Wait…lootboxes are being banned?
No. They are now under review at the FTC. One day, there might be regulations to control them. But this is Washington D.C., where things move within its own, much slower, space-time continuum, and those in charge can’t even agree on what to order for lunch.
At this stage, it’s a non-story. The 24/7 news media made it one for a short time just for the clicks.
This isn’t even the first time D.C. has gone after something in the game industry. Circa 2006, Senator Hillary Clinton forced an investigation into game industry practices. It promptly disappeared from Congress the moment the 2008 election cycle hit full tilt.
The 2020 election is due to hit first gear very soon, this is will blow over or disappear. Don’t expect anything to come of it.
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Ok, thanks, was confused as to what was going on.
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Yeah, The Quartering at YouTube ran the story a week or two ago, when news sites reported it. And other outlets picked it up from there. It really isn’t a story at all, but it forced fear and debate with gamers, so it did its job: it generated clicks.
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Hmm. The money isn’t … GONE I guess. But it sure isn’t easily available for someone who wants to make a one and done game.
The EU is looking at it, and they can move pretty fast. Belgium already banned them and others look likely to follow, including the UK so the game industry is trying to get ahead of the program and find a new business model.
You think that’s gambling?
Try picking from a bowl of grapes and praying for a not sour and hard one.
Reward: you get a good tasting grape
Consequence: you’re forced to eat the rest of the grape because you don’t want to waste grapes
Asking the impossible there.
I’m glad we’re getting a clarification from authorities on what is considered gambling and what isn’t. I’m leaning towards the same conclusion as they are, that it is gambling. There is a random chance of getting something of the boxes and you’re never guaranteed to get what you want. To me, that’s a very good example of what gambling is.
Chances are now that the EU will move towards making loot boxes fall in under gambling laws, and those laws will cower both the EU zones as well as the EEA countries - like Norway - effectively making loot boxes illegal in the entire EU, which is a big market for companies like Blizzard.
Simiple, it’s anti consumer. it’s gambling after you’ve paid full retail price for a game.
it’s a matter of principle and doing good.
I’m astonished you’re defending a preditory practice that is an exploitive skinner box. it doesn’t bode well for the future of games.
I think you guys shouldn’t even consider talking about banning lootboxes considering Blizzard is already not doing well, to say the least.
If you want to buy lootbox then buy and if not, then don’t, simple as that.
here here. also thank you for replying on my thread last night.
i wanted to say that i did defend the tweaking of non astheticly pleasing characters and even men who were … but yeah.
but thanks for hearing me out, even if we didn’t agree.
that was for the hot Coffee debacle… because H R C wanted to protect the children. from polygons… when she didn’t care about Kosovo and the kids that died there.
when someone says they’re doing it “for the children” one should always bristle because someone has an ulterior motive when ever they say that.
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Excuse me? Even with the dip in stock prices (which by the way is a thing across the game industry as a whole and not any one company) we are still talking about a company taking in a multi billion dollar profit. I’ll repeat that last for you as well. Multi. Billion. Dollar. Profit.
sure, i’m all against bans. i think they often overstep what they’re intended to do but the idea that no one should question it. or not even consider…
that’s suspect and not something that will elevate the conversation.
Why mourn a cooperation money is more important than consumer relations? what was once an April Fools joke 4 years ago is reality now because those passionate about the games have been replaced with bean counters.
a thing across the board? it was steady till blizcon 2018…
imgur com/a/BpJXGAQ
i hope you forgive my skepticism but you’ll need harder proof for your stuff.
… that’s a poor analogy.
it’s more like a Gachapon… that is expensive… and that there’s no guarantee of what you’re getting…
that’s an awful lot like gambling. you put in money and there is no way to know what you get… after you payed full retail price for a game…
not because blizzard has any trouble funding the game. goodness no. but because they see the customer as a cow to be milked.
Most find it an “unethical business move” to make fast money off of customers instead of relying on their customer’s faith and support for them in a more “faithful way” like how with most games, they allow you to purchase whatever item you want with the money you bought it with. (Ex. When buying a lootbox, you want to get that one item badly so most keep buying until they get it and they may never do)
I guess they figured if the lootboxes get banned, then all of the money they spent wasting on them to get that one cosmetic they wanted may now be able to be purchased separate or just buy currency for said skin. Fans want a sure way of getting their money’s worth.
I buy lootboxes and I see why people wouldn’t want them. Everything is up to “chance” after all. It can be considered “gambling” if a anyone under 21 tried to get items, especially children constantly trying to take “mommy or daddy’s credit card” and purchase something over and over for the skin they want without their parents knowing, instead of using it one to buy said skin.
Even in Pokemon they had to change the “Gambler” trainer’s name as well as the Celadon City “Arcade” to not promote gambling because it was supposedly “promoting it” since children played so it’s not just Overwatch with the issue.
sadly, the EU even has age restrictions on simulated gambling… which took out the gambling minigames in the pokemon series because they didn’t want a pegi teen raiting…
go figure.
those didn’t cost real money and i would say are just about harmless since it was simulation.
Authority can over step and under step. i just hope that everyone keeps talking and that authorities, who or what ever they are, are not hamfisted.
we have these looboxes because of a lack of regulation… and then banning the comparatively harmless simulations… as over regulation.
hopefully, if everyone keeps talking we’ll see what a good compromise looks like.
that said, even i in my anti loobox stance see that … yes, you have a point.
Should it be a position of any authority to ban something outright, even with the best intentions?
when’s the last time that ever panned out well and not cause more problems?
i made another post where Europe bans even gambling simulations and i think that’s something silly to ban since no money is involved there.
sure one could argue that kids shouldn’t be exposed to that kind of skinnerboxing but i say media doesn’t have that strong of an effect on people… i mean i’ll side with the science over “what if” any day.