The Lottery in Lion's Arch and Cantha

Hey everyone!

Well, I've been hostessing a very simple lottery in Kaineng and Lion's Arch (Kamadan is too business oriented) the last few days, for 100gp a try.

Before anyone gets any crazy assumptions, let me talk

I've been a part of the economy, the game, the quests, the missions, the armor, the time, the trades, the updates, the letdowns, the upsides, the rares, the weapons, the PvP and the PvE. . .
For nearly seven years. And I loved it all

I achieved what I wanted to, and I found myself in excess, and not much time to do what I love in this game!

Help people

Help is completely relative. We all know that.

I found myself without the time to help in quests like I used to, but was in excess of the things that others could use to achieve the same goals. So, I hostessed a lottery. And gave for 100gp per character a random chance to receive an item that could be sold (to ingame merchants) for more or if they had the savy to spend time ingame, more than their 100gp to other characters/players. I respect them just the same! I didn't have the time to sit and sell for a profit (though I knew the rares trade commodities), I simply played Guild Wars 1 and earned my money by simply playing. Quests, Zaishen, missions, and such.

So, I hostessed a lottery the last few days to 'give' away my excess, and to me it didn't matter who played, so long as they simply paid the 100gp to do so.

Why? I didn't want to give anything away for free. I didn't want to reduce those wanting to earn it themselves to feeling they were handouts. I didn't want to reduce the economy for the rich. You didn't have to play the lottery.

Why? Because I wanted to celebrate Guild Wars 2, and give anyone a chance who hasn't been here 7 years to do the same. Like a quest. That's all. *cheers*

So, what are your thoughts on hosting ingame events, beyond the developer's intent, big or small?

P.S. I will see you in Guild Wars 2!
Signed
Cal Lhina

Sounds cool...but depending on the scale of these lotteries a half and half might be nice too. Or a 3/4 to the winner 1/4 to you.

Though on good intentions, too many people would consider this a form of scamming, because, well, you know, people might instead keep the money for themselves.

Would you believe there are more people who wouldn't accept free gold handouts than those who would?

You are not giving anything out, you are selling crap for 100g.

Do what most of the rest of us do, GIVE STUFF OUT, some of us give out several hundred plat every month here and there.

In the real world, only those who seek some form of publicity or an ego rub bother to mention what they do for others.

Real benefactors simply give it away in total anonymity.

From reading what the OP said, I'm not sure that it even qualifies as a lottery. There doesn't seem to be any element of risk involved, as everyone apparently pays 100g for something that is worth (for any given value of worth) the same or more than 100g.
Could we get some examples of trades that you have performed?

Also, as StormDragonZ said, its actually amazing how difficult it is to even give stuff away these days.

very good points. as proposed this isn't really a lottery per se, but more of a trade system where the OP is willing to accept negative reciprocity - the extent of which is unknown without some ss or trade examples. With that said, however it may be easier to "give" stuff away if you tell people to first pay 100g for it. It's kind of like putting a couch out on the drive with a "free" sign and it will never get picked up. But if you put a "$5" sign on it, it gets stolen. Logically, people tend to see value in what you deem to have value. It is very hard to even give stuff away in Kama or noob starter areas these days. I've had people reject things like q9 15^50 wicked blades, or similar, and instead say, "got anything else?" lol. Kind of like when you are selling unid's for say 7=5k and somebody will inevitably ask, "got any daggers?", or similar...no - they are unid's don't be picky biaatch! I digress - that is a different topic, sry

So i'm going to test my hypothesis to see if it's easier to "give" away by trading for 100g

good call but -1

It is/was only "a random chance" of winning qualifying it as a lotto

Depends on the value of the items available to be won. If said items are only worth 1-5k then it wouldnt be worth it. IE the risk/reward ratio needs to be such where the lotto is attractive. Most players will not spend the time sitting around waiting for the chance to win something of minimal value. example) for 100g lotto aprize of at least 10k+ would be needed

Also to be noted....when dealing with random players you need to be wary of "that type"...so know that you will be rediculed, accussed of scammed/cheating, and many other things reguardless of intent.

To all who responded

It was never my intention to give junk away.

Sorry, I can't respond to the forums like I'd like to. So, please don't take it personally if I do not use the quote system, or address those that respond to this thread by name.

I'll do my best

@StormDragonZ
Trust me, I totally thought most people would think I was scamming. It's sad, but it does happen. But I relied on Guild Wars trading system, and all the things in place in the last 7 years to protect anyone from a scam. If anything, I was scammed when I freely gave a lottery prize to those who simply opened a trade and didn't offer 100gp - it was my responsibility to host the lottery to pay attention to 100gp being traded to me each 'ticket' for a prize. I know, if it's too good to be true, don't trust it. I know.

@Venganza
I wasn't selling anything. I didn't advertise it in that way, at all
It was a lottery, and what you got (by paying 100gp per character) was always going to be more than what you paid to simply play I advertised it that way. Even if you didn't want a White Dye, you could sell it the Dye Merchant for 2,000. And if the +30HP Hale Staff Head didn't suit you, I added 1,000gp - because I knew, you just might not need that. But if it helped you, and you paid 100gp to play, you'd still win

It's all relative, to what is junk. There are many items in Guild Wars. I love that. A +15% enchantment staffwrap is junk...right? But, a +20% enchantment staffwrap...what is that? Well, when I did my lottery, you would never get a +15% enchantment staffwrap. Only a 20% staffwrap. So, to those who have all the +20% staffwraps they need, this wouldn't be a lottery win. Unless...you could take that item and sell it for 1K, or 2K, which I don't have time today to do so
And it only cost you 100gp

But I do understand the scam aspect. I hate that. I wish there were no cheaters or scammers. *grrrr*

*cheers*

I know! I habitually merch greens because it would take too long to sell/give away. Also same with party stuff I hate getting tonics from nick and always try and give them away;NOTHING

Anyway on-topic; I completely agree with Anna, although I'd preffer money-only gambling. But from what this souds like is an attempt to legitimately help (new) players financially, while not taking away from them the effort they already put it(not a handout).