Question on Legal Matter

I am a game developer in Second Life. I am currently developing a game, which I would like to distribute in world. Since there is a ban on gambling and games of chance, I would like to clarify if my game can qualify as a legal “game of skill”.

I ask any and all members of LL, who may be concerned: If you can, please give me your answer to this question. Below is a brief description of the game. I am willing to make any modifications necessary for the game to qualify as a “game of skill”.

The Gemmy Game Description

The Gemmy Game, hereinafter referred to as the Gemmy, is a remake of a popular game – “Bejeweled”. The Gemmy is fully implemented in LSL within the bounds of Second Life platform.

1. Game Mechanics

The Gemmy Game can be played either in freeplay mode or require player to make a bet. To win the game the player needs to beat the high score. There are seven different types of gems in the game. The player receives score points for exploding gems. To explode gems the player needs to align the gems into lines of three or more identical gems. He does so by swapping the adjacent gems. The player has limited time to beat the game, it can be adjusted by a Gemmy machine owner, but can’t be lower than two minutes. If the player runs out of time he loses the game. There is also another possibility of loss in that game: when the game runs out of possible combination of gems, which can be used to form the lines.

2. Victory chance and random factors

The game’s outcome is largely dependent on the player’s actions; therefore, the probability of the victory cannot be measured directly. That is the basis, on which I claim that this game is a “game of skill” and is legal within Second Life (like Zyngo).
One random factor is “No More Moves” situation, when there are no gem combinations left. It can’t be predicted or avoided. However to decrease the power of this random factor a “safe zone” was created for players: if a player’s score is below 10% of high score, then the game will reshuffle the gems until there are possible gem combinations.

This was the brief description of the game. Please let me know if you require any other information.

Annex: Wikipedia definition of a “Game of Skill”

A game of skill is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental and/or physical skill, rather than by pure chance.
One benefit of games of skill is that they are a means of exploring one's own capabilities. Games encourage the player to look at, understand, and experience things. They teach people lessons about themselves and possibly the world, and allow such insights to be passed on to others.
Most games of skill also involve a degree of chance, due to nature, a randomizing device (such as dice, playing cards, a coin flip, or a random number generator) or guessing by the players.
The distinction between 'chance' and 'skill' has legal significance in countries where chance games are treated differently than skill games. The legal distinction is often vague and varies widely from one jurisdiction to the next.

You won't get an official Linden response here.

You could take it to the G Team during office hours, or drop a copy of the game on one of them.

But I would just go ahead and put it out there. If it's "gambling" by LL's definition, you'll find out soon enough, when the machines are returned to you.

there are other bejewled games out there i believe . i would personally say that it sounds safe to put out there.

the main thing lindens look for is interaction.

if the game can just sit there.. and the player get a significant score.. its most likely not going to be accepted.

if you can prove that interaction and stratagy makes a differance in the overall outcome of the game then your in the good.

take the nudge slots in world for an example. they are slot machines... but the initial spin will NEVER produce a win.. the player's interaction with the wheels to nudge up and down make the slot a game of skill. the players must know the layout of the wheels to determine how to properly use their nudges.

also... it might be recomended that you place "A Game of Skill" visually by the logo of your game or something.. even thou the game may be skill based .. sometimes lindens like to shoot first and ask questions later... if they see that they should be looking at a "game of skill" they will likely review it more.

if any of your games get sent back heres a few steps you can do.

1. get the name of the linden that took it back
2. contact a governance member.. or submit a ticket
in that ticket explain the situation.. the person who was effected.. and the linden sending it back.
try your best to explain the skill of your game in defense.

overall the lindens still have the final say... and sometimes it can seem unfair that there are games out there that seem simular to yours that are allowed..

its also in the WAY you program your game as well.. using llFrand is pure randomness.. even if you range it from 1-10

a good alternative would be to use a list with the list from 1 to 10 and shuffle that list. this way the boundrys are limited to what you actually place in that list.

That is the event I wouldn't want to see. Ever. Since I plan to sell the machines...if any of them gets returned from their new owners...well I would be in a deep...problem.

Really? I haven't seen a single one. Only Zyngo rules supreme all over SL. I think my machines are better anyway. And my programming is pretty good too (you can never praise yourself too much!). I just need to finish the work to make a commercial product out of it (to make pretty design and fix some minor glitches).

P.S. I did send a notecard to a member of G-TEAM, Minerva Linden, I believe...Anybody knows who else is on the team?

P.P.S. I really would like to show the game to everyone for assessment. Feedback is priceless if you want to make a good game.

id love to take a look at it. im the creator of games in world as well. DEAL Classic, DEAL Extreme, KC's Nudgers, Mindspin, Zlotz, and Scratch it. Also a lover of games in general here in SL. one thing you should definatly make sure of when you go into a product like yours is good art.. dont skimp on it.. visual is a big thing. there are too many games out there in SL that are decent but the art was done so poorly that it just doesnt feel as good playing it. your game could run like the best game in SL.. but if you use un textured dots its going to look cheap. (not saying thats what your doing..just a suggestion) id be glad to help out in any way i can if you need any opinions or suggestions just ask.

btw... your not going to get an offical answer from governance team.. they will just refer you to the policy.. its their way of not being responsible if something big goes down. but a game simular to bejeweled should have no problem as most of its gameplay is driven by the interaction of the player.

Thank you for the info and support. As soon as I finish making the game and place it somewhore permament in-world, I'll post a message here so anyone can come and see for themselves, cause its better to see once than to hear a thousand times!

So, see you all soon! )

I am concerned with "just put it out there " as a game solution. Linden threatens expulsion for illegal games. What can we do to determine the game is legal ?

Don't give out money as prizes? Or is that too easy?

No thats not a good answer at all. Skill games are allowed giving out money as prizes would mean every contest in secondlife is against TOS. Games of chance were banned not games of skill. None money games are fine I have a store full of them but I also have skill games which you can pay and win money on there as well.

Great answer, Sorina! So I started moving Gemmy game to the SL game market. So far, no repressions from Lindens. Everyone I asked agree that Gemmy qualifies as a game of skill. Lindens, they are, as always, silent.

Its ok to take and give out money as long as your game requires players to do something, that requires skills or traits like: perception, calculation, memory etc.

I think you missed the point of my comment.

I think while writing your sarcastic comment you missed the point of this thread ?

Hypothetically, if this thread accepted wagers per post entry, and there was a prize for decent answers i would argue this thread would qualify as a game of skill, since winners would be predominantly determined by skill, unfortunately i don't think you'd win Argent.

No, no, I don't think I did.

If I had a linden for your every comment...

Well, I have bit of news. Yesterday one popular game was banned - Jaded Stud. Lindens found it to be too...I don't know...chance based? I don't really know why, maybe because it used playing cards as elements and the goal of the game was to make poker hand combinations? Hell knows.

The creator and owners of the game have not been banned or suspended (although their linden/USD exchange operations have been frozen as I was told). They were just told to remove all machines from the world as soon as possible. Still this situation troubles me a bit.

I wish there was an official Linden commitee that would assess games and tell if its ok to place a game in-world. But I doubt Lindens would take such responsibility on themselves. I think they have too many responsibilities already.