Complaint Review: Machine Zone

(Disclaimer: this report is personal mostly and does not delve into the fact that the game is a completely faulty product that steals money from people even when they can't play the game correctly because of server issues).

It was during one of the lowest points of my life that I came across this multi-million- (or billion-) dollar mmorpg, app, pay-to-play piece of crap game and I will regret it for eternity. You might think the following sob story sounds whiney, and I really don’t care. My only goal in writing it out is to make sure no one else in the world plays this awful, evil game and that all of its developers rot in somewhere worse than **** because I actually have something like respect for Satan, whereas I have none for the types of monsters that make these bullshit games.

Here’s a brief overview of the game. It was originally part strategy-type war game where you build a stronghold and join an alliance (think of a Clash of Clans ripoff) and fight against other players. It later turned into d**k-flinging contest where the one who spent the most money on the game wins (and when I say most I’m talking about 100s of thousands of dollars, probably millions too). When you first login to your account you are immediately prompted to buy a $100 pack. When you are drunk and sucked into the allure of the social side of this game, it’s impossible not to click on the suck-your-life-savings button that takes up half the screen.  The game is psychologically geared to make you spend money and to never stop spending money. You really can’t do anything in the game if you don’t spend money. And it is as addicting as methamphetamines.

I was actually doxxed (that’s when men issues give out your personal information, like email, home address and phone number so other men can harass you too). Now you might be thinking what does that have to do with the actual game? And the truth is, it has everything to do with the game because it would have never happened had this wretched game not existed. I will give MZ some credit for actually making a few in-game changes after I emailed them about the blatent sexual harassment. They started censoring some words, like c**t (little did they know, you can spell it with a k).

This game feeds on addicts, not just adults but teenagers too. It is predatory, it is the vilest thing to ever enter the gaming industry. Do not play this game. 

I don’t understand how any respectable person would work for this company and anyone who does should be ashamed of themselves.

I am owning my mistake of ever playing this game. I can only hope MZ owns their mistakes too and does the right thing for it's consumers by reimbursing anyone who has ever been taken advantage by them. 

There are no FDA regulations on these types of pay-to-play games. They skirt around gambling laws (I mean, at least with gambling there’s the idea of winning money back). They are destroying people and they are destroying families. These are very bad things. for a company to do

I don’t even want to mentally calculate let alone look up my bank account records for the number, the dollar amount I actually spent on this game—I know it’s a lot but knowing is that much more damaging to my psyche. How embarrassing. And I promise you mine is one, light story compared to the other hundreds of life-ruining stories I have heard from other players (there’s one where a kid racked up $25,000 on his parent’s credit cards behind their back).

The fact of the matter is, the pay-to-play video game industry needs to be regulated and it should start with the destruction of the stupid, horrible, evil, scum of the earth Game of War.