Australians can't enter the $1000000 competition...why?

Salmonoid · December 2015

p_tsakirisb16_ESO wrote: »

Tanaka_Khan wrote: »

Title speaks for itself...why can't Australians enter??
Hell, Russians are able to enter it...

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

Because there are such laws in countries like Australia, that prohibit foreign lotteries.
Take it and complain to your lawmakers, not to ZOS

This is false.

CapnPhoton · December 2015

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

Jura23 · December 2015

CapnPhoton wrote: »

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

You really think they checked laws of every country in the world to determine which countries will be available? You believe that?

UrQuan · December 2015

Jura23 wrote: »

CapnPhoton wrote: »

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

You really think they checked laws of every country in the world to determine which countries will be available? You believe that?

You really think it would have been reasonable for them to pay lawyers to check the laws of every country in the world to determine which countries would be available? You believe that?

The reasonable thing for them to do is look at which countries have the largest player base (easy for them to do in a variety of different ways), and then pay lawyers to check the laws in those countries, decide based on that which of those countries will be excluded, and then additionally exclude every country their lawyers didn't check.

Jura23 · December 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

CapnPhoton wrote: »

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

You really think they checked laws of every country in the world to determine which countries will be available? You believe that?

You really think it would have been reasonable for them to pay lawyers to check the laws of every country in the world to determine which countries would be available? You believe that?

The reasonable thing for them to do is look at which countries have the largest player base (easy for them to do in a variety of different ways), and then pay lawyers to check the laws in those countries, decide based on that which of those countries will be excluded, and then additionally exclude every country their lawyers didn't check.

Ok, then why do ppl keep repeating that nonsense its all because the laws.

acooldisplayname · December 2015

Incarnatus wrote: »

I live in Florida and cannot take part lol .....

As if living here was crappy enough. Apparently there are no nice things we can have.

william19882007 · December 2015

Bigevilpeter wrote: »

Egypt can't enter either, so i guess there is no reason for me to play?

This is like the weirdest promotion ever and it smells like desperation

really that is very immature of you. b/c ur where u live ther are laws that won't let them. they did a twitch show bring this up saying in the future they are going to find away to let all players take part in stuff like this.

UrQuan · December 2015

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

CapnPhoton wrote: »

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

You really think they checked laws of every country in the world to determine which countries will be available? You believe that?

You really think it would have been reasonable for them to pay lawyers to check the laws of every country in the world to determine which countries would be available? You believe that?

The reasonable thing for them to do is look at which countries have the largest player base (easy for them to do in a variety of different ways), and then pay lawyers to check the laws in those countries, decide based on that which of those countries will be excluded, and then additionally exclude every country their lawyers didn't check.

Ok, then why do ppl keep repeating that nonsense its all because the laws.

It is because of the laws. Because laws vary from country to country, and state to state, so they can't just let anyone from anywhere in the world enter without checking to ensure that the contest meets every single relevant law (which would be flat-out impossible). It would be insanely unreasonable to expect them to check the laws of every single country, state, and province around the world, so because of the fact that they know the laws aren't identical, they have to exclude a lot of countries.

This is really a very simple concept.

icontested · December 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

CapnPhoton wrote: »

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

You really think they checked laws of every country in the world to determine which countries will be available? You believe that?

You really think it would have been reasonable for them to pay lawyers to check the laws of every country in the world to determine which countries would be available? You believe that?

The reasonable thing for them to do is look at which countries have the largest player base (easy for them to do in a variety of different ways), and then pay lawyers to check the laws in those countries, decide based on that which of those countries will be excluded, and then additionally exclude every country their lawyers didn't check.

Ok, then why do ppl keep repeating that nonsense its all because the laws.

It is because of the laws. Because laws vary from country to country, and state to state, so they can't just let anyone from anywhere in the world enter without checking to ensure that the contest meets every single relevant law (which would be flat-out impossible). It would be insanely unreasonable to expect them to check the laws of every single country, state, and province around the world, so because of the fact that they know the laws aren't identical, they have to exclude a lot of countries.

This is really a very simple concept.

Wait.. What?! I thought laws were suggestions only?!

silky_soft · December 2015

http://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/home/gambling/new+applicants/trade+promotion+lottery/

@ZOS_GinaBruno so why us aussies not included?

Jura23 · December 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

CapnPhoton wrote: »

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

You really think they checked laws of every country in the world to determine which countries will be available? You believe that?

You really think it would have been reasonable for them to pay lawyers to check the laws of every country in the world to determine which countries would be available? You believe that?

The reasonable thing for them to do is look at which countries have the largest player base (easy for them to do in a variety of different ways), and then pay lawyers to check the laws in those countries, decide based on that which of those countries will be excluded, and then additionally exclude every country their lawyers didn't check.

Ok, then why do ppl keep repeating that nonsense its all because the laws.

It is because of the laws. Because laws vary from country to country, and state to state, so they can't just let anyone from anywhere in the world enter without checking to ensure that the contest meets every single relevant law (which would be flat-out impossible). It would be insanely unreasonable to expect them to check the laws of every single country, state, and province around the world, so because of the fact that they know the laws aren't identical, they have to exclude a lot of countries.

This is really a very simple concept.

Thats kinda what you gotta do when you running worldwide business though. If you cant, then you shouldnt be running worldwide business.

UrQuan · December 2015

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

CapnPhoton wrote: »

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

You really think they checked laws of every country in the world to determine which countries will be available? You believe that?

You really think it would have been reasonable for them to pay lawyers to check the laws of every country in the world to determine which countries would be available? You believe that?

The reasonable thing for them to do is look at which countries have the largest player base (easy for them to do in a variety of different ways), and then pay lawyers to check the laws in those countries, decide based on that which of those countries will be excluded, and then additionally exclude every country their lawyers didn't check.

Ok, then why do ppl keep repeating that nonsense its all because the laws.

It is because of the laws. Because laws vary from country to country, and state to state, so they can't just let anyone from anywhere in the world enter without checking to ensure that the contest meets every single relevant law (which would be flat-out impossible). It would be insanely unreasonable to expect them to check the laws of every single country, state, and province around the world, so because of the fact that they know the laws aren't identical, they have to exclude a lot of countries.

This is really a very simple concept.

Thats kinda what you gotta do when you running worldwide business though. If you cant, then you shouldnt be running worldwide business.

Do you even read the posts you reply to? Because what I described is exactly what ZOS did. And exactly what any worldwide business would do. Let me spell it out.

Here's how a worldwide business operates a contest.

Decide on the nature of the contest and prize
Determine which countries are the ones you would like to target (this will typically be based on the countries with the largest number of existing customers, unless there are specific markets that are being targeted for expansion, in which case those will be the ones you put on this list)
Exclude every country that isn't on your short list from the contest, because it's impossible to make a contest that meets the laws of every single country, and it's a waste of resources to look into the specific laws of the countries that you're not specifically targeting
Have lawyers look into all relevant laws in every country on your short list, including regional (state or provincial) laws and regulations
Tailor the contest to meet the laws of as many countries (and as many states or provinces in those countries) on your short list as possible, eliminating those countries/states/provinces where the expected cost of complying with the laws would outweigh the benefit the company would expect to see from customers in that region
Exclude every region where you know the contest doesn't comply with the laws based on the above steps

I guarantee you that's exactly what ZOS did, and exactly what every other worldwide company does when promoting a contest. Any worldwide company that actually wastes money on trying to make a contest meet the laws of every single country in the world, even ones where the potential market is small, is an incompetent company.

Jura23 · December 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

CapnPhoton wrote: »

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

You really think they checked laws of every country in the world to determine which countries will be available? You believe that?

You really think it would have been reasonable for them to pay lawyers to check the laws of every country in the world to determine which countries would be available? You believe that?

The reasonable thing for them to do is look at which countries have the largest player base (easy for them to do in a variety of different ways), and then pay lawyers to check the laws in those countries, decide based on that which of those countries will be excluded, and then additionally exclude every country their lawyers didn't check.

Ok, then why do ppl keep repeating that nonsense its all because the laws.

It is because of the laws. Because laws vary from country to country, and state to state, so they can't just let anyone from anywhere in the world enter without checking to ensure that the contest meets every single relevant law (which would be flat-out impossible). It would be insanely unreasonable to expect them to check the laws of every single country, state, and province around the world, so because of the fact that they know the laws aren't identical, they have to exclude a lot of countries.

This is really a very simple concept.

Thats kinda what you gotta do when you running worldwide business though. If you cant, then you shouldnt be running worldwide business.

Do you even read the posts you reply to? Because what I described is exactly what ZOS did. And exactly what any worldwide business would do. Let me spell it out.

Here's how a worldwide business operates a contest.
Decide on the nature of the contest and prize

Determine which countries are the ones you would like to target (this will typically be based on the countries with the largest number of existing customers, unless there are specific markets that are being targeted for expansion, in which case those will be the ones you put on this list)

Exclude every country that isn't on your short list from the contest, because it's impossible to make a contest that meets the laws of every single country, and it's a waste of resources to look into the specific laws of the countries that you're not specifically targeting

Have lawyers look into all relevant laws in every country on your short list, including regional (state or provincial) laws and regulations

Tailor the contest to meet the laws of as many countries (and as many states or provinces in those countries) on your short list as possible, eliminating those countries/states/provinces where the expected cost of complying with the laws would outweigh the benefit the company would expect to see from customers in that region

Exclude every region where you know the contest doesn't comply with the laws based on the above steps

I guarantee you that's exactly what ZOS did, and exactly what every other worldwide company does when promoting a contest. Any worldwide company that actually wastes money on trying to make a contest meet the laws of every single country in the world, even ones where the potential market is small, is an incompetent company.

I meant that every worldwide company simply has to know the laws of countries where they do business. Dont you think?

As long as its ok for ZOS/Bethesda to take money from ppl from these countries an not worry about law, they should be consistent now when they do something like contest.

In fact most MMOs dont function like a proper worldwide company because they dont care about laws of countries their customers are from 99% of the times. Thats what I was trying to point out.

UrQuan · December 2015

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

CapnPhoton wrote: »

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

You really think they checked laws of every country in the world to determine which countries will be available? You believe that?

You really think it would have been reasonable for them to pay lawyers to check the laws of every country in the world to determine which countries would be available? You believe that?

The reasonable thing for them to do is look at which countries have the largest player base (easy for them to do in a variety of different ways), and then pay lawyers to check the laws in those countries, decide based on that which of those countries will be excluded, and then additionally exclude every country their lawyers didn't check.

Ok, then why do ppl keep repeating that nonsense its all because the laws.

It is because of the laws. Because laws vary from country to country, and state to state, so they can't just let anyone from anywhere in the world enter without checking to ensure that the contest meets every single relevant law (which would be flat-out impossible). It would be insanely unreasonable to expect them to check the laws of every single country, state, and province around the world, so because of the fact that they know the laws aren't identical, they have to exclude a lot of countries.

This is really a very simple concept.

Thats kinda what you gotta do when you running worldwide business though. If you cant, then you shouldnt be running worldwide business.

Do you even read the posts you reply to? Because what I described is exactly what ZOS did. And exactly what any worldwide business would do. Let me spell it out.

Here's how a worldwide business operates a contest.
Decide on the nature of the contest and prize

Determine which countries are the ones you would like to target (this will typically be based on the countries with the largest number of existing customers, unless there are specific markets that are being targeted for expansion, in which case those will be the ones you put on this list)

Exclude every country that isn't on your short list from the contest, because it's impossible to make a contest that meets the laws of every single country, and it's a waste of resources to look into the specific laws of the countries that you're not specifically targeting

Have lawyers look into all relevant laws in every country on your short list, including regional (state or provincial) laws and regulations

Tailor the contest to meet the laws of as many countries (and as many states or provinces in those countries) on your short list as possible, eliminating those countries/states/provinces where the expected cost of complying with the laws would outweigh the benefit the company would expect to see from customers in that region

Exclude every region where you know the contest doesn't comply with the laws based on the above steps

I guarantee you that's exactly what ZOS did, and exactly what every other worldwide company does when promoting a contest. Any worldwide company that actually wastes money on trying to make a contest meet the laws of every single country in the world, even ones where the potential market is small, is an incompetent company.

I meant that every worldwide company simply has to know the laws of countries where they do business. Dont you think?

As long as its ok for ZOS/Bethesda to take money from ppl from these countries an not worry about law, they should be consistent now when they do something like contest.

In fact most MMOs dont function like a proper worldwide company because they dont care about laws of countries their customers are from 99% of the times. Thats what I was trying to point out.

You're incredibly naive about business. A worldwide company needs to know the relevant laws to sell their product in the countries in which they do business. They also need to not waste money on lawyers to learn the laws for things like contests in countries where they don't expect a high enough return on the contests to justify the costs. Anything else would be irresponsible, and a wonderful thing to do if you want your company to hemorrhage money and fail.

DannyLV702 · December 2015

You have kangaroos, what more do you want from life???

Karamis_Vimardon · December 2015

Geeze talk about entitlement issues! Go buy a damn lottery ticket if you're so butt hurt over not being eligible for free money.

icontested · December 2015

DannyLV702 wrote: »

You have kangaroos, what more do you want from life???

I was actually thinking of spending the million on kangaroos for this very reason

zornyan · December 2015

acooldisplayname wrote: »

Incarnatus wrote: »

I live in Florida and cannot take part lol .....

As if living here was crappy enough. Apparently there are no nice things we can have.

Is Florida that bad? I always hear Americans saying this kinda stuff, I only went there once when I was a kid (like 22 years ago) but vaguely remember it being a nice sunny resort and a cool place (I'm from the uk and quite like the usa, keep thinking about emigrating )

Asherons_Call · December 2015

Ask your local lawmakers, not ZOS

Jura23 · December 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Jura23 wrote: »

CapnPhoton wrote: »

Softpad wrote: »

It does seem harsh to exclude the majority add Asia including Australia from this competition. I'm an Aussie and have signed and been a happy gamer from the start. Would just like to here a reason as to why other countries and players are not allowed to participate.

There are numerous other threads on this. It depends on the laws where you are located.

But people just think it's cooler to blame ZOS instead.

You really think they checked laws of every country in the world to determine which countries will be available? You believe that?

You really think it would have been reasonable for them to pay lawyers to check the laws of every country in the world to determine which countries would be available? You believe that?

The reasonable thing for them to do is look at which countries have the largest player base (easy for them to do in a variety of different ways), and then pay lawyers to check the laws in those countries, decide based on that which of those countries will be excluded, and then additionally exclude every country their lawyers didn't check.

Ok, then why do ppl keep repeating that nonsense its all because the laws.

It is because of the laws. Because laws vary from country to country, and state to state, so they can't just let anyone from anywhere in the world enter without checking to ensure that the contest meets every single relevant law (which would be flat-out impossible). It would be insanely unreasonable to expect them to check the laws of every single country, state, and province around the world, so because of the fact that they know the laws aren't identical, they have to exclude a lot of countries.

This is really a very simple concept.

Thats kinda what you gotta do when you running worldwide business though. If you cant, then you shouldnt be running worldwide business.

Do you even read the posts you reply to? Because what I described is exactly what ZOS did. And exactly what any worldwide business would do. Let me spell it out.

Here's how a worldwide business operates a contest.
Decide on the nature of the contest and prize

Determine which countries are the ones you would like to target (this will typically be based on the countries with the largest number of existing customers, unless there are specific markets that are being targeted for expansion, in which case those will be the ones you put on this list)

Exclude every country that isn't on your short list from the contest, because it's impossible to make a contest that meets the laws of every single country, and it's a waste of resources to look into the specific laws of the countries that you're not specifically targeting

Have lawyers look into all relevant laws in every country on your short list, including regional (state or provincial) laws and regulations

Tailor the contest to meet the laws of as many countries (and as many states or provinces in those countries) on your short list as possible, eliminating those countries/states/provinces where the expected cost of complying with the laws would outweigh the benefit the company would expect to see from customers in that region

Exclude every region where you know the contest doesn't comply with the laws based on the above steps

I guarantee you that's exactly what ZOS did, and exactly what every other worldwide company does when promoting a contest. Any worldwide company that actually wastes money on trying to make a contest meet the laws of every single country in the world, even ones where the potential market is small, is an incompetent company.

I meant that every worldwide company simply has to know the laws of countries where they do business. Dont you think?

As long as its ok for ZOS/Bethesda to take money from ppl from these countries an not worry about law, they should be consistent now when they do something like contest.

In fact most MMOs dont function like a proper worldwide company because they dont care about laws of countries their customers are from 99% of the times. Thats what I was trying to point out.

You're incredibly naive about business. A worldwide company needs to know the relevant laws to sell their product in the countries in which they do business. They also need to not waste money on lawyers to learn the laws for things like contests in countries where they don't expect a high enough return on the contests to justify the costs. Anything else would be irresponsible, and a wonderful thing to do if you want your company to hemorrhage money and fail.

The thing is - and Im not talking about the contest thing right now - these MMO companies like ZOS have literally no idea if what they are doing is legal in all of those countries around the world. I mean their regular business. They simply dont care, they never check just like they dont check on laws of most countries now when they are holding the contest thing. They take cash from their customers without questions.

And now, suddenly, they exclude 90% of the world from the contest because of just a possibility there could be some obstacle out there? Well, if they think this will improve their reputation, then good luck with that.

I work in law department, thats why I realize how absurd this all is.

anitajoneb17_ESO · December 2015

Jura23 wrote: »

I meant that every worldwide company simply has to know the laws of countries where they do business. Dont you think?

Yes, but no.
First, there are laws about anything and everything. You're not supposed to know everything about, say, family/parenting law, when you're doing business in one particular sector which has nothing to do with it. Marketing videogames is quite different from operating lotteries.
Second, law is not as simple as "what is allowed ? what isn't ?". It all depends on points of views and circumstances and how they are considered and evaluated. And it does not only consist of written laws, but also on decades of history of jurisprudence (legal precedents). It all results in a "legal landscape" which does not consist of "do" and "don't", but more in risk/reward evaluations (businesswise : risk/cost/profit). And it requires a lot of research to evaluate precisely, which means a lot of highly qualified, thus very expensive man-hours.

Therefore I agree with @UrQuan : ZOS most probably eliminated those countries with little potential/customers, concentrated on countries with the most potential/customers, made a complete research for the latter countries and kept the ones with the most favourable risk/reward ratio.

But bottom line is : it all comes down to local laws.

UrQuan · December 2015

Jura23 wrote: »

I work in law department, thats why I realize how absurd this all is.

Based on everything you've posted in this thread, let's just say that I'm skeptical of that claim.

MrDerrikk · December 2015

DannyLV702 wrote: »

You have kangaroos, what more do you want from life???

Kangaroo's can kill people (mostly from the rodents jumping in front of your car; written-off two cars in my family like that), so I'd prefer life. You can have them all.

kevlarto_ESO · December 2015

There are so many laws and regulations when it comes to any kind of sweepstakes, I believe there is even a couple of states that legally cannot participate, has nothing to do with ZOS, they are not law makers, it is just one of those things.

ZOS_Racheal · December 2015

Greeting everyone,

We are closing this thread because there is already an active discussion thread for the giveaway located here. Thank you for your understanding and please remember to keep the Community Rules in mind when posting on the forums.