Maybe they already got one. Just sitting quietly to not cause uproar. Imagine Hilmar saying at EVE London:
“BTW guys, we got a gambling loicense for our game, expect more gambling soon. You will sell your socks to get those tickets mates.”
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But this isn’t gambling?.. ???
Can you first tell me what the definition of “Gambling” is and where the Hypernet Relay fits in with it?
Like, sure, you can be mad about the microtransaction crap. But I don’t see how this is gambling or would run afoul of gambling laws.
Did people at CCP actually have a meeting about this, and decided “Yes, this is what our players want. This will make them happy”?
Or do the devs just kinda pick things out of a hat at random to implement, without any discussion whether it actually adds anything worthwhile to the game?
Player base seem to be losing their ■■■■ and its defo hitting the fan xD
personally i like the idea.
You know what i like? My TIER 3 GIFT. Not that ■■■■ reward Alpha players get. I GOT MY TIER 3 GIFT SKILLPOINTS AND THEY HAD A DARKER BLUE LABEL THAN THE TIER 2 GIFT DOES THAT COMES TOMORROW. Ops capslock. I had to make sure you understand that it was a TIER 3 GIFT for logging in. Oh and it came with some flashy animation. Because logging into this game theese days are seen as achievments.
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It’s essentially a raffle, in the UK that’s classed as gambling and, with few exceptions, requires the host to follow licensing and gambling regulations; UK law also covers virtual currencies and items in the gambling legislation.
Worst case is that CCP fall foul of gambling regs in some countries, best case it’s a grey area.
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It’s true. Under UK Law (where there servers are hosted as well as their tech offices are) this IS gambling. Dress it up how you want, it doesn’t change the fact.
Either way, it is hypocracy of the highest order from CCP.
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All the things I noticed from Summer Blink i see in Hypernet Relay
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Working on some math here with the actual in-game system. This thing’s weird and wonkier than even I could have imagined they’d made it. @Rhivre has managed to break it so it’s asking her for 800k nodes for a corpse, it seems.
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There are (at least) two distinct issues here which should be kept separate.
The first is whether or not this is gambling as the normal person sees it. The second is whether or not it is gambling within the meaning of any particular nation/state law. Mixing these causes confusion. It’s what allows the like of EA to say that their “surprise mechanics” are not gambling. That relies on, in the case of the UK (and others) not being able to “cash out” winnings.
The UK’s 2005 Gambling Act defines “gaming” as playing a game of chance for a prize and “prize” means “money or money’s worth” s6(1) and (5). The relevant UK regulator, the Gambling Commission, has taken the view that if you can’t “cash out” then what you win is not “money’s worth”. The Commission does not set out authority for that view and I have some difficulty understanding why winnings with a definable virtual currency value (isk) which itself has a definable second virtual currency value (plex) which itself has a real world transferable currency value is not “money’s worth” but there you go. Not all national regulators share the UK view as shown with Belgium and the Netherlands.
This is why the likes of EA (and CCP?) can say schemes like this are not gambling. However… that is an evasion of the issue of, is this what the normal person would regard as gambling? Does it have those characteristics (predominantly negative) that people associate with gambling? Those tend to be the “rush” of a potentially big win as an incentive for risking something of value. In exactly the same way that most people regard EA’s schemes as gambling, this seems equally clearly to be gambling. It waddles like a duck and it quacks like a duck. It’s a duck! The inability to cash out seems, in real terms, inconsequential. Much more important is the ability to cash in; with cash.
If I’ve not already tipped my hand, I do regard this as despicible. It may not be gambling within a legislative meaning but it has the adverse characteristics of gambling and camouflaging its true nature under layers of virtual currency does not make matters better. It simply demonstrates that those pushing this scheme know exactly what it is and the need to camouflage its true nature.
PS talking in terms of raffles or lotteries on the basis that they don’t require licensing doesn’t really change anything. They are different forms of gambling. Again using the UK as an example, they are regulated under that same 2005 Gambling Act (s.14) - payment to enter with prize allocated wholly by chance. They are unlawful unless licensed/registered though there are many exceptions (incidental lotteries, private lotteries, customer lotteries) which have their own rules. The UK’s National Lottery is specifically legalised by the 2005 Act (s16).
Sorry for the wall of text. TL;DR - it may or may not be unlawful gambling but carries all the negative baggage of gambling and is reprehensible.
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And why does everyone assume that CCP didnt license thier game as per law requires?
Leaving aside where their servers are, CCP is an Icelandic company. Due to Iceland being a full party to the EEA and the Schenngen (spelling?) Agreement - as well as a pending application for full membership of the EU - they are bound by EU laws on gambling as well. This is not going to end well for CCP however you slice it.
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Well, would the ability to use the secondary currency (PLEX) as a redeemable for RL-value return (extending the Omega licensing period on an account) be considered a form of cashing out?
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Licenses are public record. Pls link where theirs is shown ty.
Yes - it has a value as determined by the fact it is an alternative payment for RL currency in order to obtain a service.
I’m not logged in on sisi, but how is the raffle deciding the amount of nodes required for an item?
I would expect you set a price you want to get for your item and the HyperNet Relay then asks you an amount of HyperCores corresponding with the price you set, regardless of the item.
So 800k nodes for a corpse wouldn’t surprise me if the asking price is high enough. And you’d get asked the same amount of nodes if you tried selling a mining laser for the same price through the raffle.
Or is the amount of nodes really set per item?
Don’t know why everyone is so upset. As a trader i’m very exited about this feature.
Tested this on sisi - i can even bet on my own offer 
Ofcourse i won’t buy any of these tickets, just sell it to the hamsters. Huge profits iiiincooominggg!
That’s the rational view. It’s not currently the Gambling Commission view. They want conversion to real world transferable currency before they say it’s money’s worth.
This dev blog sure didn’t age well.
With this in mind, as of this announcement we have taken action against two organizations that are currently offering third party services based around gambling and games of chance:
- The third party service IWANTISK has been shut down in game, and all ISK and assets have been confiscated after extensive and exhaustive investigation has brought forward compelling evidence of large-scale Real Money Trading. Permanent account suspensions have been issued against those involved
- The third party service EVE Casino has been shut down in game, and all ISK and assets have been confiscated after multiple and sustained breaches of our Developer License Agreement. Permanent account suspensions have been issued against those involved.
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