I was looking to get information about terms of service and if an idea we wanted to put out for our guild/community in discord/in-game was against ToS.
We wanted to start a patreon for people of our community to donate money as we spend a lot of our own money doing designs and other fun stuff. Two of the tiers offer players to get a free key un-timed if they donate money to that tier. Which I know paying real money for a service is against ToS but we are not advertising this in LFG or any website as a paid carry, we are asking people to donate to the community to help us keep doing the fun stuff we do inside and outside of the game and the mythic runs are a thank you from the guild for supporting us on building the community and making it better. Any information will be a big help! As I stated before this is not something we will be posting in trade chat or in que as paid carries, just something we want to give back to the people that decided to donate and help us grow.
This is a huge gray area. Some streamers offer carries for people who subscribe to their channel and I donāt think Blizz has done anything about that. I would think that if the Patreon offered value other than just a key carry then it should be ok. However, I think the TOS is vague for a reason so Blizzard can interpret it however they want.
right, i know that the streamer thing blizzard had said that it was just them advertising in LFG about free carries was against ToS but seems doing it without advertising it is ok.
i would agree about it being on the nose if that was what all we offered people but most of the stuff we are offering is outside of game. The mythics are the only thing we would give in-game.
Iād encourage you to perhaps consider clicking on the edit option in your original post and moving this one to the Customer Support forums.
My gut here, is that this would be a violation of the rules. Taking any money (advertised or not) and providing an in-game service would be a big no-no.
But at least in the CS forums, you might get a blue reply too.
Sure, but I think whether this is bannable or not is going to be subjective. It sounds risky. If you want to unofficially carry people that donate, maybe do it that way.
Would rather be transparent about the situation and get a blue post to be safe, as we are a big community and would hate to do something in violation of ToS.
It can get a little tricky. Based on what you said the condition of the run/carry would be a payment of some kind to be a member of one of the two Patreon tiers you are offering, which is technically an in-game service for real money.
I know there are several gray areas, such as contests and similar events where the condition to enter is being a member or subscriber, but this seems to have a direct āif you join X, you get Y in-gameā, and that does cause some concern.
I wouldnāt be able to say unequivocally if that is something that would result in a penalty. In most situations, our hacks team is looking for āillicit servicesā that are specifically charging money for those services, but in black and white terms, it does fall under that category so could.
I guess Iām having a hard time seeing the gray area. This is explicitly an in-game service in exchange for cash. The sponsorsā good intentions and to what use the money is put seem completely irrelevant to me.
RMT advertisements would be a bad idea anywhere in-game, not just in LFR. If you proceed, you should probably expect to be reported.
The way OP worded it seems like it would be against TOS. However, if they worded it like āsubscribe to our Patreon and you will be automatically entered for a raffle to win a M+ carryā then itās extremely gray.
Iām sure OP has probably read it, but for the sake of reference, here is the relevant article of the EULA:
License Limitations. Blizzard may suspend or revoke your license to use the Platform, or parts, components and/or single features thereof, if you violate, or assist others in violating, the license limitations set forth below. You agree that you will not, in whole or in part or under any circumstances, do the following:
< snip >
Prohibited Commercial Uses: Exploit, in its entirety or individual components, the Platform for any purpose not expressly authorized by Blizzard, including, without limitation (i) playing the Game(s) at commercial establishments (subject to Section 1.B.v.3.); (ii) gathering in-game currency, items, or resources for sale outside of the Platform or the Game(s); (iii) performing in-game services including, without limitation, account boosting or power-leveling, in exchange for payment; (iv) communicating or facilitating (by text, live audio communications, or otherwise) any commercial advertisement, solicitation or offer through or within the Platform; or (v) organizing, promoting, facilitating, or participating in any event involving wagering on the outcome, or any other aspect of, Blizzardās Games, whether or not such conduct constitutes gambling under the laws of any applicable jurisdiction, without authorization.
To me, because you do have tiers, this is more of a sale than a donation. For āxā, you get āyā. Perhaps you could put your patrons in a special category (mentally) as āthose Iām wanting to snag for groupsā. Then, when you run those groups, grab someone from that category. Just like a streamer looks to his subs and folks watching them at the moment to fill up a group, you would look to your patrons to grab people to group with. Advertising it as a basic sale tho would raise enough flags I think youād be constantly reported.
Another idea for people to sign up and pay. Offer something of real world value in a monthly give away. Such as a 60 day game time card or amazon gift card. You could set these if you have X amount of people only.
This way your getting real world currency and they are getting a chance to win something with real world value as well.