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G2A condemn their LoL sponsorship ban as "heavy handed and potentially damaging"
- Thread starter Se7enSword
- Start date
Son of a Witch
Member
They advertise something that goes against Riot's TOS and disrupts the game for everyone. They have no right to complain.
Se7enSword
Banned
They have their ads on GAF too, and some people heavily defended them in the last thread lol
I think it was because G2A sold leveled LoL accounts on their website. This is against the ToS of Riot. So Riot banned them from sponsoring teams. In my opinion, Riot is 100% correct in this case.
G2A is 'negotiating' not selling. But yeah Riot doesn't care.
I'm sure the LCS teams care though since it probably was one of their top 1-3 sponsors for each team.
Diablohead
Member
A lot of streamers on twitch and elsewhere have G2A logos over their game feed for that gold referral link stuff, makes it funny when the market they are advertising sells illigal game accounts.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
what are illegal game accounts? As in acquired?
GrantDaNasty
Member
Stolen/Hijacked accounts.
Also in general, you're not allowed to sell your account, believe this applies to most games/services
Maybe meant that the act of selling accounts is illegal. Or could also be stolen accounts, mhm.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Yeah but those are ToS/ToU/EULA of which none are legally binding
It's not illegal to sell licenses. Selling stolen or otherwise illegally acquired accounts would be illegal.
No idea which G2A does.
And NeoGAF
Not that this really matters since Riot are well within their rights to ban them...
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Would they even need the law on their side? Tournaments are sanctioned by them, the game is theirs, etc. they can do whatever they want.
Which we both agree on, it just seemed kind of a moot point mentioning the legality of the ToS with regards to this particular issue or am i misreading?
Click on the "x" in the ad, select "Stop seeing this" and you won't see them again on AdChoices.
You're absolutely right. The guy that said 'illegal' was either thinking the accounts are stolen/etc. or using 'illegal' relative to the 'law' that Riot has regarding their game.
I don't really follow LoL's e-sport scene or Riot, but I feel like Riot took appropriate action. I especially like the bit about keeping teams in the loop through the process so there were no surprises.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
I was just curious on how someone immediately concluded the accounts as illegal.
Oh they are absolutely correct, G2A is trying to profit off of them and take away a process that's probably pretty finely tuned for player retention.
I wonder though is the offer intended for people wanting to smurf but not level their account again? I can't fathom any other reason to buy this instead of just starting an account.
I guess "illegal" may have been just poor wording from that poster, maybe illegitimate or something similar would have been better?
In my experience with publishers and devs, nobody had nice words for the likes of G2A. Some actually brought in a kind of talk you don't usually hear around business events.
In my view, I understand that it's a Riot event, so they have every right to choose who they work it, be it indirectly. Bad part is that you can't really play LoL without logging in to Riot's system and that's where this gets complicated. For example, UFC can have an exclusive apparel deal with Reebok, but fighters can go in other leagues as well where they can get other endorsement deals. LoL players on the other hand can't really play the game away from Riot's rules. Or am I wrong here?
In my view, I understand that it's a Riot event, so they have every right to choose who they work it, be it indirectly. Bad part is that you can't really play LoL without logging in to Riot's system and that's where this gets complicated. For example, UFC can have an exclusive apparel deal with Reebok, but fighters can go in other leagues as well where they can get other endorsement deals. LoL players on the other hand can't really play the game away from Riot's rules. Or am I wrong here?
G2A themselves profit from tons of super shady and outright stolen product sales. They know this, even if they wink and nod and pretend not to. I don't have any problem with them getting shunned by the big boys for it, fuck em. If you don't think this is true you haven't been around the block much, I hear shit all the time about people getting keys revoked for being stolen that they purchased from G2A (which should be obvious when you wonder how they're getting bulk product keys at insanely low prices out of thin air).
You're not wrong, but your comparison is a little flawed. It's more like the NFL or something, you can make other leagues but the desire to go to the smaller ones are several orders of magnitude lower. It would be like quitting League to be a pro Smite player.
You're not wrong, but your comparison is a little flawed. It's more like the NFL or something, you can make other leagues but the desire to go to the smaller ones are several orders of magnitude lower. It would be like quitting League to be a pro Smite player.
CaviarMeths
Member
"Heavy handed" lol. More like Riot is doing what they can and should, so G2A is playing the sponsorship card, acting like it would be Riot's fault if G2A had to pull their sponsorships. It's the kind of behavior displayed in an abusive relationship. A victim threatens to leave an abusive partner, so the abuser brings up the kids, who rely on his/her financial support. "If you leave, the kids will suffer, and it would be your fault."
And it works, sadly.
Besides people who like suspiciously cheap shit and don't care why it's suspiciously cheap, why would anyone defend G2A? Sponsorship?
And it works, sadly.
Besides people who like suspiciously cheap shit and don't care why it's suspiciously cheap, why would anyone defend G2A? Sponsorship?
There is a defense force for everything on GAF by universal law. For everything.
julzillamilitia
Banned
Illegal? There is absolutely nothing wrong from a legal aspect of selling your account to someone else.
Think of it as buying DLC packs that give you currency to buy better weapons. SAME THING! Riot are just salty they aren't getting a cut from the transaction.
its whether you can live with yourself knowing you didn't work for it, afterwards.
Woo-Fu
Banned
Seems kind of pointless. G2A sponsorship isn't the root cause of LoL account selling, it is Riot's business model for LoL.
We all know how well it works to indirectly try to cut supply with out addressing the demand side of the equation.
On the other hand G2A is seen as the bad guy by a lot of people/companies in the industry so this might be good press for Riot even if it does nothing to stop account sales and only costs teams sponsorship resources.
Have you played LoL? Buying an existing account should mean paying less to unlock champions than you normally would. Like I said, it is their own business model that makes account selling/buying so attractive in the first place.
We all know how well it works to indirectly try to cut supply with out addressing the demand side of the equation.
On the other hand G2A is seen as the bad guy by a lot of people/companies in the industry so this might be good press for Riot even if it does nothing to stop account sales and only costs teams sponsorship resources.
Have you played LoL? Buying an existing account should mean paying less to unlock champions than you normally would. Like I said, it is their own business model that makes account selling/buying so attractive in the first place.
Lanrutcon
Member
When you compared buying leveled accounts to P2W DLC I threw up a little.
Riot are well within their rights to do this.
I am glad the secondary market for digital content exists, it clearly benefits users. However I have no problem with a publisher or developer taking action to minimize the negative impact the secondary market has on their business, as long as in doing so they are not punishing or demonizing customers.
I have far more respect for Riot's actions than those of publishers who encourage/allow streamers and youtubers to promote their games, despite being sponsored by G2A or similar, then throw a tantrum when customers end up using these sites.
It would be trivial to mandate that monetisation permission for anyone streaming/producing videos of a game is contingent on agreeing to only linking to approved retailers, but to the best of my knowledge, no publishers do this. Certainly Ubisoft don't, and they've been the publisher most aggressively punishing customers of these sites.
In my opinion, G2A's "Investment" into esports is irrelevant, a total red herring. That has not been charitable donations, it's been their advertising spend. They did it under the assumption that they would earn more back than they spent.
I am glad the secondary market for digital content exists, it clearly benefits users. However I have no problem with a publisher or developer taking action to minimize the negative impact the secondary market has on their business, as long as in doing so they are not punishing or demonizing customers.
I have far more respect for Riot's actions than those of publishers who encourage/allow streamers and youtubers to promote their games, despite being sponsored by G2A or similar, then throw a tantrum when customers end up using these sites.
It would be trivial to mandate that monetisation permission for anyone streaming/producing videos of a game is contingent on agreeing to only linking to approved retailers, but to the best of my knowledge, no publishers do this. Certainly Ubisoft don't, and they've been the publisher most aggressively punishing customers of these sites.
In my opinion, G2A's "Investment" into esports is irrelevant, a total red herring. That has not been charitable donations, it's been their advertising spend. They did it under the assumption that they would earn more back than they spent.
Riot isn't doing this in the hope it'll stop account selling. It's doing this because advertising G2A on the streams and Events they produce themselves is dumb and hurts their business.
They loose nothing from banning G2A sponsorships. It doesn't cost them a dime.
G2A should probably pay out their sponsorships before they call the ban damaging.
http://bc-gb.com/news/17440/g2a-bailing-on-esports-and-not-paying-teams/
http://bc-gb.com/news/17440/g2a-bailing-on-esports-and-not-paying-teams/
Woo-Fu
Banned
You didn't read much then. The disagreement between G2A and Riot is specifically about used account sales/trading. Banning G2A sponsorship when you can't get them to stop facilitating account sales is definitely about account selling, lol.
Of course Riot doesn't appear to lose anything on the face of it. They're pretty good at making sure everybody else pays.
The real question is what do they gain?Given that it takes, on average, 200 hours to level an account to 30 without boosts...
You didn't read much then. The disagreement between G2A and Riot is specifically about used account sales/trading. Banning G2A sponsorship when you can't get them to stop facilitating account sales is definitely about account selling, lol.
Of course Riot doesn't appear to lose anything on the face of it. They're pretty good at making sure everybody else pays.
I meant that i don't think Riot is under the illusion that this is enough to stop G2A from account selling but that they don't want to promote it through their League which they host and produce.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
No, I just assumed it doesn't take long because my brother makes new accounts constantly when he gets stuck in bronze for leaving all the time.
Well, I for one repeatedly defended (and continue to defend) the concept of selling legally acquired out-of-country and/or retail licenses online.
I see no reason why companies should be allowed to shop for goods and services globally but still get the luxury of preventing their customers from doing the same.
(This obviously has nothing to do specifically with G2A or selling accounts, but people - especially on the internet where nuance is rare - might well read it as "defending G2A")
Ban Puncher
Member
Who am I supposed to root for in this heel vs heel match?
LincolnSixVacano
Banned
I'm actually surprised most people here are pretty well-informed.
I myself work at a similar kind of site (digital keys) and even though most of it is a legal grey area, there is (like everything) multiple shades of grey.
Generally, the cheaper a product is sold, the shadier the practices of obtaining them. Key can be aqcuired in multiple ways, from purchasing though authorized resellers to stolen keys and hacked accounts. Also, remember the xbox one assassins creed bundle? the one with both Unity and Black Flag in it? Why all of a sudden did you see those games turn up cheaply everywhere? simple, buy the physical box, split the codes and sell everything seperately.
Publishers generally look away due to the incredible amount of sales, but they definitely draw a line.
G2A had a press conference at gamescom. It was hilarious. 15 minutes of the CEO bitching not a single publisher wanted to talk to them, 15 minutes of a random Dr. telling the crowd why the G2A people are awesome.
G2A (and kinguin for that matter) are on the extremely shady part of the spectrum (and therefore very cheap).
Another example: G2A shield. G2A is a marketplace. In a digital world it is hard to make that work, because it is not always possible to check codes for validity. Instead of improving their service/site, and their customer service. They charge you money to guarantee you code works!
Have you ever bought a new car at a dealership and heard the words "this car is only $20.000, but for an extra $2.000 we guarantee you it works!"
No wonder no-one wants to talk to them. Short term focused company, only interested in quick cash. And so far pretty successful.
I myself work at a similar kind of site (digital keys) and even though most of it is a legal grey area, there is (like everything) multiple shades of grey.
Generally, the cheaper a product is sold, the shadier the practices of obtaining them. Key can be aqcuired in multiple ways, from purchasing though authorized resellers to stolen keys and hacked accounts. Also, remember the xbox one assassins creed bundle? the one with both Unity and Black Flag in it? Why all of a sudden did you see those games turn up cheaply everywhere? simple, buy the physical box, split the codes and sell everything seperately.
Publishers generally look away due to the incredible amount of sales, but they definitely draw a line.
G2A had a press conference at gamescom. It was hilarious. 15 minutes of the CEO bitching not a single publisher wanted to talk to them, 15 minutes of a random Dr. telling the crowd why the G2A people are awesome.
G2A (and kinguin for that matter) are on the extremely shady part of the spectrum (and therefore very cheap).
Another example: G2A shield. G2A is a marketplace. In a digital world it is hard to make that work, because it is not always possible to check codes for validity. Instead of improving their service/site, and their customer service. They charge you money to guarantee you code works!
Have you ever bought a new car at a dealership and heard the words "this car is only $20.000, but for an extra $2.000 we guarantee you it works!"
No wonder no-one wants to talk to them. Short term focused company, only interested in quick cash. And so far pretty successful.
Ban Puncher
Member
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