Though the whole "pay to vote" system is extremely shady.
Well, this is "more" valid na AKB since it is done with your PSN account. I doubt single person has thousands of PSN accounts to use just to vote.
"Walled" (in this case paid) voting is not exactly bad.
1. First it hinders automated voting.
2. Second, it stops "massive troll voting". (4chan did this a few times IIRC)
3. And in this case, it also "makes sure" that the voters are those who has intent to buy the game. I doubt people who are "on the fence" will attempt to vote unless they actually want the theme.
I am not saying I am ok paying with this, but this is not a new concept. TV shows/contests have been known to do this. "Text to vote" are not free most of the time.
What the hell does "Those guys even calculated the time they need to do each vote and a plan of attack on how to do it" mean? Can you please elaborate?
Assuming they're talking about buying physical albums, maybe they co-ordinated with like-minded individuals to buy out the stock of as many stores as possible within a given timeframe to result in the maximum amount of votes for their desired idol?
No, not a group. One guy. LOL.
I can't remember the exact system, but IIRC you have to text a unique code included in the single. One guy calculated (IIRC this was the farmer guy) how fast he can do it and how long he needs to do it as well as when to do it while at work (he still gotta get all that money for the next election, yo!). We're talking about
thousands of CDs on one guy, so yeah, it takes a long time. All those CDs are either sold for dirt cheap later or disposed later.
