So I have this stupid unsellable placed sword in stone in my world.
I know that if people paid me to try to pull out the sword, it would be against the rules. But what if…
What IF, I made a parkour and charged people an entry fee of 250 bytes. If they complete the parkour, they win 150 byte coins and get to try pulling out the sword. Would that be legal? Or maybe the entry fee should be 250 bytes and the prize should be 250 bytes and a chance to pull out the sword so it would be equalized?
Soooooo… Legal? Illegal?
(used alt accounts for demonstatrion purposes)
If you don’t know about the info on the item, it’s a prop which you can interact with. It lets you pull out a sword once a day, you need to get lucky to pull out the sword which is around 12k bytes.
I appreciate everyones opinion on this, but I’m especially looking forward for a mods opinion.
I’m just really unsure about this. This would technically be a game based on skill, but is it really legal if the entry fee costs more than the prize? I feel like the entry fee has to be less than the prize for it to be legal.
this is isn’t that big rule breaking though. I don’t think you would even get banned for this because it’s probably same confusing situation for moderators as it is for you.
This is just gambling, it would certainly count as luck based P2P in my opinion. Because that’s pretty much what it is — paying to play (in this case, just pulling the sword). From what has been decided in the past, luck based P2P is not allowed, it must be “skill” based. So yeah, this seems illegal.
I think it’s more comparable to selling Treasure Chests or Heart Chocolates for example. Yes, it’s based on chance whether or not the “buyer” makes a profit, but trying to pull the sword is an ingame feature, just like the Mining Wheel or the aforementioned items.
Also, while the “buyer” can profit or lose, depending on their luck, the “seller” gets the same pay, regardless of the buyer profiting or losing. There is also no player the “buyer” would be gambling against.
Since all of these also apply to not just your parkour idea, but also directly having someone pay to try lifting the sword, the latter should also be legal.
I am still not certain about the legality though, so best wait for a moderator or admin to clarify before actually hosting one of these.
Talking about ethics though, even if it is legal, it would have many of the negative effects of gambling, so it is unethical in my opinion.
One could argue, that’s it’s harder to get addicted to it, since the Sword in Stone takes 24 hours to recharge, but if this scheme shows itself as profitable, I am certain someone with enough capital could purchase enough Sword in Stones to majorly reduce wait times. That in turn would again make it much more addictive.
Edit: I just noticed my second point falls short when the “buyer” lifts the sword, as the “seller” would have to acquire a new Sword in Stone, which most likely is a loss for them. Technically, the seller doesn’t lose any Byte Coins (-> currency), but there probably is a cost associated with replacing the Sword in Stone
