Drogo was just browsing shop.skyblock and noticed some players spending a fair amount of cash on legendary keys. One person in particular spending close to $100 today on them for a chance to win something and potentially lose his money. Never really thought about it before but does this differ greatly from gambling? And given that they are being bought by kids, could there be a legal issue here? Even the graphic when opening the chests resembles a poker machine. Not trying to stir the pot here but I think it’s a valid question. If some kid spent $100’s of dollars on this and his parents looked into it, could it spell trouble for the servers owners? Drogo knows there is always talk about it all being donations but given you can go onto shop.skyblock and buy these without seeing any mention of ‘donation’, how valid is that argument?
Loot box systems are controversial in gaming. Whether it is considered gambling to buy a chance to win or not is debated. If loot boxes in gaming are illegal then sure, it would be illegal here since it’s the same principle; depending on whose law we follow. All payments are accepted under the assumption all purchases are supervised by parents if the user is underage. If an underage user was to buy something then the responsibility lies on the parents. Though because it’s not made clear, we should likely push the terms of donation/sale and users should agree to being over 18 or consent from guardian to buy keys and possibly gift cards. If crew knows his system is too risky he would change it. If he takes the risk, he knows there may be consequences. I trust him to make the right choices.
Thanks for the reply Krissy. Crew does certainly provide a great environment for members to enjoy and I hope he continues to do so. The 6 most recent purchases shows another $100 being spent on keys alone. I think it is safe to say that the majority of these are bought by kids without parental approval so your response and suggestions are perfect.
I can see your point on how it would be a legal issue, but in my opinion, I don't think it would be considered gambling. You're just buying legendary keys and with that, technically you're not losing anything. Sure the item you get may not be good but it's something you cannot get from other crates. I personally don't know what the legendary crate offers but I am sure there's an item that is at the very least "an item from a legendary crate" (if you can get what I mean) I would be a legal issue if you spend $$$$ on keys and only to get nothing, then yes that is a concern. But then again you should be aware that if you're buying something from skyshop, you're basically betting for something that can easily be destroyed (given the fact that any of the minecraft items can be destroyed by clear lag, lava, thrown into the void, etc.)
Yet I call your attention to: "Gambling, the betting or staking of something of value, with consciousness of risk and hope of gain, on the outcome of a game, a contest, or an uncertain event whose result may be determined by chance or accident (...)" gambling | Definition, History, Games, & Facts | Britannica.com Difficult to define is the definition of "gain" when money is converted into digital items. I suggest the definition of gain relative to the exchange rate of items to money set by the community, although strictly speaking the staff might see it differently, and point out the exchange rates set by the shop.
