98 replies to this topic

[Accused]

http://www.pcgamer.c...nned-in-europe/

Shouldn't affect PGI's bottom line too much. I imagine they get most of their revenue from mech packs.

Edited by Accused, 21 November 2017 - 04:04 PM.

[FupDup]

Our current equivalent of loot boxes is so meaningless that it won't change anything on our end.

[davoodoo]

You sound surprised, why wouldnt they be considered gambling?

[The6thMessenger]

I'm not surprised. I'd consider them gambling too.

Hopefully, the rest of the world follows suit.

[N0ni]

Europe is like the anti-fun zone when it comes to gaming. They have their reasons, but putting limits on content (regardless what it is) that's considered "Acceptable" you end up paying more for less. It's not like you're FORCED to buy loot boxes, therefore not FORCED to "gamble".

I wouldn't be surprised if they try to get Loot Crate banned since you literally buy a box that you don't know the contents of.

[Oldbob10025]

Are you Fing kidding me. If every company that did anything were to abide by another Country's laws or beliefs we wont be playing video games. How about Saudi Arabia they have plenty of laws against almost everything. Get a grip people and if they dont like loot boxes then they can ban the game in their country. Otherwise they can pound sand like the rest.

[FupDup]

I'm pretty sure it's not about outright banning loot boxes, but regulating them similar to the way that physical gambling is handled. Here is a nice video that talks about how this might unfold:

[Oldbob10025]

Well then the people in Europe I guess dont get to play StarWars then. Simple

[Jay Leon Hart]

HOW DARE COUNTRIES TRY TO PROTECT CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH ADDICTION PROBLEMS!

I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE EXCEPT MYSELF!

RAWR! I R T3H ANGREEZ!

Calm down folks, regulations for scummy business practices is a good thing.

[Muujig612]

N0ni, on 21 November 2017 - 04:18 PM, said:

I wouldn't be surprised if they try to get Loot Crate banned since you literally buy a box that you don't know the contents of.

But you do know the contents of MWO loot crate, once gotten. And it is a decent way for new players to get C-Bills, compared to PGI's own C-Bill bundle, anyway.

Edited by Muujig612, 21 November 2017 - 04:57 PM.

[N0ni]

Muujig612, on 21 November 2017 - 04:51 PM, said:

But you do know the contents of MWO loot crate, once gotten.

We do know the contents as it currently is, when it's revamped we will NOT know and you'll get what you get... similar to OW boxes.

[Oldbob10025]

Jay so you accept the practices of beliefs of other country's. The issue is not another country trying to protect the children the issue is having another country telling another "You cant make that game or do anything you want for a game because we dont like it"..

If we had the world telling our game designers that we might as well not play games. I know your pissed off at EA for making the loot box thing but think of the whole wide spread thought. Hell the UN wanted to ban violent video games as it was "Simulating killing" and should be a war crime. So we all should goto jail because of another country or group hates that we play violent video games?

The whole EA thing is just that EA and the response was to having another country dictate what should and should not be in a game in another country. If another country thinks its gambling then so be it they can ban the game in their country.

Also you saying "How dare we try to protect children and people with addiction problems" Well once you go to a AA meeting or become a sponsor for them or bring your campaign to end alcohol or gaming and we see that then your point is mute. Sorry

EA made a major fubar and were all pissed off at them.

[Jay Leon Hart]

Wanting stricter regulations on gambling is not "telling a company they can't make a game" but rather informing them it may be more controlled, like traditional adult content. Then the devs can choose whether or not to include said content. For example, China passed a law where the odds of loot boxes et al need to be visible. This is a good thing, don't you agree?

I don;t care about Star Wars Battlefront, because it doesn't interest me. EA have been pulling this crap for years, they even killed off Dead Space and their devs, Visceral Games. Warner Brothers' mishandling of loot boxes in Shadow of War made me not buy it at launch, I'll wait until it's half price to pick it up instead.

There's nothing wrong with gambling. There's a lot wrong with allowing children to gamble, unregulated. CSGo Lotto started the fire under this garbage. Sorry.

[Oldbob10025]

Jay Leon Hart, on 21 November 2017 - 05:07 PM, said:

Wanting stricter regulations on gambling is not "telling a company they can't make a game" but rather informing them it may be more controlled, like traditional adult content. Then the devs can choose whether or not to include said content. For example, China passed a law where the odds of loot boxes et al need to be visible. This is a good thing, don't you agree?

I don;t care about Star Wars Battlefront, because it doesn't interest me. EA have been pulling this crap for years, they even killed off Dead Space and their devs, Visceral Games. Warner Brothers' mishandling of loot boxes in Shadow of War made me not buy it at launch, I'll wait until it's half price to pick it up instead.

There's nothing wrong with gambling. There's a lot wrong with allowing children to gamble, unregulated. CSGo Lotto started the fire under this garbage. Sorry.

If a game company wants to put warning stickers then that's up to them but so many people are using this article or ones like it as a knife with no blade with no thought and saying" See its gambling and we should ban the boxes" but with no real insight on what comes of it.

If you dont like something about a game dont buy it. Its what I do for some of the games I dont play anymore as they had some practices that were not of what I liked so I shelved them or didnt purchase them. We all choose what games we play based on what we like about them. I like battletech so I play this until something comes along and i'll go play another game. Having another country have their laws put on another is just silly if you ask me.

Australia if I have this right banned Grand Theft Auto as it was too violent, its that country's right to ban said game if the people dont want it but they did try to sue GTA about that and lost with good reason.

This whole thing with EA is just plain silly, if you like the game play it if you dont well dont but to use articles such as this with a knife with no edge just because your pissed off at it to prove some weird point with out thinking of the big picture. I find nothing wrong with gambling but things wrong with alcohol but I put my beliefs in check as I choose not to drink (maybe a 12 pack every 5 months) and gamble sometimes when I have some extra burn money.

If we had to put warning stickers for everything that well "Could hurt us or make us cry" well the whole world would be covered with stickers

[Jman5]

My main problem with MWO lootboxes is that they don't list the odds. If I play the lottery I know the odds of winning are 1 in 500,000,000. When I roll for that mech I have no idea if it's 1 in 10, or 1 in 500,000,000.

Fortunately in MWO's case they don't lock content behind lootboxes like they do in other games.

[Oldbob10025]

I never spend MC on keys and they give your free keys all the time. That way its free If I get a lump of coal then its a free lump of coal and if I get a mech well its a free mech.

[KodiakGW]

Oldbob10025, on 21 November 2017 - 05:26 PM, said:

If we had to put warning stickers for everything that well "Could hurt us or make us cry" well the whole world would be covered with stickers

Exactly.

Problem is, the “won’t someone think of the children” mentality is getting worse, and infecting every facet of our lives.

[FupDup]

Jman5, on 21 November 2017 - 05:34 PM, said:

My main problem with MWO lootboxes is that they don't list the odds. If I play the lottery I know the odds of winning are 1 in 500,000,000. When I roll for that mech I have no idea if it's 1 in 10, or 1 in 500,000,000.

Fortunately in MWO's case they don't lock content behind lootboxes like they do in other games.

A funny aside is that Blizzard faced this issue with their Overwatch loot boxes in China. Instead of revealing the odds, though, Blizzard used a loophole to avoid doing that. What they did was let people buy coins for $ instead of boxes directly, and you just bought loot boxes with those coins.

I think it should speak volumes when companies are so desperate to avoid disclosing the loot drop rates that they'll do nearly anything to keep it secret. Consumers armed with such information would make rational purchasing decisions rather than emotional ones, and that directly contradicts the entire point of a random loot system in the first place.

[Magnumaniac]

Oldbob10025, on 21 November 2017 - 04:56 PM, said:

...the issue is having another country telling another "You cant make that game or do anything you want for a game because we dont like it".

Welcome to the wonderful world of the EU - where a small bunch of unelected politicians can make decisions that affect 28 different sovereign states.

[JC Daxion]

Jay Leon Hart, on 21 November 2017 - 04:42 PM, said:

HOW DARE COUNTRIES TRY TO PROTECT CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH ADDICTION PROBLEMS!

I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE EXCEPT MYSELF!

RAWR! I R T3H ANGREEZ!

Calm down folks, regulations for scummy business practices is a good thing.

This is why we can no longer buy lawn darts...


But these boxes IMO are not gambling, they are basically an MC to c-bill converter for the most part. You get random supplies like Mech salvage in the old games. I've opened every single box i get, and it all averages out to basically you are paying MC for around 175k-200k in C-bill value. If you want to call getting mech bays or premium gambling on it, i guess i just don't see it that way.

In that case, the lootbags are events that are gambling too and we must stop that too! Because you know, we have to protect the children from the ill's of gambling.. No money need to be on the line to be actually called gambling and start that addiction!

Edited by JC Daxion, 21 November 2017 - 06:11 PM.