Mog Bonanza is Back!

[Tamarsamar]

I just want to mention that the Bonanza is back solely because SE triple-checked to make sure that it wasn't legally considered gambling.

[Demon6324236]

Legally, no, but, what is gambling?

Dictionary.com has this as the definition of gambling...
"The activity or practice of playing at a game of chance for money or other stakes."

Now, while this is not real money, it is in fact, gambling, because you are playing the game of chance (Mog Bonanza) for money or other in game items. Now because this is all in game and involves no real money, it is not legally gambling, or at least I believe that is why it is allowed. However, it is still gambling in a way.

[Mirage]

It's a bit like playing a game of blackjack where you bet matches instead of real money, and win even more matches if you do well.

[Demon6324236]

It's a bit like playing a game of blackjack where you bet matches instead of real money, and win even more matches if you do well.

How do you do well at bonanza? Your picking a number between 00000 and 99999 attempting to guess correctly. That involves no skill, no progression, no winning more if you do well, its like the powerball, you spend money on numbers, guess what the winning number is, and if you are lucky you might, just, win.

[Mirage]

That's besides the point. Point is that you're using a different currency than the real world uses.

[Demon6324236]

I know, that is why it not legally gambling, but it is still gambling in game, and for that reason it should act as gambling is, you put down money, you may win, its a matter of luck. The entire idea of having refund items in it seems to contradict the entire idea of gambling in my opinion.

[Bahamut]

I know, that is why it not legally gambling, but it is still gambling in game, and for that reason it should act as gambling is, you put down money, you may win, its a matter of luck. The entire idea of having refund items in it seems to contradict the entire idea of gambling in my opinion.

I think as far as game gambling, Mog Bonanza's type of gambling would be on the lines of lottery, Most lotteries have odds of winning and a pay out rate or percentage of a certain amount, you could think of the 200k "last two" item as a higher payout to lower odds winners. Not everyone will have ten content ID's to do this, so thier odds of getting "last two" would be a higher gamble then someone who has ten IDs. The odds of actually guessing a ball 0-99999 in the exact order, correctly, is astronomical and would be unreasonable for anyone to buy 200k worth of balls without some sort of return comparable to that kind of gil spent. Most lotteries in my state have a 1 in 9 payout to get your dollar back, since this is a video game its very reasonable to say that if you are going to partcipate up to 100 balls, you should get some kind of higher payout given. It boosts the sales of the balls, makes the jackpot higher and gets more people in game involved, gets people buying more content ID's, which is everything you want in a online game event. I just dont see myself ever getting the jackpot, and I wouldn't throw my hard earned gil away at an astronamical chance for no kind of a payout or comparable return for gil spent. If you look at the sales record of balls after Khroma ore was worthless, I would make an educated guess its because of the missing 200k payout on the "last two" payout. So would it be considred gambling still? Yes, all lotteries are still gambling. The 200k payout for "last two" would just be considred a higher payout. If that wouldnt be enough to convince you that the pay out is ok, then call it a customer content ID loyalty/Vetren's reward lol.

As far as bonanza being considered gambling, its not considered real "legal" gambling according to u.s. law, since this is a video game, and does not involve real money, so it would not be regulated by u.s. government. However though, other countries such as England have crazy government laws that even regulate anything that might look like gambling or sweepstakes in a game even if its virtual payouts. For example, when I played legends of norrath card games, they had tournaments every month and payed out virtual cards for it, but legally they could not pay out the cards to people of certain countries because it was looked at as a sweepstakes/gambling in those other countries government laws. Since Final Fantasy is holding something that is resembling a sweepstakes, they have to make sure that other countries are ok with it, since its a global game.

This is what the payout would look like if they added a 200k item as "Last two", when put into this context it should seem very reasonable to have this kind of payout given the risk to players who own less then 10 content ID are taking.

1 content ID - 10 balls - 20k spent - 10% chance to win 200k item or jackpot
2 content ID - 20 balls - 40k spent - 20% chance to win 200k item or jackpot
3 content ID - 30 balls - 60k spent - 30% chance to win 200k item or jackpot
4 content ID - 40 balls - 80k spent - 40% chance to win 200k item or jackpot
5 content ID - 50 balls - 100k spent - 50% chance to win 200k item or jackpot
6 content ID - 60 balls - 120k spent - 60% chance to win 200k item or jackpot
7 content ID - 70 balls - 140k spent - 70% chance to win 200k item or jackpot
8 content ID - 80 balls - 160k spent - 80% chance to win 200k item or jackpot
9 content ID - 90 balls - 180k spent - 90% chance to win 200k item or jackpot
10 content ID - 100 balls - 200k spent - 100% chance to win 200k item or jackpot
11 content ID - 110 balls - 220k spent - 200k item + 10% chance to win another 200k item or jackpot
12 content ID - 120 balls - 240k spent - 200k item + 20% chance to win another 200k item or jackpot
13 content ID - 130 balls - 260k spent - 200k item + 30% chance to win another 200k item or jackpot
14 content ID - 140 balls - 280k spent - 200k item + 40% chance to win another 200k item or jackpot
15 content ID - 150 balls - 300k spent - 200k item + 50% chance to win another 200k item or jackpot
16 content ID - 160 balls - 320k spent - 200k item + 60% chance to win another 200k item or jackpot

Just think of how big these Jackpots could get if they bought this back.

One last add, to get a jackpot of 100 million per a server, you would need 500 people buying 100 balls per a server.

If 2500 people bought 10 balls each per a server, the jackpot would only hit 50 million.

What kind of payout scale might you suggest?

I think what FFXI rep is saying is they are looking for suggestions on what type of items, which would probably suggest they are looking at making mog bonanza more attactive so people to buy more balls, I believe this pay scale would be a ball bonanza getter since its already been proven to work in past mog bonanza's with the Khroma ore item when it was auctionable for 200k.

Since Khroma ore in past bonanzas were so rare , worth 200k, and the imperial wootz ingots they made were used to obtain the best salvage gear, it was in high demand, and sold like hotcakes. If we can find an item that is comparable to the worth of the Khroma ore (200k) as a "last two", we could make Mog Bonanza a huge success again. The problem I see facing this whole bonanza is that we moved away from auctionable end game crafting items like the 200k Khroma ore, to non auctionable end game items such as seals and boss items like voyage coins, etc. So the demand for a replacment item to the item like the previous 200k Khroma ore item in previous mog bonanas, which boosted ball sales to unbelievable lvls, is probably being sought out by Final Fantasy weather they knew about this or not. They need soemthing auctionable other then these seal/coins types of rewards that people feel are not as rare, giving the upcoming expansion, or worth 0 gil on the auction house.

I would suggest also that with this expansion coming up, people are really unsure about what the best items are going to be, less then a month from now, so investing huge gil into an event that might turn up something thats less vaulable a month from now is hurting the sales of the balls, which is another reason to add a current 200k auctionable item to the "last two" winnings.

I would like to see maybe something like choose your own loot, maybe throw a ton of 10k gil items on a list and say, you can pick 20 of these items or something to that degree, so if your a fishing person, you could maybe pick five halycon rods and ten shrimp lures for winning, ect. What ever it is, it has to be auctionable and worth 200k.

[Demon6324236]

By the time you get your answer the bonanza will be over, and it will make little difference anyways.

[Seha]

Although I'm afraid I already know the answer: could you confirm if the rank 3 cells are x5(so actually worth a weapon) or x1?

I need to hear it from them ._.

[Demon6324236]

Although I'm afraid I already know the answer: could you confirm if the rank 3 cells are x5(so actually worth a weapon) or x1?

I need to hear it from them ._.

Its SE, I am sure we sadly already know the answer.