4 ms·

Honestly, I wish they would tackle loot crates first. Obvious gambling mechanic that gamifies people's wallets for exorbitant cashouts. Whether they publish the

Honestly, I wish they would tackle loot crates first. Obvious gambling mechanic that gamifies people's wallets for exorbitant cashouts. Whether they publish the odds or not.

Ekaros 3y ago
I never understood how gacha games and loot boxes are allowed in first place... Or why people spend money on them... Whatever you say about CS and TF2, at least there is some after market, even if it is just in-store credit...
WorldMaker 3y ago
I feel like if they did that the whole videogames industry might topple like a house of cards. There was a pinball prohibition in America where lawmakers decided all pinball looked like gambling whether gambling was involved or not and so they just banned all pinball machines and it took decades to undo the damage those laws did. I fear that if lawmakers started trying to pin down what in videogames was gambling and what wasn't, especially to crack down on "loot crates", who knows where they'd stop. A lot game mechanics look like loot crates. (On top of that, so much of the videogames industry is funded by things like loot crates today. The big budget games don't have their big budgets in 2023 without their parent companies out whale hunting with some terrible mobile game or another. There are more players on mobile devices spending more money than anywhere else in videogames.) Publishing odds and making sure that "real money can go in, but real money can't come out" were the contest laws that in part came out of compromises when pinball prohibition ended. They seem to be the best regulations we've come up with so far. They definitely don't feel sufficient to stop some of the worst offenders, but I would imagine any intelligent attempt to "tackle" loot crates would have to start with enforcing and beefing up those regulations rather than to start with bans.

4 ms·

Honestly, I wish they would tackle loot crates first. Obvious gambling mechanic that gamifies people's wallets for exorbitant cashouts. Whether they publish the

by deaddodo 3y ago

Honestly, I wish they would tackle loot crates first. Obvious gambling mechanic that gamifies people's wallets for exorbitant cashouts. Whether they publish the odds or not.

Ekaros 3y ago
I never understood how gacha games and loot boxes are allowed in first place... Or why people spend money on them... Whatever you say about CS and TF2, at least there is some after market, even if it is just in-store credit...
WorldMaker 3y ago
I feel like if they did that the whole videogames industry might topple like a house of cards. There was a pinball prohibition in America where lawmakers decided all pinball looked like gambling whether gambling was involved or not and so they just banned all pinball machines and it took decades to undo the damage those laws did. I fear that if lawmakers started trying to pin down what in videogames was gambling and what wasn't, especially to crack down on "loot crates", who knows where they'd stop. A lot game mechanics look like loot crates. (On top of that, so much of the videogames industry is funded by things like loot crates today. The big budget games don't have their big budgets in 2023 without their parent companies out whale hunting with some terrible mobile game or another. There are more players on mobile devices spending more money than anywhere else in videogames.) Publishing odds and making sure that "real money can go in, but real money can't come out" were the contest laws that in part came out of compromises when pinball prohibition ended. They seem to be the best regulations we've come up with so far. They definitely don't feel sufficient to stop some of the worst offenders, but I would imagine any intelligent attempt to "tackle" loot crates would have to start with enforcing and beefing up those regulations rather than to start with bans.