Concerns with registering for Return To Tyria Sweepstakes

Has anyone else looked at registering for the Return to Tyria Sweepstakes?
The prizes look great, but the registration form asks for an inordinate amount of
personal info. And, if you read the privacy policy, it pretty much says they can
do whatever they want to with your personal information. And if someone makes
a mistake and exposes your info or something, they're not liable.

I can see asking for an email address to register, then if you win, an address,
phone number, etc., but they are collecting physical addresses, phone numbers,
etc. from everyone who registers. That doesn't feel right. That's a lot of
personal information to be handing over just to enter a sweepstakes.

holy moly you are right, I went and looked. FYI it's on the Guildwars.com home page.

Example questions include:

-what is your household income
-last level of education completed
-what is your present occupation

the answer to all these questions is of course, none of your bloody business

those are just typical customer demographic questions, they give you the option of clicking the x and not answering...

I hope you guys are kidding right?

Its a sweepstakes, many companies use it to put together surveys... it's not like you actually have to do anything to be eligible to win. You could also lie. Or not, or whatever. Say your an important doctor making 600,000 a year while still a student. Say you are from Kentucky. Basically the prizes are incentives to do the survey in the first place. If you don't feel comfortable with it, don't do it, its why they have the legal terms at the bottom to begin with...

I would say I am surprised that this was made into a thread, but honestly on GWG I wasn't.

Oh btw, if anyone wins the Alienware please tell me. I will be "visiting" you to "see how cool it is".

It's a typical contest entry form with demographic information included, option to decline answering these questions usually isn't included so that's a good sign. The information they are asking for is pretty standard and not unusual.

Aerian Skybane, please remember we have many international users who could be use to a much different standard with any type of contest. So your "surprise" over a thread like this is unwarranted.

Well I wasn't surprised, I meant to give an ironic statement how I should have been but the general paranoia of these boards has jaded me.

And I was merely sardonically stating how it was working, not really trying to be [to] disrespectful.

I also figured they were american/canadian (who have similar things), since, well, if they were reading the rules and such, then they would have noticed that it is only valid in the US and Canada...

Yeah, this stuff is asked for pretty much any survey. I don't have too much of a problem with it, but it would be very bad if this got into the wrong hands.

My biggest problem with the survey is they called the Nintendo DS, Gameboy DS.

It's also US only I guess players from other regions don't get to go back to tyria after all. Shame Anet cant run these contests more in other regions. Yes we know the rules for prize draws are complicated , but hopefully a way will be found around it. Getting to the point where I don't often look what contests are being run anymore.

Just wondering, since Guru run similar contests and I've not seen US only restrictions there what the difference is.

At least I wont get privacy questions - lol

Haha, I thought the same thing. I just put it down for "other."

Pfft Free mini-pet > AlienSpareParts

i dont see what the big deal is. its not like they ask for your social security number and bank accounts. People can find out your name and address through other means anyway. Everything else that is personal, you already answer when you apply for a job or other things.

Even if the information you give through this survey leaks to others, your identity won't be stolen.

Pssst: news post specifically mentions that an announcement about an EU Sweepstakes is coming soon.

wtb Australian event. Minipets/Sweepstakes/Anything would be nice...

I wasn't talking about the survey. That is not really traceable unless they are
capturing your ip. I was talking about the form. It's a lot of information to give
out. And, yeah, you do give your info out for a job, but that's different. You're
face to face with those folks, or you plan to be. This info will just be stored
somewhere and the privacy policy does not protect your privacy at all
if you read it. The fewer places your information is stored the less likely
you are to get your identity stolen. And for whoever said it won't happen,
yes, it does happen.

I'm just sayin', they don't need all that info just to enter a sweepstakes.

These are the same questions that were used by the marketing company I used to work for.

Pull them in with a cool prize, ask for all this information and the sell the data on to whoever wants it.

Just be happy it doesn't ask if you're considering buying double glazing in the next 12 months.

It says right on the top "Please use the X button to decline any questions." It looks like very few things asked are actually required. If you don't want to answer them, don't answer them.

There's the answer. It's completely your choice as to what or any answers you provide. Now, the marketing team would like to have the information, but it's not required to get the prizes. And I don't really see us selling this information to anyone. It may go to the NCsoft company, but in my view, I don't imagine it would go any further.

As to a European version of the contest, the team is putting the finishing touches on the European "Return to Tyria" Sweepstakes and that should be rolling out quite soon. Take heart -- the prize list is really good, too!

I just answered the questions. They didn't ask for my social security number so it was no problem. *lol* I filled out the entry form w/o even looking at the prize list. I don't know what I'd do if I won the graphics card. Maybe use it as a coaster.

IT boys everywhere are crying.

Seriously though, that's what that thing that pops out of your Tower is form... I think they call it the Computer Drinks tray, or something like that.

Meh, US only
But:
Sure hope so...