Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

PC game collecting community rocked by game forgery scandal

Grauken

Gourd vibes only
Patron
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
12,787


While I collect boxes as well, my sympathy is limited. At the end of the day these are paper boxes (and sometimes plastic bags) with sentimental value.
If I had a repro among my collection I wouldn't mind since it was good enough to fool me and the games themselves are still available to play.
It's a hobby and if you're a fool to spend thousands on a paper box you either have too much money or not enough brain or both.
 

Comte_II

Guest
This shit is not new. Been happening for awhile with the classic Ultimas. Shit maybe even 10+ years ago I remember ultima cultists getting scammed on EBay.
 

Grauken

Gourd vibes only
Patron
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
12,787
This shit is not new. Been happening for awhile with the classic Ultimas. Shit maybe even 10+ years ago I remember ultima cultists getting scammed on EBay.

No surprise given how costly the early Ultima boxes have become
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,232
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qJGzASCngUNZbBbXVbJQ0-n4-ne4j3wRL0xGYH_ASC8/edit

Announcement from the admins of the Big Box PC Game Collectors Facebook group.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

Former moderator and member Enrico Ricciardi has been removed. We have evidence that he may have been dealing in fake games. If you have received games from him, check them closely and compare with known originals. I advise to presume they are fake, because our investigation has unearthed quite a bit more alleged forgeries than real. A link to evidence will be at the end of this post.

WHAT SET THIS OFF?

Kevin received an Akalabeth, a first release Temple of Apshai, and a Japanese Mystery House from Enrico. After examining these games closely, they were found to be likely fakes. Kevin confronted Enrico, who alluded that the Akalabeth was a fake and should be destroyed. This prompted Kevin to reach out to others.

Group moderator Jordan was one of the people Kevin reached out to. Jordan has acquired the Origin Museum recently, and had many legitimate pieces for comparison. Jordan had also received several games from Enrico.

Jordan and Kevin also got into contact with member Dominik, who had received lots of games from Enrico.

An exhaustive investigation revealed that each of these members received what appear to be counterfeit goods.

HOW DO YOU KNOW?

This whole situation snowballed. There are a number of suspected tells that all these alleged fakes have in common:
  1. PRINTED PIECES: The halftone dots on printed materials do not appear to be in-line with print processes from the time. Sometimes dirt and wear appear to be printed on. CMYK dot patterns appear in places where there shouldn't be printing at all. The halftone patterns on Enrico's materials often present a Moire' pattern, which happens when reproducing something that already has a halftone pattern. Things that are supposed to be one color prints often appear to be four color prints, or they don't have smooth edges when looked at closely. Digital manipulation artifacts are present. Colors in general are often different.

  2. MEDIA: Disks were tested, and many did not include game data. Disk labels appear to be hand-cut, different sizes, and printed on modern technology. Cassette tapes did not have game data on them, had actual audio, or had data patterns that weren't what they should be. Cassettes often had glue residue from the removal of old labels. Some disk labels had indents from a corner template which looks a lot like someone was tracing the rounded corners on top of the labels.

  3. PACKAGING: Packaging often had all four corners bent in consistent ways. Hang-tab holes appear to be hand cut. Stickers look like they were hand cut or are not exactly round. Packaging is often scratched in a way that appears to be consistent with using something to rough it up. Boxes that were supposed to be sealed had the hang-tabs inserted into the slot. Boxes that were sealed with glue had no evidence of glue. Boxes appear to have hand punched holes that would have normally been done with a machine (I don't know what to call these really). Specific security features on games were not present, or were simulated incorrectly. It appears that most of the Sierra black box games had a serial number stamped on the bottom, including Mount Drash. Enrico copies have not had this stamp that we have seen.
There is at least one black box Ultima 1 that we think may be fake that was graded by WATA.

SO, WHAT NOW?

Seriously, if you received games from Enrico, check them very carefully. There have been others coming forward who have been investigating this same thing, but since we're dealing with an amount of alleged fraud that will likely involve police and litigation, they have asked to be kept confidential at this time. Their evidence substantiates our own.

If you suspect an incidence of game counterfeiting, please feel free to reach out to any admin of the Big Box PC Game Collectors group with details, and your information will be shared confidentially. You can use bigboxpcgamecollectors@gmail.com to send detailed pictures.

LINKS:

Evidence 1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hdq41p49tgzmo0d/ImprintAkaDrash.pdf?dl=0

Evidence 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rjqnjkl1p7eogrl/Enrico-Fakes-Report-20220526.pdf?dl=0

Evidence 3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/juubhb51o677g35/Final-Enrico.pdf?dl=0

https://twitter.com/Dominus_Exult/s..._Y0z9HGVelTEvFr43KnYDhcah_gBKbiuLQ12tDJnZRsQA

PS. We have a living document that can help to avoid these types of situations - an "anti-scammer guide."
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,232
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/pc-game-collecting-community-rocked-by-game-forgery-scandal/

PC game collecting community rocked by game forgery scandal
An in-depth investigation has revealed suspected forgeries of rare, expensive games including Akalabeth, Temple of Apshai, and many others.

The boxed PC game collecting community is in an uproar over the discovery that a prominent trader has allegedly been selling forged copies of rare, expensive videogames, some of which were purchased for thousands of dollars.

According to a timeline posted on Big Box PC Game Collectors(opens in new tab), a Facebook group with roughly 6,100 members (of which I am one), the issue came to light when group administrator Kevin Ng received copies of Akalabeth, Ultima creator Richard Garriott's first game, 1979 dungeon crawler Temple of Apshai, and the Japanese edition of Mystery House from another well-known collector and now former group moderator, Enrico Ricciardi. A close examination of the games revealed that they were likely counterfeit. When confronted, Ricciardi reportedly "alluded" that Akalabeth was indeed fake, and suggested it be destroyed.

Ng contacted other members of the collecting community and found that the problem was widespread: An "exhaustive investigation" revealed that a number of other group members had received what appeared to be counterfeit games from Ricciardi.

Ricciardi denies ever knowingly selling forgeries.

Dominik R., one of the Big Box PC Game Collectors members who believes he was sold fakes, shared images of his Ultima collection, now believed to be counterfeit, on Twitter:

This isn't a minor argument across a table at the local swap meet. Copies of rare games can sell for a lot of money to deep-pocketed collectors. In a 2013 Kickstarter(opens in new tab) for Shroud of the Avatar, for instance, Garriott offered up to 20 copies of Akalabeth as a reward for backers at the $10,000 tier. Nine were sold.

"[Pricing] depends on many factors," a Big Box PC Game Collectors moderator who requested anonymity explained. "Is this one of the original set that Garriott released? Is it a recent new version for the C64? Does it have all its original components in good condition or just the disk? Is it autographed? Does it have established provenance? The answer is $500 to infinity, depending on provenance or conditions."

Big Box PC Game Collectors administrators say they have identified at least €100,000 ($107,000) of suspected counterfeit transactions so far, including full game boxes, manuals, registration cards, inserts, labels, and more. Incidents involving suspected forgeries go all the way back to 2015, and along with Akalabeth, Temple of Apshai, and Mystery House, involve early releases from Sierra and Origin Systems.

Determining a forgery from an authentic game release is a tricky business, involving up-close examinations and comparisons of tiny details in the packaging and media. The group said that one of the biggest challenges in determining authenticity of old games is that production quality varied widely in the early '80s, an era when games were often shipped in ziplock bags with instructions cranked out on old dot matrix printers. "What seems to be sloppy production methods or just photocopied paper in plastic bags was indeed the very beginning of our industry," the group said.

Garriott himself alluded to that difficulty on Twitter, saying that it's possible the games could be legit, "but pirated versions."

The Big Box PC Game Collectors group broke down three "suspected tells" that all of the games in question shared:
  • PRINTED PIECES: The halftone dots on printed materials do not appear to be in-line with print processes from the time. Sometimes dirt and wear appear to be printed on. CMYK dot patterns appear in places where there shouldn't be printing at all. The halftone patterns on Enrico's materials often present a Moire' pattern, which happens when reproducing something that already has a halftone pattern. Things that are supposed to be one color prints often appear to be four color prints, or they don't have smooth edges when looked at closely. Digital manipulation artifacts are present. Colors in general are often different.
  • MEDIA: Disks were tested, and many did not include game data. Disk labels appear to be hand-cut, different sizes, and printed on modern technology. Cassette tapes did not have game data on them, had actual audio, or had data patterns that weren't what they should be. Cassettes often had glue residue from the removal of old labels. Some disk labels had indents from a corner template which looks a lot like someone was tracing the rounded corners on top of the labels.
  • PACKAGING: Packaging often had all four corners bent in consistent ways. Hang-tab holes appear to be hand cut. Stickers look like they were hand cut or are not exactly round. Packaging is often scratched in a way that appears to be consistent with using something to rough it up. Boxes that were supposed to be sealed had the hang-tabs inserted into the slot. Boxes that were sealed with glue had no evidence of glue. Boxes appear to have hand punched holes that would have normally been done with a machine (I don't know what to call these really). Specific security features on games were not present, or were simulated incorrectly.
It also shared an array of visual evidence of the suspected counterfeits, comparing them with known legitimate copies and illustrating the different ways it examined the suspected forgeries. A handful of examples taken from the archive:

Speaking to PC Gamer, Ricciardi denied knowingly selling forged copies of rare games to anyone. He said he's been collecting since the late 1990s, when rare games could still be had relatively cheaply, and while he's amassed a significant collection of his own, has only sold a very small number of them. All the games he's sold that are alleged to be counterfeit were acquired and passed on from other collectors, he added, although he no longer has their contact information.

"I never shipped any games knowing they were fakes," Ricciardi said.

Ricciardi acknowledged that he asked his buyers to keep their transactions secret, but said he did so because he was selling below market prices in order to help other collectors build up their libraries, and didn't want to cause a fuss.

"Many resellers asked for those items and I refused to sell to them, knowing they would have used them for earning money," Riccardi said. "And I didnt want them to know I had sold them at a lower price."

A Big Box PC Game Collectors rep said that the group's "first consideration" when the forgeries emerged was that Ricciardi was not directly involved, but that it ultimately could not accept his claims based on the evidence.

"Ricciardi notes that he merely passed on what he received to others, seemingly without inspection. We find this exceedingly unlikely," the rep said. "During negotiations for these products—most of which were in the $1,000+ range—pictures were exchanged, details discussed and notes were shared showing the product in question.

"In virtually all discussions, details of the condition of the materials were noted and photos exchanged. Buyers were assured that these were authentic pieces, and further shown photographic proof of the item in question—the one being sold—to assure them why this was the case."

The rep also alleged that Ricciardi had sent messages to multiple people claiming to have detailed records on the origins of the games he sold, establishing their provenance, and added that group administrators have evidence of much more recent transactions. One member of the group, for instance, reportedly received suspected forgeries of two games from Ricciardi just two weeks ago.

"All of the cases we have investigated happened within the last five years, the most recent being two weeks ago," the rep said. "There are over 20 items in just the initial investigation of three people, not counting those that we have learned about since. That total is quickly growing."

It's not yet clear whether legal action will be taken over the forgeries: The Big Box PC Game Collectors group said that individual members are determining their next steps forward and don't want to comment any further. The group also released a new guide on how to avoid being scammed by unscrupulous sellers, and disavowed any official connection with Ricciardo, who has been removed from the group.

"Enrico acted as a private entity and just happened to be a member/moderator," an administrator said. "Big Box PC Game Collectors does not take any responsibility for transactions between members. We don't facilitate anything like that. We're just a forum for conversations."

Ominously, the group also suggested in its Facebook statement that the investigation could grow to reveal that the damage caused by these forgeries is even more widespread than currently known: "There have been others coming forward who have been investigating this same thing, but since we're dealing with an amount of alleged fraud that will likely involve police and litigation, they have asked to be kept confidential at this time. Their evidence substantiates our own."

Collectors who suspect they may have received counterfeit copies of games are invited to reach out to any administrator of the Big Box PC Game Collectors group on Facebook, or through email at bigboxpcgamecollectors@gmail.com.
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
33,052
Location
KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
This shit is not new. Been happening for awhile with the classic Ultimas. Shit maybe even 10+ years ago I remember ultima cultists getting scammed on EBay.

No surprise given how costly the early Ultima boxes have become

Just a quick search brought up a few articles on Ultima Codex of Ebay scammers from like 2011 and 2012.

I bet Ultima box forgeries from 2011 are valuable collector's items now.

Vintage forgeries!
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
I'll never be able to understand why people pay money to collect this stuff. They just put it in some plastic and it sits on their shelf.
If you like the art, fine, I understand that. But that doesn't require a RARE FIRST EDITION DEFINITELY REAL copy, you can probably get a reproduction near indistinguishable from the original for only a couple dollars.
 

SumDrunkGuy

Guest


While I collect boxes as well, my sympathy is limited. At the end of the day these are paper boxes (and sometimes plastic bags) with sentimental value.
If I had a repro among my collection I wouldn't mind since it was good enough to fool me and the games themselves are still available to play.
It's a hobby and if you're a fool to spend thousands on a paper box you either have too much money or not enough brain or both.


The master race got duped, like an old lady at a car dealership.
 

Curratum

Guest
Game collectors are literally the forefathers of NFT bros.

You get something that is very easily reproduced by emulation and enjoyable in the same state, only you chose to pay a couple thousand dollars for it because you're a moron.
 

Lucumo

Educated
Joined
May 9, 2021
Messages
654
I'll never be able to understand why people pay money to collect this stuff. They just put it in some plastic and it sits on their shelf.
If you like the art, fine, I understand that. But that doesn't require a RARE FIRST EDITION DEFINITELY REAL copy, you can probably get a reproduction near indistinguishable from the original for only a couple dollars.
It's probably different from person to person. I'm also somewhat of a collector but I'm very specific in what I want and everything I buy I would play/play myself with the exception of games from a certain company where I would skip a couple (but still buy them). It's also not necessarily limited to games as from said company I have various cool extra stuff like 15 years worth of (physical) newsletters (starting in the early 90s) with information, drawings etc inside. Extra goodies from a limited first edition can be really nice, as well as miscellaneous goodies. Most of what I collect is from the 90s, some 80s and earlier 00s stuff too though. Of course, being a rational person 99% of the time, I find myself thinking "Why do I even buy this shit?" often enough but once you see/touch/read something of that, it's pretty difficult to not get giddy, especially if you (like me) can't exactly stand the decline of all media starting in the 00s. There is basically nothing current I want to buy, so I buy old and good stuff instead.

Of course, I would never join Fecesbook to be part of some group or whatever. I collect for myself, not to show off.
 

SumDrunkGuy

Guest
"Collector" is just a glorified term for hoarders. Hoarders are mentally ill individuals who need constant therapy and saving them from themselves. A hoarder is a helpless person and they shouldn't be put on a pedestal.
 

Morpheus Kitami

Liturgist
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
2,476
I would care more if these people played it. If the game disks didn't even have any data, you should have known fairly quickly. What kind of person buys this shit and doesn't even bother ripping his own copy? That way you can really lord it over other people. Sipping from some fine wine and then typing about how you played *your* copy of Ultima I. This reminds me of that dude who ripped all the obscure Japanese PC games and instead played mobile games. Why do you even care if you're not going to enjoy it?
 
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
4,099
Location
Chicago, IL, Kwa
...mentally ill individuals who need constant therapy and saving them from themselves...

Castle-speechless.gif
 
Last edited:

Grauken

Gourd vibes only
Patron
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
12,787
Game collectors are literally the forefathers of NFT bros.

You get something that is very easily reproduced by emulation and enjoyable in the same state, only you chose to pay a couple thousand dollars for it because you're a moron.

Most collectors never touch the disks of the games they buy (hence they wouldn't know if they are fake or not), it's really about the objects themselves. If they want to actually play the games they use GOG or some abandonware site
 

Grauken

Gourd vibes only
Patron
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
12,787
"Collector" is just a glorified term for hoarders. Hoarders are mentally ill individuals who need constant therapy and saving them from themselves. A hoarder is a helpless person and they shouldn't be put on a pedestal.

I just have to ask, but are you aware of the irony?
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,205
Location
Ingrija
  1. PRINTED PIECES: The halftone dots on printed materials do not appear to be in-line with print processes from the time. Sometimes dirt and wear appear to be printed on. CMYK dot patterns appear in places where there shouldn't be printing at all. The halftone patterns on Enrico's materials often present a Moire' pattern, which happens when reproducing something that already has a halftone pattern. Things that are supposed to be one color prints often appear to be four color prints, or they don't have smooth edges when looked at closely. Digital manipulation artifacts are present. Colors in general are often different.

  2. MEDIA: Disks were tested, and many did not include game data. Cassette tapes did not have game data on them, had actual audio, or had data patterns that weren't what they should be.

Nice prioritities. "There is a Moire's pattern in the corner where it shouldn't be any! Also, the tape has Michael Jackson's "Thriller" recorded instead of the game."
 

Ezekiel

Arcane
Joined
May 3, 2017
Messages
5,372
Make your own custom boxes.

PS1 and Dreamcast had the best disc game cases. CD jewel cases look much nicer and use up MUCH less space. Also cheaper to replace. Then the PS2 with its DVD functionality came out and Sony and Microsoft decided their game cases had to match ugly, oversized movie cases. Ever since, all cases have wasted so much vertical space for no reason at all. Have no idea why Nintendo made the same dumb decision with the Gamecube when it couldn't play movies anyway. The discs are only 1.2 mm thick and yet the case thickness wastes six times that. If I made my own packaging, be it for games or movies, I'd use CD jewel cases. Hard inserts, obviously. Unless it had an instruction manual or other booklet that didn't fit inside the square. I've seen some people put fake copyrights, review clippings and even bar codes on their own covers, which is so autistic. No way would I make a non-commercial cover look so commercial. I'd just put essential information on the back. Maybe some screenshots in case I forget the game or movie.
 

InSight

Learned
Possibly Retarded
Joined
Feb 20, 2020
Messages
421
I'll never be able to understand why people pay money to collect this stuff. They just put it in some plastic and it sits on their shelf.
If you like the art, fine, I understand that. But that doesn't require a RARE FIRST EDITION DEFINITELY REAL copy, you can probably get a reproduction near indistinguishable from the original for only a couple dollars.

It is good that one does not under-stand(be under such things) and despite the following explanation, remain above-stand(be above such things).

prestige
noun [ U ]
respect and admiration given to someone or something, usually because of a reputation for high quality, success, or social influence:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/prestige

Based on ancient Greek/Hellenic culture and likewise similar cultures, honor was based/associated/linked with material wealth/property/booty be it a woman, arms(equipment) or good painting.

It was told among the materialist rich/wealthy who are deemed at the top of social standing, still seek for means to distinguish them-self among their peers, make them unique/special, have something they have and others don't. A transition/transformation of their monetary wealth with the aid of something rare.

In these times, there were still objective justification(or more of it) for such behavior on the basis that it would give incentive for others to visit them. If one sought to see again a wonders/attractive thing which only belong/available to one, the basic thing would be to visit them just as children would seek to visit other because the games/toys they had to enjoy/play. This could lead to social networking(more visit of people results in knowing of more people and their position/capabilities), to more marriage proposal, more business deals (look what i managed to get, this is prof of my success/fortune/achievement, be my partner so some of it would rub on you.), more fame and such.

If one was not ignorant of Yahuha/יהוה/YHWH laws and his chosen son Yahushua/יהושע/Yahusha(Yahu is salvation/Yahu has saved) guidance in the bible, one should conclude such money is better spend for kindness which can transition into something eternal.
It is advised to do such kindness without revealing, making one's own location know. In Mexico, criminals sends a woman to a house to ask for charity/help, this method helps them distinguish which house is worth robbing.

One can see it as mimicry/imitation/copy or remnant of such custom/method/behavior for their own social circle.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom