I just purchased Barnacle Bay from empiregaming.com =/

Goodywood

I decided to purchase the game from there to save a little money. I did read the reviews and it seemed legit.

I was able to activate the code successfully and Sims 3 site said I was "entitled" to the BB world. However, when I went to the page featuring BB, I didn't see a "Download" button like I would normally see after I've purchased or redeemed a code. Though I did noticed that MV page has the same thing, and I purchase that from Amazon (I think) few years ago. I also want to say that I've purchased DV from Origin a couple days ago, and when I go to DV's page it says "Download". So I don't know why the site is inconsistent when it comes to that.



Anyway, when I go to purchase history I see BB there however it says "Code Redemption" as the way of purchas. While MV says "Free" and DV also says "Free". I don't know which is the correct way, or maybe the system is just confused.

But what really bothers me is when I downloaded BB, the Launcher listed it as an "Object" and not a "World" like it does with the other worlds. So that made me feel as if I got a bootleg code or something (I don't know the term).

I contacted EA Help and they say the code is legit, but I'm not sure the EA Advisor understood my concerns. He emailed me this whole list of things to do like deleting cache, using ccleaner and other stuff.

So my questions are:

Has anyone every purchased a TS3 game/world from empiregaming.com?

And for those who have BB (or I guess any world that uses a code) how is it listed in your Purchase History (Free, Code Redemption, etc) ?

And most importantly how is BB categorized in your Launcher? Is it listed as a "World" or as an "Object"?

Maybe I'm worried for nothing, but I just want to check with you guys and see if everything is legit. I hope I didn't confuse anyone and I hope I get replies please.

phoebebebe13

It's possible you purchased an illegal code. EA has cracked down on people who sell unauthorized codes. I would contact EA directly. empiregaming is not on EA's list of authorized sellers. You may need to ask the seller for a refund and buy directly from origin.

igazor

I wouldn't purchase that way after seeing so many struggle with revoked, later learned to be illegitimate codes on the base game and EP/SPs. But if EA has already confirmed that the code is legit, I would say you have nothing to worry about. There were store-related issues with BB in the past, something about confusing the "Complete Adventure" set with the standalone world which, at least at one time, were offered as two different products for sale.

I can check later, but am pretty sure I've seen worlds show up on the wrong tab in the Launcher. It's meaningless.

ciane

Another possibility is that the world didn't install correctly. You could try downloading from your purchase history again; and then, remove the .ebc file that BB installed into and try installing again.

In the installedWorlds folder, it should show BB.world; so this, I assume, is were it says BB.object.

In the worldCache folder, it should show BB_objects after you've played the world.

However, did you try going into the game and seeing if the world installed? Can you pick it from the list of worlds and enter it?

I THINK I have some worlds in my purchase history with the code redemption and free designation too. It probably helps with EA's auditing to know that you didn't purchase directly from the store.

SimplyJen

It's my understanding that nonauthorized sellers can sell legit codes... It's the people who make large purchases of "legit codes" with a stolen credit card and quickly sell those codes to sites like empiregaming. Then the fraudulent charges are caught and a chargeback happens. EA may then void these codes and possibly lock the account even if they were legit but were purchased with a stolen card. I'm not saying all these codes have been sold this way, but some of them could have been obtained this way.

So I've made the personal decision to stop purchasing from nonauthorized sellers for any game no matter what reviews say. Both Origin and Steam accounts can be locked if you get tangled in this kind of mess. It's really you that suffers in the end, not the seller. Not worth risking your account. It can take time for a code to be voided or you really did get a legit code and nothing happens but there's no way of telling.

I just installed my backup copy of BB world and it installed as Object. In fact, so did Lucky Palms & Dragon Valley. But they all work so I agree with ciane, have you tried playing BB yet?

igazor

Just to add something about the positive ratings and comments many of these re-selling sites get. Of course some of those ratings are bogus depending upon where they show up and some sites (probably not this one) are total scams, but some of these sites have legitimately positive customer reviews.

But for the most part what they are reviewing and the reputation these sites get are based on customer service and delivery of the promised items. Some of them are totally legitimate marketplaces and will quickly refund or replace key codes, for example, that turn out to be useless when a problem is reported. But what makes us want to shy away from purchasing there isn't how secure or easy to complete the transaction is, how friendly and professionally they work to make a useless purchase good again, how well they manage customer records, etc., but rather the questionable sources of their products that have been sold to them to re-sell. EA is not providing these unauthorized re-sellers with codes directly, there is a middle-person involved, at least one, and that's where things can unfortunately tend to get a bit murky.

CravenLestat

BB has it's issues it seems,I know for a fact I own Barnacle Bay and The Buccaneer Bounty store subset,yet on sims 3 site click on my owned worlds do you see BB?? Nope

Been that way since I got it.

Goodywood

Hi guys! Thank you all for replying!

I won't be ordering anything from that site or any site like that again. I didn't know there was a list of authorized sellers. I've learned my lesson.

Also it is not in the InstalledWorlds folder that BB is listed as an Object, it is in the Launcher. However after I did install the world I check the InstalledWorlds folder and it is a .world file.

I guess I was scared that I didn't get a legit code, but if EA says it is, and since you guys say BB was listed as an Object in the Launcher, and the other weird things about BB, I have nothing to worry about.


I feel better guys, thank you all so much for replying! You don't know how much it means to me.

Karritz

@Goodywood I hope you get to keep it. A lot of people lost their games a long time after they were purchased.

@CravenLestat if you bought the original version of Barnacle Bay, the one where you had to buy The Buccaneer Bounty set separately, it is no longer on the store page. the one that's on the store page is the Complete Barnacle Bay which is the replacement they released much later and has some extras including The Buccaneer Bounty set and some stairs.

igazor

Karritz wrote: »

@Goodywood I hope you get to keep it. A lot of people lost their games a long time after they were purchased.

@Goodywood - Do you have a transcript of your chat with EA or was it by phone? You may want to hang it on your wall, you know next to your real life skill certificates, in case anyone ever needs to refer to it in the future. But in this case, I still think you're fine there having checked this out already. This isn't like an EP, I don't think Origin and the store site have the ability to reach into already installed store content and snoop around anyway, or at least I don't recall any instances of such being recorded, as long as your store credentials remain valid.

Goodywood

Hey guys!

@igazor I did a Live Chat, and I had a of transcript of the chat emailed to me.

I hope you're right igazor! I hope I don't have any issues with my hard earned Packs and Store content in the future, like Karritz said. That stuff wasn't cheap!