Announcing the Cosplay Contest!

[Nuinn]

April! D: I wanna see the entrieees! >.< Since I can't compete (damn eligibility rules!) I wanna enjoy, and perhaps lol, all in good spirits, at the participants

[Lady]

*Crumples up moogle wings and throws them in the trash*

Stupid US tax laws....Gotta love that we can win something, but have to sell it to play the income taxes on it.....

[Eldryan]

Just a little clarification for those who are still confused as to why there are contest restrictions preventing some countries from participating. In many countries there are gambling laws, and most often anything that is seen as a lottery or sweepstakes in which the contestant must pay in some detrimental way to enter, would fall under these lottery and sweepstakes regulations which the host of the contest must adhere to.

Some of these rules and restrictions may contain, but are not limited to:
-Registering your lottery/sweepstakes with the host country
-Pay a tax of fee to run the lottery/sweepstakes
-Offer an option of cash pay out equal to the prize of the contest
-Depositing security money equal to the value of the prize with the government
-Display odds of winnings
-Time restrictions on how long the contest can run before prizes must be given

I'm sure there are a lot more laws, but these are just some of the few that I can think of off the top of my head. Each countries have their own unique set of laws, and if SE is only able to hold contests in countries where they have offices (though I don't know if this is the case since I didn't read the entry restrictions yet), that's most likely due to those offices being able to get permission or a license from their host countries to hold the contest and is not because SE is biased against other countries. The legal fees and resources to get licenses in every country that SE sells their games would be quite large I'd imagine, so I can understand if they choose to reserve their resources for other things, like making games. Big corporations don't have unlimited money (unless you're a big bank with your government gauranteeing to bail you out of any bad financial deals you make).

A contest like this cosplay contest that requires a submission of your picture would probably be considered an entry fee of detriment because one can argue the time and money spent on materials for the costume is detrimental to the contestants. I hope this clear things up, though being the internet, I'm sure this rational explanation would be forgotten or lost a few pages into the thread and more complaints about the region restriction will continue to crop up in the future.

[KumaAkuma]

But you didn't state any facts at all, only assumptions.

[Eldryan]

But you didn't state any facts at all, only assumptions.

I'm sorry, but I don't feel like looking up the exact laws for EVERY country that SE sells product in and posting them all. The few rules that I did post up are indeed real and do exist in many countries, so they are not assumptions but are laws that exist in many countries. The legal challenge to detrimental entry fee is indeed real, and easily arguable in a court of law, so that too is a fact.

You asking me to post "facts" is actually a near impossible request as the only way I can post something that would satisfy your definition of "facts" in this case is to research every gambling laws in existance and either post or link them here. Instead, I posted a general guideline and a few restrictive laws that do exist, to illustrates the barrier that is common to most organization holding international contests.

If you believe that your country is wrongfully excluded, feel free to look up your own gambling laws and provide an action plan to SE as to how they can implement the contest in your country while still abiding by the governing regulations. (See what I did there? I responded to your near impossible request for "facts" with my own near impossible request.)

P.S. I will no longer be responding to posts here as I feel my presentation is concise and easily understood, and those who choose not to understand them are simply being willfully ignorant.

[moriandrio]

Strange only SE has problems with those regions.

SE only supports countries they have their offices and and gives a shit about the rest, not the first time and they will never change. There are at least a handfull of countries in the EU where contests like this one are no problem.

[Zenaku]

Strange only SE has problems with those regions.

SE only supports countries they have their offices and and gives a shit about the rest, not the first time and they will never change. There are at least a handfull of countries in the EU where contests like this one are no problem.

Will that could be true they still have to request in that countries if they could do that contest if they say no what else you think they can do? Sure the area they have offices make it easy because they have people in that area to do all the work to make sure it be allow.

Look at the 1.0 CE did you wonder why NA got the dumbest item and EU/JP got the cub and so on? because how i remember was that there a Law in USA that you can't sell cups that would provoke drinking -.- i got so piss about that but what can we do about it noting really laws are made and take years to fight just to take it off so it's pointless for the most part when it come to something law as why contest not allow in your area.

[Thebard]

So this is the new "I didn't get into alpha boo~hoo" thread?

[Gethyn]

Woo! Cosplay contest. Can't wait to see the results.

I was bummed I couldn't enter (US player), but I was gonna do an ARR cosplay anyway for the cons this year. Perhaps multiple outfits depending on how many of my friends I can coerce er, persuade to join me. Can't wait for the game to come out so I can see all my options.

...and the playing bit. That'll be fun too.

[EU_Community_Team]

***Cosplay Contest Update***

In order to give contestants more time to perfect their costumes, we will be extending the Cosplay Contest deadline to 30 June 2013 00:00am (GMT).

This means that there is still some time for those that haven't started making their costumes.

Remember - the grand prize is a trip to Japan!

http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/cosplay/