The UK’s gambling commission has released another statement on the topic of loot boxes in videogames. Bottom line: loot boxes are not legally definable as a form of gambling. But that’s not the end of it.
Hosts: Mike Williams and Gareth Evans
Script: Mike Williams
Editor: Liam McKelvey
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here you go boys and girls, an interesting little article that just popped up on the BBC website regarding skins and gambling: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42311533
What annoys me is that game companies are focussing on Loot Boxes, where's my single player DLC?! I don't mind paying for something as long as you get it and it is beneficial. This is bs.
Wasn't expecting much from them….they love the smell of money…
🎼What will we do with the drunken whaler?🎶
🎼What will we do with the drunken whaler?🎶
🎼What will we do with the drunken whaler?🎶
🎼…early in the morning.🎶
I'm quitting gaming after this generation. Gonna get Farcry 5, RDR2 and I really hope cyberpunk 2077 is released this gen then I'm done with gaming. Gonna stick with all the games I have so far where I payed full price for a game and recieved full content rather than paying full price and only receiving a quarter of a game. Fuck you suits, you ruined gaming for real gamers.
I say, AGAIN, that there is no REAL LIFE VALUE for the product you get. You can LOOSE THE PRODUCT since you did not BUY THE GAME as a physical copy, but bought the game as a service.
So once the Overwatch-Servers shut down, once EA decides Battlefront II doesn't do enough money, you LOOSE THE VALUE YOU GOT. YOU LOOSE THE MONEY. SO YOU DON'T HAVE A REAL VALUE. Since a fucking RANDOMIZED GOLDBAR is not devalued once EA decides not to hand out randomized goldbars anymore.
Not
A
Real
Value. #NARV. -.- (See how far you got me?)
I like the loot boxes in Shadow of War, they're good fun. Haven't spent a penny.
You guys are right to call EA and all the other companies out that are INTENTIONALLY designing their games to exploit weaknesses in gamers. Any addictive tendencies and desire to get a competitive edge over others. It's all about milking people like cash cows. They literally give no f*cks
Age rating of 18 on all games with loot boxes? It is justified as loot boxes could be considered harmful to kids… It's a start…
You're paying money for the possibility of something good in return being cash, gifts, loot but not guaranteed. By definition isnt that gambling?
Ironically we have spent over a decade trying to convince people that gaming isn't just for kids, but the moment we don't like something being done in gaming we, as a group, resort to a "it's for the children" campaign to stop it.
The only problem with this entire gambling thing is that the fact that pay to progress system in full priced retail games isnt even discussed! even if it is not gambling its infuriating to me as a customer!
I guess nobody here buys their kids trading cards or lets them play carnival games then huh?
If you think it's potentially harmful for children…maybe don't buy them for your fucking kids and be a responsible parent?
EA regulating themselves probably involves them adding another loot box to a game at 7am instead of 6am.
its not gambling because you cant cash out anything you get…so its worse than gambling because you can never win your money back
So, it's up to every Englishman to mail his local MP in order to fix this issue. Good luck!
The ESA or anyone affiliated with the gaming industry can not regulate loot boxes, they make too much money. It’s like putting Ajit Pai in charge of the FCC…
The President/CEO of the ESA is Strauss “More wood to Chop” Zelnick”. The VP is a former White House financial advisor to George W. Bush. Almost every major gaming company sits on the voting board. CDPR is not on it, but EA, WB, Ubisoft, Activision/EA, Tencent, Bethesda, Konami, Capcom, Square Enix, Nvidea, Microsoft, T2, Sony Interactive, 2K… what are the odds these people are going to side with the consumer? Much less admit that they have been studying this for years and are well aware of it’s potentially harmful effects? Tobacco companies still won’t admit it and most of their papers are public.
No way they can self regulate.
It's definitely gambling. Paying real money for a chance to get a virtual item. The addiction and it's being marketed towards kids. The laws are outdated and should be changed.
Wow, the Brexit country fails again.
what crap of course its gambling your paying real money for the slim chance of getting something good back if that's not gambling then i'm Thor god of thunder
Loot boxes content is not random! It is programmed by the game designers. You must be stupid to think designers don't try to lure their customers by tweaking the 'randomization'… The rope is sticking out but if you pull on it, you will find casinos and lotteries at the end of it. No wonder why governments shut their eyes… Gambling is basically stupid!
They aren't gambling
it is a harmful practice in a way that children are getting in contact with a gambling system. Yes that is one point that need regulation, but if a company makes it´s game FSK 18 then what ? It´s a very very shady buisness practice to everyone else too. Like what prevents any government to make a law against those transactions in a full price anything ?
If the game has in-game purchases, it should only be possible for 18+ purchasers, just like the requirement to enter into contracts that cost cash or enable cash payments. It has to be locked by default to no cash payments and specifically unlocked to be for kids.
Just thinking here. If it's not gambling because yo ucan't get cash out, then think on this: p2p seeding iso images of cracked games does not produce any cash that can come out, but the potential of receiving a copy of another game was considered enough to be monetary value, therefore was "commercial piracy". Yet here we have you getting stuff that is more game because that's the result of the loot: bits of the game currently locked off.
Or, alternatively, p2p is not commercial piracy because there's no cash-out available.
Pick one, The Justice System.
End of the day EA and activision will just raise the age of all their games to 18+ to circumvent any anti child gambling legislation
I agree with the gambling commission. Gambling (of the kind kids should be protected from) is gambling for money and if you were to define loot boxes as gambling you'd also have to ban a whole bunch of innocent things kids enjoy such as trading cards, charity raffles etc.
Whether loot boxes are gambling or not to me is not the question we should be asking, it's whether they are appropriate in games. The answer is most certainly no but to me this isn't something governments should get involved in, it's something for us as consumers to voice our objections too and vote with our wallets.
If 80% of devs refused to work with shady publishers and Stores were persuaded to not promote games with shitty practices like this publishers will very quickly change their tune.
Also parents, don't let your kids use your credit card information!
Love your videos. Keep up the great work.
Can you talk about net neutrality in the US. the decision is made Dec 18
Nice to see successful Welsh youtubers
if it doesn't matter to parents why not buy me some loot boxes
No Mike, lube is not related to sex, it's for cars and other mechanical stuff: oil, grease, WD40 etc.
If some sort of sex act requires lubrication, just keep going until the blood comes and that will do the job just fine.
There is no need for regulations, JUST STOP BUYING THESE GAMES!
I've been out of the UK for a few years now but when I was bailing there was all this (imo bullshit) talk about forcing people to sign their life away to their ISP to allow them to watch porn… Maybe a modification of that would fix it right up?
Vote me for Prime Minister and i will illegalize loot boxes in UK law!
My captions say loo boxes…. Which is appropriate because all you get is a pile of shit.
It's extremely obvious that this isn't gambling. On CounterStrike GO Where you can instantly take you items and exchange them for money- I would say THAT is gambling.
https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/electronic-arts-ltd-a14-258907.html – shouldn't they have been keeping an eye on EA? Fucking slackers, people are paying taxes for you to get shit done.
Their whole idea just prices our point. Some loot items do have monitery value! Just look at csgo and other games with markets dedicated to it. It has to be says they handle it all a lot better though.
Of course it's gambling. You pay a sum of money for a random chance at getting something you put the money down for. Sounds like gambling to me.
What blows my mind is no matter what you "buy" from these loot boxes, most terms of service specify you never really own these digital creations… They close the servers, your money is gone…
How are kids getting hold of bank cards?