Regarding Pay-To-Play

Now, I know it isn't Roll20's job to monitor the activities of Pay 2 Play games and that such things are under the responsibility of the Roll20 user, but there are very clever scam artists out there who are utilizing the Pay 2 Play system and completely disappearing. This is the third time I've run into a supposed DM who wants payment through GOOGLE PAY (which is the preferred choice of all scam artists, especially telephone scam artists) instead of PayPal. Another reason for major suspicion is that I'm noticing more DM's not accepting PayPal because fraudulent versions of the site are rare and aren't as easy to work through like Google Pay is. The second thing I am really noticing is that DMs are asking for your email to "send you a link for payment from Google Pay", which is the same method by many scammers out there. This is becoming a trend that I'm seeing more and more on Roll20. I think your site may be housing scam artists taking advantage of the Pay 2 Play system here. Perhaps a suggestion to combat this is if a DM wishes to use Pay 2 Play, that they confirm a paypal or payment system with Roll20; Perhaps a safe payment option like a Payment Link in a Roll20 profile that has a safe login and payment setup, similar to how online games do it. This would keep the legitimate Pay 2 Play DMs while chase away the scammers.

Voting up the thread

I would not want to see those players who are joining up in games that are paying 2 play to get scammed in any way!, It causes those of use that are legitimate DM's that do this for their primary/secondary source of incomes. I definitely would support something that could legitimize a Roll20 member as a DM if it was possible. Voting up this thread as well.

Up vote! Anything that sticks it to the scammers is a yes in my book!

Updooted, as a former paid DM, I want to keep scammers like this from ruining the situation.

Could this be expanded to some sort of marketplace-like solution? At the moment p2p GMs are treated like barely tolerated untouchables.  "We let you be here at the moment, as long as we are not associated with you" It pretty much feels like Roll20 expects them to be a bit shady.

It is getting out of hand and needs to be regulated somehow with a new system because there are scammers appearing like crazy.

Chandra said: Perhaps a suggestion to combat this is if a DM wishes to use Pay 2 Play, that they confirm a paypal or payment system with Roll20; Perhaps a safe payment option like a Payment Link in a Roll20 profile that has a safe login and payment setup, similar to how online games do it. This would keep the legitimate Pay 2 Play DMs while chase away the scammers. Counterpoint:  The more time that Roll20 has to spend trying to police pay to play games is less time that they can spend on platform enhancements.  Roll20 already requires pay to play DMs to notify prospective players of the price and method of payment of the game - that should allow people to avoid any payment methods they feel are less than secure. As a pay to play DM, I would like to avoid a situation where Roll20 starts charging pay to play DMs a fee to host pay to play games on the site (which is a likely outcome if they have to start regulating such games.)  That in turn will cause prices to rise for players, which no one wants. -Adam

Jens F. said: As a pay to play DM, I would like to avoid a situation where Roll20 starts charging pay to play DMs a fee to host pay to play games on the site (which is a likely outcome if they have to start regulating such games.)  That in turn will cause prices to rise for players, which no one wants. -Adam This can also be said about the art and modules that are being sold on the marketplace and I cannot see any signs that the sales are declining or the customers suffering. Also: any money Roll20 earns on such transactions can be used on platform enhancements, thus negating your counterpoint. Was there a time where all art was free, then they started charging for it?  If so, that would be a good comparison to use to this situation. The question would be would they make enough money charging pay-to-play DMs to recuperate the staff/technology costs that would be needed to police such a system?  How would they prevent DMs from charging outside of whatever system they would set up?  A DM could advertise on other sites, recruit players with the understanding of it being pay to play, and then all payments would be handled offsite (PayPal f/x).  If somehow they managed a really good job of policing such a policy, would that encourage many of the pay to play DMs to take their games to another site?  What would DMs willing to pay the cost to run a pay to play game get for their money? Overall it seems like a lot of work and assumed liability for very little reward. -Adam

Just a reminder to people of the rules in the Suggestion Forums : DO: Inform of potential workarounds or similar suggestions that already exist. Be respectful of the original poster. Expand upon the original suggestion. Describe what you would do with the suggestion in your game and with your group. DON'T: Post a comment about why you don't like a suggestion. Post about why you think a suggestion is unnecessary, unworthy, or not important. Predict the response of the Dev Team or the likelihood that a suggestion will be implemented. Debate a posted workaround.

Chandra said: It is getting out of hand and needs to be regulated somehow with a new system because there are scammers appearing like crazy. Could this be because of the corona-situation? It is no secret that scammers follow social trends and roll20 has a very relevant service these days.

I am unsure, but it's three times now that this has occurred. I am not a bank machine.

There was a thread mentioning this <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/8290669/a-verified-badge-for-officially-registered-dms-like-a-roll20-partner-system" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/8290669/a-verified-badge-for-officially-registered-dms-like-a-roll20-partner-system</a>

Pay to play needs some sort of review system. Maybe like a 5 star review that can only be posted by people that have played a pay to play game with a comments section where they could tell why they liked or disliked a pay to play game or DM.

That would be really nice. :)

dave_in_TX said: Pay to play needs some sort of review system. Maybe like a 5 star review that can only be posted by people that have played a pay to play game with a comments section where they could tell why they liked or disliked a pay to play game or DM. That could be done on an external site.&nbsp; There are plenty of consumer-review sites on the web and it might be considered more neutral if on a separate site. What sort of data would be needed? -Name of DM/link to profile -Games hosted -Review from 1-5 -Prices -Some personal comment I imagine that it would be best&nbsp; to do reviews on the games rather than the DM. Perhaps some functionality like sorting (by price, name, date, grades). It would be fairly easy to do some calculations like number of games reviewed, price vs customer satisfaction etc.

I think it should be done exclusively on Roll20.

Pendulym said: I think it should be done exclusively on Roll20. That would be optimal, but if that does not happen a workaround could be to create an external site.

Aye. :)

I also think that something implemented in Roll20 optimal.

Review system yes please!!!!! Maybe avoid stars, as players can be a fickle bunch at times...but a simple thumbs up or like option.

Thank you for your opinion, Bradley. I wholly agree!