[Updated] Player held contest rules

By Ow, 28th July 2020 10:37:14
21

Player Contest Rules Clarification






We’ve received feedback from Moderators and the communities on multiple Howrse games requesting clarification of the rules for player hosted contests and giveaways, specifically with offering horses as prizes.

Addendum: We've reviewed the rule about offering horses as prizes and have decided to allow you to offer a horse as a prize again.


Current rules

We allow players to host contests and giveaways according to the following rules:

  • You cannot require entrance fees or donations

  • You can give in-game prizes (Only those which can be done via the gifting options already within the game)

  • You cannot give Equus or passes as prizes

  • You do not have to give prizes

  • Your contest can only be posted on your presentation page or in your EC forum.


Review of rules

Some players want to offer horses as prizes and would like to know if this is allowed. We reviewed contests held on each version, and we identified the following:

On some versions, it has not been allowed for horses to be used as prizes; since the game does not include a tool for gifting horses. Selling a horse to a player costs them a fee to gain their prize. This falls within the Item and Pass Trafficking rules that are not allowed.

As a compromise, we will allow players to offer horses as prizes so long as the cost of the horse is the minimum amount that can be set - 500e. Since this is also considered a private agreement between players, we will not support these transactions. Contests are entered at your own risk and it is up to the contest holders to deliver the promised prizes.

In addition to the contest rules mentioned above, we have added the following:

- You can offer a horse as a prize provided the cost does not exceed 500 Equus.
- The horse offered as a prize can have Black Market items.
- Contest holders can ask but not require that participants re-post their contest banners.

Players who do not follow the rules are exposed to sanctions. For any questions, we encourage you to ask us directly via "Contact Us."


Last Updated: January 31, 2024

Regards,
The Howrse Team
<
 
Ow
  • Posted messages: 12,342
  • Karma: inf.
  • Seniority: 4,221 days
  • equestrian center
    Logow
By pony lover972, 17th February 2021 23:36:57
8
what about if we gave players the horse for 500e and then also gifted them 500 fodder so they could sell them back for 500e, that way it'd cancel the fee out. seems like a decent way to get around that problem
pony lover972
  • Posted messages: 775
  • Karma: 10 points
By Goat_Girl, 18th February 2021 01:20:02
8
pony lover972 wrote:

what about if we gave players the horse for 500e and then also gifted them 500 fodder so they could sell them back for 500e, that way it'd cancel the fee out. seems like a decent way to get around that problem


I love this idea! Unfortunately, I don't think it would work, as you can only give a player 1 gift per week, so it would take 500 weeks to give someone 500 pieces of fodder default smiley :s

I've said it before that I would be willing to pay a fee to give someone a horse. I don't see why Howrse doesn't just create some horse gifting system - if they include a fee (like, say, 500 equus in order to give a horse to someone), it would be a good equus sink for them!

Obviously I would prefer for it to be free for the gifter and the gift-receiver, but all I actually want is to be able to host horse and unicorn giveaways again, so I would be happy with almost anything that lets me do that default smiley (lol)
Goat_Girl
  • Posted messages: 15,060
  • Karma: 10 points
By Retired breeder, 27th February 2021 05:46:02
1
My horse is worth 10 Equesdefault smiley (7)
By Retired breeder, 27th February 2021 05:47:09
But are they worth Pass for Regular horse?default smiley :s
By ShilohsSpirit, 10th May 2021 18:17:29
19
If we can gift OW a horse, I am sure you can create a button for gifting a horse. JMO
ShilohsSpirit
  • Posted messages: 121
  • Karma: 10 points
By soᴘʜɪᴀ, 12th May 2021 02:33:47
12
ShilohsSpirit wrote:

If we can gift OW a horse, I am sure you can create a button for gifting a horse. JMO


Totally agree with this.
default smiley (y)
We have a gifting option for BMIs, too.

I wonder which would be an "easier" for Howrse to tackle, add a "gift" option with the other options when selling a horse (you wouldn't even need to add anything else, since it would be free, except for the username of the person you're wishing to gift the horse to), or giving every horse that little box we see when one of our objectives is to sell a horse to Ow.
I'd be scared to click it by mistake, honestly, but I'd be happy with either one. I still think it's about time Howrse did something about this issue.

Would it be a long update? Possibly. But if Howrse (I didn't say when, because I'm not sure how soon they'll do this, if they're even thinking about doing this) fixes the lag that's been going on for years, that'll be a long update, too. But, as I'm sure many others would agree, totally worth it. It won't kill us to be away for a little longer than usual.
soᴘʜɪᴀ
  • Posted messages: 10,478
  • Karma: 10 points
By Retired breeder, 17th May 2021 13:41:02
1
So if I understand this does this mean we can do Username contests and Graphics contest with black market items as prizes? default smiley (o)
By soᴘʜɪᴀ, 17th May 2021 16:31:53
6
Retired breeder wrote:

So if I understand this does this mean we can do Username contests and Graphics contest with black market items as prizes? default smiley (o)


Yes, and "only" BMIs as prizes. I say "only" because some players have managed to find away around this, and not get in trouble for it.

Back in the day, divines were given away as prizes, GA horses and RC horses were given away as prizes, etc. Then Howrse changed things. First... they stressed the fact that horses can only be given away for 500e, as that is the cheapest amount we can pay for a horse. Then, they eliminated horse gifting completely.

As you can tell by skimming through this topic, a lot of people aren't pleased.
soᴘʜɪᴀ
  • Posted messages: 10,478
  • Karma: 10 points
By soᴘʜɪᴀ, 17th May 2021 16:33:40
4
It was a common thing to see both horses and BMIs on the prize list back in the day, too.
soᴘʜɪᴀ
  • Posted messages: 10,478
  • Karma: 10 points
By Qυєєи σf Sαιgσи, 24th May 2021 18:15:05
7
This rule just makes me madder and madder. Howrse literally doesn't let anybody get around the problem of not having passes often. It's not just new players who have the issue of not having money on hand people. People have the choice to enter the giveaway or not, and anybody trying to gain from the giveaway by hurting other people can be easily stopped by the howrse team if they are so concerned. Please stop ruining our community howrse. I am tired and bored now, you know you can fix the problem, so stop making shortcuts. The donner party already tried that, and see how that worked out for them.
Qυєєи σf Sαιgσи
  • Posted messages: 6,039
  • Karma: 10 points
By soᴘʜɪᴀ, 25th May 2021 12:22:24
7
Qυєєи σf Sαιgσи wrote:

This rule just makes me madder and madder. Howrse literally doesn't let anybody get around the problem of not having passes often. It's not just new players who have the issue of not having money on hand people. People have the choice to enter the giveaway or not, and anybody trying to gain from the giveaway by hurting other people can be easily stopped by the howrse team if they are so concerned. Please stop ruining our community howrse. I am tired and bored now, you know you can fix the problem, so stop making shortcuts. The donner party already tried that, and see how that worked out for them.


This.

Especially this...
"People have the choice to enter the giveaway or not, and anybody trying to gain from the giveaway by hurting other people can be easily stopped by the howrse team if they are so concerned."
Such truth! If there are people who don't like horses as prizes (or, back in the day, if there were people who thought 500e was too much), then don't enter! It's as easy as that! If Howrse indeed received complaints in the past, were they really valid? Were they valid enough to eliminate horse gifting completely?
soᴘʜɪᴀ
  • Posted messages: 10,478
  • Karma: 10 points
By Retired breeder, 26th May 2021 14:57:33
Are we allowed to host graphic contests for avatars and layouts? I am asking as I am wanting to host one for when I change my username soon. default smiley :)
By soᴘʜɪᴀ, 26th May 2021 15:59:14
3
Retired breeder wrote:

Are we allowed to host graphic contests for avatars and layouts? I am asking as I am wanting to host one for when I change my username soon. default smiley :)


Yes. Many people do this in their forums, and advertise.
default smiley (y)
soᴘʜɪᴀ
  • Posted messages: 10,478
  • Karma: 10 points
By Retired breeder, 23rd June 2021 20:49:10
2
soᴘʜɪᴀ wrote:

If there are people who don't like horses as prizes (or, back in the day, if there were people who thought 500e was too much), then don't enter!


Qυєєи σf Sαιgσи wrote:

People have the choice to enter the giveaway or not, and anybody trying to gain from the giveaway by hurting other people can be easily stopped by the howrse team if they are so concerned.


I completely agree. Even though there are many players who enter to have fun, there are some that will try to hurt others to get ahead.
By Retired breeder, 23rd June 2021 21:09:23
9
PLEASE change this howrse. PLEASE.

Reasons why:

If a player doesn’t want to pay 500e for a horse in a contest, or win a horse in a contest, then guess what? They don’t have to enter.

This is a horse game. Horse. Seems stupid that we can’t gift horses yet we can gift items..?

We’re allowed to donate horses to Ow, so why not our friends, who we may actually like and want to give something to?

99% of players agree with changing the rule, so why go with the minority? You’re losing players by the daily already, due to stupid rules, like this one, that you still stick by after all this time and all these complaints.
By Crystal Clear, 24th June 2021 12:14:17
16
You can make a topic in your forum for ‘horses being sold for 500e’ and say that people just need to comment their username or what horse they want. Then it’s technically not giving away horses, it’s just a forum topic for selling them. Since we can advertise horses for sale in our forum it doesn’t break any actual rules.

Idk why Howrse seems to enjoy adding rules that make players miserable and ruin the things we love. They do realize that we’re supposed to have fun playing this game… right? Giveaways never badly affected anyone. It was a great way of giving back to the community. It doesn’t even seem to go against the Howrse version of cheating. Which is when something benefits some players and not all. It’s not an unfair advantage because everyone could enter. Stupid and unnecessary change. Stop hyper focusing on the things that no ones complaining about and focus on the actual in-game issues default smiley :-xdefault smiley (8)
Crystal Clear
  • Posted messages: 694
  • Karma: 10 points
By adelaidee, 17th July 2021 20:35:36
hello, so I would like to hold a contest in my EC, the main prize would be a black market item - I would make a list of possible prizes for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and the winners would get to choose from them, I would give it to them via the offer a gift in item exchange. The rules would be about collecting resources in the EC. The winner would be the one whose horse collected the most resources in a week. Is that possible? Is it in accordance with the rules?
adelaidee
  • Posted messages: 185
  • Karma: 10 points
By soᴘʜɪᴀ, 18th July 2021 11:32:21
2
adelaidee wrote:

hello, so I would like to hold a contest in my EC, the main prize would be a black market item - I would make a list of possible prizes for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and the winners would get to choose from them, I would give it to them via the offer a gift in item exchange. The rules would be about collecting resources in the EC. The winner would be the one whose horse collected the most resources in a week. Is that possible? Is it in accordance with the rules?


While I've never heard of this strategy before, but I would think it would be allowed. I'm not sure if this goes against the "entrance fee" rule, since players will be spending equus in order to gain more resources for you.
To be completely sure, I would ask a mod or send a ticket through Contact Us. You will recieve a more official answer from the experts.
default smiley :)
soᴘʜɪᴀ
  • Posted messages: 10,478
  • Karma: 10 points
By Qυєєи σf Sαιgσи, 20th July 2021 17:17:52
2
If I am quitting, can I give away my horses to my friends if I don't want them deleted?
Qυєєи σf Sαιgσи
  • Posted messages: 6,039
  • Karma: 10 points
By soᴘʜɪᴀ, 20th July 2021 18:13:39
3
Qυєєи σf Sαιgσи wrote:

If I am quitting, can I give away my horses to my friends if I don't want them deleted?


Yep! Since you're "selling" the horses and not "gifting" them as prizes in a giveaway.
default smiley (lol)
soᴘʜɪᴀ
  • Posted messages: 10,478
  • Karma: 10 points
By Retired breeder, 15th August 2021 21:27:59
3
So you can gift BMI's, horses to OW and all that other stuff but not to anyone else? You don't get equus if you give a horse to OW so that is giving OW a FREE HORSE. Giving horses as prizes for 500e, THAT IS NOT FREE giving horses to OW IS FREE cause you don't get anything. Ya'll really need to get this game together
By Retired breeder, 15th August 2021 21:32:48
2
Goat_Girl wrote:

There's a simple solution to this, really. CREATE a mechanism that allows horses to be given for free. The groundwork for this already exists, with the team loaning feature, as well as the feature that allows the Love divines to be given away during the month of February. Myself and quite a few others have been asking for such a feature for a couple of years, ever since Howrse rescinded the compromise that allowed horses to be given as prizes.

This feature could be limited, like the gifts or item exchanges are (only 3 horses can be given per week, or something like that). (Or it doesn't have to be limited - I would prefer it if it's not, but having it be limited seems like something Howrse would do. Honestly, I would simply be happy with the option of being allowed to give horses away again.)

PLEASE give us a feature to gift horses to others! We need that more than we need a notification system, or updates to BMI pages, or whatever else Howrse has planned.


I agree! And if people likes to buy big bulks of horses from other players in reserved they won't be accused of multi - accounting like my friend was. At least 10 horses max a reserved sell. But the free horse giveaway would be nice! Especially if you're holding giveaways and want to give out some horses instead of selling them (if you don't like selling your horses)
By Hiram Farmer, 22nd August 2021 22:25:38
1
adelaidee wrote:

hello, so I would like to hold a contest in my EC, the main prize would be a black market item - I would make a list of possible prizes for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and the winners would get to choose from them, I would give it to them via the offer a gift in item exchange. The rules would be about collecting resources in the EC. The winner would be the one whose horse collected the most resources in a week. Is that possible? Is it in accordance with the rules?
pretty sure this is NOT allowed. that sounds like it would constitute an entry fee. board extension contests are NOT allowed. where the person who extends their board the longest wins.
Hiram Farmer
  • Posted messages: 13,517
  • Karma: 10 points
By Goat_Girl, 23rd August 2021 22:08:26
1
I just came back from a many months long hiatus. Part of me was hoping I would see some progress on this when I came back - it's sad that Howrse hasn't listened to us yet. default smiley :'(

But I'm very proud of everyone who posted here in support of horse giveaways. Thank you for continuing to fight for this. default smiley (l) It may not seem like much, but that was always my favorite part of this game.

It has been 202 days since the last time I wrote to Contact Us about this. I need to draft my next message and think about what I want to include. default smiley :p

For anyone who is curious, the first time I wrote to Contact Us was on April 7, 2018, shortly after they made horse giveaways against the rules. How sad that it was over three years ago, most players want horse giveaways, and yet, nothing has changed. default smiley :$
Goat_Girl
  • Posted messages: 15,060
  • Karma: 10 points
By soᴘʜɪᴀ, 25th August 2021 09:46:41
1
Goat_Girl wrote:

I just came back from a many months long hiatus. Part of me was hoping I would see some progress on this when I came back - it's sad that Howrse hasn't listened to us yet. default smiley :'(

But I'm very proud of everyone who posted here in support of horse giveaways. Thank you for continuing to fight for this. default smiley (l) It may not seem like much, but that was always my favorite part of this game.

It has been 202 days since the last time I wrote to Contact Us about this. I need to draft my next message and think about what I want to include. default smiley :p

For anyone who is curious, the first time I wrote to Contact Us was on April 7, 2018, shortly after they made horse giveaways against the rules. How sad that it was over three years ago, most players want horse giveaways, and yet, nothing has changed. default smiley :$


Welcome back, friend!
It is incredibly sad. Why can't Howrse give us reassurance? I just hope they're actually giving thought to our words and reasons.
soᴘʜɪᴀ
  • Posted messages: 10,478
  • Karma: 10 points