Microtransactions: the Future of Games? (LootBoxes and Gambling)
Billy Idol
Legend
Good point: regular Card games are not comparable, as you get a physical product for your money, which (in theory) you can resell in many different markets. In games, you spend money and can get literally nothing in return. I have to admit that it is an unbelievable clever system and kind of a genius move from this Wilson guy. Although in my opinion his genius move is destroying the gaming industry.
The only chance for this to stop and stoping this direction all of the industry is going towards to is to the governments starting to regulate all these Casino games.
For instance, FIFA should not be allowed to be sold to people under gambling age...which is for instance 18 or 19 here in Germany.
Billy Idol
Legend
Right now, they can do whatever they want...there isn’t even a guaranteed RNG. Who knows? Maybe they implement it such that without payed lootboxes, your chances of legendaries is reduced by a factor of 100.
Or you buy a booster to increase your chances and it just does nothing, because they don’t want it.
They can do whatever they want basically, without proper regulation.
The could also sell you XP boosters to make the grind easier...than internally throttle down the XP grind to compensate and downright negate the effect of the real money bought item....oh wait, Bungie already invented this in D2 ;-)
Or you buy a booster to increase your chances and it just does nothing, because they don’t want it.
They can do whatever they want basically, without proper regulation.
The could also sell you XP boosters to make the grind easier...than internally throttle down the XP grind to compensate and downright negate the effect of the real money bought item....oh wait, Bungie already invented this in D2 ;-)
Absolutely true. We've seen notifcations saying you get n XP only to be awarded less than that. They can lie and cheat about all their RNG. If just a game, it doesn't matter what happens behind the scenes, but when you're paying for the chance and they can lie and cheat, it definitely should be regulated if to be consistent with the rest our laws and activities.
I assume that EU has stricter rules about this than the rest of world, as usual.
And even if the EU is slow, if they do find out that this is "unfair" practice and gambling, well I expect a big slap will come down.
I do like the idea of Riverboat Fifa gaming
Press X to Pay for a chance to see another person open a box for a chance at respect ?
Very interesting article.
He mentions even allowing for inflation EA spent $300m less this year on development compared to 2009.
But the aspect which draws all large publishers/studios is the margin for a product (game) and that for a service and other (includes DLC); The game itself has a margin of around 60% while the recurring service/DLC has around 80% and this is from their 2015 financials according to the article.
IMO the other negative effect is that there is less incentive to build an actually good game as it can be saved somewhat by the recurring service ala Evolve and a few others.
However like I mentioned earlier, why the F mainstream press or mainstream gaming publications did not kick up a major fuss around FIFA/Madden/etc that is blatant exploitive recurring revenue.
When one weighs risk/development/revenue the major publishers will always push for a heavy recurring revenue mechanism, even if a game does not necessarily warrant it - back to finding the right balance which sadly a few publishers are not interested in and these help to set the precedent.
haha "macrotransactions". $100 for a mount loot box, 1 random mount from of 42 different types. Yes I know that mobile games have packs of shit going up to those amounts but that's for in-game currency and we're talking about a single item here. Thus "macro".
I don't quite understand the progression of MT pricing. The first attempts, $5 horse armour, was laughed off and quickly died as over-priced crap. How come there's been such a price change in MTs then? Why was $5 for a cosmetic item a joke and an insult back then, but, for the same gamer audience, now pricey costumes and ongoing expenses are okay?
People with disposable income who don't care? They're targeted to those spenders who keep buying them thus it continues (and gets worse).
Ars had an article on the legislator paying attention to loot boxes: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017...-to-do-something-about-video-game-loot-boxes/
Hawaii’s Chris Lee wants to protect minors from “psychological manipulation”
While plenty of gamers are fed up with the practice, one gamer who happens to be a Hawaiian state legislator is trying to do something about it.
Last month, state representative Chris Lee publicly launched his effort to pass legislation regulating the sales of video games with loot boxes in Hawaii. In a press conference flanked by religious and business leaders, parents, and affected gamers, he called out “predatory practices in online gaming and the significant financial consequences they can have on families.” Battlefront 2 got specific condemnation as a “Star Wars-themed online casino” in Lee’s telling.
Rep. Lee doesn’t use the word “predatory” lightly in describing loot boxes. He says it’s an appropriate adjective for game makers who are knowingly exploiting addictive gambling mechanisms to manipulate players and increase their bottom line. “We know inside the development process for many of these games that there are clear and deliberate decisions being made to employ these kinds of mechanisms with the full knowledge of the effects they can have,” he told Ars in a recent interview. “That's made obvious by kinds of people who have been employed, including psychologists and other sorts of experts.”
“This issue is not about regulating content or speech or anything like that,” he continued. “It’s about protecting public health when there is unquestionably a significant impact, particularly on children and youth. As elected leaders, we clearly have an obligation to prevent an industry from exploiting people.”
Hawaii’s Chris Lee wants to protect minors from “psychological manipulation”
While plenty of gamers are fed up with the practice, one gamer who happens to be a Hawaiian state legislator is trying to do something about it.
Last month, state representative Chris Lee publicly launched his effort to pass legislation regulating the sales of video games with loot boxes in Hawaii. In a press conference flanked by religious and business leaders, parents, and affected gamers, he called out “predatory practices in online gaming and the significant financial consequences they can have on families.” Battlefront 2 got specific condemnation as a “Star Wars-themed online casino” in Lee’s telling.
Rep. Lee doesn’t use the word “predatory” lightly in describing loot boxes. He says it’s an appropriate adjective for game makers who are knowingly exploiting addictive gambling mechanisms to manipulate players and increase their bottom line. “We know inside the development process for many of these games that there are clear and deliberate decisions being made to employ these kinds of mechanisms with the full knowledge of the effects they can have,” he told Ars in a recent interview. “That's made obvious by kinds of people who have been employed, including psychologists and other sorts of experts.”
“This issue is not about regulating content or speech or anything like that,” he continued. “It’s about protecting public health when there is unquestionably a significant impact, particularly on children and youth. As elected leaders, we clearly have an obligation to prevent an industry from exploiting people.”
I wonder where people draw the line and why? Almost all advertising is using psychological tricks to get people to buy. Kids TV is rife with manipulative advertising that works and gets kids to nag their parents for crap they don't really want that'll end up in a drawer for 5 years before hitting the garage sale. Newspapers are written according to manipulative psychological tricks to sell papers. In fact people use psychological tricks fairly often in trying to get what they want.
Again, not excusing Loot Boxes, but unsure quite of where that legal argument - using psychologists to improve company profitability - actually takes us.
Again, not excusing Loot Boxes, but unsure quite of where that legal argument - using psychologists to improve company profitability - actually takes us.
At least when my kids nag me for that toy they see on TV and I spend money on it, I'm actually getting that toy rather than a chance to get the toy
That is exactly why I despise the current lootbox scheme. RNG Lucifer.
I might not mind the current scheme if they had the RNG item list be from Skills you dont already have. I really dont want a 17th copy of the Sugar Weapon skin when I have a dozen Horde Skills that I never ever got yet and cant even use until I have been blessed by RNG Jesus at least once.
They should work it like a skill tree. You use ingame credits to buy skill points that you can apply exactly how you want. It would likely even increase their revenue if people could get exactly what they want instead of RNG Jesus blessings.
I think this too. Most of us are savvy to the shit value of LBs so we don't buy them. If you could get something you wanted for a quid/buck, you'd be far more likely to bite. And I'm sure a million players all spending a few bucks extra is better than a few thousand suckers parting with 100s of dollars each. I'm genuinely surprised no-one's even tried that. It's like the console industry was infected by the mobile industry and now can't think for itself any more.
How would that be different to pay 2 win or publishers seduced into making levelling/skill point gains a major grind to encourage more players to spend real cash for in-game currency?
Personally I am fine with it as long as it is not integral to game mechanics, meaning no class/skill related progession or such as Shadows of War turning a core aspect into a commodity such as Orcs that you can control.
Because quite a few publishers cannot help themselves to push it too far unfortunately and form the foundations generally going forward if it ends up "accepted" by consumers.
I think we're in agreement.
I never said one should pay real money for it. It's some of the acceptable grind we've had for years. You play the game more and you can keep building up your character. Perhaps similar to RPG skill tree progressions like in Diablo 2 or similar games.
That's really how I envisioned the Gears of War 4 horde system to work, but that's not what we got. Instead we got mini version of RiverBoat gambling (but far worse stench and desperation) with extreme randomization involved to push people to spend real money.
I am also fine with cosmetic only MT, because as you said it doesn't impact the game-play at all.
Ah ok yeah