Update: Flappy Bird-Laden Devices Selling for $80,500 Online

[LostAlone]

But...isnt that game quite shit anyway? Why is it so popular?

It's a fad. That's just the way that it is.

I remember in my last year of school (2003/04) there was a huge fad going around for a really similar helicopter based game. Swear to god, hundreds of kids just started playing it in the computer labs. Thousands of other flash games available, but somehow everyone gravitated towards this one game for a month or so. These things happen. From pet rocks to pogs to tamigotchis to pokemon cards. Fads happen.

As for the wall of stupid thats grown up around this stuff well... Sadly it's just a thing that happens now.

There's a significant population on the internet who think that death threats and screaming obscenities at everyone indiscriminately is funny. They'll jump onto ANYTHING and make it worse. They run in packs and none of them are very original, so lots jump onto every band wagon. It's not even trolling. It's being loud and as offensive as possible. I genuinely don't know why people do it. I do know that there are plenty of people in their mid to late twenties who still engage in it and nothing will ever convince them it's not funny, or that they should know better. There's even places on the internet that encourage people to come together and plan the best way to do this stuff en mass.

It's depressing to think it, but yeah. The internet is this massive communication tool, allowing similarly minded people from across the world to meet. And sadly that also means people who are complete fucking jerks. Once upon a time these people learned that they weren't funny during their teens, because people stopped laughing and suddenly no-one wanted to be around them. Nowadays the internet will tell you that as long as you are offensive enough that you are hilarious. And so they don't learn and it goes on and on.

 

[Caiphus]

I won't ignore people who want to police the internet and arrest anyone who so much as curses or says something mean.Threats on the internet aren't even threats unless the people making them know where you live,in fact you can find millions of so called threats in many multiplayer games.

When the internet becomes a police nanny state where nobody can so much as joke without facing multiple years in prison then society is fucked.

"I won't ignore people who want to police the Internet"
And yet you're telling people to ignore death threats against their person. Which can be rather traumatic, I'd like to point out. Much less traumatic than people getting worked up over imaginary law. So that strikes me as extremely self-centred and hypocritical.

And you're failing to convince me that "You can find millions of threats" is a good thing.

Show me the people who are saying that swearing or saying mean things on the Internet should be illegal, and I'll happily disagree with them along with you. Those are legal in real life, and should be legal on the Internet. However, "I will kill you if you do/do not do X" is generally illegal in real life, under coercion, harassment and assault laws, or whatever, and should be illegal on the Internet. You shouldn't be able to make someone fear for their safety with impunity.

 

[hexFrank202]

You people lost faith in humanity?

Oh boy, well then, that means you're going to commit suicide or join a terrorist group planning to destroy the world, right?

That is what you said, after all, right?

That you 'lost faith in humanity', right???

Oh what, you mean you didn't literally mean what you said? You were saying something... hyperbolic? You don't say!

Makes me wonder if the people making murder/suicide threats against this guy where also being hyperbolic.

Hmmm. I wonder if people saying that they'd murder him for taking the game down were being comedic. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM. MAYBE that concept is a bit ridiculous to take seriously.

 

[Agayek]

and you don't sell a phone for $80,500 cause it's got a bloody game on it!

Oh no, you absolutely sell a phone for $80,000 because it's got a bloody game on it. That's just being smart. If people are willing to pay it, it's most certainly worth it.

What you don't do is buy a phone for that much, regardless of reason.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

UPDATE: I don't think it's true that ebay is removing listings of phones/tablets/ipods with it installed. After jumping through ebay's seller resources for way to long, I could only find a guide that doesn't say you absolutely must wipe your data. It just has a selling guide with the usually clean it, make sure you list any accessories, take well lit pictures, along with this text:
"Wipe your data

When you're ready to list your tablet on eBay, be sure to wipe all of your data and purchased apps before you list and sell it. Follow the instructions in your manual or from the manufacturer's web site. Wipe your tablet clean with a "factory" or "default reset," but make sure you back up any needed files before resetting your tablet. Once reset, you will not be able to retrieve any data from your tablet.

If your tablet has an SD data card where you stored data, remember to back up and wipe (also known as "format") the card, or remove and replace it. If your device came with a carrier-specific SIM card, you may need to remove it prior to selling. Contact your current service provider for specific instructions."

That to me is more of their recommendations for selling a tablet/phone so no one can access their account or see their nude pics they forgot they had on it than ebay's binding restrictions. Also a quick search of Flappy Bird shows that over a dozen devices with the game installed are about to be sold in the next 3-20 hours with thousands still listed. The tweet is either a farce or ebay support is taking their sweet time taking down the few auctions that are almost done.

The sad thing is there are tons of people thinking they can still sell their 2 year old ipad or iphone with an aged battery for $300-$2000 or Flappy Bird memorabilia. Even worse is the fact that a few listings actually have someone bidding over $300 on a iphones with it or even an unknown brand for $1000(it was 100 when I started typing this!). I don't think there will be as much of a collector's market for electronics with shitty palagarizing cell games on it as these people think. I'll stick to the 99 cent ipads that need $15 worth of parts to get running again if I want to start wasting money on ebay.

Edit:Ok I was wrong. I had a few of those in my watch list when I posted this last night. They are now completely gone with no indication those listings even existed. What pisses me off though is there are still several completed listings dated Feb 10 that have Flappy bird on them, every 10 of which did sell. What is Ebay doing? This doesn't make me feel competent about the consistency and thoroughness of their rule enforcement. There were and still are tons of listing they need to take care of, but it shouldn't be overwhelming them enough to let any slip past their eyes.
Also, I fixed some typos.

 

[Branindain]

In follow up news, 27 ravenous leeches, oops, I mean mobile gaming companies are coincidentally releasing games in the bird-flying-on-a-narrow-path genre. King's incredibly original entry, "Flappy Bird Saga" means that no-one else can use the word BIRD ever again, while EA gives you the game for free but each wing costs $29.95 and the bird is only let out of its cage for 5 minutes a week. But they can speed that up for you with a controversial solution!

 

[ThePS1Fan]

You could pay a developer in India a quarter of that to make your own personal copy of the game. Hell, I'd do it for a couple of grand - it's half a day's work. Seriously - people are fucking insane.

Or you could wait a month until the whole app store is Flappy Bird clones

 

[Brownie80]

Listen. If people are THAT psychoathic over a GAME, they must already HAVE it. Why are they so upset about them pulling the game if they already have it!?! That makes NO SENSE!

 

[Stabby Joe]

I'm not going to lie, the first reports of the original news story today was the first time I had even heard of "Flappy Bird" and now there are news stories everywhere about it.

Dam, I appear to be WAAAAAAAY outside of mobile gaming.

 

[Brownie80]

I'm not going to lie, the first reports of the original news story today was the first time I had even heard of "Flappy Bird" and now there are news stories everywhere about it.

Dam, I appear to be WAAAAAAAY outside of mobile gaming.

Consider yourself very lucky.

 

[Barbas]

Well, what a surprise - I thought that read 'Bin-Laden devices'. I'm quite glad the game is being taken down if it makes such vile people unhappy.

 

[tzimize]

But...this is so many levels of stupid...even for the internet...how....I....wh.......*

 

[Malfy]

Never take idiots on Twitter or any other social media site seriously. The most appalling thing here is people bidding $80,000 for a phone. It should have Flappy Bird AND cure cancer for that price. Looks like Ebay is forcing Flappy Bird to go on the black market.

 

[samaugsch]

I guess when the creator said people were getting too addicted to this game, he wasn't kidding.