I received this great email and just had to respond to it:
Hey markco,
This is Ri on the Drak'thul server and I was just looking for your opinion on a subject that has come up recently.
Well, I logged onto my alt's server Drak'tharon today and noticed that there was a guy in orgrimmar advertising for his Casino and all of his rules. Now I remember that pre-bc they had banned all Casino activity because of the overwhelming amount of tickets reporting scammers and spammers. I did a little searching around on the WoW forums to confirm that it was against blizzards ToS/EULA to operate one, but instead found out that the rule has actually been reversed.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=15443411190&postId=154419939234&sid=1#0
and
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14990946298&pageNo=1&sid=1#12
I was just wondering what your stance is on these Casinos and whether you think that they are supposed to be a part of WoW. Right now on Drak'tharon there are around 4-9 different people in /yell advertising for their little gambling operation.
Hope to hear back,
Ri of Drak'thul
PS: Another blue link from 2005 stating their reasoning for banning it in the first place.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=10271176&sid=1
I really see no reason for blizzard to go back on their stance, since their reason against it in the first place was that it caused spam and scamming. Now, people are just trying to make an easy buck and there will also be those who are willing to scam other out of their gold.
Response:
I am totally against "Casinos" in world of warcraft, but there are legitamate ways to get your gambling fix (and make some gold in the process)!
I first came up with this idea by using clams and selling them to players for half the price of the best item that dropped from them (pearls). This didn't last long because people starting assuming that I was looking into the clams before handing them out (I wasn't). That's when I came up with my next idea...
Lockboxes
By selling locked lockboxes I (and my buyers) were truly gambling. I would figure out the above average value of disenchanting greens from lockboxes and charge that amount to people wanting to gamble on the boxes. I made out on average more than I would have and players were able to get their gambling fix.
Lockboxes are the only way I think gambling can work in warcraft and still be fair.
Let me know if anyone else tries to do this :)
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5 comments: on "Casinos"
Anonymous said... March 14, 2009 at 9:42 AM
Prospecting was the ultimate form of gambling back on my realm. You could either come out big by getting lots of Scarlet Rubies or lose money by getting Sky Sapphires or Forest Emeralds.
Since everyone and their mother went JC to try and make easy money, the gem market got crippled due to an outrageous supply and now Sky Sapphires are only about 10g a pop uncut on that realm.
Anonymous said... March 14, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Currently, a guildie of mine is running a raffle on Arathor-US. He was careful to make sure it wasn't illegal via GMs before posting about it. 50g a ticket, 400g for 10 tickets. The big prize is a motorcycle mount, but there are other prizes including JC Epic rings and monetary prizes. Based on the amount of tickets that I know he has sold to guildies alone, he is going to make a huge mint on this one.
I am kinda torn on the subject. I am jealous, in a way, because I didn't think of it. But I also like to truly earn what money I have... but then again, how is this different than buying and selling on the AH and relieving people of their money that way? Personally, I have tons of money and no plans to participate, but it is shocking to me how people buy so easily into the lottery mentality. "I am gonna get a bike for 50g" You may, but in reality, 95% of the participants aren't gonna get squat, while this guildie gets rich. I don't like adding to the wealth of others, I guess.
Sensei said... March 14, 2009 at 11:51 PM
There really is a lot of "gambling" in the game. The poster who mentioned prospecting is right on the money, that's a gamble to whether you get a blue gem or just some green gem as well. Of course, if you buy ore such that your average prospect is a gain of money, that's very good and a good fix to your "gambling itch" too. (Enchanting as well)
That raffle is a really good idea too.
I really have nothing against casinos though. I was surprised they were un-banned. If the casinos aren't spamming and is paying out without scamming then more power to them. The gambler comes to the casino because the gambler wants to gamble. So its win-win!
Sherry said... March 25, 2009 at 3:45 AM
Hello Markco, I was reading this post and it just occured to me that the idea of a raffle could turn out to be very exciting in patch 3.1.
A new lockbox will be released, only obtainable by fishing, called the Tiny titanium lockbox
http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=45986
that could contain stormjewels, the new wotlk epic gems, and also existing rare gems such as scarlet rubies.
I hope you find this piece of news interesting!
Anonymous said... April 5, 2009 at 1:27 PM
On my server we run an in guild lottery for the profit of the Guild Bank (which pays for all raid repairs) We sell tickets for 1g a pop which assigns you a number. Only even numbers are assigned.
At the end of the week we perform a roll from 1 to the # of last ticket sold. If it's a winning # (even) Then 25% goes to the guild bank and rest to the winner. If its an unsold # (odd) the money is rolled in to next weeks drawing.
I've been considering taking this server wide on my banker for some time, but the hassle of proving it's fair seemed more work than it would be worth. The idea is pretty sound though, you always make some money without scamming.
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