US Announces bill to ban loot boxes and p2w mechanics?

[DontTouchMyHoHos]

We shall see what becomes of this, im pretty excited to see this.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npRcdl3f6iU


I am not excited to see what they do in retaliation if this passes and they continue to look for other means, I.e. episodic 60$ games that would normally be a full game -.-

 

[Bambooza]

Not sure this is going to go well as even with in Test its hard to define what is acceptable practices with P2W and what is truly is loot boxes from a legal standpoint and which ones should be banned? Is it OK to have micro transactions? If so which ones are OK and which ones should we ban? Is free to play with cosmetic micro transactions OK? The issue is fundamental to game mechanics while loot boxes like those found in most MMOs after killing any sort of mob or raid boss could be denied.

 

[WaterShield]

I've thought the game industry was out of control with these practices for several years now. Anything they can do about this is welcome by me.

 

[Harkonan]

If the legislation is truly aimed at consumers under the age of 18, I'm not terribly opposed to it.
I just want to know WHO is going to uphold this law? 90% of congress can't even log into Facebook, they need people who know what they are doing to regulate.

I also wonder if this will end up forcing ID checks for games rated 18+, which again ... I'm not terribly opposed to. I actually played a game once (don't remember which), that required a copy of your ID in order to make purchases in the game store.

Now when it comes to adult gamers .... they should have the choice in how they want to spend their money without the involvement of the government. If I want to buy 50 loot boxes or 5 cases of beer ... it's none of the governments business.

 

[Lorddarthvik]

While I applaude the idea, I don't think it will change anything, regarding loot boxes at least. If you are 18+ , you will be allowed to buy em, if you are underage, it is most likely that you are using mummy's credit card anyways, so you are in the clear.

Would this effect Star Citizen? With the option of buying ships that to the uninformed outsider simply seems larger/stronger/faster=better than the "default" ship you get with the game purchase, would it be considered p2w?

 

[DontTouchMyHoHos]

For those who are worried this wont affect anything. Anything with loot boxes etc would HAVE to be labeled Mature meaning anyone 18 and under cannot buy them. thus shrinking their consumer base. Most fps games etc are rated T for teen

 

[Bambooza]

For those who are worried this wont affect anything. Anything with loot boxes etc would HAVE to be labeled Mature meaning anyone 18 and under cannot buy them. thus shrinking their consumer base. Most fps games etc are rated T for teen

Not sure how much this will shrink or restrict the consumer base when credit cards are mostly used to purchase said loot boxes and credit cards already have an age restriction of 18?

 

[Kiladyn]

It will probably require games to have more age verification things in place

 

[Bambooza]

It will probably require games to have more age verification things in place

Like those web sites that ask you to give your birth date but have no means to verify you were truthful? Or like pornhub asking you to verify you are over 18. I am sure those underage don't lie and end up checking out its adult content.

 

[Kiladyn]

Like those web sites that ask you to give your birth date but have no means to verify you were truthful? Or like pornhub asking you to verify you are over 18. I am sure those underage don't lie and end up checking out its adult content.

LOL Oh you are sooo right, I never said this was going to work, but I think it is in the right direction to protect minors. Also Whats Pornhub? ya ive never heard of it

 

[Stickx1307]

Should be very interesting

 

[stockish]

Even though Activision is tied to it, Overwatch has a very modest lootbox system, only thing you get are skins, character animations and such. Nothing in that game is skill based outside of player skills. I can see stuff that does change gameplay like weapons, vehicles, abilities being banned in lootboxes though.

 

[DirectorGunner]

I applaud the move! f the big dev studios. We got CIG, that's enough, all the other's I liked have let me down. Except.. waiting to see if Cyberpunk is a disappointment as well.. that it will truly only be CIG left. This year (and maybe last year, kind of a blur) killed pre-ordering for me (minus spaceships cuz that's different), and now I feel just disenfranchised with what's new in the industry in general.

 

[Printimus]

For those who are worried this wont affect anything. Anything with loot boxes etc would HAVE to be labeled Mature meaning anyone 18 and under cannot buy them. thus shrinking their consumer base. Most fps games etc are rated T for teen

HA just like how GTA5 is M for mature but look at the majority of the playerbase on there. You hop online in that game and it is nothing but 10 year olds.

 

[Montoya]

90% of congress can't even log into Facebook,

Never mind Congress, the Senate is worse!

Vote out these old dinosaurs people!

Lets get the younger generation in there sooner than later!

 

[Grimm_Reaper]

If they can remove it and put straight up pricing on skins and stuff instead of rolling and creating a common to rare rating that causes people to keep buying loot boxes to get that super rare item would be welcome.

 

[WaterShield]

If they can remove it and put straight up pricing on skins and stuff instead of rolling and creating a common to rare rating that causes people to keep buying loot boxes to get that super rare item would be welcome.

That right there is why I feel loot boxes are predatory. They are designed to milk people for money hoping for a jackpot (similar to slot machines)

They are tuned such that they do not require many people to buy them, only a select few addicted individuals.

If individual items were sold for a standardized price that would be better, and it better stick to cosmetics. I also think microtransactions in general (outside of DLC / Expansions) have no place at all in single player games. Assassins Creed Origins stood out to me as being an example of bad monetization practice.

Star Citizen occupies an interesting place in this, in that when you buy bigger ships it isn't necessarily pay to win. Larger ships amount to larger operating costs and crew requirements, so I tend to believe CIG when they say what people are buying is a different experience. Of course my opinion is subject to change pending the final version of their monetization. Personally, I would be happy if everything online just went back to being subscription based ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Michael]

Bannable should be loot boxes where you don't know what you will get. Not applicable to SC.

And especially you can get the same item over and over again, makeing it a pure lottery. Not applicable to SC.

Hard to target is a game design to enforce buying loot boxes. Some games are designed around loot boxes and to tempt you to invest money.
This might also affect SC as you might get the impressions its currently designed to tempt you to buy the next bigger ship.

 

[Deroth]

Indie games, and especially Indie mobile app developers, have been using loot boxes and microtransactions as the core of their business models since their inceptions.
AAA publishers only started doing them because of the profit margins they saw for the small guys using these methods.
Just like all 'anti-big corporation' legislation, this will do ZERO to negatively impact the 'big guys', but will kill off the small businesses and individuals trying to break into the market.

AAAs like EA will dance with joy to The Steve Miller Band's 'Take The Money And Run' should this joke of legislation pass while laughing at all the small guys folding up shop due to not being able to compete in the market place.

To be clear, I despise loot boxes and am torn on microtransactions, so I understand wanting something done, but if governments are getting involved then it isn't going to be the 'big guys' getting hurt.

 

[Michael]

Indie games, and especially Indie mobile app developers, have been using loot boxes and microtransactions as the core of their business models since their inceptions.
AAA publishers only started doing them because of the profit margins they saw for the small guys using these methods.
Just like all 'anti-big corporation' legislation, this will do ZERO to negatively impact the 'big guys', but will kill off the small businesses and individuals trying to break into the market.

AAAs like EA will dance with joy to The Steve Miller Band's 'Take The Money And Run' should this joke of legislation pass while laughing at all the small guys folding up shop due to not being able to compete in the market place.

To be clear, I despise loot boxes and am torn on microtransactions, so I understand wanting something done, but if governments are getting involved then it isn't going to be the 'big guys' getting hurt.

To my knowledge EA invented the worst kind of loot boxes. Search for Wilson Loot Box