The fight against loot boxes and gambling in gaming

[Bradley Prior]

The fight against loot boxes and gambling in gaming

Regulators around the world began cracking down on a practice in the game industry known as “loot boxes” this past year.

Loot boxes are a mechanism where companies allow players to buy a randomised selection of in-game items for real-world currency.

 

[Nick333]

Ja, it's shyt, but do we really want to start regulating games?

 

[Sayf777]

Yes it needs to be regulated. Either make the game free and allow the in game purchases or provide a fully paid for game where there's no ptw.

 

[Jan]

If regulators around the world start classifying these tactics as gambling, I wonder if our government will ban "triple-A" games from being sold in South Africa like they want to do with online gambling?

 

[porchrat]

This loot box model allows for free to play games as a business model doesn't it?

How else do we expect these companies to make money?

 

[Jan]

This loot box model allows for free to play games as a business model doesn't it?

It's an interesting question, as people only really have a problem with this when it's games you pay full price for like Battlefront, Shadow of War, and to an exent, Destiny 2.

That said, F2P games don't have to use loot boxes. They can just sell you in-game items like skins and stuff, or "boosters" to help you grind faster for a period.

 

[Fulcrum29]

I only really have an issue with this when it is purely paid to win, buying boosts. Cosmetics, DLC, expansions may be charged. Pay to win will at some point alienate those who don’t have the means.

Steam is a whole other issue, it is a market which may be ‘abusive’ and there are third-party plugins into that market which is ‘abusive’. This is gambling, and odds may be pre-programmed.

Then you get $60-$90 AAA titles with $15-$30 items in their in-game store. This though, it something which only has worth in the game and there is no value. I have seen games with ridiculous grinds, the devs/publishers making it as tedious as possible, but they dangle a $10-$20 boost to get over that hurdle.

 

[Vegeta]

Loot boxes are gambling and should be regulated as such. Buying physical toys or virtual items that feature in the game is not, simple as that.

How is a loot box different to a slot machine, you put money in it goes through a "random" process and gives you a result for which you receive a "winning" or a waste of your money

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

If it doesn't give you an unfair advantage over other players (as in PvP) - it's purely jealousy and people really should not give a toss about others. It only becomes an issue when there's unfair advantage.

 

[GoB]

I don't see the point in regulating gambling.

If you gamble, whether regulated or not, you waste your own money.

If it's about not liking how a game exploits it's users.... have better principles. Learn to spot these tactics and don't support them.

 

[Vegeta]

GoB I get what you're saying but it does ruin the experience. Imagine going to watch a movie with loot boxes
Problem is that people do support the practice just like gambling or drugs and other addiction so the companies will soon make all games that way. Suppose i'll have to take up carpentry or cooking then

 

[hackus17]

I think the biggest issue is when these boxes hinder you from making sufficient progress or locking certain things away unless you pay

 

[smb3]

I think consumers are the biggest problem.

Why buy a full game and then pay more on top of it? If you didn't do this behavior, there's no incentive for companies to use the loot box model. You can't blame a company for taking advantage of your spending habits. They need to make a profit at the end of the day.

 

[Sayf777]

I think consumers are the biggest problem.

Why buy a full game and then pay more on top of it? If you didn't do this behavior, there's no incentive for companies to use the loot box model. You can't blame a company for taking advantage of your spending habits. They need to make a profit at the end of the day.

Why buy a full game and have a potential pay to win element? That's not a question to ask the consumer. They make the money from the games. It's not the free to pay to play games with in game purchases.

 

[Swa]

I think consumers are the biggest problem.

Why buy a full game and then pay more on top of it? If you didn't do this behavior, there's no incentive for companies to use the loot box model. You can't blame a company for taking advantage of your spending habits. They need to make a profit at the end of the day.

Buying more isn't the issue. Lots of games nowadays are crippled unless you buy in-game items, DLCs or extended editions. It's all well when it's cosmetics or something like a soundtrack or art but a lot of it offers an advantage over other players and incentivises publishers to cripple their games for regular players. The loot box model is especially devious as the adrenaline rush during gameplay causes people to not think normally and keep buying until they get what they want instead of picking from a predefined selection.

 

[rietrot]

Yes it needs to be regulated. Either make the game free and allow the in game purchases or provide a fully paid for game where there's no ptw.

Absolutely not. You can't protect stupid people from themselves. It isn't any governments job to nanny it's citizens.

Everyone knows what a pay to win game is and to avoid it.

 

[rietrot]

I don't see the point in regulating gambling.

If you gamble, whether regulated or not, you waste your own money.

If it's about not liking how a game exploits it's users.... have better principles. Learn to spot these tactics and don't support them.

O no, can't have that. People always want someone else to ride in on a white horse and save them.

 

[whatwhat]

I don't see the point in regulating gambling.

If you gamble, whether regulated or not, you waste your own money.

If it's about not liking how a game exploits it's users.... have better principles. Learn to spot these tactics and don't support them.

For the government it is more about the tax they collect. It gets especially tricky if you are in SA but place a bet on a server somewhere else in the world as you are essentially also doing forex transfer.

 

[whatwhat]

I think the biggest issue is when these boxes hinder you from making sufficient progress or locking certain things away unless you pay

These boxes just unlock time. You can play most F2P games without an issue, it will just take you 1-2 years to achieve something that someone with a credit card can do in a week.

Go look at the top clans in South Africa that play competitively (Clash of Clans, etc.) and you'll see they spend about 10-30K ZAR a month on these games.

 

[Sayf777]

Absolutely not. You can't protect stupid people from themselves. It isn't any governments job to nanny it's citizens.

Everyone knows what a pay to win game is and to avoid it.

Are we talking about the same thing?
This is companies charging full price for a game and then charging for in app purchases (ptw element).
Why should they be allowed to do that esp if it hinders progress if there is no in game purchase?