5 ms·

I find it hard why chance-based lootboxes are not banned for kids' games. They are basically normalizing gambling at a very young age, with all of the negative

I find it hard why chance-based lootboxes are not banned for kids' games. They are basically normalizing gambling at a very young age, with all of the negative potential that that brings. This might be the only thing that US Sen. Josh Hawley from Missouri and I agree on, given his sponsorship of S.1629: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1629/text https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/162...

GordonS 3y ago
> They are basically normalizing gambling at a very young age I feel the same way, and it's why I won't allow my kids to play any games that include loot boxes. I never play such games myself either. I'm hoping that the EU legislates against this, which in turn I hope causes others to follow suit.
- jandrese 3y ago
  I completely agree, and it is also why I don't play Collectable Card Games. Not only does it normalize gambling, but it's outright wasteful.
hospitalJail 3y ago
On the bright side, maybe these gambling things will 'get old'. I know as an adult, I never got sucked into farmvile, modern call of duty/FPS, or a serious MMO. I played these as a child/teen, I already knew how they worked, nothing interesting. Now the only things that get me going are novel games like Minecraft/Papers Please/etc... I really hate gambling and I'd love for adults to be bored of it. However I think I know better. Gambling/addictive exploitation might be bad enough to call upon government, however I doubt they will be competent enough to actually remove it.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  The fact that they only really pull in people susceptible to gambling addiction makes it worse, not better. If the games were actually fun, but some people just couldn't help but put a thousand dollars into it, maybe it would be harder to justify ending it. But making a game fun is actually not useful for taking advantage of gambling addicts. They don't get their fix from the game being fun, but rather from having something "at stake". In fact, the things you want to do to better target that dopamine rush tend to make the system a worse "game", as rewards get skewed, incentives get hijacked, and everything else gets a cost associated with it. They're only purpose is to "mine" the addicts as if they were an oil well.

GordonS 3y ago

> They are basically normalizing gambling at a very young age I feel the same way, and it's why I won't allow my kids to play any games that include loot boxes. I never play such games myself either. I'm hoping that the EU legislates against this, which in turn I hope causes others to follow suit.

jandrese 3y ago
I completely agree, and it is also why I don't play Collectable Card Games. Not only does it normalize gambling, but it's outright wasteful.

hospitalJail 3y ago

On the bright side, maybe these gambling things will 'get old'. I know as an adult, I never got sucked into farmvile, modern call of duty/FPS, or a serious MMO. I played these as a child/teen, I already knew how they worked, nothing interesting. Now the only things that get me going are novel games like Minecraft/Papers Please/etc... I really hate gambling and I'd love for adults to be bored of it. However I think I know better. Gambling/addictive exploitation might be bad enough to call upon government, however I doubt they will be competent enough to actually remove it.

mrguyorama 3y ago
The fact that they only really pull in people susceptible to gambling addiction makes it worse, not better. If the games were actually fun, but some people just couldn't help but put a thousand dollars into it, maybe it would be harder to justify ending it. But making a game fun is actually not useful for taking advantage of gambling addicts. They don't get their fix from the game being fun, but rather from having something "at stake". In fact, the things you want to do to better target that dopamine rush tend to make the system a worse "game", as rewards get skewed, incentives get hijacked, and everything else gets a cost associated with it. They're only purpose is to "mine" the addicts as if they were an oil well.