Guild Wars 2

Did I not read a massive flashing sign saying so, or is the fact that this contest is only for US/EU players only in the fine print?

This is largely speculation on my part without any official confirmation to back it up, but most international contests that I’ve seen can only allow entrants from particular countries for legal reasons. It’s not something the average person thinks about often, but countries have different laws and regulations regarding contests, which can involve imports, taxes, gambling regulations, and so on.

Unfortunately, it’s not always affordable, practical, or possible to ensure compliance with all the necessary rules for every interested country, which is why so many contests have location restrictions. I’m sure it’s nothing personal. >__<

Far enough, the logistics of hosting a truly ‘international’ competition can be daunting to comply with all the local laws. But you’d think that they would say that this competition was only for residents of the US/some EU countries instead of burying it in clause #1 of the fine print page.

lcpdragonslayer.7895:

Far enough, the logistics of hosting a truly ‘international’ competition can be daunting to comply with all the local laws. But you’d think that they would say that this competition was only for residents of the US/some EU countries instead of burying it in clause #1 of the fine print page.

While your complaint is not unreasonable from an individual point of view, pointing out limitations of a product is not considered smart promotion. There is a REASON “fine print” exists (and this is it).

Well this sucks, I was SERIOUSLY hyped about entering… I thought awesome… something that actually speaks to me and as someone who makes music videos as a hobby and for various competitions I can’t stress how hyped I was enough.

But kitten … Seems like it is open to most other big countries just not Australia.

Eligibility: “Rock the Nightmare Music Video” Contest (“Contest“) is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States (including District of Columbia), Canada (excluding Quebec) and Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom

Once again, voicing my displeasure and sadness… Awesome contest but sucky exclusion… Next time rather than exclude all the other countries add a reason why they can’t be a part of it and offer an alternate prize or if it is to do with shipping, put a clause in for the entrants that they are required to cover a part of the shipping. I don’t know.

Just that big “super hype than super disappointed” syndrome thing happening.

Ah whoops just made a second post of this exact issue.

kitten I was so excited for this and it has killed my buzz completely.

There are other ways they could have included us in the competition though, even if it was with special in game rewards or gems… it isn’t ideal but for the inclusion of the playerbase it would be worth it.

It is most likely about laws and such in different countries.

-mutters-

-mutters-

-mutters some more-

Even if the prizes can’t be applied I think something universal should be available to be applied so people can atleast enter, sure they would have to sign wavers… But for some the contest itself is the most exciting part.

Australians not welcome in the Music Comp

No didgeridoo’s allowed!

Australians can’t sing, can they?

Oh except for Kylie…she can sing all day long…

You gave us Silverchair.

We have never forgiven you.

No New Zealanders either…
I think Anet has forgotten that GW2 is not just Europe and USA.
There are no Oceanic countries in that eligible list, which is not cool.
Lordkrall I highly doubt it has anything to do with laws because (I can only speak for NZ) as far as I am aware we don’t have any laws here that would make this difficult and our customs is always fine with anything that isn’t illegal.

NoxInfernus.2361:

You gave us Silverchair.

We have never forgiven you.

They also gave us AC/DC which makes up for about a million crappy bands.

Well, like 99,99% of Contests, Quebec is excluded again. Everyone in Canada can participate, except us. This is silly. It is because of some stupid laws that we can’t participate. Must be the same for you.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

No New Zealanders either…
I think Anet has forgotten that GW2 is not just Europe and USA.
There are no Oceanic countries in that eligible list, which is not cool.
Lordkrall I highly doubt it has anything to do with laws because (I can only speak for NZ) as far as I am aware we don’t have any laws here that would make this difficult and our customs is always fine with anything that isn’t illegal.

So, please fill us in what would be the reason for excluding the majority of the countries in the world if not laws?

GoddessOfTheWinds.2937:

Well, like 99,99% of Contests, Quebec is excluded again. Everyone in Canada can participate, except us. This is silly. It is because of some stupid laws that we can’t participate. Must be the same for you.

You should ask your local politician why Quebec has different local laws for contests than the rest of Canada.

Arena Net ALWAYS excludes the Southern Hemisphere. Every single contest, give away, exhibition or convention is completely ignored by this company. Case in point, the “world tour” they did a while back. It’s not a world tour when you only stick to the Northern Hemisphere!

I understand we’re a long way from America/Korea (Arena Net is a Korean owned company after all), but it would be nice, just once to have acknowledgement that we, not only play your game, but we buy your products. Instead, we sit and watch as pretty much every country in the Northern Hemisphere are acknowledged and considered important.

We’re like Skrit to Arena Net. We’re there, but more of an annoyance than anything to actually worry about.

Speaking from Australia – we allow contests, we have some pretty good ones. Just none from Areana Net. Ever.

Ema.4953:

Arena Net ALWAYS excludes the Southern Hemisphere. Every single contest, give away, exhibition or convention is completely ignored by this company. Case in point, the “world tour” they did a while back. It’s not a world tour when you only stick to the Northern Hemisphere!

I understand we’re a long way from America/Korea (Arena Net is a Korean owned company after all), but it would be nice, just once to have acknowledgement that we, not only play your game, but we buy your products. Instead, we sit and watch as pretty much every country in the Northern Hemisphere are acknowledged and considered important.

We’re like Skrit to Arena Net. We’re there, but more of an annoyance than anything to actually worry about.

Speaking from Australia – we allow contests, we have some pretty good ones. Just none from Areana Net. Ever.

It’s not just Anet. Most companies exclude Australians or Asians when it comes to specific contests due to laws from either our country or other countries, when it comes to the so called “paid” out rewards (irl). It has nothing to do with companies trying to exclude or punish specific countries/players from other countries. It also doesn’t matter if that game is a Korean owned company, since the server and the branch headquarter are in the US. Same counts for the servers and branch headquarters located in other countries.

This comp is about making a music clip?
I think I know why Australia wasn’t included.. we were all brought up on ‘rage’, would be unfair to the rest of the world (every aussie knows what I am talking about ).

On the plus side we get to live in Australia while the others don’t. Only works if you go outside though so MMO forums aren’t probably the best place to brag about such things.

Salt.4621:

On the plus side we get to live in Australia while the others don’t. Only works if you go outside though so MMO forums aren’t probably the best place to brag about such things.

Everything is venomous outside tho

spritefire.5234:

Salt.4621:

On the plus side we get to live in Australia while the others don’t. Only works if you go outside though so MMO forums aren’t probably the best place to brag about such things.

Everything is venomous outside tho

And their rugby and cricket teams suck…

slurpey.6014:

Ema.4953:

Arena Net ALWAYS excludes the Southern Hemisphere. Every single contest, give away, exhibition or convention is completely ignored by this company. Case in point, the “world tour” they did a while back. It’s not a world tour when you only stick to the Northern Hemisphere!

I understand we’re a long way from America/Korea (Arena Net is a Korean owned company after all), but it would be nice, just once to have acknowledgement that we, not only play your game, but we buy your products. Instead, we sit and watch as pretty much every country in the Northern Hemisphere are acknowledged and considered important.

We’re like Skrit to Arena Net. We’re there, but more of an annoyance than anything to actually worry about.

Speaking from Australia – we allow contests, we have some pretty good ones. Just none from Areana Net. Ever.

It’s not just Anet. Most companies exclude Australians or Asians when it comes to specific contests due to laws from either our country or other countries, when it comes to the so called “paid” out rewards (irl). It has nothing to do with companies trying to exclude or punish specific countries/players from other countries. It also doesn’t matter if that game is a Korean owned company, since the server and the branch headquarter are in the US. Same counts for the servers and branch headquarters located in other countries.

Pretty much this. I had to research laws impeding international online marketing activities for a seminar a couple of years ago, and New Zealand and Australia were pretty strict on that front. (I’ll see if I can still find my notes on that.) So don’t blame Anet, blame your home countries’ laws.

Redenaz.8631:

This is largely speculation on my part without any official confirmation to back it up, but most international contests that I’ve seen can only allow entrants from particular countries for legal reasons. It’s not something the average person thinks about often, but countries have different laws and regulations regarding contests, which can involve imports, taxes, gambling regulations, and so on.

Unfortunately, it’s not always affordable, practical, or possible to ensure compliance with all the necessary rules for every interested country, which is why so many contests have location restrictions. I’m sure it’s nothing personal. >__<

This is indeed the case. For a simple example, in the United States, you can have a contest based solely on a random draw – one lucky winner has his name pulled out of a hat, or the equivalent. But if you include Canada, your contest MUST include some element of skill.

Anet have never done anything for Au / Oceania in terms of competitions or giveaways ever. The only time a single promotion ran in AU it required an immense amount of cajoling from one of the PC magazines here to get an exclusive minipet in GW1. Other than that…

psy.5437:

Anet have never done anything for Au / Oceania in terms of competitions or giveaways ever. The only time a single promotion ran in AU it required an immense amount of cajoling from one of the PC magazines here to get an exclusive minipet in GW1. Other than that…

That is not something unique to ArenaNet.
It is more or less the case with every single company that have these kinds of contests.
And people seems to ignore the fact that it is not only Oceania that is unable to compete. You make it sound like yours is the only country/region in the world that is excluded, when the truth is that the majority of the countries in the world are.

psy.5437:

Anet have never done anything for Au / Oceania in terms of competitions or giveaways ever. The only time a single promotion ran in AU it required an immense amount of cajoling from one of the PC magazines here to get an exclusive minipet in GW1. Other than that…

One reason for that might be the very specific rules AU/Oceania has for contests – such as disallowing any sort of advertisement for (specific) contests which do not take place in AU/Oceania (that is, are not based there and do not execute the drawing of prices there).

Frotee.2634:

psy.5437:

Anet have never done anything for Au / Oceania in terms of competitions or giveaways ever. The only time a single promotion ran in AU it required an immense amount of cajoling from one of the PC magazines here to get an exclusive minipet in GW1. Other than that…

One reason for that might be the very specific rules AU/Oceania has for contests – such as disallowing any sort of advertisement for (specific) contests which do not take place in AU/Oceania (that is, are not based there and do not execute the drawing of prices there).

New Zealand has no such law though and I’ve come across a ton of notable companies including NZ in contests (e.g. The Book Depository who certainly have no physical or legal presence in NZ). So I could understand if that was why Australia is excluded, because I know they do have pretty strict laws around this kind of thing, but the whole of oceania?

Well I live in the United States and I am excluded form all contests as well. The state I live in does not allow us to enter any contests so we are specifically excluded.

I checked the rules and it seems as if South Africa cannot compete? Why is that? you guys have a large fan base in South Africa. Are the shipping costs going to be too high if I win or something?

Laws and regulations.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of the countries in the world are excluded.

It’s a drag if you don’t live in one of the participating countries, but I’m afraid that’s just the practical reality of international contests. A lot of countries have laws relating to contests, so some countries just aren’t practical to comply with, and even if a country has compatible laws, there might not be the time and resources (for as much as can be dedicated to a promotional contest) to have someone check the laws of every country with enough confidence that they’re not going to get into legal trouble.

lordkrall.7241:

It is most likely about laws and such in different countries.

Nah, more like laziness on the part of A-net in not being able to read a map that doesn’t show the US or Europe on it. This doesn’t seem to stop other companies from doing the exact same thing (Wargaming.net do it all the time, as does Blizzard, etc).

Seriously, the people going on about “different laws in different countries” have absolutely no idea what they are talking about and just parrot earlier responses of the equally clueless.

Medieval.1679:

Nah, more like laziness on the part of A-net in not being able to read a map that doesn’t show the US or Europe on it. This doesn’t seem to stop other companies from doing the exact same thing (Wargaming.net do it all the time, as does Blizzard, etc).

Seriously, the people going on about “different laws in different countries” have absolutely no idea what they are talking about and just parrot earlier responses of the equally clueless.

Oh, I was under the impression that countries like Russia and Norway was part of Europe, and thus would show on a map over Europe. Silly me.

It IS a matter of laws and regulations, no matter if you want to accept it or not.

I have yet to see a single video-game contest that does not have limitations, but I suppose they just do that for fun then?

They’ll sure as hell take your money though right?

DarcShriek.5829:

……

They also gave us AC/DC which makes up for about a million crappy bands.

….but someone forgot to tell them when to quit trying (about 1985).