Player Giveaways and Contests

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Originally Posted by mod_Magenta

This thread has been deviating from the original issues and the question posed. To rephrase the original issue, the concern is that people are using the trade tab in ways that have been causing complaint from others in the channel. This has required us to look at some of the different types of related activities that are occurring. Generally, these can be classified as follows.

1. Giveaways. These are times when people are posting trade offers for resources with a trivial cost. There is no requirement for taking the trade, and the trade is posted by the person with the resources.
   
2. Contests. These are times when people start an activity where someone is selected based on the activity. As a result, that specific person is traded resources (or given a prize), either directly between players or an offer posted in the trade office by the person receiving the resources. These may be spontaneous and of short duration, or may be a planned event and of a longer duration.

The question of loot spots was not intended to be included in the discussion, and it would not be wise to try to include it at this point. Please remember that this discussion is intended to allow the players to express their opinions and share their viewpoints, not as a binding vote. Also please remember that normal forum rules do apply and posts should address the topic and issues, rather than opinions of other players.

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Can we simply get a ruling please?

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Originally Posted by Dirkjon

Can we simply get a ruling please?

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The poll doesn't end till next month. So no ruling till then.

Also, If Giveaways are allowed to be held in Trade channel then why do people get banned for it even if they don't spam.

not sure if this is an official poll, rather just getting an idea of how players feel about this

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Originally Posted by mod_Magenta

This thread has been deviating from the original issues and the question posed. To rephrase the original issue, the concern is that people are using the trade tab in ways that have been causing complaint from others in the channel. This has required us to look at some of the different types of related activities that are occurring. Generally, these can be classified as follows.

1. Giveaways. These are times when people are posting trade offers for resources with a trivial cost. There is no requirement for taking the trade, and the trade is posted by the person with the resources.
   
2. Contests. These are times when people start an activity where someone is selected based on the activity. As a result, that specific person is traded resources (or given a prize), either directly between players or an offer posted in the trade office by the person receiving the resources. These may be spontaneous and of short duration, or may be a planned event and of a longer duration.

The question of loot spots was not intended to be included in the discussion, and it would not be wise to try to include it at this point. Please remember that this discussion is intended to allow the players to express their opinions and share their viewpoints, not as a binding vote. Also please remember that normal forum rules do apply and posts should address the topic and issues, rather than opinions of other players.

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I never said that you intended to talk about how this rule would affect lootspots. The BB's have said the selling of a LS is a giveaway thus it falls into your category 1 per the BB support team. I never said I support how BB view the buying or selling of LS but if you make a rule, no giveaways in trade and BB's consider LS a giveaway then you have banned the selling of LS in trade. To ignore this fact invites disaster especially when the people policing in game chat are as over zealous as they are.

i really thought this whole time that contests were not allowed to take place in trade tab.....

I dont really see too much of a problem with giveaways, simply like- Free FM in TO, search my name- or something like that...
but when you start asking questions to people fighting to answer first does cause clutter and should not be held in TT...

I think that a tab other than trade tab would be best for contests where players need to interact/answer questions for a prize. Similar to the GM trivia, it can deviate the conversation from the trade functions. BB Trivia are held in Global 1 for all to join in.

yes ban the BBs for disrupting global on fridays durring trivia!!!!

Please people all the tangents are annoying and unproductive. This thread is only about whether giveaways and/or contests would be held at all and if so where they will be held.

giveaways and contests can be fun.

Oh good grief... the question isn't whether giveaways and contests *should* happen. The question is *where* they should happen.

If you are trading like ladies and gentlemen like you should then it should not interfere with any trading. I like the idea of being rewarded for being a adult. thank you for my opinion. Tbird 305

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Originally Posted by Tbird305

If you are trading like ladies and gentlemen like you should then it should not interfere with any trading. I like the idea of being rewarded for being a adult. thank you for my opinion. Tbird 305

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lol good point Tbird305

ares seems to be a fun place might open an account there.....on second thought

I believe the problem is not that players give free stuff away in trade. It is the walls of spam that players type while doing so.

OK I'll stop giving away stuff.

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Originally Posted by mod_Magenta

The issue of players having resource giveaways and mini-contests in the public chat channels has been questioned as far as the appropriateness of the channel where they occur. The Code of Conduct (CoC) and Chat Guidelines contain the following:

• Trade Requests (and announcing when you post a trade in the Trade Office) should be reserved for the trade tab only.

From this, the working rule has been that resource giveaways, which require only announcements of posted trade offers, should be done in the trade channel. However, when there is additional player involvement, such as asking questions, and resources are awarded based on individual player response, this becomes a contest. Player-created events should follow the rules as posted in the CoC section. These events are normally requested to be held in the non-default global channels, 2-30. The forum calendar is available to players for scheduling player events.[...] In the meantime, please continue to use the current working rule of posting trade offers in the trade channel, even those offers that are in reality public gifts of resources. Also, please remember that there are others in the trade channel as well, and be considerate in the additional chat generated at these times. Non-trade chat that interferes with trading should be avoided.

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Are you serious? Too much time on your hands? I am not one that is normally on either side of this 'issue', but have seen it done, and personally, I find it refreshing that there are a few individuals in the TSO world that are not entirely selfish and greedy...


Then along comes some folks with a little bit of 'power' or pseudo-authority and want to even take that away on technicalities of CoC ; making mountains out of molehills. Please, let the people play. Get the folks that need to be removed from the chat forums. I have never seen chat so bogged down with user 'give-aways' that the conversations in chat were seriously hindered. I did see a post on Sunday that was quite sexual in nature and suggested that the author was molesting some 9 yo... and no mod's or BB's were on to 'check' the problem...

Don't do what our legal system has done and follow the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law. Properly motivated, I am sure I can find a reason to take issue with almost every conversation in global chat, and justify it using the very CoC in play today...

Let the people play (and chat without such pettiness)!

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Originally Posted by Troll-Phu

OK I'll stop giving away stuff.

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lol, it appears they prefer the selfish and greedy types on global. lmfao.

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Originally Posted by Troll-Phu

ares seems to be a fun place might open an account there.....on second thought

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If anything, from what I understand, the Euro servers might be better.... My German is not so rusty, perhaps I should jump over there, better folks perhaps and more (and better) gem sales too.

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Originally Posted by immaduck

I believe the problem is not that players give free stuff away in trade. It is the walls of spam that players type while doing so.

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This is the crux of the problem. Everything else posted on this string is useless babble and belongs elsewhere. Giveaways should not be done in trade because they clutter and confuse the channel. End of story.

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Originally Posted by immaduck

I believe the problem is not that players give free stuff away in trade. It is the walls of spam that players type while doing so.

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but i guess bots and noob fleecers posting all day is fine

Giveaways are nice. I enjoyed them at lower level. Spam are more from people who really want to start a discussion in wrong channel tab. A little thank you is not a spam I think. I feels like a community :)

Very well put Mike and I agree with you completely. I have just started being able to do the same thing (giving stuff away) and find it to be fun as it helps a lot of the newer players. There really is no reason to change things around now.

If you had said this in global chat you would have got banned for mod bashing.

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Originally Posted by RomanGodCamper

Yeah. It's getting ridiculous.

It feels more like a prison when playing TSO. Got no free will when Mods are around. If you state your opinion about something you get banned as well.

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So if I am feeling the need to boost my ego and have a big giveaway?

This is my trade chat post: free stuff in TO

you might even first say in global, I'm heading to trade to give away free stuff.

That's all you need to do. Not post in help. Not act like it's the second coming.

LOTS of people give away tons of stuff.

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Originally Posted by EpsilonSilver

If you had said this in global chat you would have got banned for mod bashing.

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I already said that once in Global chat. They didn't do anything about it.

This issue is certainly one for BB to address and respond to.
For whatever reason, I have not run into this guy.
Kind of hope I see it happening.

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Originally Posted by alexanderbb2013

kingduuude is exactly right in his assessment of the situation. it goes much further and deeper however.

6 months ago i suspected a person of creating multiple accounts and asked in trade tab how to report them as i i was rather new to the game and had heard others in trae tab talk of reporting them. M and another player immediately stated insulting me berating me and abusing me verbally. One of them said to "fill my mouth with marbles and he'd take a full swing with a gold club" M said that he used to e a prison guard and that i was a rat. and in the pen they know how to deal with rats. Since when did we as civilized people let the dregs of society dictate how we are to behave. They both ignored me per the chat funtionality and continued to demean me and persecute me from behind their shield.

Fast forward to last couple of weeks. For most, I see no problem with giving away free stuff. Perhaps it'd be better suited to have a specific channel for such events. In trade tab, this has evolved into M monopolizing the trade tab and bullying everyone that does not bow down to his supposed authority. Every day he posts a link to some site and says,"Click here and tell me what you see." I've never read any official rules for this site. I usually follow my common sense. Others have little of this. Some people are so enthused by whatever trinkets that are given away that they instead take to abusing players in defense of someone giving away miniscle amounts of various items. Now, I don't now what these sites are, but I'd bet that there is a rule about referring people to outside sites while in chat. They may be pay per click sites, where he gets a penny per click. They may be sites set up to inject a virus (Trojan) to anyone visiting them. idk. Seems very sketchy to me. At the very least, these giveaways should have a channel that is not trade, that anyone that wants to do them can go there and have at it. Not pick and choose who will be ostracized in trade tab on the whim of an belligerent, offensive, biased, undiplomatic, fickle, maniacal tyrant!

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Originally Posted by EpsilonSilver

So if I am feeling the need to boost my ego and have a big giveaway?

This is my trade chat post: free stuff in TO

you might even first say in global, I'm heading to trade to give away free stuff.

That's all you need to do. Not post in help. Not act like it's the second coming.

LOTS of people give away tons of stuff.

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And again. No one would have a problem with it. None. I think if people were this courteous and polite to begin with the entire thread never would have been started.

But when arrogant, belligerent people (or one person in particular) sit in trade for an hour or two at a time going on and on about how great they are for giving away baubles, it's unproductive to the trade tab and an outright nuisance. Demanding that everyone say thank you for every lot received, condemning innocents.. It get's to be much.

Fight!!!!!!

what's the decision on this poll? :)

not to poll anymore i hope

close this thread then? lol

Accourding to the ticket i put in to get an officail response, i may have posted this earlier in the thread, not sure, all giveaways "as they are generally considered a contest, should be done in globals 2-xx. Announce in global 1, help, and trade that you are hosting a giveaway contest and what channel it will be in, and then go there to give your stuff away......this way you cannot get in trouble.....for instance.

Hello everyone, I am going to be hosting a giveaway event in global channel 5 (/j global-5) please feel free to come on over and take part in this event.

Copy and past this into the global 1, help and trade chat to let everyone know, then go to global have and enjoy yourselves.

Guidelines for player giveaways and events.

Giveaways.

• Posting trade offers for resources with a trivial cost.
• There is no requirement for taking the trade
• Trades are posted by the person with the resources.
• No interaction requirement for the person taking the trade.

These may be held in trade channel or in Global 2-30. When using the trade channel, players should be considerate of the other people using the channel and act accordingly.

Contests.

• An activity where resources (or items) are awarded to specific players
• The receiving player is determined through an activity
• May not include any buy-in, under the code of conduct

Contests that are spontaneous and of short duration (less than 10 minutes) may occur in Global-1 or in Global 2-30. Longer contests or those that are scheduled may occur in Global 2-30. All contests must comply with the code of conduct.

Event Scheduling.
Player created events are not sponsored by Blue Byte and the contents of the event are the responsibility of the player, provided it is compliance with the code of conduct. Events can be scheduled on the player schedule contained within the player forum. For global channels 2-5, we request that priority for channel use is given to people who have reserved the channel through the forum calendar. Please request ample time to prevent scheduling conflicts. Advertising for player events may occur in Global 1 or through the forums only.

Selling of Adventure Participation.
The code of conduct does not regulate how a player assigns participation in an adventure. Public trade offers relating to this activity should be posted in the trade channel. The contents of the trades posted are the responsibility of the players.

"These may be held in trade channel or in Global 2-30. When using the trade channel, players should be considerate of the other people using the channel and act accordingly"

Can you please define "considerate" and "accordingly"? Ty

And, is this now the "official" BB policy as it seems to conflict with what other folks have posted with respect to the response that they have gotten from BB regarding the issue? Ty again.

Regarding your two questions:

We are using the normal English definitions of the two words. It was written in this way to allow some leeway for the players, and we have found that making clear lines encourages people to try to push at the definitions. It may be more accurate to say "don't be inconsiderate", and in practice the line will likely be some point after the moderators start getting complaints from other players. It follows the same idea of allowing small talk in the trade channel as long as it does not prevent people from trading.

And as far as official policy, these guidelines have been posted for review of customer service and the moderators, and generally agreed upon. While there may be conflict with other replies in the past, this has happened on previous occasions as well, until the policies were clarified. If there is any change in the working guidelines, they will be corrected. Ultimately, these are the guidelines that will be used by and enforced by the moderators in game.

it is a trade why not post it in trade