Don’t play Evony

190

Spam, a tin of

Evony breasts advert

Evony is a new, free, browser MMO. And their marketing consists of spamming up the internet like crazy. This blog is receiving a huge number of spam “comments” from them. Fortunately Akismet anti spam puts them automatically into the bin. Here are some of the email addresses they are using for this spam:

tsenseless.evony.com/bx8s07@naplesnews.net

tsenseless.evony.com/4cdtyg0fv@hotmail.com

tsenseless.evony.com/m36fqptkw2@naplesnews.net

tsenseless.evony.com/sfhwrv@live.com

tsenseless.evony.com/fhgpzdbk80@naplesnews.net

tsenseless.evony.com/w85@darkhorsefan.net

tsenseless.evony.com/xycw5vd@student.com

tsenseless.evony.com/ndh4pr1@bolt.com

tsenseless.evony.com/f3ypkg6@postmark.net

tsenseless.evony.com/ftcs@usa.com

tsenseless.evony.com/6n8ck@naplesnews.net

tsenseless.evony.com/rjd@email.com

And so on. They are doing this from the IP address 63.223.110.211

Whois Record

OrgName:    Beyond The Network America, Inc.
OrgID:      BNA-42
Address:    450 Springpark PL
Address:    Suite 100
City:       Herdon
StateProv:  VA
PostalCode: 20170
Country:    US

NetRange:   63.216.0.0 - 63.223.255.255
CIDR:       63.216.0.0/13
NetName:    BTN-CIDR5
NetHandle:  NET-63-216-0-0-1
Parent:     NET-63-0-0-0-0
NetType:    Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS.CAIS.COM
NameServer: NS2.CAIS.COM
Comment:    ADDRESSES WITHIN THIS BLOCK ARE NON-PORTABLE
RegDate:    1999-12-09
Updated:    2004-11-12

OrgAbuseHandle: PAD13-ARIN
OrgAbuseName:   PCCW AUP Department
OrgAbusePhone:  +1-703-621-1637
OrgAbuseEmail:  

Edit: I have written a second Evony article giving an overview and background.

Is Evony Malware?

Evony advert ridiculed by PopCap.

Queen of Evony competition.

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190 Comments


  2. Thanks for the link, Bruce!

    It boggles my mind that Google is prepared to carry ads for those scoundrels.


  3. So you know what’s funny? I’m reading your post right now, and just to the right of it is a banner ad for Evony.


  8. The Chinese behind Evony: http://mu.ranter.net/civony/civony-update-free-game-apparently-funded-by-thousands-of-stupid-world-of-warcraft-players

    “……….Turns out that umge.com is a Guangzhou-based company that is developing Civony, some other Flash game called Leuric, and apparently a traditional Windows client MMOG. They’re apparently also associated with WoWMine, an MMOG farmer/gold seller operation that gets bad reviews in MMOG gold seller news sites………….”


  9. I found this: “Super Continental LLC just got sued by Microsoft for Click Fraud. Eric Lams owns Super Continental and he owns UMGE LLC which is the developer for Evony.”


  10. There’s an evony ad on your blog, stupid. Do something about it.


  11. John, I have emailed Google to tell them what is going on and I have posted on the adsense forum that I linked to above. Evony are spamming like crazy just now, they must know that the bubble is about to burst.
    But they will be back again with another scam.


  12. Isn’t this the game whose advertisement says “I need you my lord” or something like that?

    Heh, if I’m going to to spend my time playing an online game, I will choose a decent one that isn’t made by the Chinese.

    Nice detective work Bruce. Let’s just hope that Google stops spamming the web with Evony ads upon getting enough concern emails and calls from people.


  13. can someone please tell me why there is a hot chick as the banner for this game? i dont want to play it but you gotta admit she is hot as!


  14. ironically, there’s an evony banner on this page for me.


  15. Just ad the urls – found on that Adsense link http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdSense/thread?tid=7c9ef267b8b3c01f&hl=en – that Evony is using to your competitive ad filter to stop the ads from appearing on this site. Worked for me. Google isn’t going to stop them when they’re making money off them. We’ve been complaining for a long time now but at least we’re not letting them continue to show ads on our websites.


  16. Jim, I have put the following in my Adsense content filter. The problem is that they keep on coming up with new urls. Google might be making money, but will they get paid when the bubble bursts?

    evony.com
    evonygame.com
    evonyhome.com
    evonyminiclip.com
    evonyonline.com
    evonyy8.com
    playevony.com
    evonyfreeonlinegames.com
    evony-game.com
    evonygamezer.com
    evonymyspace.com
    sweetgameonline.com
    playnowmelord.com
    chooselucky.com


  17. even so i think its a good game


  18. I dont doubt they will continue adding new domains so hopefully the small but growing group of people reporting these new domains will continue. Whether or not either Evony or Google gets paid doesnt concern me since one is enabling the other. It’s right there in plain sight on the Google Adsense forum yet Google takes no steps or responds to the problem. As usual we look for support from each other.


  20. Thanks for the links guys. I knew there was something fishy about these flash ads.


  21. Evony is developed and owned by RMT-seller http://www.wowmine.com (this is not an advertisement, it’s the truth). This company earns between $300.000 to $500.000 PER DAY from selling WoW Gold, which enabled them to single-handedly develop their own mmorpg with a CHINESE team.

    The CEO of “UGME” (non-existent company!) is Eric Lam. Yes, the same Eric Lam who was sued by Microsoft for nearly a million for ADVERTISEMENT FRAUD just a few weeks ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/business/media/16adco.html

    Everything said in this blog post can be verified by e-mailing me. The truth behind Eric Lam, WoWMine and Evony needs to be exposed for once and for all! (this truth is instantly deleted if mentioned on Evony’s official forums).


  24. Great to see someone’s doing something about this.

    The ads personally pisses me off the most… they are not just misleading or annoying or distasteful…they are a blatant lie. The game does not consist of boobies or “saving you queen” …looks like the game developers thinks that all males are sexually deprived basement dwellers.


  26. Why does this new game have the same look and feel?


  27. Here is an email I received today:

    hello, A bunch of evony users (myself included) have decided to hold a walkout and will not be using evony until they stop using their unorthodox advertising methods…
    I ask that you please help us by making blog posts about this to create publicity. The Evony Team does not want the walkout to have publicity thus our message will be conveyed if you help us…
    You can read the walkout announcement on the Evony Users Association group on evony…


  28. Google has finally decided to look at the problem by escalating the ads to their adwords specialist team as noted in their own response http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdSense/thread?tid=7c9ef267b8b3c01f&hl=en

    Of course escalating the problem and actually taking action are two different subjects. We’ll see how long it takes. I remember a very similar adwords scam that employed the same technique which affected nearly everyone and that ad campaign is still running. Yes. That was also after it was escalated.


  30. Another email:

    we have decided last minute to not do a walkout…
    but there is much unrest in the evony forums…
    the staff don’t get along with the users, one of the best moderators were banned for not much reason (ban should be lifted soon) the off topic section is like a time bomb…
    if someone posts the wrong thing mass banning will occur, evony seems to be hanging from a string…
    I encourage you to monitor this, i could lead to a good blog post…


  32. My husband is addicted to this game and pays no attention to me at all ever since he started playing it. How do I get him to at least cut down on his playing time? It’s gotten so bad that if I ask him the simplest questions while he’s playing, he snaps at me! WTF!?! He comes home from work and directly turns on his computer and ignores me completely for the entire night. I even have to go to bed alone because he plays so late. HELP!


  33. Re: Joyce
    wear your sexiest lingerie and seduce him by saying “Play now, my Lord” and call me in the morning… (JK)


  34. I have played this game for a few days and it is fairly enjoyable as “civ” type games go. However, based on the comments above (and my own frugality) I will NOT be buying any game currency. Still, all this raises an interesting question. If a company makes a product that is at least somewhat rewarding is it right to use said product if the some of the company’s business practices are less than proper? After all, most of you are using Windows aren’t you?


  36. They’re constantly advertising on my website http://www.darnkitty.com/, I’m worrying that the advertisements are becoming more and more risque and less and less appropriate for my site!


  37. I think Google should stop displaying their ads….its just everywhere and plain ridiculous!

    That chick on their banner must be one of the most recognizable faces on the internet in the past month or so…god damn spammers!


  38. Yes after following the “EVONY” thing i agree with eveyone who posted here, EVONY pretty much is runned by 1 person, The funny thing is it get’s 500,000 unique vistors to it’s website http://www.evony.com. Too bad the people who play evony don’t know the facts about the game, The only thing they know it is a game with a hot women as a banner front, also if you ever click on a link banner they all lead to google adsense and all my website now for some reason display EVONY. I think someone like all of us here should start an organization that hates EVONY.


  39. I started playing and it seems like a decent strategy game but a friend just told me you cannot get past level 10 without pay to play.

    I play Ikariam and in that game you don’t get any real advantage when you pay to play except reports on one page for all of your cities. Also, you can queue building to build after current projects. Not really too big an advantage.


  40. Joyce,your husband is clearly addicted to this game ,you should seek counseling with your husband because this might be bad for your relationship with your husband..forget about talking to your husband on managing his time,because this game requires one to be VERY active to enjoy being at the top,another thing you should fear is your husband dumping a lot of money in the game…the better he quits the game and get his life on track the better it is….i failed most of my subjects by playing these types of games,and i even pour in an amount of RM 500.00 which is a lot of money in malaysia into a similar game,Travian….Other players:please be aware of the fact that these types of games may be exciting but would make your life worse.


  41. Can someone suggest a better and similar mmo flash based game. I like Evony, but I’d rather play something without all the bad press.


  44. @ Joyce.

    The symptoms you have listed are typical of a MMO addict. The bad news is that merely dissuading him from playing evony might prove to be even worse than the situation at hand, because evony is one of the less addictive MMOs out there. Like any addiction, if you want him to stop playing, only a decision from his part will help.

    Make him understand how you feel about his playing, and how it may hurt your relationship. Don’t be demanding or try to set limits, or it may just spiral into a pointless control/power struggle. If he just ignores your overture, you’ld be better off seeing a counsellor.

    tl;dr
    1. Be understanding to him
    2. Try talking it over
    3. If the above fail, go in for counselling
    4. ????
    5. PROFIT!!1!1!


  45. This game rakes in money for the owners of it, period. Its daily revenue is phenomenal.
    The really isn’t free if you want to keep what you have after the 7 day no-fire policy. Everything in the game cost game cents. Your Credit card or Pay Pal account will cost you $5 per 50 cents of in-game currency. Items cost between 50 cents to 400 cents, and only last from 24 hours to 7 days. Some people may spend nothing, but eventually lose everything they have to an invasion with those spending real money to buy items.

    To do the math, the game collects on average $5 a day from players. Some spend nothing and others spend a lot. At $5 a day, with 5750 players on each continent, and 30 continents per server, and 46 servers in operation, that’s a pretty good scam I think. Yes, almost 36 million dollars a month. The game owned and operated by an actual Gold miner, who realizes he can make much more money this way than having to discover, claim, mine and refine actual gold.


  47. yeah, it’s spam, but the only thing that people can actually do about it is stop playing the game, because they arn’t really doing anything illegal… other than their game being mostly copy and paste.


  48. shutup hobknockers evony is a supportive game


  49. Do you really get to see pics like the girl in a bra up there. because when I signed up it was super clean and I only signed up to see pic like that.


  50. Sexy girl with big tits saying “come play”….Shitty, pointless/time consuming not to mention boring civilization style online game…show me the connection here…And what a shameless way to get horny, bored geeks to play their sub-par strategy “game”. I can’t believe people are giving these greedy pricks real money for game coin…What is wrong with these people?!

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