Question: 'RC' Economy vs. App Distribution

I started typing this up as a sort of off topic reply in another thread, then decided to start a thread on it.

If there is any possible way to turn apple/itunes/appstore credits into cash and withdraw them I don't think apple will let this app within a million miles of the app store.

Same thing for google really. if Play credits can be converted to withdrawable cash they will dump the app like a hot potato, IMO.

To be fair, I have never really done anything with either app store, just guessing off what I know about the revenue models and etc... and also some experience with getting facebook apps approved.

If the app is only downloadable from the app stores and all deposit/withdrawal/etc... (cash related transactions) are handled via MA's website, there may be a loophole or there may not. I know that using an offsite portal to get around facebook revenue controls was grounds for instant ban. Virtual tokens or currencies purchased with facebook credits had to be 100% consumed within the target app.

I've only seen this topic sort of skirted around, and I haven't taken the time to try and read the documents for app developers at either the play store or the app store. But I do wonder if in the end, activating a withdrawal feature in compets will cause it's removal from these services.

You can have an android app installed from other servers besides Google's Play Store, is there a way (without unlocking/jailbreaking) to do this on an iPhone without the app store?

I'm definitely interested in input from any app programmers or those familiar with the developer's TOU regarding this issue and either Apple or Google.

Or, just in idle forum chatter and wild speculation

never did much online 'gambling' but it's interesting to see what comes up when you google "real casinos on android"

mastermesh said:

never did much online 'gambling' but it's interesting to see what comes up when you google "real casinos on android"

Click to expand...

It is interesting, and you get the same thing (even the same sites) when you replace 'android' with 'iphone'. The same few sites with the same heavily keyword optimized search text and sales pitches pointed (with affiliate links) at the same few shady sites.

You can download the apps from the app store for a while but you have to use some second rate payment methods and offsite payments to deposit or (if you can) withdraw. And the reason the app is only available for s short while is because sooner or later someone gets mad and reports it, and guess what:

https://play.google.com/about/restricted-content/gambling/

It violates both points of google's simple and clear policy on this sort of thing. So if someone at google were to consider buying a battlepack for PED and wagering it on a battle to be gambling, I guess that's it.

And even if they don't you can see here how they feel about directing Play store users out of the "safe ecosystem" to perform financial transactions. There's a whole list of reasons why it's bad for business.

I just googled up that policy since I was already looking at the casino app links, I didn't research apple still but they're not exactly known for being more open than google. I don't know how heavily either company polices for these apps or how long it can last before they take it down - there are also some articles about them sort of 'winking' at a few fantasy sports apps, etc... so who knows.

It really forces a hard look at a key controversy affecting EU since forever, is it gambling, or not? And it seems to me that it's pretty crucial since ease of discovery will be crucial to the success of a game like compets. And while I suspect some people are thinking it will be just as easy to buy PEDS in ComPets as it would to buy (for instance) gold bars in candy crush - it's not likely to happen. It can't happen if there's withdrawals.

And using an app distributed from the company's app store to push users to an offsite payment system is pretty much a no-go, too. So ...

What's the prognosis if users have to jailbreak/unlock/enable third party whatever to get into the game? And which also means they have to find it by some other means than looking in the app store?

I've been wondering about this for a while. It seems like a tremendous obstacle to any long term adoption or success. I'm not sure if they feel there's a special category or some exception for them that i'm unaware of (very possible) of if nobody has really bothered to address the issue.

I could be wrong, but I thought I read on the compet website that in order to withdraw ped you first need to connect the compet account to an Entropia account. Then you don't actually withdraw ped from the app, but instead you transfer the ped from compet to Entropia and can withdraw the ped through Entropia.

If that is the case that might be how they are circumventing the Apple and Google app restrictions.