The Illegal Buff Market

It is official. As of June 10th, the transition period has concluded, and the Incarcerate Buffing Act 2.0 has outlawed 25 different items connected to buffs. I decided to conduct a thorough examination of this sector of the economy to understand its response. What I have come to find is something that is barely breathing, and seemingly asking to be put down.

Redmont Shops

To begin with, I wanted to investigate which shops were still in operation. In total, I was able to locate 58 chest shops selling some sort of illegal buff item across the greater Redmont area, which includes Oakridge, Willow, and Aventura.

I was also about to confirm at least 3 individuals who took down chest shops in the last 30 days that sold buffs. The number of chest shops taken down is unknown.

Out of the 58 shops, 37 of them had zero stock inside. Some of these shops were operated by businesses owned by President-Elect Multiman155 (BuffsRUs) and Alexandrian Dignitary PhillinDeBlanc (MoFA), to name a couple. It is noteworthy to mention that the chest shop connected to PhillinDeBlanc was found inside the Alexandrian Embassy.

Out of these 37 empty chest shops, 8 of them belong to HeisenbergCo, one of the largest sellers of Buffs before the law's passage. I had the chance to speak with HeisenbergCo owner ZxRiptide, in which he showed frustration towards the future of his business.

"We are forced to change some of our ways in order not to break the new law," said ZxRiptide. "We can't blatantly sell buffs on spawn no more, so now we are forced back into a BM plot in order not to break the law."

When asked about whether the law negatively impacted his business, ZxRiptide responded with "100%. We used to have sleepypanda. Now that has no use anymore. I lowk cried when I realised we'd be losing that spot."

When asked about the supply of his business, ZxRiptide made it clear. "I don't involve in anything illegal. I work for the DHS, and it would be simply immoral and sad to do illegal things while 'Enforcing Redmont and keeping Reveille safe.'" ZxRipdtide claims he does not have any contact with the suppliers of his business and that it is run by a trusted middleman. He refused to identify the individual.

When looking at the rest of the chest shops, I found 21 that had some stock left inside. Eight of these chest shops were found in the Black Market, meaning the remaining 13 shops were breaking the law by selling their product. The 13 shops were owned by 12 separate players or businesses and included items such as Gork, Cocatuk, Coco Leaf, Mercury, Coco Seed, and Hydrochloric Acid.

When looking at major sellers of Buffs still left in Redmont, I found potentially two, both being in the Black Market. Dale N Wilson, a company owned by fish70000000000, currently has 7 buff-related chest shops with four having stock, and NotJsrkiwi, a company owned by Jsrkiwi, has four buff-related chest shops with all having stock.

The Wild

With the Wild having no laws, it is fair to assume that some of the shops might move there to avoid criminal charges. When looking in the Wild, I found 12 chest shops owned by five individuals, with 11 of these Chest Shops having stock.

Four of these chest shops were found in the wild town of Queendom, which isn't readily available to the public. This left seven chest shops open to the public, operated by three individuals, with the main sellers being SemblanceofSense and Gluonmaster, both of whom owned three of the seven.

Items being sold included heroend, smile dip, magic dust, gork, cocatuk, and a single shop selling copium poppy seeds owned by Stanley582, who helped author and proposed the Incarcerate Buffing Act 2.0.

Farm Plots

Since Buff plants have the feature of only being farmable inside Redmont in order to avoid loopholes by farming in the Wild, it makes farm plots a prime target. While farming these crops isn't illegal, the possession of them is making the act of having any on a farm plot a crime.

I decided to look into the owner of these chest shops to see how many farm plots I could find with possible buff activity. Across the total 70 chest shops selling illegal buff items in Redmont and the Wild, which had 30 total owners, I was about to locate seven farm plots. These plots are either rented by the owner of these chest shops or a staff member of the business who owns the shop.

When investigating these farm plots, I found only one that was growing illegal crops in public view. This farm plot was rented by a staff member of the previously mentioned HeisenbergCo, which makes them a suspected supplier.

The other six plots did not have any illegal crops publicly accessible. Buffs are not only illegal, but if accessible, can be stolen, which means that if illegal crops do exist, they would most likely be hidden. For these reasons, I can not rule out any of these plots from having buffs somewhere inside.

For the rest of the shop owners without farm plots, their crops are most likely inside or under any other owned property, which might include C plots, R plots, I plots, or rented apartments. Multiple of the individuals with chest shops in stock, like fish70000000000 and Jsrkiwi, appear to own or rent zero properties. This leads me to assume that unknown suppliers exist for certain shops or companies like Notjsrkiwi and Dale N Wilson.

DHS Response

Since the transfer period has ended, the DHS has been slow to act on any crime related to Buffs. According to a confidential internal source in the DHS, only a single arrest for Minor Illicit Substance possession has been conducted so far. The DHS has also filed zero search warrants regarding buff possession.

As detailed in this article, I alone have located 13 individuals who are breaking the law involving buffs, none of whom I am going to name.

Currently, I have an active FOI request to see if anyone has turned in their buffs to the DHS during the transition period, as detailed in the Incarcerate Buffing Act 2.0. I plan to update this article if any information is provide.

Economic Breakdown

Looking at the direct sales of all the buff items made illegal over the last 30 days shows a remarkably small market. In total, the now-illegal buffs had a sale volume of $29,231.43, split up into 1969 sales over the last 30 days. To put that into perspective, wheat had 12,667 sales totaling $38,755.34 over the same time period.

These sales are split up into 16 of the 26 illegal buff items. The largest market share was held by Cocatuk, which accounted for 782 sales, totaling $7,491 or 25.6% of the buff market in the last 30 days.

Ten of the 16 buff items either decreased or were stagnant in growth over the last 30 days. Ten of the now-illegal items had zero sales all-time from a chest shop. These items include Iodine, Phosphorous, Ethanol, Magic Liquid, Meepylamine Chloride, Glorpine, Hyte, Mayflower Sapling, Copium Poppy Seed, and Morning Glory Seed.

Conclusion

The investigation into the buff market after its criminalization has shown its downfall. Most buff chest shops have dried up, leaving most without anything to sell. The few that remain with stock are likely to shrink in numbers as the DHS catches up by closing the illegal shops. The few legal shops, either in the Black Market or the Wild, make up an extremely small portion of the economy that is trending to continue shrinking.

The criminalization of these items seems to be snuffing out the flame of a once larger sector of the economy. The large influx of players from the Jaron wave has done little to keep any demand for these items alive. The hype for these items has died. Their relevance is on its way to ending.