Ban Forum Gambling Games
because we're better than that

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Hello everyone! Welcome to yet another one of my suggestions, except this one is unfortunately not nearly as fun as the others. There has been a recent trend of an increase in a number of gambling games held on the forums. They take multiple forms, but are ultimately all a variation of the same idea. I am making this suggestion to call for a full-on ban of these types of games. I believe there is precedent to do so and I believe they are distinct enough to be able to enforce this ban. I am not going to link to specific games as to avoid making this thread appear as if I am targeting specific people. I am, however, hopefully going to clearly define parameters to be able to argue my point. I welcome all discussion, but please keep it respectful. Additionally if you are thinking, "coolio do you just hate fun?" The answer is yes so no need to bother with that question

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so what is a gambling game, and are they really gambling?

I am defining a gambling game as a forum thread in which participants use either GB or items to buy attempts at winning a prize. This is unlike a raffle in which participants buy tickets for a chance at a known prize, as the prize they will receive is unknown. They are characterized by the differential rates and qualities of prizes (i.e. the majority of prizes are lower quality, with a rare, higher quality prize being the "big ticket" item).

Now the question: are these threads really gambling? And the answer is dear heavens yes. What do you think of when you think of a casino? Flashing lights, bright colors, loud music. These threads are the lioden equivalent of that. They make use of flashy and enticing language like "diamond spins". They offer deals to get your foot in the door. You are most likely to get a lower-level prize, which encourages participants to try again. These games rely on the mentality of "just one more spin" or "i have to get it next time". The majority of the time, participants will receive a prize that is lower-value than what they paid with.

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why this is bad: legal precedent

Now now now. I know what you're thinking: the law?? Yeah, I'm not going to imply that the lioden admins are going to get thrown in the slammer for this. I am sure that the people whose career this is know more about the law than me. I am going to argue, however, that allowing these games goes against the intent of the law. See, Lioden follows UK law. And in the UK, according to the Gambling Act of 2005, minors cannot gamble. There are exceptions of course: lotteries (thats why we can do raffles, but I've already said why these games aren't those), private events (this is a public site, not your uncle's back porch), events at a family entertainment centre or traveling fair (again, this is lioden), or non-commercial betting. Now there's where you're probably thinking ah - loophole! And maybe, yeah, I dont know the law. But these games are primarily played with GB. It's not real money, but it is a premium currency, as in it only enters the game (except in very rare instances) through real-life purchases. I believe this is why it is ok for slots to exist, as it uses SB, a non-premium currency.

*edit: I am using "ok" as a legality term, not as a morality term. I want these forums games banned regardless of what currency they use. I don't want them to stay up if they only use SB

*another edit: For a much better explanation of these laws please read this comment. It is both incredibly more accurate and in depth than my brief summary here

Here's my point real succinct like. These games allow minors to gamble with premium currency that may or may not have been purchased with real-life money. And I'm going to take it a bit further. I believe these games target minors. Not intentionally, of course. But the nature of these games directly appeals to someone with less impulse control. It's why loot boxes came under such scrutiny. This type of gambling is custom made for a younger audience

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why this is bad: code of conduct precedent

But of course, who cares about the law. We got the liolaw. Let me reference Code of Conduct point 1.26: Do not scam players. Now, I can't argue that just because anyone decent at math can see that these game only benefit the person hosting them that there's scamming occurring. What I can argue is that there is absolutely no way to verify that these games are running in a legitimate fashion. See, the implication is that the host spins a wheel, and gives the prize spun. But how do we know that they didn't re-spin? How do we even know what the wheel really looks like? If the wheel lands on a hybrid cub, there is absolutely nothing stopping the host from saying that it landed on 10 GB instead. Could there be no horseplay occurring? Sure. But there is no way to provide there either is and isn't. Offering these games at a specific rate and then manipulating the rate behind the scenes should most certainly be considered scamming. And because there's no way to provide this isn't happening, I argue that it is better to eliminate the possibility of scamming all together.

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This is really long. Thank you for reading