by making players quit, therefore not many new players will stay long to play and enjoy the full potential of the game. Most players, after reaching mid-level, who realized that they were scammed into making someone their recommender usually won't bother starting over again from scratch, they would probably just say “f**k this stupid game, I'll go find other games to play where I won't be scammed”. Picture this, as a player, you would not want to wake up one day you are at level 80 and you just discovered you gave someone, you didnt know, rare elemental stones and pink foxes/vixens because you unknowingly put their name as recommender when you first started playing the game.
So what are the rewards for the recommender system?
If you put someone as recommender, he will receive elemental stones every time you reach a certain level. He will receive these stones from the system directly to his post office. The stones are very valuable in the game for they are used to upgrade equipments and weapons. They vary in price and continue to rise in value. ALSO, every time you gain a level after level 20, he will receive recommender points or RP, these points can be accumulated and used to exchange for items offered by Reco NPC inside hanyang, the more level you gain, the more recommender points he gets. The pink fox or vixen orb in the game can only be acquired by using recommender points.
-when you reach level 20, he gets 3 random elemental stones
-when you reach level 30, he gets 6 random elemental stones
-when you reach level 40, he gets 9 random elemental stones
-when you reach level 50, he gets 10 blessing stones
-for the recommender points table please click on the link below
http://global.goonzu.com/center/news/view.asp?menu=11&board_seq=101&page=3&list_seq=9007
(please note that the developers may change the recommender points table from time to time)
below is a picture of Reco NPC and what he offers in exchange for recommender points
So what should you do?
you could create a new account, make a new character and put your old character as the recommender. Therefore you reap all the rewards for yourself, enjoy seeing your old character accumulate RP and elemental stones while you are leveling your new character.
Or, if you dont care about the rewards, just continue playing your existing character, there are many other ways to get rich in the game.
If you already have been scammed into putting someone you dont know as recommender, you could just start all over again OR if you don't want to start over, try to contact the person and demand for payment, if you are lucky, you may get the stones back, but if you are ignored, just try to help other newbies by informing them about how the recommender system works so they can avoid the pitfalls of being scammed. BUT please don't quit and treat it as a learning experience for you. Make it a purpose to defeat the scam. You can get back at the player who scammed you by posting his name in the wall of shame section at goonzu.notlong.com forums or post your angst at Goonzu Website message boards
Why are you doing this?
I am doing this because I love the game. I have been playing Goonzu for almost 2 years and I have notice a huge decline in the player base. Basically the players who quit the game greatly outnumber the influx of new players in the server. When I first started this game, there are a lot of helpful players ready to teach newbies about the game, but now it concerns me to see that newbies are not only lost and ignored on what to do when they start, worse they are also being scammed and abused into making a decision that they will regret in the future. I have no hidden agenda, you won't know who I am in the game, you may see my mules inside Hanyang warning newbies about being scammed but you will never know who my main character is.
NOW IT IS UP TO YOU!
There are many more type of scammers in the game, there are the item mall scammers, scammers who pretend that they are GameMasters (gm) etc. etc. but always remember the golden rule: If it's too good to be true, it probably is! And for old players, DO YOUR PART! Lets make the game as fun as possible for the newcomers. We depend on these newbies not only to sustain the economy of the game BUT also for the longevity of Goonzu.
CLICK HERE FOR THE HALL OF SHAME