Microtransactions: the Future of Games? (LootBoxes and Gambling)

Entropy said:
I would say that gaming addiction is well known enough through the history of humanity that additional evidence isn’t needed.
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You would think so, wouldn't you? But even though the condition is recognised by the WHO, in terms of passing laws, there isn't actually a huge body of evidence specific enough to draft legislation - and the UK is fairly liberal in such regards, i.e. sex is legal at 16, alcohol at 18 or even lower ages in moderation under partner/guardian supervision. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
BRiT said:
There may yet be hope that publishers and developers will switch away from micro-transactions, or at least gamers are voting with their wallets.

https://www.superdataresearch.com/additional-content-revenue/

1. Players are spending less overall money on in-game content but are proportionally spending more on one or two games.
2. Additional content is failing to effectively convert players.
3. Players are growing more and more wary of monetization tactics.

[On Point 1]
Fortnite in-game spending has been mostly declining since the start of 2019 with PC, console and mobile combined revenue failing to break $100M in September 2019. Additionally, in-game conversion has dropped to 16% and 10% on PC and console respectively from 30% and 36% in September 2018.

[On Point 2]
Despite generating $6.5B in PC revenue and $1.4B in console revenue in Q3 2019, in-game spending is failing to reach a sizeable portion of the gaming market. Half of gamers (51%) did not spend on additional in-game content in the past month despite major releases among microtransaction-heavy games such as FIFA 20 and NBA 2K20. Capturing the attention of those who do not spend on in-game content will require new and enticing solutions from publishers. Implementation is key, however, and game makers should be transparent in the ways they sell additional content.

[On Point 3]
Between loot boxes, battle passes, one-time booster packs and individual cosmetic purchases, there is no shortage of in-game monetization tactics. These strategies, however, are not enticing everyone to purchase additional content. Developers must seek out and identify the best approach for converting players to spenders or earning back player trust that was lost due to poorly implemented microtransaction models.
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What's the problem with the live-game model? Is it better when developers make a game and then people consume it in two weeks and then they would move on to the next game? I don't think it's great when you work on a game for multiple years and people play it for two weeks and then don't touch it anymore. On the other hand there are still many players playing Reinbow Six, League of Legends, GTA V etc. Then there are many games with community driven content. I would say that this kind of involvement of the gaming community is great.
 
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https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/01/...g-young-people-into-under-the-radar-gambling/

UK NHS mental health director Claire Murdoch has today called on gaming companies to crack down on gambling addiction risks by banning loot boxes from their products.

Ms Murdoch has warned video game firms that they risk “setting kids up for addiction” by building gambling tasks into their games.

“Frankly no company should be setting kids up for addiction by teaching them to gamble on the content of these loot boxes. No firm should sell to children loot box games with this element of chance, so yes those sales should end.

“Young people’s health is at stake, and although the NHS is stepping up with these new, innovative services available to families through our Long Term Plan, we cannot do this alone, so other parts of society must do what they can to limit risks and safeguard children’s wellbeing.”


Ms Murdoch has called on gaming companies to:
  • Ban sales of games with loot boxes that encourage children to gamble
  • Introduce fair and realistic spending limits to prevent people from spending thousands in games
  • Make clear to users what percentage chance they have of obtaining the items they want before they purchase loot boxes
  • Support parents by increasing their awareness on the risks of in-game spending
 
BRiT said:
Ms Murdoch has called on gaming companies to:
  • Ban sales of games with loot boxes that encourage children to gamble
  • Introduce fair and realistic spending limits to prevent people from spending thousands in games
  • Make clear to users what percentage chance they have of obtaining the items they want before they purchase loot boxes
  • Support parents by increasing their awareness on the risks of in-game spending
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The first two I can't agree with.
Adults need to have the choice to overspend if they wish to. If this choice doesn't come legally, they'll just resort to illegal practices that pay no taxes and increase criminality.

What they need to do is make the games adult-only if they encourage the player to gamble. And then force all of the retail games' covers and digital marketing material to always mention it's an adult-only game because it contains gambling with real money.
Games' covers should need to have something like 25% of its area with a big fat warning, like they do with e.g. cigarettes, and they should be clearly marked and separated from other non-adult games in retail stores.

Do that with e.g. a FIFA game and these practices will end within a month.
 
ToTTenTranz said:
The first two I can't agree with.
Adults need to have the choice to overspend if they wish to. If this choice doesn't come legally, they'll just resort to illegal practices that pay no taxes and increase criminality.

What they need to do is make the games adult-only if they encourage the player to gamble. And then force all of the retail games' covers and digital marketing material to always mention it's an adult-only game because it contains gambling with real money.
Games' covers should need to have something like 25% of its area with a big fat warning, like they do with e.g. cigarettes, and they should be clearly marked and separated from other non-adult games in retail stores.

Do that with e.g. a FIFA game and these practices will end within a month.
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Indeed, better than the surgeon general's warning.
 
The UK is talking about loot boxes again as The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) are calling for evidence.

UK could class loot boxes as gambling to protect children
Ministers call for evidence on video games such as Fifa that charge money for rewards

Loot boxes – a controversial element of video games – could be reclassified as gambling products over concern they are training children to gamble.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will this week launch a call for evidence on the increasingly common feature of games such as the football franchise Fifa.

...

However, the DCMS select committee heard evidence last year that loot box winnings can be easily exchanged for cash on third-party websites and that their use by game developers was likely to “facilitate profiting from problem gamblers”.

In a subsequent report, the influential committee advised that they should be considered gambling products.

“They are a virtually speculative commodity that only help to normalise and encourage young people to take a chance,” said the Labour MP Carolyn Harris, who chairs a cross-party group of MPs investigating gambling-related harm.

“All too often this will lead to youngsters developing an addiction to gambling.”

Loot boxes are already deemed gambling products in countries including Belgium, where some companies have had to pull their games from the market.

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2...ss-loot-boxes-as-gambling-to-protect-children​
 
Do they draw the line at the exchange of real money or could it encompass RNG loot, for example, bought with in-game currency?
 
TheAlSpark said:
Do they draw the line at the exchange of real money or could it encompass RNG loot, for example, bought with in-game currency?
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The law is ancient and only considers the exchange of money as gambling. Gambling your car, house, or children isn't gambling...
 
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against EA in Canada Over Loot Boxes

paring you the legalese, the TL:DR summary of the plaintiffs’ case is this: loot boxes constitute gambling, and are prohibited by the gambling provisions of the Criminal Code and various other statutes.
(...)
What games are covered by the lawsuit?

Pretty much every game EA has published that involves loot boxes since 2008, including the Madden, FIFA, NHL, NBA Live (RIP), Mass Effect, Need for Speed, Plants vs Zombies and Battlefield series, as well as Apex Legends. So if you bought a loot box in any of these games since 2008, you are possibly covered by the suit.
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They're being sued for all the profits they did in Canada over the 60 games they launched with lootboxes.
 
So how do lawyers take their cut of the settlement?

...
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021...on-loot-box-settlement-with-in-game-currency/

Epic will pay off class-action loot-box settlement with in-game currency
Fortnite and Rocket League players will get over $78 million in digital goods.

Epic is set to settle a class-action lawsuit over its use of randomized loot boxes in Fortnite's "Save the World" mode by paying affected players with in-game currency. Rocket League players who previously purchased loot boxes in that game will also receive an in-game payment.

While Epic never offered loot boxes in Fortnite's mega-popular battle royale mode, it let "Save the World" players purchase "loot llamas" full of random items until early 2019 (amid international outcry about the randomized loot-box business and its similarity to gambling). Shortly after ending the practice, Epic was faced with a class-action lawsuit alleging, among other things, that it had "psychologically manipulate[d] its young players into thinking they will 'get lucky.'"

...
 
Yeah give the lawyers their cut in ingame digital goods as well :LOL:
the worse thing about anything like this is $78m in digital goods or a $10k holiday or a 100k car is none of these things is actually worth that amount of money. So say the lawyers cut is 7.8 million digital goods, how many real world dollars is that? I betcha they will get $7.8 million real world dollars
 
BRiT said:
Epic is set to settle a class-action lawsuit over its use of randomized loot boxes in Fortnite's "Save the World" mode by paying affected players with in-game currency. Rocket League players who previously purchased loot boxes in that game will also receive an in-game payment.
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If people paid with real money, I think they should be compensated with real money rather than some intangible token with no commercial value.
 
DSoup said:
If people paid with real money, I think they should be compensated with real money rather than some intangible token with no commercial value.
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but that will cost them a lot more.
Its like adobe saying they are giving away a million prizes of a years access to all their apps and saying they are giving away half a billion dollars of prizes. When it reality its prolly gonna decrease their revenues by less than 10% of that (not to mention all the exposure to their apps which may actually increase their revenues).
Or winning a $10000 dollar diamond, and then trying to sell it to a shop and the best offer you get is $1000

I was listening to a planet money episode about printers and HP talk about dodgy shit. A real criminal organization
 
Latest from the UK Gov on LootBoxes...

www.gamesindustry.biz

UK Government demands games companies protect children from loot boxes, but stops short of legislation

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport says that loot box customers are more likely to suffer gambling-related harms
www.gamesindustry.biz www.gamesindustry.biz

UK Government demands games companies protect children from loot boxes, but stops short of legislation
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport says that loot box customers are more likely to suffer gambling-related harms

The UK Government has today told the games industry it must take action on loot boxes, or risk future legislation.

In particular, it says children and young people should not be able to buy loot boxes without parental consent. However, it's allowing the games industry to regulate itself for now.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) launched a call for evidence on loot boxes in 2020, and found that players who purchase loot boxes are "more likely to experience gambling, mental health, financial and problem gaming-related harms". But it did not explicitly conclude that loot boxes are the same as gambling.

As a result, it will not be making changes to the Gambling Act. It said in the report: “Changing the Gambling Act with regards to loot boxes would have significant implementation challenges and risks of unintended consequences”. It also stated that the costs of doing so would be high.

...
 
BRiT said:
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) launched a call for evidence on loot boxes in 2020, and found that players who purchase loot boxes are "more likely to experience gambling, mental health, financial and problem gaming-related harms". But it did not explicitly conclude that loot boxes are the same as gambling.
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I'm always amused by statements like this. Do they have some kind of research study to back a claim that Loot boxes result in people being more likely to experience gambling related issues? Or is it that people that like to gamble purchase loot boxes?

I mean the end result is the same, but loot boxes aren't the problem they are just a symptom of the problem. If loot boxes don't exist, people that get an endorphin rush out of buying loot boxes will find other avenues to get that. Whether that be in the home (like Poker night) or on the street with street gambling activities or at actual gambling establishments. Or, at children's Gatcha machines which are the inspiration for loot boxes in games. Perhaps they don't exist in the UK, but they are everywhere in Japan and they also exist in the US.

Speaking of which, I'm surprised no-one is talking about regulating children's Gatcha machines.

Regards,
SB
 
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