EVE General Discussion

I'm sure most of you heard something about the recent Counter Strike: Global Offensive betting site drama. Sites ran by other players (not Valve) where you can gamble with virtual items. Sound familiar?

Gambling sites have been a controversial subject in EVE Online ever since they first popped up, but CCP has never taken an official stance on the matter, probably for the same reason Valve never did. Because indirectly it makes them money. CCP nor Valve care if these sites are legit, cheating or somehow taking advantage of their users (and by extension these companies' customers).

Now, thanks to the recent uproar Valve was forced to do something and they chose to pretend they had no idea any of this was going on. They released a statement saying that using the API for this purpose was against the ToS. Not outright banning the gambling sites, but very much distancing themselves from it.

Furthermore Total Biscuit had a 10 minute rant about why 'virtual gambling' is much more complicated than it seems and why companies like Valve and CCP who's games are being used to facilitate sites like this should get more involved and should at the very least regulate stuff like this.

I don't have anything against gambling percé. But I do think that if you're going to permit it as part of your game's meta you should take a stance as a company and lay out some ground rules and regulate it. EVE is more than just a game, and scamming is allowed, yes. But that doesn't mean gambling sites should just be allowed to do whatever they please, potentially ripping players off, rigging their games and even getting people addicted. Gambling addiction is a real thing, and it can become just as problematic with virtual items instead of real money. Not to mention RMT, but that subject has been done to death already.

TL;DR: CCP please show some spine and regulate player ran gambling sites. Audit their games, audit their code, make sure at the very least things are done fairly and protect your own company in the process. Valve has already been sued over this. Don't wait for the same thing to happen to you.

LOL. Doc wants some of what you are having.

If there is ever any heat placed upon them, CCP will just make such out of game activities that use in-game items/isk a violation of the EULA (like Valve did) rather than accept a bunch of regulatory oversight and legal responsibility.

CCP does not support, or endorse any third party site.

Thread closed for redundancy.