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

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)_/¯

 

That's at 5 years old IIRC.

*hic*

 

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.

 

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

​

 

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.

 

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?

 

It's also illegal if done with in-game currency, but only in the in-game law, punishable with in-game encarceration.

 

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

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
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

 

That would be fun

 

If people paid with real money, I think they should be compensated with real money rather than some intangible token with no commercial value.

 

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

 

Exactly, I don't think you're really getting my sentiment here which is fuck Epic.