Loot boxes FINALLY being investigated by UK Government

[V F]

I hate how perfectly decent games get broken gameplay mechanics and difficulty curves in order to encourage purchases. It wouldn't be quite so bad if the purchases unlocked abilities that balanced the gameplay permanently and if the pricing totalled something like the one off traditional price of an equivalent game... but they don't.

Ahh, pay to win...

 

[MegaPinches]

Grown adults are one thing, targeting primary school kids and making them feel like **** is another.

For sure I totally agree, but gambling for over 18's is like any other vice, its your choice. Roffley was talking about all forms of gambling.

 

[Rofflay]

Who are you to deny people life lessons, its up to people to hang themselves in they want. If there were no tests of will power how would anyone grow as a person. Ban drinking, smoking, fast food, stock market then shall we as well? unethical gambling like rigged FOBT's and the like as they are a con and are not RNG but upfront forms of gambling are fair game.

You will never win a moral arguement that says gambling is ok. The stock market is another casino that should be banned as well it causes crashes like 2008. Smoking causes cancer of the lungs, Alcohol killed two people i knew before 35 which is crazy. They should in reality all be banned yes because the reality is humans are vulnerable to being exploited and pretty much everything above you find a big rich family at the other end who do none of the above and are healthy and successfull.

 

[Darujhistan]

Hmmm, ban gambling (for adults), ban alcohol, ban smoking, all of these things can be bad for one's health, are we going to ban work as well?

That's not good for your health either...physical or particularly mental.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Its something that concerns me with children playing these games also. It introduces a lot of peer pressure from friends who have more affluent parents who can afford to splash the cash a bit more and bend to their children's wishes than those who cannot afford to do so. It potentially introduces another form of bullying and that pressure culture well and truly exists already in schools.

Thinking about it again though, perhaps that is a non-sequitur as I guess that pressure has always existed in many ways before....it was just about other things....some kids allowed Playstations whilst others weren't etc, but I guess in todays connected world this pressure is amplified greater.

That has always existed. You know the kids who were bullied for wearing hi-tec's, etc.

You know all the kids who had £200 boots and £500 jackets on. compared to those that had £20 shoes and £20 jackets.

I have a mate who has a 9 year old nephew and all he plays is fortnite all day long, he doesn't listen to parents and he asks for his birthday, christmas, etc and even outwith if he can buy him £50 fortnite skins, etc.

That is an issue. Not the fact he may be bullied for not having a £50 skin but the fact he is asking for one. It's a cosmetic item in a game.

IMO The MP's are right. Loot boxes should be in games however they should be rewards earned through playing much like CS:GO however they should also be free to open. You should then be allowed to trade them on a marketplace for cash. So those that want to spend money and want a specific skin can buy it. Those that want to enjoy the game and open free loot boxes for additional skins can also do so for free.

Kids need educated that just because their loot box didn't have a £500 skin in it it isn't the end of the world and that's how gambling works. You don't always end up with what you wanted.

Gambling is a huge issue though even outside of gaming. It needs regulated and where video games are involved and lets be honest majority of us started playing as kids. Then no money should be exchanging hands for loot boxes.

EA is such a massive and corrupt company I can see them wriggling out of this unscathed or with a small fine they can easily pay with the billions they earn through loot boxes.

 

[Rofflay]

It is not just EA the goverment allow this and would allow it if you all shut up because at the end of the day this makes people work more to buy skins which sloshes about the money making it all more taxable.

I personally think this thread goes deeper than loot boxes but people hate preachy crap so meh.

 

[StrongSad]

I'll just leave this here for the best explanation....

 

[Kelt]

If hell exists, I hope there's a special circle of it just for the creators of Loot Crates and micro-transactions.

A really special circle.

 

[Gimpymoo]

It is not just EA the goverment allow this and would allow it if you all shut up because at the end of the day this makes people work more to buy skins which sloshes about the money making it all more taxable.

I personally think this thread goes deeper than loot boxes

I hear you.

 

[Gimpymoo]

If hell exists, I hope there's a special circle of it just for the creators of Loot Crates and micro-transactions.

A really special circle.

 

[lokiss]

Around this whole malaise, I take issue with 'influencers' targeting their largely juvenile audience with the whole 'unboxing' thing. While I can't present any source offhand to suggest that those influencers with large juvenile followings might be acting on behalf of publishers to promote the practice, ill just take a stab at guessing there are those that do.

 

[WantoN]

Loot Boxes shouldn’t exist imo. When gaming, if you’re paying money you should know exactly what you’re getting.

I don’t like ‘special editions’ they’re a rip-off, but at least you know what you’re getting.

DLC which adds a new experience, gameplay elements and/or story is great (as long as it’s not obviously cut out of the main game) when fairly priced, but loot boxes? Ban them.

Rust lets you buy skins at a set price, that’s how it should be imo.

 

[Malevolence]

You know what's going to happen, rather than taking the fight to the companies like EA *spit* who think loot boxes are OK or telling parents to take control of what their children do online our government will try to enact some ill thought out scheme whereby you have to sign up to some third party website with your real life ID just so you can play a ******* game.

 

[Gimpymoo]

You know what's going to happen, rather than taking the fight to the companies like EA *spit* who think loot boxes are OK or telling parents to take control of what their children do online our government will try to enact some ill thought out scheme whereby you have to sign up to some third party website with your real life ID just so you can play a ******* game.

They will likely just "Tax" Loot boxes

 

[scubes]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49661870

So, better late than never after Belgium and Holland took action.

The industry needs to take a SERIOUS look at itself, these things have been a SCAM since day 1 with some developers being worse then others, Electronic Arts and TakeTwo being the biggest culprits along with the king of Loot box, Epic Games.

Games like Fortnite are mostly complete garbage with a gambling element thrown in and it can have a negative effect on a childrens health.

I banned Fortnite in the house very early on having seen how trash the game was and the loot box element was the decider for me.

Interesting to see what EA do with Fifa Ultimate Team as I think it is scary how much cash that generates from gullible children.

The recent NBA2K games have basically been a Casino with a basketball mini-game thrown in.

The US government is also investigating.

Serves them right but as we all know, they will just work around it.

I wonder if the Epic Games Store cash will now dry up and if they will continue bribing developers with Fortnite cash?

Without the Fortnite cash, can Epic continue wooing developers with upside guarantees?

I remember kids trying to get some Galaxy phone with a rare skin for Fortnite.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/how-to-unlock-the-galaxy-skin-in-fortnite/

Yes my son got this because she bought the phone and he doesn’t really use it now tbh.

 

[Kainz]

Saw a kid playing one on the bus with his phone earlier in the week. It was some platformer, and at one point some scratch card mini game appeared. No matter what boxes he'd scratch he always 'won' these tokens that I assume he can then spend on his game. The grooming is way more prevalent then I ever thought.

Edit: I don't play mobile games, haven't done since Plants vs Zombies came out back in the day. After that everything looked to be going the pay to play route so I abandoned ship. Hope something comes of this 'investigation'.

 

[Gimpymoo]

It is even more of a problem when PREMIUM games utilise the freemium business model, it just feels like a giant scam and for the most part, has almost ruined gaming with a generation accepting it as the "norm" sadly.

 

[wesimmo]

Also, people who equate it to Panini don't recognise the way advertising has changed.

Kids are easily influenced and when there are YouTubers who are obviously getting at least free products opening blind bags and pushing skins on their channel while pretending to be entertainment, it's obvious how it's going to go.

And I know people will argue 'be a better parent', but you can only lock down your own kids' access to the internet, they still interact with kids at school who don't have that same oversight at home.

 

[AMB73]

I have noticed that gambling appears to be the new smoking....Kids ain't going out for a fag anymore, they're sitting in their bedrooms squandering real money for virtual items that do not exist in real life.

Stick with me here but it seems that every game show on TV is sponsored by a gambling app or site, its advertised like a family gathering where everyone is part of a huge family when all they want is your cash. These ads are on daily during the Chase and Tipping Point - Dinner time viewing in my house.

I know this isn't loot box related but for some reason gambling is being advertised as cool on one hand then the government are wondering why so many kids these days are addicted to it.

Then again this country is so messed up its no wonder really.

 

[StarShock]

Its also a whole lot easier to control access to panini stickers, even the least tech savvy parent would probably notice if their kid took themselves off to the corner shop with their credit card several hundred times in a week. But that's almost literally whats happened in all of the "my kid spent £3000 in Fifa" stories