Is buying gold legal?

[Glurp]

I was looking through the Trading forums on the battle.net website and there are 5-6 page threads that have been up for a while without getting deleted of people wanting to buy/sell gold through paypal. I was under the impression this was illegal? So why are people posting on the battle.net forums, giving blizzard a free shot at banning them?

Or is it allowed?

[Mizzow]

Anything throught the RMAH is fine, anything outside that is against the TOS

[Deleted]

Short answer: "No"
Long answer: "NooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo*inhale*oooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo. "
/Dr Cox

[Mizzow]

Short answer: "No"
Long answer: "NooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo*inhale*oooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo. "

Zero Punctuation :P

[Ferocity]

In some countries it is not possible to link PayPal to Battle.net, so people are screwed with RMAH. That's most likely the reason about the threads on EU-forums. I think it's the reason for why threads aren't deleted, it would be completely unacceptable to completely screw lots of customers with official real money transactions in D3.

But on other hand, why would you want to buy gold? Less or more interesting gear migrated to RMAH.

[Resentful]

RMAH yes It's legal now in terms of anything else? No It's not

[Nerph-]

Short answer: "No"
Long answer: "NooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo*inhale*oooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo. "
/Dr Cox

just had to post the video :P and it's on topic too!

[Deleted]

Oh my god it's not ilegal, people get your facts straight. Nobody is going to jail you for buying gold in an online game. It might be against the rules of the game but it sure as hell isn't ilegal (as in against the law).

[Deleted]

Yes

It is legal to buy gold & gear, even outside RMAH

Blizzards TOS is not the law, anyone who says otherwise does not know what they're talking about.

[Glurp]

Oh my god it's not ilegal, people get your facts straight. Nobody is going to jail you for buying gold in an online game. It might be against the rules of the game but it sure as hell isn't ilegal (as in against the law).

There has to be one of you in every thread. Are you really so *bleep* that you have to be a dictionary nazi in every thread. It is PAINFULLY OBVIOUS that we're not talking about actual real-world legality here, so why do you feel the need to be a smartass about it?

[Gnosk]

Oh my god it's not ilegal, people get your facts straight. Nobody is going to jail you for buying gold in an online game. It might be against the rules of the game but it sure as hell isn't ilegal (as in against the law).

Please people look up the term illegal.

1. forbidden by law; unlawful; illicit
2. unauthorized or prohibited by a code of official or accepted rules

[vep]

In some countries it is not possible to link PayPal to Battle.net, so people are screwed with RMAH. That's most likely the reason about the threads on EU-forums. I think it's the reason for why threads aren't deleted, it would be completely unacceptable to completely screw lots of customers with official real money transactions in D3.

But on other hand, why would you want to buy gold? Less or more interesting gear migrated to RMAH.

Uh, I get the option of using my credit card. Which is not linked in any way to PayPal.

[Ferocity]

Uh, I get the option of using my credit card. Which is not linked in any way to PayPal.

You can use it to add money to your Battle.net account. You can't use it to cash out, as you can't link RMAH operations to credit card.

[Deleted]

BUying gold in D3 is allowed and even wanted (see the RMAH where blizzard even gets a paycheck for that...)

[terrahero]

Yes its legal if done via the official route and even encouraged by Blizzard, as they directly make money from this type of goldselling.

[Halicia]

Yes

It is legal to buy gold & gear, even outside RMAH

Blizzards TOS is not the law, anyone who says otherwise does not know what they're talking about.

"The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is preparing a new law that will outlaw virtual item trades and farming items for commercial use in games. This new law is supposed to encourage students to avoid wasting time and improve the environment of games. The law prohibits players from using software that allows characters to farm items in a game without the need for a human to be playing."

This is from the front page. Maybe you should know what you're talking about a little better before bashing others for 'being ignorant' ?

[Pokty]

"The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is preparing a new law that will outlaw virtual item trades and farming items for commercial use in games. This new law is supposed to encourage students to avoid wasting time and improve the environment of games. The law prohibits players from using software that allows characters to farm items in a game without the need for a human to be playing."

This is from the front page. Maybe you should know what you're talking about a little better before bashing others for 'being ignorant' ?

I highlighted the relevant parts of the text. 99% of countries on earth do not even have laws regarding buying virtual goods.

[Deleted]

allright... just to be clear
it actually is not illegal or legal
blizzard simply don't like to see others earning money with their game, so they made the rmah to shut down people who sell their game-gold at e-bay or something
with their own rules they get a part of every transaction (I guess it was 15% or something) so they still earn, but also controll the real money/item trades

[Paximus]

Oh my god it's not ilegal, people get your facts straight. Nobody is going to jail you for buying gold in an online game. It might be against the rules of the game but it sure as hell isn't ilegal (as in against the law).

Illegal doesn't always mean unlawful.

It is illegal to murder your neighbor, you will go to jail for doing so. It also happens to be unlawful to do so.

It is illegal to throw a pass beyond the line of scrimmage in American Football. It is NOT unlawful however. You will not be arrested for doing so, but may be punished by the officials of the sport.

[Espirion]

It's not illegal it's just against the terms of service so it will probaly just get you banned.