It's WoW's birthday and you may be getting the gift
by Dan O'Halloran 
Nov 24th 2007 at 8:56AM
As we mentioned yesterday, it was World of Warcraft's 3rd anniversary of their North American launch. In celebration of the birth of the 800-pound gorilla of MMOs, Blizzard wants to give you free loots.The first week it's $100 J!nx gift certificates. In the second week it's World of Warcraft action figures. And for the last week they are handing out an Apple iPod Touch and 2-year WoW subscriptions to five lucky winners.
There are, of course, eligibility requirements, but the basics are that if you have an account in good standing and are 18 or over then you are automatically entered in for a random drawing every day. Check out their official rule page for all the details.
When it comes to contests, nothing beats just showing up to qualify. And who wouldn't want to have their subscription paid for?
Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Contests
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Deathlike Nov 24th 2007 9:26AM
Aaand you need to be in the States.
Again/as per usual. I can't see why Blizzard of all companies can't get past that hurdle.
Newclear Nov 24th 2007 9:47AM
Lrn2read @1, Yes, you need to be in the states... why you ask? IT WAS THE NORTH AMERICAN LAUNCH!!! kkthxbye
Loridon Nov 24th 2007 9:53AM
Last time I checked, there are more countrys in North America then the United States. So how about you learn geography "kkthxbye"
Velline Nov 24th 2007 9:52AM
Not only do you need to be in the states, that state can't be Florida or Rhode Island... wtf?
tstix Nov 24th 2007 10:35AM
i turn 18 in the first week of december...
...do i still get entered?
René Nov 24th 2007 10:49AM
Let's just hope WoW Europe will do something similar as well.
slayerboy Nov 24th 2007 10:50AM
@ #3, I believe that's because those states have rules against contests like this for some reason or another.
As far as the contest only being valid in the U.S., I believe Blizzard started in the U.S. I can't imagine how hard it would be to hold a contest in all of North America, not to mention the world. I see this stuff the same way I see TCG loot, I'll never win it, so I don't care. Same way I see the NY lottery. We have a city with millions of people called NYC that ruins the chance of pretty much anyone NOT in the city to win.
Anyways, I would assume until Blizzard gets a branch of their company in each country, you'll be seeing contests like this only in the U.S. Just be thankful they run contests at all!
theremover Nov 24th 2007 11:29AM
It'd be nice if they worked it out so that the Canadian subscriber base could get something for once.. even if it meant partnering with some canadian company who would operate some sort of giveaway independently in canada..
it's really lame that we're disregarded the way we are as there's more than a small handful of canadian subscribers.
if they can take our money legally, they should be able to give us stuff.
Aquatrini Nov 24th 2007 11:32AM
This sucks, the 5th competition I can't win because I live in Florida, where prizes are taxed extensively.
Newclear Nov 24th 2007 12:07PM
@4
I was merely letting #1 know the reasoning behind it just being in the states, i'm sure whoever run's blizzard europeside will run something of this nature.
sianto Nov 24th 2007 3:10PM
Can we report blizzard for racism against non-americans?
Chris Anthony Nov 24th 2007 3:17PM
Le sigh. All this drama every time Blizzard decides to run a sweepstakes. Of course, there's all this drama every time Blizzard decides to do /anything/, so one suspects that this isn't a problem with Blizzard.
EXCLUSION OF STATES: In Florida, New York, and Rhode Island, sweepstakes where the total value of the prizes is greater than $5,000 must be registered with the state (in RI, it's $500 if the sweepstakes promotes a retail store - which they may consider Blizzard's online store to be). In addition, for any sweepstakes in Florida and New York, the organization holding the sweepstakes must post a bond equal to the total value of the prizes. While I don't have any concrete proof, my suspicions are that Blizzard weighed the number of players in Florida, New York, and Rhode Island against the hassle involved in setting up sweepstakes there, and concluded that only New York had the right conditions. You might disagree with this conclusion, and you're within your rights to do so, but do remember that Blizzard is within its rights to come to the conclusion in the first place, and probably unlike you, they have lawyers and accountants who think about this stuff all day.
EXCLUSION OF INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS: Although it's not entirely clear where the legality lies here, the FTC claims the authority to regulate international commerce. Particularly of interest to Blizzard is a case, earlier this year, in which the FTC collected a judgment against an organization because, among other reasons, they implemented an international sweepstakes. Even though the legality of this move is questionable - although Congress reserves the right to regulate international commerce, it's not specifically in the FTC charter - it's probably pretty obvious why Blizzard is erring on the safe side.
In other words, there are legitimate reasons for not including Florida, Rhode Islands, non-state US territories, and non-US countries, and they're not just "Blizzard is US-centric and wants to screw its players".
Hybrys Nov 24th 2007 4:28PM
I'm sorry. I'll rephrase it for you. Mind you, I knew all along it was legal issues.
"The US is too US-centric and wants to screw its international companies."
Andrew Herron Nov 24th 2007 6:29PM
@2
We got our game boxes in Australia the same day you Americans did :P
Deathlike Nov 24th 2007 10:00PM
Newclear.. you're a douche. Where's Canada and Mexico again? Check a map not made in the U.S. of A. and it might be correct - North America. Except for the legality of it (which I'm absolutely sure Blizzard can fight/fix if they wanted to) there's no reason for these sweepstakes not be released all over North America.
In other words, you make absolutely no sense and should try to understand the topic before you act like you know what you're talking about. ;D
scottseguin Nov 25th 2007 9:27AM
L2READ @ 2 CANADA IS NORTH AMERICA TO
DJ Nov 27th 2007 5:32PM
According to the Blizzard web site "...IS OPEN ONLY TO RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES ...".
So, even though it was for the "North American" launch, they really mean the United States launch and as long as people from Florida and Rhode Island move to another state everything is fine. Yes, the publicity is nice, but the lack of coverage is annoying as is the false hopes given to those that particiapted in the "North American" launch, even if we did it from some other part of North America, or even overseas.
DJ Nov 27th 2007 5:41PM
One of the problems with launching a sweepstakes in Canada is that it must be written in both official languages: English and French. If there is no French it cannot be offered in Quebec. Also, you must answer a skill testing question to "win" anything. (BTW, the skill testing question can be: 3x4 - 10 = ??? ) Would probably require a Blizzard person to get all this arranged and they might be a little tight on money. After all, they are giving away less than $6000 in prizes, so it wouldn't make sense to spend more money than that in administrative costs.
(Wow, $6K in prizes. That's almost 2 minutes of revenue for Blizzard.)