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Why microtransactions, IAPs and LootBoxes are here to stay thread

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    And it's full cycle. Who would rather have rich single player DLC when you can gamble all your real money away. Now, how do I cash out again?...

    Grand Theft Auto V update adds a casino that can be played with real money (GamesIndustry.biz)

    Grand Theft Auto V's latest update, The Diamond Casino & Resort, adds the titular casino to its fictional Los Santos, but lets players use real money to play its games.

    The BBC reports that the casino's chips can be purchased with in-game currency at a $1 to 1 chip ratio. GTA V's money can be either earned in-game, or purchased with real-world money at a rate of $500,000 in GTA currency for $10 USD. In addition, the casino only allows players to purchase $50,000(GTA) worth of chips per in-game day, or real-world hour.

    No GTA money or chips can be cashed out for real-world currency, which is notable especially in light of the fact that earlier this week, British MPs declared that FIFA's in-game player packs and loot boxes were not gambling because there was no legitimate way to monetize their virtual contents after purchase.

    Instead, that money can be used to purchase other in-game items, such as cars, weapons, or appearance-changing items.

    However, not every country sees it that way, as a number of countries have blocked the gambling minigames in GTA V. This happened similarly in another Rockstar title recently, Red Dead Redemption 2. Unlike GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2 notably does not allow players to use real money to purchase its special gambling currency.
    Last edited by Digfox; 24-07-2019, 20:13.

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      So why not go whole hog and just make a casino game with 1-1 currency and aim it at children? It's almost there. **** it. So long as you can't cash the winnings out of the game it's not gambling right. Jesus ****ing christ.

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        Originally posted by Cassius_Smoke View Post
        So why not go whole hog and just make a casino game with 1-1 currency and aim it at children? It's almost there. **** it. So long as you can't cash the winnings out of the game it's not gambling right. Jesus ****ing christ.
        GTA is 18-rated.

        Now, you might say "but kids play it!" but this is kinda the worry. If we, the gaming public, collectively admit that the ratings system doesn't work, then the government can massively overreach. The companies doing this are really screwing the pooch here; it's going to end badly for everyone concerned apart from a few people who can "take the money and run" before the music stops.

        Years ago we, as gamers, really wanted the government to keep their hands off videogames. Now the tables have turned and I'm not convinced things will improve.

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          Originally posted by Asura View Post
          If we, the gaming public, collectively admit that the ratings system doesn't work, then the government can massively overreach..
          And yet I don't think there would be a single person here who could claim it does work. It's not that we might say "but kids play it". It's that we all know that to be true.

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            Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
            And yet I don't think there would be a single person here who could claim it does work. It's not that we might say "but kids play it". It's that we all know that to be true.
            What I'm saying is that the government is far more likely to use this as an excuse to ban 18-rated games full stop than fix the gambling problems in them.

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              Originally posted by Asura View Post
              What I'm saying is that the government is far more likely to use this as an excuse to ban 18-rated games full stop than fix the gambling problems in them.
              The government is highly unlikely to ever do this due to money. If it could even be interpreted to hit someone like Rockstar or any big company with roots or ties to the UK, it would be a really damaging news story. An industry lobby would milk stories of job losses and so on (regardless of whether there are or not). So I don't see 18s games getting banned unless money and jobs ceases to have the sway it currently does. It would be too big a reach.

              By contrast, few would have the same sympathies towards a gambling industry and that would be harder to spin. There has already been a narrative of children spending too much on in-app purchases and so on and this is a live story - it's current and be rerun again and again. Some politicians can make it a mission to tackle that and come out looking like a hero. The same wouldn't be true for someone who managed to ban 18s games - that would last all of five minutes.

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                Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
                The government is highly unlikely to ever do this due to money. If it could even be interpreted to hit someone like Rockstar or any big company with roots or ties to the UK, it would be a really damaging news story. An industry lobby would milk stories of job losses and so on (regardless of whether there are or not). So I don't see 18s games getting banned unless money and jobs ceases to have the sway it currently does. It would be too big a reach.

                By contrast, few would have the same sympathies towards a gambling industry and that would be harder to spin. There has already been a narrative of children spending too much on in-app purchases and so on and this is a live story - it's current and be rerun again and again. Some politicians can make it a mission to tackle that and come out looking like a hero. The same wouldn't be true for someone who managed to ban 18s games - that would last all of five minutes.
                Honestly, I disagree. I think the general public have absolutely no regard for the welfare of people who make videogames, and zero respect for them even as a tax-earner. If the government came down on the likes of Rockstar, I don't think anyone but their hardcore fans would stand up for them, and I think people would look upon games devs losing their jobs in the same manner as youTubers complaining about declining revenue (i.e. "boo hoo, now you've got to get a real job").

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                  You're confusing the interests of industry lobbies with those of the general public.

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                    Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
                    You're confusing the interests of industry lobbies with those of the general public.
                    I'm not. I just don't think the games industry's lobby is powerful enough to sway overwhelming public opinion.

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                      It doesn't have to. For what you reckon might happen, that's where the public would need to be swayed and I don't see that happening. The games industry aren't public enemy number one. So right now, the power of the games industry lobby behind the scenes hugely outweighs any fuss that can be made about it. It's not in any politician's interests to cause the amount of problems that banning 18s games would cause because, whether it has enough, money does have power and there are no doubt people with influence standing up for the big players in the games industry. Like I say, nobody comes out of that looking like a hero.

                      But protecting kids from gambling? That's a far, far easier target.

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                        Series on BBC radio 4 about this at the moment. Should be on iPlayer in a bit if anyone fancies a listen. Called The Gamble Network - The Loot Box Scandal.

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                          Originally posted by Paulos G View Post
                          Series on BBC radio 4 about this at the moment. Should be on iPlayer in a bit if anyone fancies a listen. Called The Gamble Network - The Loot Box Scandal.
                          Ta, listened to this episode tonight. I was worried at first the episode focused too much on the third-party websites that allow you to 'cash out' on CS:GO and FIFA but it doesn't in the end.

                          https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00070hh - link for anyone else interested.

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                            Rocket League is removing loot-boxes, apparently at Epic's request after a buyout (Epic is also removing them from Fortnite: Save The World, the original game that later spawned the game most of us think of when we hear Fortnite; y'know, the one where you build forts over successive nights).

                            Admittedly these don't represent a trend; Rocket League is phenomenally successful, has made a ton of money already, and has been bought by a cash-rich publisher.

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                              Pah, Epic is cash rich? Pull the other one, if that were true then they'd have the resources for Fortnite: Save the World to be out of Early Access by now... *ahem*



                              Also, starting from 2020 Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will no longer permit games on their platforms to contain Loot Boxes unless the publisher first publicly discloses the drop rates

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                                Originally posted by Superman Falls View Post
                                Pah, Epic is cash rich? Pull the other one, if that were true then they'd have the resources for Fortnite: Save the World to be out of Early Access by now... *ahem*



                                Also, starting from 2020 Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will no longer permit games on their platforms to contain Loot Boxes unless the publisher first publicly discloses the drop rates
                                I can see this being easily circumvented by doing what they currently do: release the game without loot boxes then patch them in later.

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