An online casino in GTA V? Really?

[digitalwanderer]

Just posted this on my Facebook page, no idea why as not many people there will understand it but it's how i stay in touch with a lot of old friends from forums that are no longer.

Grand Theft Auto V is still my favorite PC game, but I've never ever played it online nor do I want to. I don't game online, I don't have the time for a game without a pause button and I can't inconvenience friends saying, "Hold on a few!", all the time so I just don't.
My son does, and he keeps me posted on what's the what with it. If you run in to digitalwanderer on Steam be warned, it's technically my account but my son has been using it for a decade and a half now and he is freaking SCARY good. (I don't go telling everyone that, it's nice to have a rep for being a killer on line for your age. LOL)
GTA V just introduced a casino in to the online game. I got real mixed feelings on it; on one hand I think it's a terrible idea, on the other I think it's a REALLY terrible idea that's just rife for abuse. I hated the hats, drop boxes, and basically any kind of microtransactional in-game opportunities to spend monies. Once you buy a game that should be it, you own the game. You shouldn't be forced to spend more money to be able to compete or to get a competitive edge, and drop boxes and hats are just kiddy bait to steal from people who don't know better/understand statistics.
But a casino? Sure, R* (Rockstar, the company that makes/publishes GTA, which is "Grand Theft Auto") has put it as many safety features as they can to make it so you can't actually win real money in the casinos...but you can spend real world money to get chips for the casino and with some clever use of the black market some people could profit off it. More importantly to me though too many fools will be losing their real money to play in a casino game world, that's bad for all PC gaming imho.
So I'm real torn and keeping an eye on this one, the BBC had a pretty good write up on it and I'm having my other other self tracking it in the virtual world and will keep y'all posted on it. (Not that you care, but at least 3 of you are interested and that's enough for me. )

Then of course I forgot to put the link to the BBC story, courtesy of Blue's News.

 

[homerdog]

That doesn't sound nearly as bad as a lot of games where you can straight up use real money to gamble on in game items. Call of Duty releases "DLC" weapons that are clearly better than the existing weapons and only accessible via gambling (I think they call it "loot boxes" or something similar).

It makes me wonder, could you open an actual online casino and skirt gambling laws by selling the casino chips in loot boxes?

 

[digitalwanderer]

I'm against all microtransactions like that Homerdog, it kills the fun and makes it more of a "buy your way to victory" thing.

And yup, it was loot boxes and drop boxes. They wouldn't sell those, they'd sell keys to them if you found them. It's a ethically questionable tactic of marketing non-real items to kids who don't know any better that really bothers me. I remember when my son was younger and hats were the craze in Team Fortress or something, he'd spend real money just to have a useless hat that was only decorative in an online game? WTF? Save your monies for games, not frilly game accessories!

He did learn, that was long ago and he hasn't fallen victim to microtransactions since and has been on the alert for them and avoids them like the plague. He only plays games he buys, and he's as bad as I am about always wanting to upgrade and get maximum bang for buck. How do digital hats fit in to that equation well?

Sorry, just don't want to see more people screwed or gaming get any more fucked up than it already is. Money screws up everything.

 

[Malo]

Games like FIFA with their loot boxes for players and age ratings of 3+ are much worse than a game with an age rating of 17+ overtly bringing gambling in-game that only allows you to win more in-game money. That you can spend real money for this gambling is of course just Take Two continuing to milk as much money from players and is just insane greed, but that's normal for these huge publishers. Is it good? No, it's sickening how much these companies and their executives make. But that's capitalism.

 

[homerdog]

It's by far the best thing ever for EA. Over 1/4 of all their revenue came from FIFA card packs. Not including sales of the game, just the loot boxes. This should be over a billion dollars of 100% profit as it costs them nothing. This basically makes "real" casinos obsolete in terms of making money for the owners since EA does not have to pay out anything to "winners", just flip a few bits on their servers.

This should probably be illegal but at least the game should earn an AO (18+) rating for this mechanic. Boobies = 17+, online gambling = Approved if you can hold the controller?

 

[Pressure]

Come on guys, you know they are called "surprise mechanics" and not loot boxes or gambling!

 

[homerdog]

Your 8yo son got addicted and spent $3000 on fifa packs SURPRISE MUTHAFUCKA

Although some sympathy is retracted if you store your cc on your kids xbox account.

 

[Tkumpathenurple]

Boobies = 17+, online gambling = Approved if you can hold the controller?

17+ to see some tits, yet you were most likely suckling on some as an infant.

Apparently lawmakers think that holding a controller is a more natural state of being...

 

[Bludd]

well if lootboxes were maybe sorta gambling, this is overt and will probably have some european commission stuff going soon

 

[Entropy]

17+ to see some tits, yet you were most likely suckling on some as an infant.

Apparently lawmakers think that holding a controller is a more natural state of being...

This is, or at least used to be, a purely American phenomenon. (The ”breasts considered harmful” even to women which is a concept I struggle to wrap my mind around.)

I’m old enough to have seen my own country being influenced by American morals through media. It’s weird to see us regress not only from where we were during my youth, but from where we were a century ago in this respect.

 

[Malo]

It's more a religious stupidity IMO, with America being dominated in government and media with religion-based moral codes (at least on the surface).

 

[Silent_Buddha]

It's more a religious stupidity IMO, with America being dominated in government and media with religion-based moral codes (at least on the surface).

And yet it's the erosion of those moral codes that allows an increasing proliferation of gambling as well as depictions of graphic violence and sexuality.

Compare the violence portrayed in Superhero comics, shows, and movies when they voluntarily applied a "moral code of ethics" to avoid government censure to Superhero comics, shows and movies today.

Or just look at the level of violence in pre WW2 movies to movies of today.

I think what restraints we see in games and media today has far more to do with Political Correctness than any ties to religious moral codes. You see far more verbose opposition to sexual depictions in media and games from secular bodies than you do religious bodies nowadays, IMO. OTOH those secular bodies seem fine with depictions of graphical violence while religious bodies are far more opposed to depictions of graphical violence.

I'm not saying any particular group or stance is correct or incorrect, but I do find it interesting that the myth persists that it's all due to religious influence when games and media are far more influenced by secular groups than religious groups.

Regards,
SB

 

[Malo]

And yet it's the erosion of those moral codes that allows an increasing proliferation of gambling as well as depictions of graphic violence and sexuality.

Sorry I was referring to the discussion of breasts and age restrictions more than the thread topic, should have quoted as such.

 

[Entropy]

Sorry I was referring to the discussion of breasts and age restrictions more than the thread topic, should have quoted as such.

Yup, outside of GPU accelerated boob physics, breasts are off topic here.
On topic though, and as a parent, establishing gambling habits seems like a way greater danger to my daughters (and other people) than pixelized breasts. I reject games that encourage gambling for that reason.

For gaming, it’s like pissing in your own drinking water.

 

[homerdog]

Yup, outside of GPU accelerated boob physics, breasts are off topic here.
On topic though, and as a parent, establishing gambling habits seems like a way greater danger to my daughters (and other people) than pixelized breasts. I reject games that encourage gambling for that reason.

For gaming, it’s like pissing in your own drinking water.

Sounds like you don't understand the dangers of the titty. It's a slippery slope. One viewed nipslip and your kids are on the road to eternal damnation or worse becoming democrats.

 

[Entropy]

Sounds like you don't understand the dangers of the titty. It's a slippery slope. One viewed nipslip and your kids are on the road to eternal damnation or worse becoming democrats.

I was a bit sloppy in my last sentence. It should say ”For the gaming industry, it’s like pissing in your own drinking water.”

Gambling and ”surprise mechanics” are clearly dubious, and invites further scrutiny. Computer gaming is not exactly critical for the functioning of our society, and if non sympathetic eyes take a long hard look there is a fair bit of less than perfectly wholesome things going on. Nobody wants a government body checking every product and developers and publishers tip toeing to avoid their wrath.

”Gambling” is not the same as ”playing a game”, so it pollutes the medium regardless of the mental health aspect. Slot machines are already invented, they are very, very simple and bring nothing to computer gaming. Just avoid the irrelevant crap, you can make a fortune selling virtual hats instead, and nobody will mind.
Much.

 

[Malo]

So TakeTwo are really digging the graves of these huge publishers, and hopefully mobile markets too. Apparently a lot of the gambling mechanics are not available to GTA Online players in almost 60 countries that have more strict gambling laws. But it's not gambling right? Apparently TT didn't want to challenge the laws.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gtaonline/comments/cgqza2

Really hope this helps the governments take a look at what these companies are doing and wake up to the fact that all these other games with exactly the same mechanics, especially mobile games, are no different and should all be restricted.

 

[milk]

Gambling is about the monetary reward, not the tyoenof game. You can still play black jack, for example, in countries where gambling is forbidden as long as there is not betting and money rewards involved. I don't see what's wrong with gta here.

 

[digitalwanderer]

It does at least seem like R* is bending over backwards to make the system abuse proof, kudos to them for that. I still think they're playing with fire a bit, but they're not exactly known for staying in the box and not taking chances. LOL

 

[Malo]

Gambling is about the monetary reward, not the tyoenof game. You can still play black jack, for example, in countries where gambling is forbidden as long as there is not betting and money rewards involved. I don't see what's wrong with gta here.

It's real money to gamble though. Whilst there isn't a real money reward, you're still spending actual money to literally gamble. The fact that it's not available in so many countries indicates how much TT legal thinks there is a problem there.