Aye.
Galleons. I do (did? Heh) have a trade thread here and made several nice trades to people. I kept is simple. I would trade for buyables, pretty much anything offerred, really. I was honest and up front, told people even where they could go to get their own for free. I just liked playing the game and figured people who couldn't beat it (as I can now easily) would like to have ships. I agree that messing around with giving away codes is too much trouble.
Sparrow. I know a friend who shares the Sparrow costume. She and her son share it so they can both enjoy it. VMK never did release the costumes that were advertised (I have a passholder magazine that specifically says there would be new VMK pirate costumes - yes plural - to celebrate "Pirate Month") much less the ones tested/shown off by various staff, and/or "accidentally" released to new people. The "impossible" to get (1/5000 - Come on, that's insane) Sparrow is the only Pirate costume available to anyone. They got lucky and got one. They couldn't afford to trade for a second. So sharing is the only way they both can enjoy the Piratey Fun!
I'm one of the "lucky" ones. Three weeks ago I traded a room full of rare (including Pirate, 50th, and all other DLR Quest and many other non-buyables and costumes) for the Sparrow Shirt, Pants, and Shoes. And a couple of days ago I traded another dozen or so rare for the Hat. I got my costume. Oh, I had tried the "intended" way and entered codes. I've entered 1120 codes. By Hand. I didn't use any software or generators, just had that silly game open sometimes in 2-3 IEs and spent hours going through getting the codes. And then hours more keying them in. I admit it helps that I type 120 wpm, but it still takes time. Heh. But my eyes crossed too much and I gave up and did went the Trade Way. My point? I feel bad for the people now that can never get Sparrow (or to date any other Pirate Costume!). Oh sure, good luck winning the 1/5000 lottery.
Solution. VMK wants to get back at the people who are cheating the code games? Locking out the trading isn't the way. That hurts too many people who are playing by the rules. How about this:
Lower the odds. Ok, you started at 1/5000, which is crazy - but, fine. To create your hype and get people excited about it, have the odds high. But then after a couple of days or a week or two, drop it to like 1/1000. Then by the next month it should be like 1/500 or 1/100. I'm no math expert, but even I know that there's got to be a better set of odds than 1/5000 where it can still be fun and challenging, but not so much that people who can jack it can take such advantage. Or better yet. If you want to keep it 1/5000, make some kind of one time guarantee win after X codes (500 or 1000 seems a good bench mark). If someone wants more than one Sparrow they can keep entering, but they go back to the 1/5000 or whatever.
My 2 cents. Thanks for listening.