Video Game Loot Boxes Under Scrutiny By 16 Gambling Regulators (cnet.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Gambling regulators from 16 agencies signed an agreement Monday in an effort to tackle the "blurring of lines between gaming and gambling." The international coalition, made up of European agencies and the Washington State Gambling Commission, said it's calling on the video game industry and tech platforms to help crack down on unlicensed third-party sites offering illegal gambling in video games. The coalition also said game providers have to make sure that features like loot boxes, which let players pay real money to purchase in-game items to artificially advance their power levels, aren't considered gambling under national laws. This kind of pushback could impact the decisions of video game makers. UK-based Gambling Commission said in a statement: "We are increasingly concerned with the risks being posed by the blurring of lines between gambling and other forms of digital entertainment such as video gaming. Concerns in this area have manifested themselves in controversies relating to skin betting, loot boxes, social casino gaming and the use of gambling themed content within video games available to children."

Comments

Remember when

[stealth_finger]

Remember when you used to buy games and just unlock stuff as you go? Ah, simpler times.

Re:Remember when

[bickerdyke]

Remember when you used to buy a game and could simply PLAY it?

Re:Remember when

[Anonymous Coward]

This is solved by not buying games from shitty companies.

Re:Remember when

[blahplusplus]

Remember when you used to buy games and just unlock stuff as you go? Ah, simpler times.

Everyone who bought Ultima online and everquest back in the day paved the way for all this shit. As soon as publishers saw gamers were dumb enough to buy or subscribe to software they didn't own or control it was over.

Re:Remember when

[ArchieBunker]

Gamers are a bunch of whores who like getting treated badly. Every time EA releases a game people bitch and moan how terrible the company is, how terrible the game was, and how they will NEVER buy another EA game again. Well six months later some new bullshit game is announced and all those people can't get to the credit cards fast enough to pre-order.

Re: Remember when

[UnknowingFool]

Yes back in the day, you paid for a video game once and that was it. And no one is arguing that more games shouldn't be like that; however, if you are playing a multiplayer game online, it's just a matter of reality that someone has to pay to keep the infrastructure working. Subscriptions are one option if players choose that option.

Where we should object is if a game is required to be online for no reason (SimCity). Where we should object is where additional money is required for content that should have been in the game (DLC packs to complete the storyline). Where we should object is where additional money is required to progress in the game (Battlefront).

Choosing to fight against any online game that requires subscriptions is takin away choices from players. Some players want to play against someone else online.

Re:Remember when

[jwhyche]

I can't remember when I bought my last EA game. I checked my inventory and none of games I bought from Steam are EA. Plenty of indy games out there. I paid 15 bucks for Giana Sisters, Twisted Dreams and played the hell out of it.

Re: Remember when

[nitehawk214]

Well, at least not anymore...

Re:Remember when

[locopuyo]

EA has their own service called Origin. They don't sell games on Steam.

Re:Remember when

[jwhyche]

Well that might explain some things,

cards?

[cascadingstylesheet]

What about those card games where you buy packs of cards, hoping to get some special powerful cards in them?

If loot boxes are gambling, why aren't those card packs?

Re:cards?

[SirSlud]

The difference is with cards, you end up owning something physical. I don't really care what you say they're worth, it's a physical tangible thing that you spend money on that you then physically own. That's a discrete difference.

Also because the barrier of effort required to spend is much lower with virtual currencies/items in game storefronts, it's more prone to taking advantage of people who have spending control problems or gambling issues which is why you're seeing increased scrunity.

Garret

Re:cards?

[stealth_finger]

Because with those card packs that is 100% of the deal you know you are getting rather than being hidden away inside a different product that you have already paid full price for. Also you can take any cards you have, sell them, trade them, burn them, whatever you want.

Re: cards?

[nitehawk214]

Because time and time again, the free market has proven to not be capable of regulating itself.

Loot Boxes Vs Digital CCGs

[Only Time Will Tell]

I'd be curious on how these agencies delineate between loot boxes which you buy and have random pulls based on probability and digital CCG packs which you buy and have random pulls based on probability... The former I think is poor game design when you are trying for a skin or weapon and have to keep buying to get it (I'd rather have an in-game way to earn it). The later is inherent in the design to keep players buying packs in hopes of landing powerful rare cards (which carry a lot of value in platforms that allow trading). In either case, I can see a kid wrecking their parents' credit card trying to get the card or item they're hoping for.

Re:Wizards of the Coast should worry

[Anonymous Coward]

The difference is that gives you a tangible product. Wizards cannot ban me from playing MTG, nor can they disallow me from using proxies or fake cards, and are not obligated to allow tournament entry (nor are you entitled to it). I am free to sell and trade the cards I acquire, I cannot do this with the majority of lootbox or gacha games and when I can it's often trapped on another market.

In addition, if WOTC goes belly-up tomorrow, I still have my cards, can still play the game, and can even organize (unofficial) tournaments. If Waifu Simulator Gacha 2018 shuts down, all my stuff is gone and I can't get anything back. If EA bans my Origin account, then all my shit is gone for good unless I do serious dicksucking or file a lawsuit. If Blizzard shuts down the WoW servers, they will DMCA any private servers that spring up, even non-profit ones.

That's the difference between the two.

Shut em down.

[Anonymous Coward]

Honestly I hope they shut down all the games that have loot boxes that do anything beyond cosmetic looks. Any company that puts items in to loot boxes that increases power levels over regular game play options needs shut down.

Re:Shut em down.

[stealth_finger]

Honestly I hope they shut down all the games that have loot boxes that do anything beyond cosmetic looks. Any company that puts items in to loot boxes that increases power levels over regular game play options needs shut down.

Just get rid of them all together, pubg is the worst, its cosmetics only but you get the same shitty cosmetic again and again and again, but it's ok because I guess because you can sell them back for a fraction of a percent of the cost.

Re:Wizards of the Coast should worry

[The MAZZTer]

The worst part is, you're calling it "my stuff". Except it's not, not really. It's a series of numbers in a database on the company's servers that gets temporarily transmuted into pixels on your monitor as long as the company allows it. It'll be interesting to see how digital ownership evolves, since giving users any sort of control over ownership would allow as a side effect infinite duplication of virtual items (since they effectively cost nothing and are worthless without the company controlling the creation and distribution).

Re:Yes, ban all this gambling aimed at my son

[Jason Levine]

This is really bad in mobile games. I play a few mobile games and have noticed this happening more and more. One game had an event with premium characters. Pretty standard stuff - you pay the premium currency which you can accrue by watching ads, completing certain in-game actions, or by paying actual money. I'm fine with this part. I buy the ones I want and skip the ones I don't want, mostly using freely earned premium currency. The problem was that one character could only be obtained in premium "chests." These chests had the possibility to give you tokens which, if you got enough of them, would earn you the character. (There was also the chance to get the character outright, but this was such a small chance that you could pretty much ignore it.) Buying enough chests would cost hundreds of dollars of premium currency. Hundreds of dollars for a single character in a mobile game was outrageous. Hundreds of dollars for the possibility of getting it was even worse. (Thankfully, there was a blow back and it looks like the company has stopped doing this in subsequent events.)