8 ms·

It's like, gaming used to have some gambling flavor elements to it, but since ~2020 they gave up moderating it and everyone decided to go all-in on gamba. CSGO

• ascar 4y ago
  This effectively needs at least the same kind of regulation as Casinos. It's nothing else than gambling, arguably much worse and predatory in luring you in and making you spend money.
• gonzo41 4y ago
  It's kind of sad really, because the generation that's talking about this here are the same the people that had the best, and least adulterated versions of gaming growing up. So the grew up and ruined games going forward by making them only about money.
  • dylan604 4y ago
    Who did it? The gamers playing those games you just steamrolled, or the investors in the gaming companies that mandated to do whatever to make games more profitable? What generation those investors came from isn't relevant as these types of investors are in every generation as investors were not required to be gamers but just "savvy" business types.
    • gonzo41 4y ago
      Truthfully, its on the developers. Developer Talent could walk, but I suspect golden handcuffs and willful ignorance.
      • mLuby 4y ago
        I don't think game developers have golden handcuffs. Quite the opposite is what I hear, that they're often laid off after a game is released.
• eurasiantiger 4y ago
  They will just move on to countries with less regulation, which usually means poorer countries with less educated people. You can probably see where this is going. Banning rarely accomplishes anything, it just moves one appearance of the problem out of sight for a period of time.
  • skohan 4y ago
    You don’t think sparing hundreds of thousands of children from harm in the Netherlands accomplishes anything? Is it useless to ban children from using cocaine and rocket-propelled grenade launchers in the US just because they’re not banned in Somalia?
    • paulryanrogers 4y ago
      The Internet does make a country's regulations of such services weaker, yet does provide some barrier. Businesses will weigh the risks of being discovered and banned if they don't comply.
    • jakogut 4y ago
      Rocket propelled grenade launchers are federally legal [0] in the United States. Furthermore, there are no federal restrictions on children using legal firearms under adult supervision. I don't think it affects the point you're making, I just thought it might be interesting to share. [0] https://otbfirearms.com/airtronics-llc-rpg-live-dd-modernized-with-rails-fde-psrl-1/ https://otbfirearms.com/airtronics-llc-rpg-live-dd-modernize...
  • zamadatix 4y ago
    > They will just move on to countries with less regulation If there is worthwhile money to be made they'll already be going to those countries regardless what countries with regulation do.
  • leodriesch 4y ago
    Maybe if it’s just two countries right now, but if this ban would become EU wide gaming companies would have to care.
• discardable_dan 4y ago
  This is, honestly, why I'm focusing my children on Nintendo products. They do sometimes charge for skins, but by and large they don't succumb to the same "pay me to play" traps as other platforms.
  • eknkc 4y ago
    I have a Switch (got it when I had a surgery to ease the long recovery). The Nintendo IP is almost completely bullshit free. The success of Switch is nice too. FromSoftware is another bastion of hope. The popularity of Elden Ring is no coincidence.
    • Foomf 4y ago
      Why did you feel the need to justify your Switch purchase? Do people judge others over that sort of thing?
      • hprotagonist 4y ago
        this is gaming we’re talking about: yes, of course.
      • eknkc 4y ago
        Haha no, I wanted to emphasize how they are even doing the hardware different. The mobile form factor did fit my needs. Just fell short on the explanation. BTW gamer community is fucked up and people will judge each other on every single detail so you are not far off.
    • azalemeth 4y ago
      Honestly, I shamelessly took a switch into hospital and it was an absolute god-send. I couldn't manage it while on a fentanyl infusion, but combined with the drugs it was perfect – episodic gameplay, pick up and put down, and a wonderful form of escapism. The Witcher and Skyrim come highly recommended, after BOTW.
  • aclelland 4y ago
    Amazon Kids+ is also a really good option for younger kids. Got a large number of games for a few pounds a month. All the games are ad free and IAP free.
• seventytwo 4y ago
  > There will be no self-regulation. The idea of self-regulation is a lie told by corporations who don’t want regulation. Corporations will do literally anything to maximize their profits.
  • mromanuk 4y ago
    Goes deeper. Self-regulation is sold by hyper liberals and libertarians as the pinnacle of freedom in capitalism. From individuals to corporation, where any form of regulation or control should be excluded
    • withinboredom 4y ago
      Self-regulation lasts for half a generation, at most. Then people take over who wonder why they are doing the regulating in the first place and/or see how to game it for profit. I think it does work, just not for long enough to matter.
  • zeroonetwothree 4y ago
    Maximising profits is literally the entire goal of corporations. Why would that be surprising?
  • sicp-enjoyer 4y ago
    Video games are generally upheld as an example of good self regulation. In the US the ESRB review system was created entirely by the industry. It has universal adoption and is enforced by almost every retailer (despite being a diverse group). Futhermore the ESRB has much clearer standards than the equivalent for films. Is it impossible to imagine the industry creating a similar system around online transactions or gambling?
• davidweatherall 4y ago
  Gambling in the gaming world is even more prominent on Twitch and it's not even pretending to be gaming related anymore. An incognito screenshot of Twitch I captured just now https://i.imgur.com/fgXDAHB.png https://i.imgur.com/fgXDAHB.png - The biggest streamer on the platform is currently streaming real money (crypto) online Slots gambling to 100k+ viewers, and a second streamer in the top 5 category is also streaming Slots. Supposedly these streamers make millions per month from these gaming sponsorships to pretend to lose their own money in order to convince their already primed audience to become addicts to these same sites. Children brought up on gaming have been conditioned into becoming the perfect audience for unregulated crypto gambling companies to advertise to and ruin their lives
  • api 4y ago
    My take on cryptocurrency has become: it’s also all gambling, and for that reason I no longer think there is any chance of it going to zero. Absent regulation there is a simply massive market for gambling. It’s shameless exploitation but people will do it (on both ends). Most of this stuff is actually worse than casinos. Casinos have a social component, employ people, and are often at least a little regulated so that the odds can’t be absolutely 100% toward the house. Also you win actual money not a virtual game item.
    • skohan 4y ago
      Long term, Casinos absolutely have odds slanted toward the house. With the exception of a very few games, like blackjack, which can be effectively gamed, a gambler will statistically be guaranteed to go broke as the number of games approaches infinity.
      • sokoloff 4y ago
        That’s true of pit and slots games, but there are people who make a living playing poker in casinos. (It’s a player-vs-player hosted game with the casino taking a rake or seat charge rather than a player-vs-house game.)
• Aerroon 4y ago
  >The stance of NL and belgium of just banning all games that have gambling elements, is truly the only path forward. It means that you, the user, don't get to play the games you want to play or it will have no effect. Publishers will figure out ways around it and you're never going to stamp it out as long as there is demand for it. I don't like Diablo Immortal's monetization, so I don't play it. I suggest everyone else should do the exact same thing. If you're a parent then you should forbid your kid from playing games like that too. Getting lawmakers involved in regular video games is just going to end in disaster. They're not exactly known for making sensible laws or even understanding the subject matter.
  • DandyDev 4y ago
    "Going to end in disaster" -> that's hyperbole The fact that the Belgian and Dutch governments label these predatory microtransaction schemes as gambling, shows that they understand the subject matter perfectly fine. Yes, you and I can sensibly choose not to play those games or spend money on them. But lots of people can't. That's why laws regulating gambling exist. Nobody is saying that you can't play these games. Those gaming companies just have to accept that their products are a form of gambling and will be regulated and taxed as such.
    • Aerroon 4y ago
      >Nobody is saying that you can't play these games. The Dutch and Belgian government quite literally are saying that you can't though. Of course, in practice it just means Dutch and Belgian players will pretend they're from another European country via VPN. >Those gaming companies just have to accept that their products are a form of gambling and will be regulated and taxed as such. I'm not sure if you're saying this in bad faith, are ignorant of gambling laws or truly believe this. If you were to regulate video games with gambling laws then that video game ceases to exist. Nobody can afford to publish even a remotely complex game while following gambling regulations, because every single country makes their own rules on that. You would essentially be creating a game for one country only. And at that point why bother? Just push out another actual slotmachine. You cut development costs by multiple orders of magnitude and increase accessibility of the game. Of course, in practice the countries that regulate it would just be banned. And the players would play the game via VPN. Also, what I'm saying is that when dozens of countries come up with new rules some of them are going to do something stupid with them. You're asking for legally mandated region locks in gaming. Just to be clear, I don't like these games either. I hate that game companies do this.
• RGamma 4y ago
  I remember when we used to decry the "miniaturisation of addon content" with the DLC craze (instead of proper expansions) and then the preorder boni and season passes and what not (oh, the simple days). Turbo capitalistic exploitation of games is festering; and now it's more important than ever to support the good-spirited studios.
• EricMausler 4y ago
  Nothing has really improved upon csgo skins either. People forget that csgo skins were tradeable for currency. Not a USD type currency without breaking terms, sure, but steam bucks have some liquidity. If I got lucky on a csgo case, I could go buy a different video game Now if I get lucky in most of these other models, I can't even use that luck to buy more cases
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