For people who have been playing WoW a long time, they will remember the first time casinos were rampant. It plagued chat so bad and there were so many reports of people getting scammed that Blizzard came out and condemned the practice.
For those of you who missed that phase, allow me to explain. One player with enough gold to spare offers others players the chance to place a bet. The betting player gives their gold to the “casino” and then uses /random 100. Based on the number rolled the person either loses their money, wins it back, doubles their money, and many other variations. In the old casino days, some even had win triple your money for exceptionally high rolls.
During the first round of casinos it became so prevalent that you couldn’t step through Ironforge without tripping over someone running a casino. And it became obnoxious. Trade chat, yells, says, etc.
Then came the accusations of players getting scammed. Roll hacks, players not paying money back, etc.
But I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. Much to my dismay a couple guildies have voluntarily taken up the role of a casino. And I very well can’t add guildies to my ignore list. I lump casinos right in with gold sellers.
Thomas Tusser said “A fool and his money are soon parted.” And the statement is very true. Whether it’s real gambling or rolling for gold, somebody is out to lose. And as with casinos, the odds are never in your favor. There are some bloggers who have no issue with taking money from other players.
So why do I care? Because it’s an annoyance. I can’t stand spam of any kind, and anything to get rid of it I support. And that includes casinos.
Casinos bring nothing to the WoW economy. There is no finished product. The casino didn’t need any raw materials. The gambling player didn’t grab a finished product. It was just money taken from one player and given to another player. And if the person running the casino was honest and had enough gold to cover the the bets, chances are they are not spending that gold either.
So what do you guys think about in-game casinos? And how many of you have been around long enough to remember it the first time? I am eager to hear your thoughts and opinions. Post ‘em here!
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I agree – in-game casinos are as obnoxious as any other scheme, scam, or get-rich-quick plan that anyone’s come up with. Possibly the worst part is that the players don’t realize that they’re get-rich-quick schemes on the part of the casino operators: no matter how much one player wins from the casino, the house always comes out ahead in the end.
I do remember when they were first in vogue – and I remember that both running and playing were a bannable offense, too. You might want to remind your guildmates of that point.
I’m really not a gambler, myself. And since these casinos rely entirely on trust in the host, I can’t even fathom giving any player my money with the only vague promise I might get some back. =\
I wasn’t around for the casino plague, but I got well-acquainted with the debacle after I started frequenting the CSF, and have since used the knowledge to warn people I see who are going down the same path. I’m a rules-monger, and I inform potential offenders straight out that what they’re doing is against the ToS, and that I *will* report them. Amazingly, I’ve gotten more people thanking me for alerting them, than people upset that I ruined their fun. :)
Ugh, that brings back some less than pleasant memories! I was so glad when they quashed this overabundant hobby players had taken to. It was stupid, and it still is.
And being along the lines of gold-selling, well yeah. I believe it’s just as against the TOS as gold-selling is. Might want to warn your guildies about it.
We once had a guild member suggest a lottery to help raise epic flyer gold, but quickly put that to rest. His intentions were innocent, but crossing the terms of service is more trouble than it’s worth.
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never heard of stuff like this before, i am either not very often in one of the cities or its just not happening on my server. TBH i think thats a stupid idea -_-
Lame then is lame now.
And you absolutely can put guildies on ignore. An idiot is an idiot and you are not related by blood :-)
I have to agree with most here. I too lump players who choose to do this in with Gold Sellers and Chinese farmers. Its just another type of griefing disguised as “an innocent game” or “something to do because we’re bored”.
And meh, I don’t see a problem with putting guildies on ignore. If they’re asshats why should you have to put up with them just because they frequent the same club (i.e. guild) as you? We have a couple of people that annoy the hell out of me in gchat and Vent. However, most of the folks in my guild are awesome so that’s why I’m there. If others in the guild want to listen to their blather than so be it. I don’t feel I have to.
I don’t have a problem with casino operators or customers, if they are silent.
In fact, I would not have a problem with a “Combat Zone” in a city. A place where says and yells do not leave and players are not banned for spam or language or casinos. It could even have tiny mailboxes and NPCs to make it easier for jerks to park their mammoths on.
OTOH, yells or channel postings for this are quite annoying and should be prohibited like other spam.
I wonder if Gevlon will write about this…
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@Klinderas Haha, wouldn’t that be an interesting post. >_>
I remember them back from EQ.
Someone had worked out what the probability scales were for the /random function on a 1k range and ‘loaded’ the ranges to be as beneficial as possible to him. Soon others figured it out and then it was a “Fool’s Paradise”…
made me wish I could stab people in the face over TCP/IP….
@Klinderas: No, I won’t write about it, simply because they are banned by Blizzard. So the risk of running a casino is not losing money but being banned.
If it wouldn’t be banned, my short opinion is: since it needs you to spam trade and spend online time, I don’t think if such activity has an acceptably high gold/hour ratio.
Oh god did I hate them, but…… we started doing them again in guild during wipes on KJ in Sunwell, but with a twist.
You place a bet, 100-1k gold per person. You each /roll 100 for serve, highest roll wins.
Now the winner /rolls any number 100 or lower. Lets say they /roll 85 and get a 42. The next person /roll 42 and gets a 27, back to the starter or next in line if your doing more than 2 folks, he /roll 27 and gets a 13 and it goes back n forth. First person to hit 1 pays up. It was really fun, I broke even over the 3 days it took to kill KJ but we had 1 guildy end up like 6k in the hole :P
I couldn’t agree more, there’s no place in WoW for casions. Not only are they are bothersome annoyance they open up these players to a host of potential scams that only create additional problems.
Furthermore, I imagine these “casinos” may create some sort of legal problems for blizzard. More and more legislators are pushing for taxation and regulation on virtual economies. When you’ve got companies like IGE making billions everyone wants a piece of the pie…and when you throw something like gambling in the mix it only creates a mess for blizzard.
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Player run casinos are just stupid. If Blizzard wanted they could add in NPC run casinos to remove more gold from the economy. Problem solved, no more spam, because who honestly wants to trust some level 1 alt named Casiinoo with high amounts of gold, and it makes gold more valuable by removing it from the game. Guess we just have to wait to see if online gold will be taxed (wtf?).
@Hagu
If you have trouble with people parking on NPC’s such as the flight master or repair guy, hit v or whichever it is to turn on name plates and just right click the name plate. If its the mailbox, you just have to zoom all the way in to first person and you can see it.
Also, the other day I was driving home and took this picture with my crappy cell phone.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/Zen455/qq.jpg
Haha, that’s awesome. Thanks Drathas. How’s Deathwing?
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I don’t understand why blizz would Un-ban them. My server is full of people now spamming in trade chat about this. My ignore list is now full! Its not just the casino spam either, its the arguments and accusations “so-and-so didn’t pay out” or guildies defending their friends “legitimate” casino.
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