Diablo III and Online Gambling

[Dexter]

As you might know, the game is being held up in South Korea because of the implications of the RMAH and Online Gambling, there's an article from the Korea Times about it here: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news...23_102230.html

The Game Rating Board, government agency responsible for approving and classifying video games, sees no end in sight for a decision an entire legion of fans anxiously awaits.

Though a ruling on the third and latest in the series of global bestseller Diablo was rumored to be due today, the board spokesman said Tuesday there were no signs suggesting a definitive answer.

“Committee members are conflicted about what to do with Diablo 3,” he said, “because of (its American developer) Blizzard’s information on the game’s ‘auction house’ feature.”

The virtual auction allows users to buy and sell items won during the game, which for many, including the board, resembles gambling. The controversial cashing-out feature, which would convert play money into real currency, was excluded in the most recent resubmission on Dec. 22 but continues to confound the process.

The next meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, but the spokesman cautioned fans against optimism, saying instead that reviews take place every Wednesday and Friday.

“As it is described in the (re)submission, committee members are still reluctant.”

Blizzard has dug a grave for itself by publicly committing to a simultaneous global, region-free launch for the first time in company history. Because every country will receive identical software, the Korean board’s decision is keeping the global game giant in chains.

“In principle, we are always committed to a global release,” said spokeswoman for Blizzard.

She declined to give a fixed date for the release, however. Some industry pundits say secrecy of release dates follows the norm of game software developers, often working until the last minute to change minute details, refusing to release anything less than their ideal version.

But in this case, the high-profile visit to Korea last September by Michael Morhaime, Blizzard’s CEO and co-founder, his meeting with the Game Rating Board members and the subsequent announcement the following day of a fresh delay, combine to fuel the blogosphere controversy.

Specialist blogs and websites are rife with posts about the reasons behind the repeated delays, most of them speculating that the Korean authorities are holding up the international release.

Diablo 3 has taken the U.S. video game publisher and developer Blizzard a decade to complete.

Looking into the issue a bit I came upon this rather extensive article detailing the ways in which it might be considered "Illegal Online Gambling": http://daeity.blogspot.com/2011/09/d...-gambling.html

I'll spare you the details or a long quote as they're right there (and it's certainly worth a read to somewhat educate oneself on the matter), but it tackles things like: item drops/loot probabilities, player gambling and bets, in-game "gambling" mechanics like they've been available in Diablo 2, Blizzard "owning" items and gold like casinos do chips, and the Auction House itself (especially Blizzard earning hard cache for every try to sell an item if it succeeds or not).

The same guy also goes on later to try and "prove" that the delay has to do with that in another "article": http://daeity.blogspot.com/2011/12/d...ay-debate.html including the visit of key Blizzard personnel to South Korea and the mysterious circumstances in which the delay manifested itself.

Long story short, do you think they might be getting into legal trouble in any other countries because of this or that they might have the backbone to see "issues" with the RMAH if they might see the implications clearer in the future or certain "seedy" elements develop after the game's launch?

[DigitalSignalX]

Test Drive Unlimited 2 has an actual casino you can gamble in online lol. As posted in article, a gambling for item type mechanic has existed in Diablo 2, as well as many other games (Torchlight comes to mind immediately). Not to mention any online game in history that uses a stat randomizer in conjunction with a scroll of identify type process.

I don't think this situation qualifies to the same degree that "actual" online gambling does, such as poker, slots and any other form of activity that are direct translations of their real world counterparts in casinos.

The blog post makes some interesting points, but this:

Gold in Diablo 3 is just a token representing cash value, in the exact same manner as casino chips. Your gold "chips" can be cashed out into real money

- is pure supposition that he's basing all the rest of the articles on - so his argument has a false foundation and becomes moot. In most MMO's, exchanging in-game currency for real is considered a violation of the terms of service, and Blizzard has not stated anything to the contrary concerning Diablo 3. That is certainly their policy in WoW. That people will do it anyway is beside the point - you can't make arguments about the legality of gambling if the law is already in place toward realizing profits IRL.

[BenWah]

This is a legitimate line of enquiry. It would have been a joke before, but they're blurring the lines now.

I know in LOTRO, some of my friends just quit because they newly require you to purchase keys to unlock some (rare) loot you get as random drops from raids.

Marketing is coming up with new ways to milk the franchise and make it more addicting.

It's not surprising that some of these MMO's will cross the line eventually

[imirk]

Is there anyway to lose though? To be actual gambling don't you have to risk something?

[DigitalSignalX]

Is there anyway to lose though? To be actual gambling don't you have to risk something?

The authors premise is that you'll be using in-game currency from drops + purchased currency.

[vinraith]

In most MMO's, exchanging in-game currency for real is considered a violation of the terms of service, and Blizzard has not stated anything to the contrary concerning Diablo 3.

They've stated there will be a real-cash item shop, where in-game goods can be traded for real-world currency and vice-versa. Personally, I think the South Koreans have Blizzard's number on this one.

[FuriKuri!]

Dunno, it's free to play after all. A lot of gambling laws are set up so people don't get hooked and spend all their money with little chance of return. I'd argue this system doesn't quite fit as you're only investing time rather than cash (yeah, yeah time=money, whatever!).

I mean, you may still spend a lot of REAL money in the auction house but you're buying items, not gambling on them.

[pakoito]

The point is they can make a living out of spending way too much time in a game. When you blur that line between fun and wonk where you have to spend a 60 hour grind to have enough money for food; as a government of a country with heavy addiction problems I would have a problem.

[deano2099]

They've stated there will be a real-cash item shop, where in-game goods can be traded for real-world currency and vice-versa. Personally, I think the South Koreans have Blizzard's number on this one.

Yeah, that should be the only issue here - Blizzard are legitimising the trading in for cash element. Although this bit from the quoted article:

The controversial cashing-out feature, which would convert play money into real currency, was excluded in the most recent resubmission on Dec. 22 but continues to confound the process.

seems to suggest they're intending to get around this by just turning off that element for Korea. Which would be fairly simple to do.

[DigitalSignalX]

They've stated there will be a real-cash item shop, where in-game goods can be traded for real-world currency and vice-versa. Personally, I think the South Koreans have Blizzard's number on this one.

wow I had no idea about this. I was under the impression the auction was in-game cash only. My bad for being derp.

With real money on the line, it will totally turn into a pay-to-win situation. As a HC player, purchased items were a real bane in D2 - you could come up against some twink with a dedicated looter who could kill your hard-earned char simply by the virtue of paying for elite shit rather then being skilled and within the "range" of most of us who were farming for gear normally.

[vinraith]

With real money on the line, it will totally turn into a pay-to-win situation.

Yup. Between that and online-all-the-time DRM, I long since wrote this one off.

[deano2099]

With real money on the line, it will totally turn into a pay-to-win situation. As a HC player, purchased items were a real bane in D2 - you could come up against some twink with a dedicated looter who could kill your hard-earned char simply by the virtue of paying for elite shit rather then being skilled and within the "range" of most of us who were farming for gear normally.

Again, it is worth looking at as Blizzard have thought about stuff like this:

Trade in the Auction House is separated between game modes. Hardcore characters cannot use the softcore auction house, and vice versa. In addition to this, hardcore characters may only use the gold-based auction house. Any and all items, including characters for sale, may only be purchased with gold.

"Pay to win" is something of a misnomer anyway given that it's not a competitive game. You can only have 4 players at once in any instance of the campaign, and there is no non-consensual PvP.

There are the arenas, but Blizzard have already state they consider these to be just a bit of fun, and won't be trying to balance them for competitive play.

[Finicky]

Diablo 2 also had gambling mechanics (identifying, random stats on gear) and I despised the concept as much then as I do now.
It's just drawing on base human instincts to get people to keep playing, part insulting, part just downright sad of those who partake.

The fact they added real money (officially, ebay before) into the equation just made it even more silly.
The Korean government is right to ban it.

[Tikey]

Brilliant.
Best spammer ever

[Drake Sigar]

They've stated there will be a real-cash item shop, where in-game goods can be traded for real-world currency and vice-versa. Personally, I think the South Koreans have Blizzard's number on this one.

Yup, they're buggered. Regardless of what everyone thinks of Diablo 3 though, it can be surprisingly difficult to make or distribute a game which doesn't break a law in a country somewhere. The Swatchka in Germany for example.

[Subatomic]

Yup, they're buggered. Regardless of what everyone thinks of Diablo 3 though, it can be surprisingly difficult to make or distribute a game which doesn't break a law in a country somewhere. The Swatchka in Germany for example.

Swatchka? Is that some sort of swiss wrist watch with a swastika on it? :P

[harhis23]

We really can't blame them for that... But it's just surprising for me to know that one of my favorite games is being dung in other countries because of it somehow depicts "virtual gambling."

[deano2099]

Yup, they're buggered. Regardless of what everyone thinks of Diablo 3 though, it can be surprisingly difficult to make or distribute a game which doesn't break a law in a country somewhere. The Swatchka in Germany for example.

It launched in South Korea on schedule with no problems though.