If you use copyrighted music within one of these games, will the RIAA get on your ass as well?
Are Some Video Games Gambling?
Whoever said “you won’t get rich playing video games,” never played Entropia Universe — an online computer game where players adventure, build, buy and sell everything from real estate and services to weapons and armor for real dollars.
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The game uses what’s called a “real cash economy.” Players can exchange their own real money for pretend money their character can use in the game. Entropia uses a fixed exchange rate where $1 = 10 PEDs, (Project Entropia Dollars, the game’s currency).
The idea that turning a profit in a game like this is considered gambling, raises all kinds of legal questions.
First of all, online gambling is illegal in the U.S., and a number of online gambling executives have been arrested in recent months as a sign that law enforcement is not going to tolerate the activity.
“We provide Entropia Universe as a service, so we see ourselves as a content provider,” explained Marco Behrmann, CIO of MindArk, developer of Entropia Universe. “I believe it’s up to each participant to check that [the legality and taxability of game profits] out with their government.”
Remember when games were just about having fun?
The idea that turning a profit in a game like this is considered gambling, raises all kinds of legal questions.
Seems like Stocks should be classed as ‘gambling’ under the same logic.
J/P=?
What? Speculating on a corporations growth and profit potential is gambling? And you can make stock trades online? Damn, seems the Feds are missing a golden opportunity here to make some headlines. Oh wait the gubberment makes a windfall off the profits of these gamblers so its ok. So to sum up, gambling with no way to track profits and tax them, bad. Gambling with a way to track profits and tax them, good. Welcome to the United States of Hypocrites.
where is site story on the ABC 911 dust-up?
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in fact Mr. Jobs owns the largest single block of Disney stock held by any one individual. He could really make life unpleasant for those involved in this crap.
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http://tinyurl.com/nyvwg
Discover the Secret Right-Wing Network Behind ABC’s 9/11 Deception (263 comments)
READ MORE: 9/11, Google, 2006, New York Times, Disney
Less than 72 hours before ABC’s “The Path to 9/11” is scheduled to air, the network is suddenly under siege. On Tuesday, ABC was forced to concede that “The Path to 9/11” is “a
http://tinyurl.com/lvach
First of all, online gambling is illegal in the U.S.
Remember when America was NOT run by religious fanatics and our laws weren’t written by corporate cartels like the gambling industry, credit card companies, and media giants?
Oh wait, me either.
Gambling is illegal in lots of places.
AFAIK, chess is not considered gambling by law in Western countries, with court cases to back it up. Chess is played for money all the time.
Whether a particular video game is considered gambling might come down to a court case, or many many court cases. Only the lawyers will get rich. It would seem to me that the fact that the number of players is greater than 2 would make a game more likely to be gambling … but if the number were higher, say 100 in a single game, that would make the gambling charge less likely. I’m thinking about “house” players.
Also important would be whether the final result is determined by skill (strategy, reflexes …) or by chance (speed of internet connection, roll of dice or the computer equivalent) although again as the rolls of dice approach infinity, it is easier to argue that the result of each game is determined by skill.
PC Games are something like a $6 Billion a year biz. That buys a lot of fun. We had some young people in our area interested in building a video game industry. They got absolutely no support from local leaders. We are getting slots gaming instead. The public policy considers this a better revenue draw, so slots was legalized. Personally I’d rather see a constructive video game industry than watch idiots pour money into slot machines.
It’s going to be a billion dollar industry here! Woopty freakin doo!
[edited: see comments guidelines]
How is this gambling? A lot of online games sell virtual goods. Just because you stand a chance or loosing or winning the goods doesn’t make it gambling.
If you can play. Any one here tryed it was 3 hours to download and then it did not work. All it did was try to reinstall directx every time I tryed to play. So I say this is a waste of time. There are other better games out there, and they are playable.