May I ask;

* Why only USA/Canadian residents when the objects are digital (and the whole competition is operated on a digital medium) anyway? Do differing laws in each country really come into effect even though the contest is basically 'pick X user (who signed up) and give them minor items on Y game... oh but other players cannot enter even though the game is already allowed in their country'?

I can understand physical items perfectly (shipping), and even other digital games (censorship may be an issue), but digital items in a game that has already been approved in its entirety? Come on.... Are you serious?

* Not sure about the shards, but I know 10x Ex Tools isn't all that special, why hold such a minor ingame upgrade?

* The automatically ticked 'sign up to NCSoft' seems a bit to obvious for me while the contest itself says it is solely operated by MMORPG, wouldn't that mean that NCSoft would have to have no part in it. Wouldn't it be deceptive to say it was solely operated by MMORPG when NCSoft would have to at least 'operate' the codes which are required from the contest?

I'm not saying its wrong, I'm just wondering in what context (e.g. does the 'operation' only include the transaction of the code from MMORPG.com to the players rather then the whole process required) considering the contest seems to give very little and seems just a platform for giving more exposure to the game and to NCSoft even though it is 'solely operated by MMORPG.com'... Just looks odd to me the way it has been setup.

The contest is operated by MMORPG.com. There's no secret or sneaky meaning to 'operated.' No tinfoil hattery to be found.

Wingma has some very good points.

You know, this 'contest' makes a lot of sense though. It keeps the name of their newly Western-launched MMO on the mmorpg.com front page, so this is good advertising.  The items themselves are useful, but not at all over powering.

Someone on Aion's marketing team had a moment of brilliance.  It makes me kind of wonder if the restrictions are related to their marketing goals (eg, see how many people in the states hear about the game via this 'contest').

Or maybe this is a baseless conspiracy theory and it's all about those zany laws. :)

This is the most pointless contest anyway. 10 stigma shards and 10 extraction tools?

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Originally posted by disstress
This is the most pointless contest anyway. 10 stigma shards and 10 extraction tools?

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Maybe if they were giving "skip this 8 hours queue" item...