Not that I have any interest in making a gambling game, but thought it was interesting and hadn’t seen it on here yet, so figured I’d share.
The definition of gambling can be rather vague, when taken as “1) wagering of money; 2) in a game of chance (an event with an uncertain outcome); and 3) to win additional money or material goods.” I’ve played a few iOS games (and even console games, like the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer component) where you can buy a surprise package as an IAP where you don’t know what the prize will be, which at face value satisfies all those conditions to a tee. Do they count?
A “surprise package” from IAP is not gambling. First, you’re not wagering money; you’re buying something. Perhaps its an uncertain outcome, but most likely only to you. I’m sure the developers know exactly what you’re getting. And IAP is not money or material goods. Its digital goods within the game.
I expect this has a lot to do with the law, and so the definition of ‘gambling’ will likely follow along.
I’m pretty sure that contests with prizes are treated completely separately from poker and slots, when it comes to the law. So I’m really not worried about this.
Edit: For the record, I have personally called ME3’s surprise packages “Gambling”, but I don’t mean it in the legal sense.
Right, its nothing to worry about. If you manage to “accidentally” make a gambling game, Unity’s fees will be the least of your worries. There are a ton of laws around these kinds of things.
If your application involves people paying money, but having the chance of not getting anything in return then it’d be time to look deeper into this I guess.
Good article link. This is not something I noticed. I guess in the end if they are expanding development into that arena and want it to have a price structure that blocks out indies then we just have to use backup tech if we wish to make a gambling title.
If you’re an indie, its best you steer clear of gambling games anyway. There is FAR too many legal issues involved there, and a minor “bug” in your game could end up costing you thousands, if not millions. That’s not even getting into the issue of the licensing required to make a gambling game (depending, of course, on where you live).
Reading the full article this only affects pure gambling game sites.
Interesting that they are planning to support gambling games more in the future. The only site I can think of with 3D elements is PKR poker. Most sites have simple 2d interfaces. Lots more to it than graphics of course. I could see a new site with more pizazz appealing to casual micro stakes players.
Saying six figures is too much is meaningless without knowing exactly what they are getting.
There was one game (I wanna say Dark Orbit, but don’t quote me on that), that would have monthly tournaments. It was a F2P space shooter with IAP, but if you managed to win the monthly tournament, you could win thousands of dollars.
Now, I still don’t think they were classified as a “gambling game”, but you can see how any type of game, really, could turn into gambling. It doesn’t have to be limited to simple card games.
Perhaps, but its a fine line. I pay money for better gear, “betting” that I’ll emerge as the winner. I think the only reason it was not considered gambling was because it was not a “game of chance”, and relied almost entirely on the players’ skill.
Perhaps, but why then, do the same 3 or 4 people win the World Poker Championships every year? There is obviously a lot of luck involved in any game that has a random element, but a random element doesn’t necessarily make it a game of chance.
The unity team is treading on thin ice with this as part of there user license. Simply put Unity the company could be held liable for any illegal gambling that games that use there engine does in a country that bans gambling like the USA because there is now a link between the illegal gambling and unity because of the gambling specific license that this enforces.
If the license says once you buy the engine you can do what ever you want with it without any oversight to the Unity team they would be covered but because there is now a link between gambling and the unity team that link can be used against them. Unity would now have to make sure they don’t sell any gambling game licenses to a company that then brakes the law with what they make or else unity can be guilty by proxy as they are specifically linked to the gambling profit by making a profit from a license to make a gambling product.
I like unity i hope nothing comes of this but with the way some countries especially the USA reacts to illegal gambling I’m not sure and am worried
I thought the whole businessidea with Unity was “Buy the software and do whatever you want with it”. Maybe Adobe should charge extra everytime you paint a dice or a playing card with photoshop. I see UT slowly going from the rebels towards the dark side kinda lika Apple did
There’s no danger to Unity at all. They are not responsible for what people create with their product. Those people, on the other hand, are responsible for what they create, and they have a responsibility to Unity (to not break the law with the product, not pirate their product, to abide by the ToS, etc.)
All this does is, if they they discover that you are using Unity to create a gambling game, they can charge you the additional fees.
