Ok, there was a conversation happening after someone posted the following: (I am typing this off the screen shot, would link but it is on my phone and my internet here stinks royally, i’ve been trying to transfer it to my computer for a long time and it’s going no where)
PlayerA: attn gnomes get to level 30 for (name redacted) will be giving away [Green Mechanostrider] to the winner of the weakest link game today at 7 pm server you must be a level or 30 higher gnome with no mount to win gl and happy leveling
PlayerA: every round the lowest roll will be removed from game till three remain
PlayerA: then the last three contestants will race to win 5 high rolls the first to win 5 gets the mount
I responded with “soooo…gambling? which is against the tos?”
(The character I was on, Thelmaria, can not post with here as none of them on the server are showing up as an option.
that led to a ‘conversation’ about gambling and the tos, which I did correct to state advertising was the part against the tos. the others argued that since no money was involved, it wasn’t gambling, therefore, no issues.
I said I’d be happy to post here to find out one way or the other, so here I am.
Is what PlayerA was offering considered gambling in game?
It does involve competitive rolls for a prize. Thank you for any clarifications
The sections on gambling tend to apply to commercial use. In-game games of chance, raffles, races, etc., assuming that the prizes are in-game only, are not strictly prohibited and we only restrict against the advertisement of them in-game or on our forums.
Keep in mind these activities are not supported and you participate in them at your own risk. Our staff would be unable to provide direct assistance or reimbursement if there was a scam. This is also specific for the North American version of the game as other regions may have different restrictions.
There doesn’t appear to be any actual gambling in the description. It appears to simply be a giveaway. I don’t see any requirement that the participants post anything. Sounds like a great community event, the type that should actually be encouraged. If there’s no investment required, is it still a violation to adveertise it, since the players aren’t really gambling?
I’m definitely with you there. I’m the first to report all the obnoxious gold carry spam the pollutes trade chat. But the gambling ads seem to have a specific rule about them. Somebody offering a free mount in classic (where gold is much harder to acquire) isn’t something I’d personally report (as long as it didn’t become obnoxious).
Did you read the entire post, Pu? Because but I believe Sassafrassa mentions the “lowest roll” several times. “Every round the lowest roll will be removed”. A roll is traditionally done with the in-game random number generator, which would be akin to a game of chance. They even say:
It’s not a free giveaway though, it’s a contest. Where some aspect of who wins is randomly determined.
They aren’t offering a free mount in the strictest sense. They aren’t in the channel there saying: “Who wants a free mount?”, and giving it to the first person who speaks up. There are conditions, and randomly generated outcomes.
I got that. There’s definitely a game involved. But it’s not like anyone is risking anything. But it sounds from your response that Blizzard would consider advertising this sort of giveaway to be a violation. Is that correct?
It isn’t a giveaway. It doesn’t matter that there isn’t an entry fee mentioned.
And that is what I said, Pu. It’s unnecessary to drill down through the minutiae of all the things it could or could not be considered or what is may be defined as by the strictest sense. We really don’t need to take a journey on the “what-about-pony”.
Thank you Vrakthris, I really appreciate the response, and apologize that I have not been back to thank you before now. I kid you not my net here stinks, so when it’s up at it’s average .10mbs download speeds, I tend to use it in game not on the forums lol.
I have bookmarked this response, and screen shot it and saved to my hard drive as well so I won’t need to ask again, I will just refer people back here in the future. Knowing myself too well, I will still manage to lose the information somehow.
I did correct myself in the chat that followed to say it was the advertising, not the gambling per say that was the issue.
Pu, I know this has been thoroughly responded to in this thread but I wanted to personally respond to you as well, as there seems to be some confusion in your mind over gambling and free giveaways. Sometimes, knowing the definition of words makes a big difference. So I’ve included at the bottom of this post, one definition of ‘gamble’ and Synonyms for ‘game of chance’ (which is what rolling is).
Vrakthris responded and covered every point I can think of, so I’ll leave it at that.
Our servers are the communities we choose to spend our time in. What we as players, allow to happen in the chats, is what forms that community. I like the server I landed on and don’t want to see it change. I did not report the player, I chose to use that opportunity to inform. Like you, there were several who did not agree, hence my post here. I think it’s been clarified quite well.
an act of gambling; an enterprise undertaken or attempted with a risk of loss and a chance of profit or success.
In this case, there is no risk of loss, so I personally wouldn’t consider it gambling. That said, all I wanted to get clarified was that even though the game to win the free mount required no cost or risk from the participants, it would still fall under the casino advertising violation policy. Vrakthis confirmed that it does. The end.