Yes, it is effectively hacking the rating system of the market to climb up much higher/faster than it should.
It is because it uses a referral system like Gangwars uses wherein users post referral codes as comments to boost their in-game character or stats. I personally think that any app which deliberately is designed to have users leave comments with codes for other users (which will no doubt be 5-star) in order to succeed at the app/game is using the market in bad faith. Look at both apps - 99% of the comments are "(5 Stars) - Add me OQ23UW" or "(5 Stars) - Use my code IUWENW for 200 gems!" - That is artificial rating inflation. Google should spend a little time discussing this because if every game started doing that to compete, the market rating system would become completely ineffective. I see this sort of thing becoming such a menace that the top 20-30 games are simply ones with those market hacks. I hope they stop it before it gets to that point. On Apr 26, 10:12 am, niko20 <[email protected]> wrote: > I too am pretty sure that all the comments I see about pocket empires > are just spam. > > It's simply slimy behavior, and I would appreciate it if it would > stop. > > -niko > > On Apr 26, 9:16 am, Mike <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > Hey Zero, > > > Any idea on how Pocket Empires has managed to go from a zero in the > > rankings to number 25 in less than a few weeks? Seems a little > > questionable to me based on the amount of spam being left on all of > > the other top 50 apps and games promoting your game. More > > questionable still is the near constant amount of positive 5 star > > feedback being left on Pocket Empires itself with nearly the same > > content. I'll stop short of accusing the own Pocket Empires team of > > purposely manipulating the Android market ratings system in order to > > promote the game, but it seems very suspicious and, might I say, a bit > > slimy and underhanded. > > > - Michael > > > On Apr 1, 10:03 pm, ZeroCool <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Big thanks to Android Team. > > > I couldn't have done it without the help of you guys. > > > If anyone is interested, search 'pocketempires' or 'pe' in Android > > > Market. > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups "Android Developers" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected] > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Android Developers" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
