Diablo Immortal - MMO ARPG for mobile platforms - massive butthurt at Blizzcon

[Clockwork Knight]

I saw the quote notification and thought you were going to present the better idea, but it's an ironic one liner instead. Please don't play with my feelings like that.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...ons-in-china/B2642E2F8B7164236E5477D58D2B26DE

Gaming the system: suboptimal compliance with loot box probability disclosure regulations in China

This study is the first to assess paid loot box prevalence in the PRC and companies’ discretionary interpretations of probability disclosure regulations. Loot boxes were found in 91 of the 100 highest-grossing PRC iPhone games. Of games deemed suitable for children aged 12+, 90.5% contained loot boxes. Probability disclosures could not be found for 4.4% of games containing loot boxes. Disclosures were implemented through various methods both in-game and on the games’ official websites; however, consistent with the concept of ‘sludge,’ only 5.5% used the most prominent format of automatically displaying the probabilities on the in-game loot box purchase page.

notably, lootbox games are far more common in China than western countries:

Of the 100 highest-grossing iPhone games in the PRC, 91% contained loot boxes. This is significantly higher than the 59% found by a recent and comparable UK study (Zendle et al., 2020a) and the 62% found by an Australian study (Rockloffet al., 2020).

Yet China has extensive laws & regulations on lootboxes not present in western countries.

Additionally, the article goes on to state:

Policymakers have
recommended restricting children’s access to loot boxes by banning loot boxes from
games deemed suitable for children (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee of
the House of Commons (UK), 2019; Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs,
2020; Select Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling
Industry of the House of Lords (UK), 2020). However, video game companies in
the PRC have continued to widely implement loot boxes in games deemed suitable
for children. The results of this study suggest that, despite potential for even greater
harm, children are not being especially protected from potential loot box harms when
compared to adults. Indeed, children are just as likely to be exposed to the opportun-
ity to purchase loot boxes as adults

"j-j-just do something, government! I'm outraged and demand action!!!! my feefees are more important than studies!!!!"

 

[Clockwork Knight]

me looking for the better idea that I requested

 

[rusty_shackleford]

me looking for the better idea that I requested

"You don't support my regulations because there's no basis for it??? Well.. GIVE ME A BETTER IDEA THEN!!!"
no
I'm just pointing out your retarded idea won't work, because it already doesn't work.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Yes, I know you have nothing useful to add.

...wait, maybe it's up here?

Nope

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Yes, I know you have nothing useful to add.

...wait, maybe it's up here?

Nope

How about you add something useful instead?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Libertarians are an excellent fertilizer.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

You know what would go a long way towards reducing lootboxes?
Regulation that banned everyone who wants regulations for it from the internet. Clearly these are the people dumb enough to actually buy lootboxes.

Boom, no more lootboxes.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Okay, the better idea HAS to be down here. I've looked over the entire house already, this is getting ridiculous.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Okay, the better idea HAS to be down here. I've looked over the entire house already, this is getting ridiculous.

I just proposed an idea that would completely get rid of lootboxes and you disregarded it. Why?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Because it's the braindead take that I specifically asked you to spare me from

people dumb enough to actually buy lootboxes.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Because it's the braindead take that I specifically asked you to spare me from

people dumb enough to actually buy lootboxes.

But my idea will actually work.
People who think regulations that even China is completely incapable of enforcing will somehow magically work have a 100% overlap with people who buy lootboxes, guaranteed.

 

[WhiteShark]

Lootboxes (and gambling in general) shouldn't be """regulated""", they should be banned. There, problem solved. Neither minors nor adults will be exposed to lootboxes in their games. The problem with China's solution in this regard is simply that it doesn't go far enough.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Lootboxes (and gambling in general) shouldn't be """regulated""", they should be banned. There, problem solved. Neither minors nor adults will be exposed to lootboxes in their games. The problem with China's solution in this regard is simply that it doesn't go far enough.

Buy one guaranteed skin and get a complementary lootbox on the house!

 

[WhiteShark]

Buy one guaranteed skin and get a complementary lootbox on the house!

I'm no wumao but I bet the CCP at least would have the balls to shut that down hard. It's the kind of argument that only flies in a western court with jewish lawyers and a jewish judge.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Buy one guaranteed skin and get a complementary lootbox on the house!

I'm no wumao but I bet the CCP at least would have the balls to shut that down hard. It's the kind of argument that only flies in a western court with jewish lawyers and a jewish judge.

That's literally what they do in China.

The law also banned game publishers from directly selling "lottery tickets" such as loot boxes. In June 2017, Blizzard Entertainment announced that, "in line with the new laws and regulations", loot boxes in their game Overwatch would no longer be available for purchase in China. Players would instead buy in-game currency and receive loot boxes as a "gift" for making the purchase.[105]

 

[WhiteShark]

That's literally what they do in China.

The law also banned game publishers from directly selling "lottery tickets" such as loot boxes. In June 2017, Blizzard Entertainment announced that, "in line with the new laws and regulations", loot boxes in their game Overwatch would no longer be available for purchase in China. Players would instead buy in-game currency and receive loot boxes as a "gift" for making the purchase.[105]

I stand corrected. Truly a nation deserving of the title "yellow jews".

 

[somerandomdude]

Nobody is forcing you to play Diablo Immortal. This isn't like living in a small town in the 1910s where the only job was this steel mill that was an extraordinarily dangerous place to work, where people lost arms in machinery just to get fired with no compensation. Regulate something that actually matters, not gambling in games you don't have to play. To "well, I might like these games without the pay to win mechanics" - that's a personal problem, not something the government needs to step in and solve with regulations. What kind of wookie do you gotta be to think that muh gubmint has all the solutions? You got the personal agency to decide whether you play the game at all, and that's all you need.

 

[ADL]

That's a disingenuous argument given that we've had gambling restrictions for decades. The law simply hasn't caught up with the fact that these practices are now taking place inside video games using closed source algorithms for in-game items. The law needs to be consistent and why should these video game companies get away with murder? These practices meet every legal definition of betting/wagering/gambling that you can find.

Gambling is accepting, recording, or registering bets, or carrying on a policy game or any other lottery, or playing any game of chance, for money or other thing of value. Title 18, U.S.C., Sec. 1955, makes it a federal crime or offense for anyone to conduct an 'illegal gambling business.

(A) Bet or wager means the staking or risking by any person of something of value upon the outcome of a contest of others, a sporting event, or a game subject to chance, upon an agreement or understanding that the person or another person will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome

Good luck convincing anybody that these in-game items that people are gambling hundreds or even thousands of dollars to acquire are "without value".

 

[rusty_shackleford]

That's a disingenuous argument given that we've had gambling restrictions for decades. The law simply hasn't caught up with the fact that these practices are now taking place inside video games using closed source algorithms for in-game items. The law needs to be consistent and why should these video game companies get away with murder? These practices meet every legal definition of betting/wagering/gambling that you can find.

Gambling is accepting, recording, or registering bets, or carrying on a policy game or any other lottery, or playing any game of chance, for money or other thing of value. Title 18, U.S.C., Sec. 1955, makes it a federal crime or offense for anyone to conduct an 'illegal gambling business.

(A) Bet or wager means the staking or risking by any person of something of value upon the outcome of a contest of others, a sporting event, or a game subject to chance, upon an agreement or understanding that the person or another person will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome

Good luck convincing anybody that these in-game items that people are gambling hundreds or even thousands of dollars to acquire are "without value".

Yes, because physical casinos are exactly the same as digital videogames.
Weren't you the one calling the people in washington clueless? lmao

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The most impenetrable barrier known to mankind

 

[somerandomdude]

Good luck convincing anybody that these in-game items that people are gambling hundreds or even thousands of dollars to acquire are "without value".

You can cash in chips at the casino, or your ticket you get from a slot machine for real money. If you gamble on something in a video game, you're doing it for stuff that's not a transferable asset into real currency. Therefore, it has no real-world tangible value. You're paying real money for the opportunity to get some sorta advantage in a game, or some sorta cosmetics on a digital character.

 

[1451]

I see some old and new accounts defending the game, things at headquarters are that bad, huh?

 

[RobotSquirrel]

Nobody is forcing you to play Diablo Immortal.

Yeah but the fact that it exists and makes money sets a precedent that ruins everything for the rest of us. This don't like it don't buy it bullshit is tiresome, we've heard it since horse armor.

I don't think regulation is a permanent answer as Australia has proven countless times that even if you do have regulations they can still get around them. And in every involvement governments around the world have had with the games industry it has proven incredibly ineffective hence why the ESA exists (but honestly it shouldn't I hate the ESA (and its Australian branch the IGEA) with a passion).

In my opinion, there are becoming fewer reasons to even care at this point. The industry is lost. We've been priced out by a bunch of cashed-up yuppies. (as in our buying power no longer means anything when a whale can buy 100x that)

 

[somerandomdude]

I see some old and new accounts defending the game, things at headquarters are that bad, huh?

The game is gutter trash. It's poor man's Diablo 3 with pay to win mechanics. IMO, it's a waste of bandwidth to even download it.

Nobody is forcing you to play Diablo Immortal.

Yeah but the fact that it exists and makes money sets a precedent that ruins everything for the rest of us. This don't like it don't buy it bullshit is tiresome, we've heard it since horse armor.

I don't think regulation is a permanent answer as Australia has proven countless times that even if you do have regulations they can still get around them. And in every involvement governments around the world have had with the games industry it has proven incredibly ineffective hence why the ESA exists (but honestly it shouldn't I hate the ESA (and its Australian branch the IGEA) with a passion).

In my opinion, there are becoming fewer reasons to even care at this point. The industry is lost. We've been priced out by a bunch of cashed-up yuppies. (as in our buying power no longer means anything when a whale can buy 100x that)

Smaller studios will still make some decent games, but the AAA stuff? Yeah, I'd expect to see more and more pay to win stuff, even in games people paid for. The really scummy practices started in Asian markets, and then got exported to the West. They get away with it because enough idiots pay it. We still got games like Path of Exile that are fair about it with MTX, so that's the best example of a way to do it that's reasonable, IMO. Put over 1000+hrs in that game before I gave GGG anything, and spend $60 or $80 on stash tabs and slots. I felt like they deserved me giving them something.