DooYoo have closed my account :(

gohan2091

I have been a member of DooYoo for a number of months now and have spent time and effort writing close to 100 reviews (many several times greater than the 150 qualification limit, and one crowned review). I wrote a review on Assassin's Creed (PC) recently, a game I really enjoyed playing. I used Wikipedia to help write this review (I don't do this often) because I find the game's history and names complex but I tried to write these parts in my own words. Apart from that, I easily reached the 150 word term of originally written content. For anyone interested, here is my review:

Advantages: Great graphics, good sound, good combat system, lots of freedom
Disadvantages: Long, uninteresting cut scenes, slightly repetitive

Assassin's Creed is a third person action video game by Ubisoft. It arrived on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2007 and eventually was released to PC in April 2008.

In September 2012, Desmond Miles is kidnapped by Abstergo Industries who are a pharmaceutical company. Desmond is used as a test subject in the Animus, a device that can view genetic memories of his ancestors. This allows Desmond, and you the character to simulate the experience of his ancestors in a virtual reality world. Abstergo wishes to investigate a specific ancestor called Altair who is the member of an Assassin clan during the year 1191 AD. I don't want to go into much detail, as I don't want to spoil the game for you if you haven't played it (or haven't finished playing it).

The game takes place in the past with the occasional swap to the future where Desmond can exit the Animus and rest. While Desmond remains trapped in the Abstergo Industries lab, the Animus has created a blending effect between his world and his ancestor Altair. This gives Desmond the ability to identify friend from foe via "Eagle Vision" and he can also see invisible blood painted messages on walls and floors in the lab.

To be honest, the game at the start is fairly boring and drags on a long time but stay with it and it will be worth while. Anyway... the Assassin clan you are part of is lead by Al Mualim and is based on an Islamic sect. It consists of three central rules.

1)Do not compromise the Brotherhood
2)Be discreet
3)Do not harm the innocent

Orders are given by Al Mualim and this makes up the core of the game. To carry out these orders, the player must travel from Masyaf, (where the Brotherhood's HQ is located) across the holy land (The Kingdom) to three? cities; Acre, Damascus and Jerusalem. Each city has a Brotherhood agent who will ask you to perform intelligence gathering (Eavesdropping, pick pocketing and interrogation) and give you basic knowledge about the target. Players can also perform tasks from informers, fellow assassins and there are a variety of side objections including climbing tall towers (to un-blur your map) and saving citizens from city guards and destroying market stores. Furthermore, across the wide open environments are hundreds of hidden flags which you can attempt to collect and many Templar's to hunt down and kill. Completing each set of assassinations return you to the Brotherhood HQ where you will be rewarded with weapons.

There are a lot of things Altair can do giving the player great freedom. To perform many assassinations and other tasks, players can go about in low profile or high profile mode. Blending into crowds, and assassinating with your hidden blade all count as low profile actions. High profile actions include running, climbing up and scaling buildings and attacking foes. Whether in low profile or high, these actions will either lower or raise the alert meter in the area. Once an area is at high alert, crowds will scatter and guards will attempt to chase and kill Altair. Lowering the alert meter involves breaking the guard's line of sight and finding a place to hide such as on a rooftop garden, in hay or blending into the background by sitting on benches. Of course, there is always the option of fighting the guards!

The fighting system in Assassin's Creed works well and is fun. Fighting is in real time and the player has to time his commands to be successful at counting attacks and doing the most damage. Blocking does not harm Altair so you can stand there all day and block if you want, although this isn't going to get you anyway is it? You have a long and short blade at your disposal, as well as your fists and throwing knives for those stealth attacks. Altair can also grab enemies and shove them away which isn't very useful but could buy you some time. It is not rare to fight against 5 or more guards at a time but because the system is so well designed, it really isn't difficult and feels rather rewarding.

As I mentioned earlier, Altair can climb buildings which is one of the games strengths as just about everything you see is climbable. This really gives you freedom and because the game's controls are so well designed, doing all this is easy and a lot of fun. Keeping with movement for a moment, as well as walking, running and spiriting, you can also ride on horseback giving you a lot of speed, which again is easy and fun to do. While not giving you as much freedom as Grand Theft Auto, you won't be disappointed with what you do and when you choose to do it.

Altair's health is represented by a level of synchronisation between his memories and Desmond. If an injury occurs, there is no physical damage but Desmond's link with his ancestor's memory becomes weakened. If your synchronisation bar becomes empty, Desmond's experiences will be restarted from the last checkpoint. When your synchronisation bar is at its fullest, Altair can use "Eagle Eye" which gives characters a colour to identify friend from foe.

There are a lot of cut scenes in this game and while there is generally good voice acting, these become tiresome fast as the NPC's never shut up. They keep going on and on and you can't help but wish they would get to the point! The game's soundtrack is good and the graphics are very good. Characters and landscapes are highly detailed, while the architecture has been well researched. The cities don't look completely different from each other, but they differ enough as each city has a different layout and weather, from bright sunlit san, to depressing grey. There is no rain or night time however, which is a shame.

Assassin's Creed is a bit repetitive and does not offer as much variety as I would like in a game. While the combat system never gets boring and scaling up tall buildings has it's pleasures, once you're half way through the game, there is really nothing completely new to do. I am not saying the game becomes boring, I am just saying you basically carry out the same list of tasks in each city and then kill the target before moving on to the next. There was still enough for me to enjoy this game a lot though, enough for me to recently purchase Assassin's Creed II (which is a good improvement over this)
Summary: A game that looks and feels wonderful, recommended!

I tried logging into my account for the last few days but it wouldn't let me in. I contacted DooYoo and was told today this:

thank you for your e-mail. Your account was closed as you have copied large
sections of your Assassin's Creed (PC) review from Wikipedia, this is clearly
against the site rules.

Thanks for understanding.


Best regards,

Your dooyooTeam

I am really upset about this as I was close to cashing out for a £30 Amazon voucher which I've spent a lot of time building up. They make it sound like I copied and pasted from Wikipedia directly and left it like that. This is not true because I wrote the parts I read on Wikipedia in my own words and I wrote a lot of things completely separate from Wikipedia's information.

I have received hundreds of very useful and useful comments and only one not useful comment. I have commented and rated hundreds of members reviews and made suggestions to DooYoo on new and duplicate items. Is there anything I can do about this? All that time and effort wasted, I really want to sort this out. I was thinking of contacting DooYoo saying this:

I want to get this sorted out and I will consider taking legal action if you do not at least hear what I have to say.

I have been with you for many months and have written almost 100 reviews; often my reviews far exceed the minimum 150 word qualification. I have been an active member of the community, reading and commenting on other members reviews and have earned approximately £50 worth of DooYoo Miles. I had a bit of problem at the start with a few of my reviews being locked but I fixed these and have learnt from my mistakes. Because of this, I have received positive comments from the DooYoo team, those few reviews have been unlocked and I even received a crown. Furthermore, members of DooYoo have given me hundreds of helpful and very helpful ratings, with only 1 unhelpful rating in total. I have no interest in breaking your rules, and I am very sorry this has happened but the reason you give for my account closure is incorrect.

I want to explain that my Assassin's Creed review has not been copied and pasted from Wikipedia, although I did re-write parts from Wikipeda in my own words. These sections do not make up the whole my review, only part of it and if you read other parts, you will see no similarities to Wikipedia. Your rules state (and I’ve asked for clarification numerous times and got it) that a review must contain at least 150 words of original content which mine consists of many times over. I can provide you with screenshots of email communication I have had with DooYoo staff if you request it.

I am furious that my account has been closed for a reason that is unjust. I was also close to cashing out for an Amazon voucher. Please, if you still disagree why not lock my review and let me edit it? I am not a bad member wishing to make a quick bit of cash, I enjoy expressing my opinions, I care about other DooYoo members, I like the fact that my writing skills are improving and I care about the accuracy of the DooYoo website. If I did not care, all my reviews would be poorly written containing only 150 words just to qualify for DooYoo miles, I would not report catalogue errors to DooYoo and I would not be interacting with the community.

I am very upset about this and would be interested in sorting this out, whether it’s via email, or even over the phone. Please consider all the effort I have put into my account, please have some heart. I understand you’re trying to crack down on abusers but I am not one of them, doesn’t my 80 or so reviews count for anything?

but I haven't sent it yet. Is there anything I can add to improve my email to DooYoo? I have this horrible sickly feeling in my stomach

speedy2056

I am not surprised by this at all, I don't think there is anymore you can do to improve your email, however, I think it will be a waste of time as I also got a reply to my email today consisting of a short reply of them defending their reputation and basically saying if I don't like it - tough.

I threatened Watchdog and Trading Standards (which I have actually reported them to) and the best thing you can do is actually report them on this site, like I did:

http://www.ripofftipoff.net/notify.htm

I would encourage you to actually do this, the more reports they get, the better.

I'm sorry this has happened to your account after many months but it's well known for them to make many errors in judgement but they won't be bothered to investigate further.

Not sure what legal action you could take, really.

gohan2091

speedy2056 wrote: »

I am not surprised by this at all, I don't think there is anymore you can do to improve your email, however, I think it will be a waste of time as I also got a reply to my email today consisting of a short reply of them defending their reputation and basically saying if I don't like it - tough.

I threatened Watchdog and Trading Standards (which I have actually reported them to) and the best thing you can do is actually report them on this site, like I did:

http://www.ripofftipoff.net/notify.htm

I would encourage you to actually do this, the more reports they get, the better.

I'm sorry this has happened to your account after many months but it's well known for them to make many errors in judgement but they won't be bothered to investigate further.

Not sure what legal action you could take, really.

Thanks for your reply,

I will report them to the sources you listed above if they do not reopen my account. How hard is it for them to lock my review and allow me to adjust it? Geez, does the effort I put in from the past even matter here? I am treated like a new member with no history, I feel worthless :mad:

Does anyone have a phone number for DooYoo UK? I would be interested in phoning them. I suppose I could write them a letter if all else fails.

speedy2056

You could try this, not sure if the phone number is correct though:


http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dc2vDygqxsIJ:www.cityultima.com/London/BusinessPage:Dooyoo_U.K+dooyoo+phone+number&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

in_spired2

Good luck, but I just grabbed a random sentence from your review and put it in google. First result was wikipedia.

Then looking at the start of your review and comparing it... yours...
quote: In September 2012, Desmond Miles is kidnapped by Abstergo Industries who are a pharmaceutical company. Desmond is used as a test subject in the Animus, a device that can view genetic memories of his ancestors.

wiki
quote: In September 2012, bartender Desmond Miles is kidnapped by Abstergo, a pharmaceutical company, for use as a test subject in the Animus, a device that can read the memories of Desmond's ancestors through the "genetic memory" left behind in their descendants' DNA

To me it looks like you copied from wiki and simply changed a few words and rearranged a little, as they are almost identical (IMO) and I would say this was plagiarism.

I've not read any further than that, so maybe the rest of your review (apart from the random sentence further down in it) IS your own work. If not, then I'm not sure how much luck you'll have arguing against their "copying" allegation. One would hope though, that if this is a one-off then they'd simply delete the review and reinstate your account. I don't use dooyoo, so I can't comment there. Just thought you'd like an opinion (even though it's probably not what you want to hear) so you can bear it in mind if the dooyoo response is not in yor favour. (particularly if the rest of your review IS nothing like the wiki article - it's possible the dooyoo people took the same short look that I did, and you could maybe ask them to look again at your whole piece) :undecided

bigpound

If you need to read the wikipedia article to write a review, then you shouldn't be writing the review in the first place.

The sites terms of use clearly state they will terminate accounts of users that copy content. It is even possible that the site even has a plagiarism checking program.

You see, most people learn not to copy other peoples work at school.

gohan2091

I am not going to deny I used Wikipedia to write some of my Assassin's Creed review but this does not make up the whole review and is by no means an accurate reflection of my past reviews.

in spired2, the paragraph you copy and pasted into Google is the paragraph DooYoo has mentioned to me in an email. There is also another paragraph in my review that is very similar to the Wikipedia article but the rest of my review is not so similar at all. The DooYoo rules state that you need 150 words of original content, which my review exceeds many time over. The fact that 2 paragraphs have been re-written from Wikipedia shouldn't change the fact that I have written a lot of original content. I do agree though that perhaps it was a bad idea to use Wikipedia for this review and I regret the decision to do so.

bigpound, I know about plagiarism, I was in college for 4 and a half years and the rules were very strict, but they allowed us to re-write content found on the Internet if we quoted the source. I understand I did not quote the source in my review though.

speedy2056, thanks for your information, I will try that number if I cannot sort this out.

I received a response from DooYoo today saying:

thank you for your e-mail.

If you search for your second paragraph in Google, you can clearly see a lot
of it has been lifted from Wikipedia - even if you have changed a few words
here and there, it is still plagiarism, and not your own words.

We do appreciate your efforts on dooyoo, however in the few months you have
been with us you have been warned for duplicate reviews, twice, sub-standard
reviews, and now plagiarism.

We need to be sure that members on our site will abide by the rules we have
set out.


Best regards,

Your dooyooTeam

I am thinking of sending them this reply, any opinions?

Hi, I appreciate your response,


I am not disputing I have used Wikipedia to write SOME of my Assassin’s Creed review, however I did not know this was against the rules, please allow me to explain. If I copy and pasted OR re-wrote parts from Wikipedia and that made up the entire review then I would agree this is plagiarism but the Wikipedia re-writes only made up part of my review, not the whole thing. If you read the rest, I have added many original things which far exceed the 150 words qualification rule. Do you disagree? The re-written information from Wikipedia was just to support my review, if you see this as plagiarism, why not disregard this and consider the rest of my text? I now understand that the two paragraphs I re-wrote from Wikipedia was not a good thing to do and I regret doing this greatly.


Yes I've had a bit of trouble when I first joined, writing two reviews which I then duplicated BUT I immediately asked DooYoo about this. I made you aware you had duplicate catalogue entries and I asked if my duplicate reviews were allowed (which they were not). The sub-standard review only occurred once, I believe with one of my PSU reviews? Again, I amended that and it was unlocked. The few mistakes I have made, I have learnt from and have not done again since, furthermore, my understanding of the quality you expect users to achieve has been reinforced when I achieved a crowned review.


I am human like you, I make mistakes and I am sorry. Do you think I purposely meant to break your rules? Why would I risk my account being banned and my 50,000 DooYoo miles lost? Why would I spend so many hours reading, rating and writing reviews only to cheat your system? I would not; I am not trying to abuse your system or intentionally break your rules, I am not that sort of person.


You say you appreciate my efforts yet you do this to me. Since you like to mention Google, how about you search for reviews about DooYoo? I’ve read many comments from ex-members who have been banned harshly for things like this. I understand you need to be strict but come on… Have you read the comments and ratings I’ve received for this review? What do they say? Are they negative? All I am asking is you to restore my account, lock my Assassin’s Creed review and allow me to adjust it, I can then completely re-write the small sections of text I re-wrote from Wikipedia.

HopeAndDriftWood

Dooyoo won't do it. They don't give second chances, and have been threatened with legal action many times. Fact is, you could only take them to court if they had broken their rules. They havent, you did. They cover themselves when you sign up by making you agree to their T&C's, which reserve their right to cancel your membership at any time, without paying out.

vampire-girl

I think if this was your first time then it might have gone more in your favour, but as they had already warned you about a sub-standard and duplicate reviews then they closed the account. It does sound like you did not purposly set out to copy, but if you have to look things up on wikipedia or else where then you didn't know enough about the product to review, the only thing I think you should look up is the price of something if it was a gift to give a rough price. Good luck anyway

gohan2091

vampire-girl wrote: »

I think if this was your first time then it might have gone more in your favour, but as they had already warned you about a sub-standard and duplicate reviews then they closed the account. It does sound like you did not purposly set out to copy, but if you have to look things up on wikipedia or else where then you didn't know enough about the product to review, the only thing I think you should look up is the price of something if it was a gift to give a rough price. Good luck anyway

I understand what you are saying but I cannot help it that 1 review out of almost 100 I've written wasn't good enough for DooYoo. I know a lot about the game I reviewed, it is sitting on my shelf and I completed it several months ago. Perhaps I should add in my email to DooYoo that i would be willing to provide photographic evidence of the game just to prove how sincere I am.

Thanks everyone for your comments, I will keep you updated.

geordie_joe

SaucySecrets wrote: »

Fact is, you could only take them to court if they had broken their rules.

What a load of b*llocks! You take people/companies to court because they break the laws of the land, NOT their own rule which they just make up.

Any real business will tell you that you obey the law first and company rules second. If the law conflicts with the company rules then you follow the law.

It would be nice if you could only be taken to court for breaking your own rules, but that is never going to happen.