Yeah one problem with your 'game'. Markee Dragon, to whom you're obviously referring, isn't a wholesale GTC seller. He's a reseller and he buys his GTC's at a wholesale company (not a lot of which exist as far as I know).

But yeah, should be legal. If SOMER can do it so should everyone else. Will be fun seeing CCP's reaction if more of these things start popping up all over the place :D

After further review of the thread, I am unlocking this thread, but I ask that any issue you raise is presented in the proper fashion. I apologize for any incorrect judgments made on my part. Thank you.

Mistakes happen. I'm willing to admit one was made and rectify it.

1. Net gain $2475.00.

2. Would like to thank all of you for posting and helping me sell my GTC and black credits. The bumps and advertising was awesome.

3. Please watch the character Bazaar for the final transfer according to all the rules.

Is this RMT? Almost certainly.

Is it funny as ****? You are god damn right it is...

Well, at least one good thing is coming out of this sh*tstorm...

Whether its a technicality is irrelevant. The fact is there is no guarantee that isk that is given as credit will results in a winning a prize and then converted to isk.

I know because I play Somerblink. You have said many times yourself you do not.

I don't know if this has been posted already, but your character is not Blink Credit. You are also not allowed to sell characters via a lottery.

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=6369&find=unread

Lottery style sales are not permitted. Auctions and buyouts are the appropriate method for selling a character.

Does that count as impersonating CCP too?

I don't have any problem with Somer having that link, it is the giving people blink credits for buying from it that is the issue.

And why should he reply? Free advertisement for his site

I still think that the gamers here are overreacting to the 200million bonus for GTC. You could of course say it is a grey area because the 200mill SomerCredits are a "cheap" advertisement which can't be easily reproduced by another alliance forums or Battleclinic (you not only get SomerCredit but also Tokens which can be used in free promos and where you could gain several billions ISK) and that they can converted to 80% ISK. If you and your connection is fast enough

Mmmh. Would it be RMT if the GFC decides that in their forums you can only post pictures/have a signature/smilys if you buy a GTC from their affiliate link?

And why not? Effort should be rewarded. Somer is the 1%

There's nothing illegal about selling GTCs or even in-game assets for RL money. Nothing at all. It doesn't matter though, CCP sets the "law" of the game, and if they say you can't sell GTCs for RL cash you can't sell GTCs for RL cash. There's no courts involved... there doesn't need to be. CCP can just ban your a** and that's the end of it. Nothing that's happened is illegal on any count. This is all about CCPs policies and whether they are globally or selectively enforced.

I don't claim to know much about laws outside of the US, but there's no jurisdiction in the US where it's illegal in any way shape or form. If I got 20 PLEX and put them in my hanger and CCP shut down the servers, I don't think they would have to reimburse me either. I mean I would hope they would anyway... but I know for certain they are not legally obligated to. International commerce is a federal matter, so the US is one big conformal jurisdiction.

Edit: Just remembered CCP Atlanta... that would muddy up the jurisdiction thing. They are still a foreign held company though, so federal law would of course apply, but I'm not sure how interstate commerce laws work or how they apply in that situation. I can say though that the federal president overrides anything else (except for marajuana laws in my state ) but any judge is going to look at the second life cases and rule based on that.

Well... that again depends on your country then. In the US contracts are binding... and when we created an account we agreed to this:

Those would be binding here. That's the deal. Give money to CCP, and it's gone.

Does this at least mean we won't be seeing the same damn alliance panel presentation for a fourth year running?

Hang on... Your idea of making it "fair", is to rig the results?

Yeah. Great logic.

I think they should just institutionalize gambling. Take it off the street and bring it in station. That would be a good reason to open the door... you could buy GTCs in-game to pay for your habit, and anyone could buy a station slot and open their own casino. I realize there's some work involved there, but from a "total cost" perspective given what's going on now, and the fact that CCP would be able to cut out the middle man making it ultimately more profitable for them, it seems like a logical solution to this humble pod. It's a solution whereby everyone wins... pods would probably feel more comfortable actually making a GTC purchase directly from CCP rather than going through a third party (meaning more GTCs sold overall and sans 3rd party commission), the field would be level in that anyone could start up a gambling operation, and more players would probably develop a gambling habit overall, meaning more money for casino operators.

...or they could just keep kicking the can down the road.

If there is no way to commodify in-game items then no, it's not gambling because nothing in game exists legally.

I don't think that shows virtual items as "existing" in legal terms, anywhere.

It is however a link filled with humorous legal exchanges... very entertaining.