h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This might be a bit of a weird one, but bear with me.

An entry in PR has just lead me to a online game called Kings of Chaos (URL http://www.kingsofchaos.com). Having sign up to the game I find that the way to advance in the game is to get other people to join your army by them clicking on the link to your page on the site. The rules of the game state:

>>DO NOT post this link in chat rooms, newsgroups, message boards, or forums unless it is explicitly allowed by the owner/operator of the chat room, newsgroup, message board, forum, etc..

So, the question is, would I be allowed to post this link on my PS or another page onsite, or in a thread, or anywhere here?


Geggs

The link in the previous post managed to grab the closing bracket as well, so, to clarify, the game site is <./>http://www.kingsofchaos.com</.>.


Geggs

You're right. This is a pretty weird one.

Did the author give you the URL to his army? If so, that's got to be against BBC policy or something. Advertising, isn't it?

No, they didn't. Just the URL of the site.

The entry is A2688870, by the way.

The game is free, so I don't think advertising is a problem. There are links to other free online games on h2g2, so that should be okay. It's just the problem of these 'recruiting' links that I'm sure of.

I mean, now that I have a 'recruiting' link I would rather like to post it, but I thought I'd ask first.


Geggs

I agree, I would like to post mine, but I don't know if the admins would be OK with that.

I know people have posted sign-up links to other games in both postings and guide entries. As far as I know the links have not been removed. (It was a game, where every player gets a click-through link and extra points if a new player signs up from that link.)

If you're constantly advertising your "recruiting" link, posting it in lots of places and effectively spamming people, I imagine that would not be considered acceptable use by anybody. But it should be fine to post the link in your journal, relevant conversation/guide entry, or when somebody asks for the link. Maybe checking with the Kings of Chaos admin people would help?

I agree with Niwt, but as with all links, it has to be within the BBC guidelines, and not link to anything that would break a site's House Rules. I guess you'd have to post the link to make sure. On a personal space it's not going to be a nuisance to other users.

Just a note on a technicality - just because something's free doesn't mean it's not advertising. You can promote a free service that would still be classed as advertising. Generally links to non-BBC sites should be editorially justified - in the case of the entry that's probably the case, but if you were to post the link around the site just to tell people about the game that *could* be classed as advertising. A tricky semantic, but there ya go.

Alright then, let's try a few ferinstances:

If I made a page for h2g2 players would it be acceptable to put the game URL and players recruiting URLs there? Merely as a reference list for fellow players, and not as an inticement to others, of course.

Would it be acceptable post my recruiting URL in my journal, asking others for help in the game?

I'm assuming that a thread in <./>Askh2g2</.> would be advertising, so I'm not even going to ask about that.

It may be worth noting (as I don't think I mentioned it before) that clicking one of the recruiting URLs doesn't recruit you into the game, it merely helps those that are already playing to recruit more virtual troops. Admittedly, the game does ask to you join after you click it, but you don't have to.


Geggs

I know that the game as a reference page for all researchers involved in that game. The link is A1982171. The page just has recruiting links for all members (I got kicked off, as my account got deleted ), plus links to their spaces and a bit of information about the game. That page has been around for months and has apparently had no trouble, so I'm assuming it's legal. Also, many members of the group posted their recruiting links into their journals, without any trouble. Titania's is here: F45492?thread=335002

So although I can't answer your question definitively, I can certainly provide a...er...precedent.

I would think the best way to work this would be by allowing us to post the links in our personal profiles, and in conversations relating to a KoC article but nowhere else on H2G2. I can't see anyone complaining about that, either the moderators or the KoC staff.