US Senate Against Lootboxes and Pay2Win Micro-Transactions

[Nowak]

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

That's not the concern or problem of government, or me.

 

Personal responsibility. Consequence. These are inescapable, no matyer how one tries to make society pay for their personal problems.

Then let the AAA video game industry crash. Let indies and smaller studios take over in EA, Activision and Take Two, et al's wake.

[Sky Spark]

3 minutes ago, Nowak said:

Then let the AAA video game industry crash. Let indies and smaller studios take over in EA, Activision and Take Two, et al's wake.

I would approve of this. Less soulless cash grabs and more unique experiences with actual love and care put in. And let's put Nintendo in there as well because they don't pull this shit, also an AAA crash would probably be isolated to NA like before.

[ThePD]

Why are we focusing on such a small minority of people spending large sums of money on a video game because of lack of responsibility, when banks lend money to people to purchase cars or houses they cannot afford. People buy houses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars when they could not afford it even if they saved for 20 years straight. But we are focused on people spending hundreds of dollars in a video game?

Why is it that games made by EA, Activision-Blizzard are constantly under the microscope when games like Path of Exile and Planetside 2 have had microtransactions for almost a decade and nobody bats an eye? People like microtransactions when it is a a game they actually enjoy and feel a connection to.

[Drak3]

3 minutes ago, Nowak said:

Then let the AAA video game industry crash

Preferable to legitimate oppression.

 

4 minutes ago, Celli said:

Well guess what, if it passes you're going to have to deal with it.

Here's hoping it fails. If I wanted to face economic oppression, I'd move to Venezuela, China, or North Korea.

[Nowak]

1 minute ago, ThePD said:

games like Path of Exile and Planetside 2 have had microtransactions for almost a decade and nobody bats an eye?

Well are those microtransactions for cosmetics/weapons or are they for game progression, a la Middle-earth: Shadow of War or Mortal Kombat 11? There's a difference.

[spartaman64]

2 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Preferable to legitimate oppression.

 

Here's hoping it fails. If I wanted to face economic oppression, I'd move to Venezuela, China, or North Korea.

i dont think having regulations against gambling targeted towards kids is economic oppression

[Sky Spark]

4 minutes ago, ThePD said:

Why is it that games made by EA, Activision-Blizzard are constantly under the microscope

Because they release $60 games with pay two win aspects and generally attach a grind to the gameplay, which forces you to shill out money if you don't want to grind.

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, spartaman64 said:

i dont think having regulations against gambling targeted towards kids is economic oppression

When I cannot make benign purchases thay only affect me, it's economic oppression.

[Nowak]

2 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Preferable to legitimate oppression.

 

Just now, Drak3 said:

When I cannot make benign purchases thay only affect me, it's economic oppression.

 

Oh no, they won't let you

 

*checks notes*

Buy things in video games, the horror

 

Get a damn grip.

[ThePD]

1 minute ago, Nowak said:

Well are those microtransactions for cosmetics/weapons or are they for game progression, a la Middle-earth: Shadow of War or Mortal Kombat 11? There's a difference.

Doesn't matter. Under this bill both are affected. Path of Exile and Planetside 2 devs are paid primarily through the use of microtransactions which is why those communities don't ever complain about the microtransactions. 

On one hand you fix the issue with some devs gating game progression behind a paywall, but punish other companies who do not use microtransactions maliciously.

[spartaman64]

3 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

When I cannot make benign purchases thay only affect me, it's economic oppression.

unless you are the only person playing that game it doesnt only affect you

[Sky Spark]

4 minutes ago, Nowak said:

Well are those microtransactions for cosmetics/weapons or are they for game progression, a la Middle-earth: Shadow of War or Mortal Kombat 11? There's a difference.

Planetside 2 and Path of Exile are also free to play.

[ThePD]

1 minute ago, Celli said:

Because they release $60 games with pay two win aspects and generally attach a grind to the gameplay, which forces you to shill out money if you don't want to grind.

So the problem is that you don't want to play the game to get the item you want? Want the weapon skin? Do the Grind?

[ThePD]

Just now, Celli said:

Planetside 2 and Path of Exile are also free to play.

So is Apex Legends and Fortnite, but I bet this discussion would lump those two games into the "Microtransaction BAD" arguement.

[Sky Spark]

3 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

When I cannot make benign purchases thay only affect me, it's economic oppression.

Oh no, you have to unlock shit via playing the game. Horrible!

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, spartaman64 said:

unless you are the only person playing that game it doesnt only affect you

My purchase legitimately only affects me.

 

[Tristerin]

34 minutes ago, Thaldor said:

Mainly the same reasons why gambling is heavily regulated and taxed. It's very damaging for the society and really doesn't bring any positives to the table. You would probably be surprised how easy it would be for casinos to get most of the minors hooked into spending every last dime of their allowances to them and not even any kind of parenting would stop it because peer pressure and other social reasons. Gaming companies have tried the lines a long time starting with premium currencies (called "chips" in casinos,the second currency you buy with real money) which only reason to exist is to obscure the use of real money in the game and it's almost 1:1 copy from casinos except they are not forced to use 1:1 scale with the premium currency (1$=1gem, gaming companies can go with anything 100 gems for 1$ and whatever which only obscures the use of real money even more). Lootboxes just were the one thing that cracked the camels back and brought it to light how badly ESRB and PEGI failed.

(Not to even mention that almost every country taxes gambling quite harshly and gaming companies just slip through it.)

 

And I mean it's fucking stupidly easy how you can actually get people spent more money and they don't even understand how much they use, no matter how smart or educated they are. Simple things: use quite annoying animations which play faster with bigger bets and seem as annoying as possible with the lowest bets and BEHOLD most of the players up their bets; use HUUGE numbers, player wins in millions and they go into ecstacy and in a while they won't remember that that billion leafs you gave them are actually worth 0.0000000000001$, connect to this some small mini games that seem to cost fortunes and players use all those leafs and probably want more and then sell them leafs with very bad rates like 100 leafs for 99 cents. These and many more sound quite stupid, but when they are correctly implemented, they are extremely powerful strategies especialy against minors and that's why they are banned in gambling use in many countries.

 

Sorry not sorry, people need to grow up.  I grew up foster care, emancipated at 15 - don't care if that means nothing to you - what it means to me is that struggles happen, choices have to be made, and people should stop blaming their decisions on other peoples "advertisements".

 

When I was young, and blamed the world, I still had problems.  Then one day I grew up and decided to stop making stupid decisions.  Now...the world is my oyster. 

[Sky Spark]

2 minutes ago, ThePD said:

So the problem is that you don't want to play the game to get the item you want? Want the weapon skin? Do the Grind?

The problem is that they make the game a slog to play so you either A) play for 10 hours to get one skin, or B) pay $10 to get it immediately.

And then there's shit like Elder Scrolls Blades, where you wait three fucking days to open a chest.

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, Celli said:

Oh no, you have to unlock shit via playing the game. Horrible!

 

4 minutes ago, Nowak said:

 

 

Oh no, they won't let you

 

*checks notes*

Buy things in video games, the horror

 

Get a damn grip.

Oh no, a completely option luxury includes completely optional purchases!

 

How can we let this happen to people?!

 

 

Personal responsibility. That's how.

[spartaman64]

2 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

My purchase legitimately only affects me.

 

but the developers being able to offer those purchases affects everyone playing the game including potentially young kids

[Sky Spark]

2 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

 

Oh no, a completely option luxury includes completely optional purchases!

 

How can we let this happen to people?!

 

 

Personal responsibility. That's how.

How about, I dunno, not paying money and unlocking stuff via playing the game in a way that feels rewarding? 

[Drak3]

2 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

but the developers being able to offer those purchases affects everyone playing the game including potentially young kids

Then individuals should take responsibility for themselves and parents shpuld do their job.

[ThePD]

2 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

but the developers being able to offer those purchases affects everyone playing the game including potentially young kids

I guess every game should be free since there are devs that charge 60 dollars for a game. Wouldn't want the children paying 60 dollars for a game. That would be a disaster!

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, Celli said:

How about, I dunno, not paying money and unlocking stuff via playing the game in a way that feels rewarding? 

Okay. You still have that option.

 

You're responsible for you. I'm not responsoble for you, and vice versa.

[spartaman64]

3 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Then individuals should take responsibility for themselves and parents shpuld do their job.

then is mandating that casinos not accept child customers a government overreach because its the parent's job or a legal drinking age