Are lootboxes gambling & should games be regulated. BF2 and OW under investigation

[Orlong]

And my country has taken steps to ban these practices and correctly so as it is gambling and the rest of EU often follows suit when such things take place.

http://www.pcgamer.com/belgium-says-...ticle-comments




Translated this becomes.

Minister of justice wants to forbid purchases in video games, if you do not know what the purchase actually includes.

Except you DO know what your purchase includes. It includes a box that you open and will contain items. There is only a small number of different types of items you can usually get in a loot box (in game currency, outfits, sprays, character, weapons/armor)

[Yunru]

http://www.pcgamer.com/belgium-says-...ned-in-europe/


yaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssss

Finaly!!! And it didnt even took them that long. I hope the rest of EU country follow this.

[Acidbaron]

Except you DO know what your purchase includes. It includes a box that you open and will contain items. There is only a small number of different types of items you can usually get in a loot box (in game currency, outfits, sprays, character, weapons/armor)

No you do not know, you know what it may contain. And that's all the time you'll get from me

[GennGreymane]

Finaly!!! And it didnt even took them that long. I hope the rest of EU country follow this.

It will take time, but its a start!

[Greevir]

If it's gambling then I would suggest them removing trading cards from all stores. It's no different.

[GennGreymane]

If it's gambling then I would suggest them removing trading cards from all stores. It's no different.

With trading cards I have a physical item of value that I can sell to a third party for a determinable value determined by that third party and myself. Or trade for a cookie... I traded summoned skull for a cookie as a kid. totally worth it

You can also buy specific cards directly from third parties for a value determined by yourself and said third party.

[Greevir]

Then make items from loot boxes tradable. The items not being physical means nothing. If an item being digital means it holds no value then pirating would be okay.

[GennGreymane]

Then make items from loot boxes tradable. The items not being physical means nothing. If an item being digital means it holds no value then pirating would be okay.

But then they make less money. Also physical does matter. Because you have an item that will retain value and will always exist until destroyed. Digital items last until the servers die.

[Yunru]

Well this is intersting:


More and more people speak against EA.

[dope_danny]

The real interesting stuff about this -beyond watching people shill for "funpay minibuys" in retail games like asbolute dirtbags- is the things beyond star wars people arent thinking about.

-EA's biggest money maker is lockbox style packs in fifa, their biggest money making IP which sells the most in europe. If thats gone they are dealt a very serious blow.
-Valve has been pushing them for years and already got bad press from the CSGO lotto rings getting kids into real gambling they only happened to notice when parents did.
-Microsofts current push to keep relevant as a competitor to Sony and Ninendo involved turning as much as they could into 'as a service' products including Forza, Halo, Gears of War and so on which all included some other "RMT for random chance packets of already on disc data"
-If cosmetics apply then Overwatch, Call of Duty and Destiny 2 are all hit which means bad times for Activision

The list of far reaching ramifications goes on and on but if this sentiment spreads AAA western studios are going to have to do some shake ups. Which will probably mean doubling down on 'micro dlc' like japan does with things like Atlus selling "£1.99 costume packs" which could lead to the existing stuff completely removed e.g: Overwatch loses locboxes but now you have the "Tracer Pack" which comes with her base skins and sprays" and "Tracer delux" that includes her legendary skins or something.

This could all end with Belgium, but if it doesnt? well theres already folks like jeff gerstmann saying "expect EA to go the way of Midway" and the state of american studios 2 or 3 years from now could look very different.

[Orange Joe]

But then they make less money. Also physical does matter. Because you have an item that will retain value and will always exist until destroyed. Digital items last until the servers die.

SW:TOR while shit on for it's monetization allows most of their lootbox items to be traded and sold. They still make a killing from them.

[GennGreymane]

SW:TOR while shit on for it's monetization allows most of their lootbox items to be traded and sold. They still make a killing from them.

But do they make all the killing?

[Thelxi]

They think overwatch loot boxes are gambling lol. Little do they know about the full blown casino RNG that underlies everything world of warcraft these days.

[cparle87]

Its not sorta gambling its 100% gambling.

That could be used to describe raiding as well.

[Orange Joe]

But do they make all the killing?

is all the killing = having some of the highest profits from lootboxes?

[GennGreymane]

is all the killing = having some of the highest profits from lootboxes?

Sure. I know nothing of SWTOR, but hey, you can trade. Now is this like a CSGO level thing?

[Blade Wolf]

It will take time, but its a start!

The loving irony is that it was EAs greedy shit covered hands that pushed it to far.

[dope_danny]

They think overwatch loot boxes are gambling lol. Little do they know about the full blown casino RNG that underlies everything world of warcraft these days.

I think a lot of people are confused about the two different arguments going on. As a consumer gambling equated to RNG and naturally publishers trying to con whales for more money for on disc content and the consumer outrage follows.
From outside the consumer angle the discussion leans more to "is this thing which charges money designed specifically to be habit forming and addictive?" and thats where the cosmetic stuff fails to escape judgement. Its not 'pull the level and maybe get nothing or a prize' but it is designed from the ground up using data from analysts and physiologists to be manipulative and addictive in more habit forming personality types commonly known as whales or in worse cases straight up addicts.

The consumer obviously cares about one as an issue more than another, because you dont buy a game thinking about the whales but your own experience. How it is effected now and possibly worse in the future if you bend over and present to this sort of thing like a submissive beta to be crude. Governmental bodies however have spent a good 18-20 depending on the country trying to get a lot of 'designed to instill positive feelings for future income generation' manipulation out of marketing and media. Theres a reason you don't see fred flintstone take a drag on a cigarette and comment on the 'smooth flavour' anymore. Its not the focus on the rng element as much as the addiction forming element of gambling lockboxes represent.

[GennGreymane]

The loving irony is that it was EAs greedy shit covered hands that pushed it to far.

Oddly enough if anything was to really come out of this, it would just be labels or forced changes to ratings. To them its def worse though because of all the bad press and the low sales of their biggest game.

[Acidbaron]

Oddly enough if anything was to really come out of this, it would just be labels or forced changes to ratings. To them its def worse though because of all the bad press and the low sales of their biggest game.

Can't change the ratings, there's no 21 rating here for games, only 18 is the highest and you need to be 21 for gambling. To start changing that they would need to create quite some good will with governments.