EA slapped with a €10 million fine by Dutch court

[BeepBoo]

You are being protected on a daily basis.

Not from my own stupid decisions or afflictions.

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Oh cool.

How about you go to the grocery store, dish out $100, and take home a mystery box of groceries. So what if there's only about $0.15 worth of kale in there? Have the restraint to ignore your hunger until next week and try again.

Hey, if people want to buy groceries that way, that's on them. If they support the market enough that it becomes a prevalent practice, they deserve it.

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your analogy doesnt work,addiction directly affects your brain chemicaly,you even feel ill and cant function if you dont take it,sexualy assaulting someone is different,also its affecting someone else directly,so again...really really bad analogy

I'm not the one who started out with a bad analogy to begin with. You did that by trying to equate something people get into completely on their own with something someone else FORCEFULLY put upon them. EA isn't sitting here forcing you to buy their game like the victim in your circumstance of rape is. That was my whole point.

I don't fucking care how sleazy people are when it comes to attempting to get someone addicted to stuff, you take that first hit of crack, you better be damn sure of who you are. If it's a kid doing it, then the simple answer is "where the fuck is the parent."

[loras]

I absolutely agree with you. very deep thoughts that respond within me.

Thanks, feel free to spread the word.
Around here excessively dangerously driving idiots can lose their cars for doing that shit, if a company risks inflicting harm on countless peoples' lives through known addictive means then they too should lose the means by which they inflict harm.

Fittingly enough the dutch word for addiction literally translates to "enslavement" as well, for those morons who think they can ditch the blame on just the addicts.

[Nobody Worth Knowing]

Hey, if people want to buy groceries that way, that's on them. If they support the market enough that it becomes a prevalent practice, they deserve it.

Sorry, Einstein, but that's the only way to buy groceries now. So sad. But it's okay, you have the fortitude and mental stalwartness to preservere! You're totally not going to be starving next week. Just buy your next loot box of groceries, you'll totally win!

(<small print> "Sorry, there's actually only a 0.01% chance of getting more than a shitty sandwich each week.")

[Zig Zug]

Hopefully more countries start holding EA and other developers to account with legal action, it's time to get this plague out of gaming for good.

It's more likely an issue of "Where's our cut" versus "Moral Grounds"

[Aliven]

Then tell me why there are games on PS5 that are being priced at $70? How come they didn't stay at $60? Those are also digital. How come the digital games cost the same as physical games? I am sure AC is still in the tens of millions. Point being, games like that aren't cheap to make. You act like Doom of 1993 is the same to develop as Doom Eternal of 2020.

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Thats the argument? To answer - because they can. Not because they are forced to. They could charge 200$ per dlc. Hell, hitman 3 in one week returned the costs.

Also, doom 1993 did not cost 60$ on release. And did not have multiple gold, deluxe, ultimate, rainbow edition and promo for every shop in the world with exclusive items.

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Are Casino's specifically targeting addicts?
If not, why would the lootbox system be different?

Isn't it more like they target the "feeling" that basically everyone has when they get rare shit out of a % chance.
I'd say the addicts are the bonus, not the other way around.
Most "F2P" players are not "F2P". They actually drop around twice+thrice as much money as they would when it's a standard AAA 60€ game.

Casinos are designed by the same principle as lootboxes. Bright light, happy sounds, confusing design (so you wander and wander), they have bars and food so you stay as long as possible.

Yes, casinos are designed to hook you and spend unhealthy amount of money on a system you cannot win.

[Ripster42]

Nice victim blaming.

Just because YOU don't have gambling addiction doesn't mean others do not. Get off that high horse and try develop some empathy rather than defending predatory business practises

It's already been established in another thread that that poster doesn't understand what empathy is.

[Nobody Worth Knowing]

Not even getting into all the other reasons why this is a stupid analogy...you're literally comparing food to skins and shit in a video game.

Maybe now we know who has the addiction problem.

Poor little baby can't handle having an example that demonstrates the problem and instead attacks someone. It's okay little guy, it's okay. One day you'll grow up and be a real life adult capable of processing real life information.

[Kwaizar]

i wnder where the money goes or what the gov spend it on

[Arewn]

So many stupid takes in here.

No no, lets not place responsibility on the party that is engaging in predatory practices. They only do that because people still buy it! Everyone just has to stop buying loot boxes, and then the companies will stop putting them in!
It's simple! We just need millions of people, including literal children and people with gambling addictions, to act as as collective hivemind and agree to stop buying them.

[Arewn]

The stupid takes are things like,

"Children can spend a fortune on these, but it's not the parents responsibility to keep Little Billy away from the credit cards, it's all too hard for them to understand!"

Or how about,

"Some people have gambling addictions, so things that they might waste money on are bad! Or more specifically, just this one thing I don't like in my video games, I don't actually care about gambling."

It's an anti-consumer business practices even if you drop the "children and addiction" angle though. Why defend it? It's stupid.
You're quiet straight forwardly getting much worse value for your cash. So you're either getting ripped off on what you do buy, or you're missing out on sections of the game (or the game as a whole) by not buying.

The idea of collective consumer responsibility to end the practice is obvious nonsense. The practice rides on whales, and the rest of us can't do anything about that.
So I guess we should just sit here and accept having shittier, more expensive games?

That said, the "children and addiction" angle is still perfectly valid too. This is like unironic, classic victim blaming.
"Yea, it's not the fault of the group preying on people for selfish ends, it's the fault of the circumstances of those who are being preyed upon". Great logic there.
The point of that angle isn't "nobody should have personal responsibility or try to protect themselves, we should all be coddled and protected". You should of course do that. Obviously be a responsible parents, teach your children, stay away from or strengthen yourself against practices you are vulnerable to, etc. Obviously. No one is saying the contrary.
But when you're holding a party to responsibility, you go after the one engaging in the bad thing, not the group that fell victim to it.

[Rennadrel]

It's more likely an issue of "Where's our cut" versus "Moral Grounds"

State operated gambling has taxation, sure, but it's also restricted in terms of access. You need ID to buy lottery tickets to prove you are of the legal age. Where I live, it's 18 to buy lottery tickets but you can't waltz into a casino and lay down some chips at a blackjack or poker table at 18 due to liquor laws requiring people be 19, so the casinos are out for anyone who isn't 19 or older. And to be honest, when it comes to legalized gambling, I don't see a lot of freshly turned 18 year old's going and buying tickets by the boat load because it just isn't marketed aggressively where I live. Meanwhile playing your favourite online game, loot boxes are pushed fairly heavily.

[Arewn]

No, I just...don't buy those games. It's a surprisingly effective way to not be miserable and pissy about the monetization practices of those games.



Holding them to what responsibility? Selling things? Things that people buy?

What's "predatory" about it? Do you guys even know what "predatory" practices are? It's not selling video game costumes in random boxes, that's for sure.

Congrats on not playing those video games I guess. Really doesn't address the point I made though.

It's predatory when used against those that are vulnerable. Otherwise, it's simply anti-consumer. I delineated that in my post.
Given that we have a clear example in this thread's OP of both a country identifying it as such, and a form of responsibility being imposed on the company for it (And more countries are following suit), I don't really understand the point of the question.
Did you just forget what thread you were posting in?

[Aliven]

No, I just...don't buy those games. It's a surprisingly effective way to not be miserable and pissy about the monetization practices of those games.

What's "predatory" about it? Do you guys even know what "predatory" practices are? It's not selling video game costumes in random boxes, that's for sure.

"Its okay, i would just stop buying and playing game i might otherwise enjoy"

We know what is predatory. Do you?
From Merrian-Webster dictionary

Definition of predatory
1a: of, relating to, or practicing plunder, pillage, or rapine
b: inclined or intended to injure or exploit others for personal gain or profit
predatory pricing practices
2: living by predation : PREDACEOUS
also : adapted to predation

Even bolded the relevant part for you. And no, your opinion dont matter when you try to argue with a definition of a word.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

It's still funny to me that we were totally ok with selling packs of baseball cards and MtG cards and YGO cards and Pokemon cards for ages, but suddenly boxes with skins - which in most games have no actual value - are just too much for people to handle.

Well you aren't buying a game along with those Card game related things. So please stop but you justifying lootboxes is enough.

[Krastyn]

Also, doom 1993 did not cost 60$ on release. And did not have multiple gold, deluxe, ultimate, rainbow edition and promo for every shop in the world with exclusive items.

You're right, it didn't cost $60. It cost $40, which adjusted for inflation, would be about $72. So Doom Eternal was cheaper than Doom of 1993.

[Zyky]

Don't be weak and gamble. That simple. I don't go to casinos for a reason. It's fine as long as people are spending exactly how much money they want to on it. Just because you wish the game was monetized differently doesn't mean it should be regulated into being monetized differently.

Gambling has no place in a video game that you pay to have access to play, that's the bottom line. Games like Fifa, Overwatch, ect all have a monetization model already, it's called being forced to pay retail price for the game. Lootboxes in paid games is simple greed and it prays on people who can't "just don't gamble lul". Gambling is an addiction, Children get a rush and they steal their parents credit cards they don't know the dangers of gambling.

[segara82]

Gambling has no place in a video game that you pay to have access to play, that's the bottom line. Games like Fifa, Overwatch, ect all have a monetization model already, it's called being forced to pay retail price for the game. Lootboxes in paid games is simple greed and it prays on people who can't "just don't gamble lul". Gambling is an addiction, Children get a rush and they steal their parents credit cards they don't know the dangers of gambling.

True, but the real devil is the design of the loot boxes.
Several psychologists, gambling addicts and even insiders stated that the design is just like that of a slot machine, with all the lights, sounds and other effects to stimulate that dopamin-rush. You do not put that kind of stuff near children unless you want them to become gambling addicts.
But exactly that is what producers do, and just like we banned beer and cigarette commercials from kids entertainment we need to get that shit out of games.
Unless those games are 18+ only or whatever the legal age in your country is and the companies control and enforce that.

Then you can have your lootboxes.