SRL Archive - RuneScape News and General

http://wizzley.com/will-australian-law-makers-spin-trouble-for-jagex/
http://www.nickxenophon.com.au/online-and-sports-betting

The controversial Squeal of Fortune may soon become a thing of the past, if an Australian senator has his way.

Federal Senator Nick Xenophon is on a personal quest to plug loop-holes in Australian laws which allow young gamers to gamble online. He has Runescape's Squeal of Fortune in his sights.

The in-game feature has escaped gambling laws all over the world, because rewards cannot be cashed outside the game. It is precisely this aspect which will be debated in the Australian Senate.

If the loophole is plugged, then Jagex will not legally be able to retain gambling-style micro-transactions if Runescape is available Down Under.



Nick Xenophon Targets Jagex in Anti-Gambling Law
As the wheel of fortune turns, the squeal may soon be spun right out of Runescape; if Jagex wants to keep its Australian revenue.

Federal Senator Nick Xenophon is no stranger to the fight against gambling. Some might say that it's his personal crusade in politics. But until now his focus has been the big concerns, like betting shops and huge poker games.

Only now his attention has been caught by a series of high-profile stories involving young Runescape players. Huge bills have been run up on their parent's credit cards, as they spin the wheel for in-game profit.

In private correspondence, Xenophon's spokesperson Anna Gordon explained, "According to gambling research experts, fantasy-based games like Runescape are as addictive as poker machines because they operate on the same processes, especially as some games allow players to bet using real money through credit cards or PayPal.

"However, because any credits or ‘winnings’ can’t be cashed-out the games are exempt from Australia’s Interactive Gambling Act."

It's precisely this law which Xenophon is seeking to amend. He will be introducing his proposal to his fellow legislators, when the Australian Parliament meets in February 2013.

i hope not really im not for sof but im also not against it either it brings in revenue which they need to survive.

but thsisi realyl left open to what will happen i really wonder will they just straight up sell gold after and if this gets passed by law

Interesting. I wonder how likely this is to go through…

Also, at first I thought his last name was Xenon :D

I wonder how this will go down in the Australian parliament!
Good find!

Interesting that a politician is targeting games like these.

From: BMWxi
Interesting. I wonder how likely this is to go through…

Also, at first I thought his last name was Xenon :D

I dont know how politics works in Australia, but he seems serious about it on his site
http://www.nickxenophon.com.au/

From: -Benny
I wonder how this will go down in the Australian parliament!
Good find!

Interesting that a politician is targeting games like these.

This guy goes hard when it comes to sports/online betting
He has a campaign and everything going on too
http://www.nickxenophon.com.au/online-and-sports-betting

How interesting… Good to them. He must play Runescape, or his kid does.. lol Racking up all the cash on the SoF.

Hope it goes in his favor.

<3

Wow, this is interesting… One way for Jagex to bypass this would be to increase the playing age to 18 for Australians?

If I were him I'd bring of the fact that the users might possibly be selling the accounts with rare SoF items on them for RL profit, therefore, in those cases, thus making this an illegal operation.

From: Flight
If I were him I'd bring of the fact that the users might possibly be selling the accounts with rare SoF items on them for RL profit, therefore, in those cases, thus making this an illegal operation.

That is true. I have seen people do that on a few huge game marketplace websites. Someone should email him. :D

ROFL @ Jagex is this goes through.

This is why I live in Australia :D

Support.
Jagex are such hypocrits.

Will these be going forward to the Federal Government, or certain state governments?

Australia #1 .

Lol this is going to be good. I read an article of an alumni of my university a while ago about virtual items. In the end he came to the conclusion that you can compare virtual items to real items in World of Warcraft and RuneScape. And you can get sued if you steal virtual items.

It is Dutch but you could use a translator to get an idea: http://njblog.nl/2010/12/21/virtuele-objecten-echt-voor-het-recht/ The guy that made it studied IT first and studied Laws afterwards so he knows the best of both worlds. Very interesting, especially with some games being huge.

PDF: http://njblog.nl/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Scriptie-JoostKuhlmann.pdf

From: Jakee
I dont know how politics works in Australia, but he seems serious about it on his site
http://www.nickxenophon.com.au/

This guy goes hard when it comes to sports/online betting
He has a campaign and everything going on too
http://www.nickxenophon.com.au/online-and-sports-betting

Wow he does really go all out.
Wonder if he will push it through.

I hope it goes through, I think Jagex should refrain from making something that uses a loophole..

From: SRLKing
I hope it goes through, I think Jagex should refrain from making something that uses a loophole..

I wonder how this would play out since Australian Law and British law are different

I agree, isnt it the country's home base that is used for the basis of the rulings?