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Korea May Ban D3 over Real Money Auction House trading

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Comments

  • Superman0XSuperman0X Member RarePosts: 2,292

    I am not certain that most of you understand what is being is challenged here. Let me try to explain.

     

    The logic is as follows:

    If items that drop in game have real value, then playing to get them is gambling.

     

    The inclusion of the RMT market is not the issue, it is the trigger. It is this formal recognition that in game items have value that is causing the KRB to re-asses whether this game is gambling. In the past, games had a strict policy against reselling items (for real money), so it could be argued that there was no real (legal) value.

     

    There was a ruling in Korea recently that virtual currency is the same as real currency (and taxable). It is not a big stretch to couple this with recognition of virtual goods as having real value, especially when the game operator legalizes its sale.

     

    I would not expect that it will be concluded that this is gambling, but I would expect to see it concluded that these items have value, and are taxable.

  • Cik_AsalinCik_Asalin Member Posts: 3,033

    Blizzard will not let go of their RMT AH for the revenue stream that their anticipating from it. 

     

    Nope, they wont place a simple non-RMT AH in the game because so many have already bowed to their interest for this micro-transaction activity. 

  • SuprGamerXSuprGamerX Member Posts: 531

    Heh , you don't see a problem with a real cash auction shop? Fine. Then don't have a problem removing the EULA. If it's "OK" to put real money for virtual goods , then I am allowed to sell that same virtual good for real money , if not then don't put the freaking feature in the first place.

      That's the thing that people fail to understand about these cash shop games , and that's how RMTs make a fortune off of about every single one of you buying from cash shops.

     This is the main reason why this genre is going down hill and sucking for the past 8 years , the ammount of gold seller web sites currently up and running is quite impressive and depressing at the same time , because no matter how hard you try on being legit , 80% of the player base if not more don't give a hoot and go down the path of the gold sellers to get what they need to own your rear end.

     So it's a mix of emotions , on one side you got very strong minority of legits that are proud of getting to end game without putting a dime , then you got the others that hack / buy gold / scam / ect , to get to where they want to be.  So basically the whole genre of MMORPG in itself isn't legit anymore , no matter what the Devs try to say , at the end of the day , if their bank accounts are in the green , they don't care wether you buy / scam / hack , trust me from experience , if they DID care , Maple Story wouldn't be operational a long with every other F2P games out there.

     Anyways , TorchLight series is the real Diablo , Diablo 3 should be World of Diablo. From where I stand , Diablo 3 will have huge sales in the first month with a huge fan base , and at the 2nd month will start to drop rapidly.  After 12 years , you'd think they would of planned something better , but I guess they planned 12 years around a auction house rather then  on game play.

     Just to make one thing clear , if we were back in the 90's , I can garantee that those who cheated their way to fame thanks to RMTs were hunted down and shot at , no joke. Back then we had pride within our MMOs. Today the whole genre is a joke.

  • TheCrow2kTheCrow2k Member Posts: 953

    Sound about right, they have been trying to stop online gambling there for a while just the same as China. The way they try to stop it is by stopping fund transfers online but then they found this was circumvented with industries like gold farming/selling so in china they cracked down on those as well.

    D3 RMT shop has just opened a whole other messy can of worms for countries that have problems with online gambling.

  • RelytDnegelRelytDnegel Member UncommonPosts: 261

    I am struggling to see the RMAH as a form of gambling but do see why a government would block the game from a country that has serious issues with online gaming addiction. Should it really be up to the governement to decide this? Can't people show a bit of responsibility for their own money and what they spend it on?

  • twodayslatetwodayslate Member Posts: 724

    Originally posted by maxy1214

    It is blizzards move to take control of their products that they try to compete with the asian RMT websites.

    They may exclude the RMAH for microtransactions but those asian gold sellers wont go away. So who wins?

    If their intent was to remove the asian RMT scabs from the equation using the customer's credit card, they would have stuck with a simple account hold to ensure that the card was valid and attached to a real person (eg; those $1 charges that temporarily pop up on your statement when signing up for an MMO).  Read the Blizzard FAQ, the real reason is written in plain English in #7:

    "Can players choose to get cash from currency-based auction house sales, instead of having the proceeds deposited into their Battle.net account?



    Yes, as an advanced feature, players will have the option of attaching an account with an approved third-party payment service to their Battle.net account. Once this has been completed, proceeds from the sale of items in the currency-based auction house can be deposited into their third-party payment service account. "Cashing out" would then be handled through the third-party payment service. Note that this process will be subject to applicable fees charged by Blizzard and the third-party payment service. Also, any proceeds from the sale of items in the currency-based auction house that have been deposited into the Battle.net account will not be transferrable to the third-party payment service account. Not all regions will support this advanced feature at launch. Region-specific details, as well as details regarding which third-party payment services will be supported and the fee that Blizzard will charge for the cash-out process, will all be provided at a later date."

    Fees are the only motivation for this system, pure greed.  They have zero interest (nor have they ever, judging by their management of WoW) in knocking down third party RMT.

    Edit: if anything, now that I think about it, it seems more like a system designed to be mutually beneficial to professional farmers and Blizzard.  Similar to how in WoW, they turned a blind eye to farmers and bots most of the time (because in the end it is just another sub), then once a year they would pick some small batch of them to toss the hammer at so they could keep up appearances.  This reeks of the classic "we don't serve your kind here" attitude toward item sellers, while meeting them behind the alley and saying "hey, we'll let you use Paypal (or something similar) to process your transactions over, but you have to give us a cut of the action."

  • TheLizardbonesTheLizardbones Member CommonPosts: 10,910


    Originally posted by RelytDnegel
    I am struggling to see the RMAH as a form of gambling but do see why a government would block the game from a country that has serious issues with online gaming addiction. Should it really be up to the governement to decide this? Can't people show a bit of responsibility for their own money and what they spend it on?


    If people could control their own impulses, most of the world's legal systems would be unnecessary.

    I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.

  • Superman0XSuperman0X Member RarePosts: 2,292

    Originally posted by Superman0X

    I am not certain that most of you understand what is being is challenged here. Let me try to explain.

     

    The logic is as follows:

    If items that drop in game have real value, then playing to get them is gambling.

     

    The inclusion of the RMT market is not the issue, it is the trigger. It is this formal recognition that in game items have value that is causing the KRB to re-asses whether this game is gambling. In the past, games had a strict policy against reselling items (for real money), so it could be argued that there was no real (legal) value.

     

    There was a ruling in Korea recently that virtual currency is the same as real currency (and taxable). It is not a big stretch to couple this with recognition of virtual goods as having real value, especially when the game operator legalizes its sale.

     

    I would not expect that it will be concluded that this is gambling, but I would expect to see it concluded that these items have value, and are taxable.

     

    Ok. I read up on Blizzards defence. Here is what I am seeing:

     

    Blizzard believes that this is not gambling. It is like working in a mine (my example). Sure, you have to pay some money for equipment, and then you can spend your time looking for items that you can sell.  Players are not gambling by investing their time, in an effort to earn value. That is considered work, even if the payout is not gaurenteed, and if they must then sell the result to others in an effort to make money.

     

    There are also some concerns about how blizzard charges fees for the use of their auction service. This varies based on the country/region as to what is legal (the same applies to ebay). Blizzard may have to have a more complex fee structure to allow for variation between countries.

  • TheLizardbonesTheLizardbones Member CommonPosts: 10,910


    Originally posted by Aori


    Originally posted by TheCrow2k
    Sound about right, they have been trying to stop online gambling there for a while just the same as China. The way they try to stop it is by stopping fund transfers online but then they found this was circumvented with industries like gold farming/selling so in china they cracked down on those as well.
    D3 RMT shop has just opened a whole other messy can of worms for countries that have problems with online gambling.

    Considering a huge majority of Korean MMO's have a cash shop i don't see there issue lol. I mean you spent countless dollars to get increase chance of success items that are 100% gambling..
    Okie dokie don't get it.


    In the court case ( http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2915126 ), two players of Lineage II purchased a LOT of in game money, bought items, then sold those items for more money than they spent on the in game currency. The players were fined in lower courts for gambling, but they took it to the South Korean Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the virtual currency was earned through skill, not gambled with luck, so it was a real currency, and so can be exchanged for South Korean currency without fines.

    It could go either way...but Blizzard will have a tough argument. The sticking point is that items drop based on a random number generator. It's luck. If items and currency are earned through luck, then you can't exchange those items for real world money, which is what the RMAH does.

    ** edit **
    @Superman0X - they did not blanket rule that virtual currency was real money. They ruled that two people earned virtual money without gambling (using luck) so they could not be fined under South Korea's laws against internet gambling.

    If they see Blizzard's implementation as gambling, it means you can't 'cash out' for South Korean currency. If they rule it isn't gambling, then you can 'cash out' for South Korean currency. No mention was made of taxation for the sale of virtual goods. The men were acquitted of internet gambling.

    I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.

  • just1opinionjust1opinion Member UncommonPosts: 4,641

    Originally posted by st4t1ck

    Most video game auctions house's have the buy now feature. how can it be named gambling if i click a button pay the cash and obtain an item. 

     

    I think what you're not "getting" is the correlation to gambling.  It's gambling for the SELLER, not the buyer in this case.  The seller has to pay listing fees and possibly a separate item fee (I don't think we know this yet) and then they have the CHANCE to sell the item.  Essentially....I can see whereas people could look at that as gambling.

    President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club

  • just1opinionjust1opinion Member UncommonPosts: 4,641

    Originally posted by Cavod

    What really gets me about the whole thing is do you actually own the item when you purchase it?

     

    Because like all MMOs already do, I'm sure Blizzard will retain the right of ownership to all virtual data.

     

    So how can you possible sell something you do not own? 

     

    I see lawsuits in the future of the RMAH.

     

    You have a good point.  That's exactly why gold selling is illegal, so what makes this different?  Either both should be illegal or neither.

    President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club

  • lthompson94lthompson94 Member Posts: 194

    Originally posted by romanator0

    Originally posted by thegypsyking


    Originally posted by RefMinor

    I am surprised the US will allow what is potentially a gambling shop.

    The RMAH has nearly zero similarities with gambling, that's a pitiful comparison.  All we can do is wait to see how Blizzard creates what could be the new MMO standard, or the fatal flaw with D3.

    How so?

    When gambling you pay somebody money to get a chance to make more money.

    The the RMAH you pay Blizzard money to get a chance to make some money.

    In both you aren't guaranteed to make anything.

    Looks like they have the same basic principles to me.

    So, by your logic, when you pay for something to make a profit... it's gambling?!  LOL!!  Welcome to the world of business.

    If I own a used car lot, and buy a car for $500 - for a chance to resell it for a thousand... I'm gambling?

    RMAH and gambling are NOT AT ALL the same thing.

  • lthompson94lthompson94 Member Posts: 194

    Originally posted by SaintViktor

    Originally posted by thegypsyking


    Originally posted by RefMinor

    I am surprised the US will allow what is potentially a gambling shop.

    The RMAH has nearly zero similarities with gambling, that's a pitiful comparison.  All we can do is wait to see how Blizzard creates what could be the new MMO standard, or the fatal flaw with D3.

     Oh really, then tell us what it is then because bidding on items on an AH is gambling.

    Does nobody on this site know what gambling is?

    Bidding on items in a AH is NOT gambling... that's absolutely laughable.  There are estate auctions, home auctions, antique auctions, collectors auctions, charity auctions... on and on and on.  They have absolutely nothing in common with gambling.

     

    I'm beginning to lose all faith in humanity.

     

  • lthompson94lthompson94 Member Posts: 194

    Originally posted by just1opinion

    Originally posted by st4t1ck

    Most video game auctions house's have the buy now feature. how can it be named gambling if i click a button pay the cash and obtain an item. 

     

    I think what you're not "getting" is the correlation to gambling.  It's gambling for the SELLER, not the buyer in this case.  The seller has to pay listing fees and possibly a separate item fee (I don't think we know this yet) and then they have the CHANCE to sell the item.  Essentially....I can see whereas people could look at that as gambling.

    When you take a collectable to an auction, you have to pay to have it entered and auctioned.  It might not sell.  This happens every day in every state in every city and has no correlation to gambling.

    When you run an ad to sell something in the newspaper, it might not sell, but you paid for the ad.  This is not gambling.

    Sure "you took a gamble," that doesn't make it GAMBLING in a legal sense of the word.

    Please people give up, it's not frickin gambling. 

  • TGSOLTGSOL Member Posts: 274

    Originally posted by lthompson94

    Originally posted by just1opinion


    Originally posted by st4t1ck

    Most video game auctions house's have the buy now feature. how can it be named gambling if i click a button pay the cash and obtain an item. 

     

    I think what you're not "getting" is the correlation to gambling.  It's gambling for the SELLER, not the buyer in this case.  The seller has to pay listing fees and possibly a separate item fee (I don't think we know this yet) and then they have the CHANCE to sell the item.  Essentially....I can see whereas people could look at that as gambling.

    When you take a collectable to an auction, you have to pay to have it entered and auctioned.  It might not sell.  This happens every day in every state in every city and has no correlation to gambling.

    When you run an ad to sell something in the newspaper, it might not sell, but you paid for the ad.  This is not gambling.

    Sure "you took a gamble," that doesn't make it GAMBLING in a legal sense of the word.

    Please people give up, it's not frickin gambling. 



    As someone who doesn't like the RMAH or what it represents, I have to agree. I just don't see how this is gambling. It seems you REALLY have to twist the definition to even come close to making it apply.

  • RelytDnegelRelytDnegel Member UncommonPosts: 261

    Originally posted by lizardbones

     




    Originally posted by RelytDnegel

    I am struggling to see the RMAH as a form of gambling but do see why a government would block the game from a country that has serious issues with online gaming addiction. Should it really be up to the governement to decide this? Can't people show a bit of responsibility for their own money and what they spend it on?








    If people could control their own impulses, most of the world's legal systems would be unnecessary.

     

    Fair call. Just seems sad that we need someone to manage our money for us xD

  • RequiamerRequiamer Member Posts: 2,034



    Originally posted by TGSOL


    Originally posted by lthompson94


    Originally posted by just1opinion


    Originally posted by st4t1ck

    Most video game auctions house's have the buy now feature. how can it be named gambling if i click a button pay the cash and obtain an item. 

     
    I think what you're not "getting" is the correlation to gambling.  It's gambling for the SELLER, not the buyer in this case.  The seller has to pay listing fees and possibly a separate item fee (I don't think we know this yet) and then they have the CHANCE to sell the item.  Essentially....I can see whereas people could look at that as gambling.

    When you take a collectable to an auction, you have to pay to have it entered and auctioned.  It might not sell.  This happens every day in every state in every city and has no correlation to gambling.
    When you run an ad to sell something in the newspaper, it might not sell, but you paid for the ad.  This is not gambling.
    Sure "you took a gamble," that doesn't make it GAMBLING in a legal sense of the word.
    Please people give up, it's not frickin gambling. 


    As someone who doesn't like the RMAH or what it represents, I have to agree. I just don't see how this is gambling. It seems you REALLY have to twist the definition to even come close to making it apply.

    I fail to see how it is not gambling. The simple virtual aspect of the goods make it gambling since you have no real value put into any of the objects. You don't know if tomorrow it will still exist, maintain its value or whatever, a game could close tomorrow and have your money sink in lala land. Their value is highly volatile. And it is a kind of volatile no other product can reach, even stuff that have no reality like a book or an idea isn't as volatile as a virtual item.

    But i don't think this is the point here, the point is more about how you get those items in this kind of game, sell them in an auction and buy them, and the fact there is a very high luck factor in the way you obtain them first hand. So playing this kind of game with real money can obviously be seen as gambling, it's really not hard to understand especially when some games have a 0.00001% drop ratio on valuable items. It was all good until this was kept inside their game, but if you involve real money in it, then yes its pretty close to gambling.

    In usual p2w game you directly buy items from the company, in D3 its an other thing entirely, since they involve real money into in game trading since everything in game have a real money price tag on it. This mean what you drop have a value, and this mean your playing time is exactly like gambling on a casino machine.

  • bunnyhopperbunnyhopper Member CommonPosts: 2,751

    Originally posted by sldrop

    Originally posted by rothbard


    Originally posted by sldrop


    Originally posted by rothbard

    If AH is gambling, then every single action in life is gambling.  Uncertainty is always present.

    take a look at http://daeity.blogspot.com/2011/08/rmah-is-gambling-indeed.html

    The itmes are all random drop and all items are control by bliz(drop rate, rarity and creation).

    its different from other AH

    How are drop rates part of the AH?  Sure they affect the supply of an item but so?  I thought the whole "pay to list" was what supposedly made it gambling?

     Blizzard can alter volume. Volume or rarity = more listings = gambling by the players 

    That is not gambling... at all.

     

    Players are paying (if its P2P) for access to the game, they are getting a service whether or not they get loot, that is not gambling.

     

    The dev team being able to alter the loot drop rate is not gambling.

     

    Using the auction house is not gambling, it is amazingly enough, an auction and any fee involved is a service cahre for being able to access the auction.

     

    If players were paying for a random roll simulator for loot, without there being any game, they just stared at the screen as numbers flew by and they either got something or didn't then that would be gambling. But that clearly is not the case.

     

    I am completely against the RMAH but it certainly is not gambling.

    "Come and have a look at what you could have won."

  • RequiamerRequiamer Member Posts: 2,034

    Originally posted by bunnyhopper

    If players were paying for a random roll simulator for loot, without there being any game, they just stared at the screen as numbers flew by and they either got something or didn't then that would be gambling. But that clearly is not the case.

     

    Playing in front of a gambling machine in a casino that generate a random success rate, and playing in front of your computer in a game generating item worth real value with a random success rate is exactly the same. You use your time playing in both case, and yes you play some money games in both case.

  • bunnyhopperbunnyhopper Member CommonPosts: 2,751

    Originally posted by Requiamer

    Originally posted by bunnyhopper



    If players were paying for a random roll simulator for loot, without there being any game, they just stared at the screen as numbers flew by and they either got something or didn't then that would be gambling. But that clearly is not the case.

     

    Playing in front of a gambling machine in a casino that generate a random success rate, and playing in front of your computer in a game generating item worth real value with a random success rate is exactly the same. You use your time playing in both case, and yes you play some money games in both case.

    You missed the point. You are NOT paying for a random number generator that will then give you money on a successful roll, you are paying for a video game replete with combat, pvp, pve and crafting.

     

    If Diablo III offered nothing more than the ability to pay for a random roll with the chance of winning money then it would be the same. But it is not like that at all. Do you pay a fee each time you kill and loot something? Do you immediately get a payout if you loot some thing? Is there not actual typical game content that you are actually paying for? No.

     

    You are paying for a video game and the ability to use an auction service. You are not paying multiple times for random rolls that will immediately pay you out in prize money.

     

     

    "Come and have a look at what you could have won."

  • CyberWizCyberWiz Member UncommonPosts: 914

    Originally posted by Requiamer

     






    Originally posted by TGSOL






    Originally posted by lthompson94








    Originally posted by just1opinion








    Originally posted by st4t1ck



    Most video game auctions house's have the buy now feature. how can it be named gambling if i click a button pay the cash and obtain an item. 






     

    I think what you're not "getting" is the correlation to gambling.  It's gambling for the SELLER, not the buyer in this case.  The seller has to pay listing fees and possibly a separate item fee (I don't think we know this yet) and then they have the CHANCE to sell the item.  Essentially....I can see whereas people could look at that as gambling.






    When you take a collectable to an auction, you have to pay to have it entered and auctioned.  It might not sell.  This happens every day in every state in every city and has no correlation to gambling.

    When you run an ad to sell something in the newspaper, it might not sell, but you paid for the ad.  This is not gambling.

    Sure "you took a gamble," that doesn't make it GAMBLING in a legal sense of the word.

    Please people give up, it's not frickin gambling. 








    As someone who doesn't like the RMAH or what it represents, I have to agree. I just don't see how this is gambling. It seems you REALLY have to twist the definition to even come close to making it apply.



     

    I fail to see how it is not gambling. The simple virtual aspect of the goods make it gambling since you have no real value put into any of the objects. You don't know if tomorrow it will still exist, maintain its value or whatever, a game could close tomorrow and have your money sink in lala land. Their value is highly volatile. And it is a kind of volatile no other product can reach, even stuff that have no reality like a book or an idea isn't as volatile as a virtual item.

    I do not agree that the virtual aspect of the goods make it gambling. That would mean that regular microtransactions, bought directly from a game company, would also be gambling.

    You invest real money and time in every mmorpg, and you always have the risk that the game gets closed, that does not equal gambling imho.

    For me gambling is putting money into something with the possibility of gaining more money based on chance.

    Now I also acknowledge that various governments widened their legislation to cover all the angles, and that the RMAH may fall into grey areas.

     

    If you are interested in subscription or PCU numbers for MMORPG's, check out my site :
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  • TheLizardbonesTheLizardbones Member CommonPosts: 10,910


    Originally posted by CyberWiz

    Originally posted by Requiamer
     



    Originally posted by TGSOL




    Originally posted by lthompson94





    Originally posted by just1opinion





    Originally posted by st4t1ck

    Most video game auctions house's have the buy now feature. how can it be named gambling if i click a button pay the cash and obtain an item. 



     
    I think what you're not "getting" is the correlation to gambling.  It's gambling for the SELLER, not the buyer in this case.  The seller has to pay listing fees and possibly a separate item fee (I don't think we know this yet) and then they have the CHANCE to sell the item.  Essentially....I can see whereas people could look at that as gambling.





    When you take a collectable to an auction, you have to pay to have it entered and auctioned.  It might not sell.  This happens every day in every state in every city and has no correlation to gambling.
    When you run an ad to sell something in the newspaper, it might not sell, but you paid for the ad.  This is not gambling.
    Sure "you took a gamble," that doesn't make it GAMBLING in a legal sense of the word.
    Please people give up, it's not frickin gambling. 






    As someone who doesn't like the RMAH or what it represents, I have to agree. I just don't see how this is gambling. It seems you REALLY have to twist the definition to even come close to making it apply.



     
    I fail to see how it is not gambling. The simple virtual aspect of the goods make it gambling since you have no real value put into any of the objects. You don't know if tomorrow it will still exist, maintain its value or whatever, a game could close tomorrow and have your money sink in lala land. Their value is highly volatile. And it is a kind of volatile no other product can reach, even stuff that have no reality like a book or an idea isn't as volatile as a virtual item.


    I do not agree that the virtual aspect of the goods make it gambling. That would mean that regular microtransactions, bought directly from a game company, would also be gambling.
    You invest real money and time in every mmorpg, and you always have the risk that the game gets closed, that does not equal gambling imho.
    For me gambling is putting money into something with the possibility of gaining more money based on chance.
    Now I also acknowledge that various governments widened their legislation to cover all the angles, and that the RMAH may fall into grey areas.
     



    The part where they would consider it gambling is not the RMAH. It's how you get the items. If the items drop based on a random number generator, then it's gambling. You might get a great item, you might get a garbage item. It just depends. The RMAH is just the method used to convert virtual items into currency.

    It depends on how the South Korean court interprets the way you get the items.

    I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.

  • TheLizardbonesTheLizardbones Member CommonPosts: 10,910


    Originally posted by just1opinion

    Originally posted by Cavod
    What really gets me about the whole thing is do you actually own the item when you purchase it?
     
    Because like all MMOs already do, I'm sure Blizzard will retain the right of ownership to all virtual data.
     
    So how can you possible sell something you do not own? 
     
    I see lawsuits in the future of the RMAH.
     
    You have a good point.  That's exactly why gold selling is illegal, so what makes this different?  Either both should be illegal or neither.



    No, they don't have a good point. You're not buying and selling a virtual item; you do not own the virtual item. You're buying and selling a license to use the virtual item within the game.

    Also, gold selling isn't illegal. Not even in South Korea. Gold selling violates the terms of service of most games in the United States. It's illegal to gamble online in South Korea, so anything you earn in a game that's like gambling (random drops) cannot be sold for real world currency. If you're not gambling, then it's perfectly legal to buy and sell virtual currency in South Korea.

    I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.

  • xKingdomxxKingdomx Member UncommonPosts: 1,541

    Originally posted by SaintViktor

    Looks like it could be the begining of the end of the RMAH. Stay tuned.....

     

    Source: http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/korea-may-ban-d3-over-real-money-trading

    If this is true, then MMO in general should be banned.

     

    You are spending money for the continuation of a service, creating a virtual character (goods) that is supposed to be owned by the players. Yet, the company can easily announced shutting down the servers in a month of less, and you lose all your goods, forever.

     

    It isn't a gambling, but more like a losing battle, you will always lose in the end, its just a matter if you even care at that point anymore.

     

    And frankly speaking, I don't think RMAH is classified as gambling, if that is so, any form of online real money trading will be classified as that, which isn't the case.

    How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW?
    As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.

  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441

    Originally posted by CyberWiz

    I do not agree that the virtual aspect of the goods make it gambling. That would mean that regular microtransactions, bought directly from a game company, would also be gambling.

    You invest real money and time in every mmorpg, and you always have the risk that the game gets closed, that does not equal gambling imho.

    For me gambling is putting money into something with the possibility of gaining more money based on chance.

    Now I also acknowledge that various governments widened their legislation to cover all the angles, and that the RMAH may fall into grey areas.

    Paying a static sum for something that you know what it is = not gambling.

    If they were to sell random stuff or randomize the price then it would be gambling.

    RMAH is a kinda odd thing, you buy stuff that you don't own and the company can nerf it any timne without any problems. The law dies not mentioning how it works and don't consider stealing stuff like that to be equal to stealing real stuff and so on. But it is not gambling (unless you leave your kid alone with Smurf village and your credit card, that would be gambling without any chance of winning).

    Still, Blizzard is too greedy in this case, the whole idea is just terrible, particularly for a game like Diablo. I used to think that SOE stations servers were bad but there you can at least choose to play on anothe server.

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