Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Singapore creates a government body to regulate lootboxes.

2»

Comments

  • KnightFalzKnightFalz Member EpicPosts: 4,522
    Scot said:
    Quizzical said:
    Luiden said:

    What children are exposed to is a parenting concern as is funding or denying any chance-based purchases they desire, along with protecting their own financial information so their decree can't be bypassed.

    The problem is a large percentage of parents have no idea what is happening to their kids in these games.

    That's a parenting issue. Parents that are ignorant about what they allow their children to do and what it involves are at fault regardless of other factors.

    One doesn't need to be a technical wizard to notice in app and chance based purchases exist in a game. One need simply practice due diligence.
    Part of the problem is that lootboxes are partially intended to hide the business model from parents, and a lot of parents don't understand what lootboxes are, having grown up themselves in an era that didn't have them.  That's why I proposed a mandatory disclaimer.  Sure, let the games have lootboxes, but make parents aware of what they are and which games have them.
    Lootboxes are not hidden. They are blatantly on display in the games that have them. Any parent that takes the time to check out what they are considering allowing their children to play will know of them and their nature.

    The only way parents would not be so aware is if they don't bother to check out what they are considering exposing their children to, which is a parenting issue no disclaimer will resolve no matter how mandatory.
    The whole methodology of gambling is to con the punter, there are a myriad of ways to do so from sleight of hand to hiding information. If anything adding gambling to video games has allowed even more obfuscation of the processes by which they rake in the money.

    Loot boxes clearly give random results with varying values attached. There is nothing confusing about that. There is no opportunity for slight of hand. The degree of stupidity being contrived here such that such confusion would be possible is absurd.
  • KnightFalzKnightFalz Member EpicPosts: 4,522
    Quizzical said:
    Quizzical said:
    Luiden said:

    What children are exposed to is a parenting concern as is funding or denying any chance-based purchases they desire, along with protecting their own financial information so their decree can't be bypassed.

    The problem is a large percentage of parents have no idea what is happening to their kids in these games.

    That's a parenting issue. Parents that are ignorant about what they allow their children to do and what it involves are at fault regardless of other factors.

    One doesn't need to be a technical wizard to notice in app and chance based purchases exist in a game. One need simply practice due diligence.
    Part of the problem is that lootboxes are partially intended to hide the business model from parents, and a lot of parents don't understand what lootboxes are, having grown up themselves in an era that didn't have them.  That's why I proposed a mandatory disclaimer.  Sure, let the games have lootboxes, but make parents aware of what they are and which games have them.
    Lootboxes are not hidden. They are blatantly on display in the games that have them. Any parent that takes the time to check out what they are considering allowing their children to play will know of them and their nature.

    The only way parents would not be so aware is if they don't bother to check out what they are considering exposing their children to, which is a parenting issue no disclaimer will resolve no matter how mandatory.
    What percentage of parents who aren't gamers themselves even understand what lootboxes are and why some people hate them so much?

    Every single parent that adequately checks out a game their child wishes to play that happens to have lootboxes will know of them as looking at the monetization of the game is part of that process. Why people hate them is irrelevant to the understanding of what lootboxes are and how they work.
  • UwakionnaUwakionna Member RarePosts: 1,139
    Scot said:
    Quizzical said:
    Luiden said:

    What children are exposed to is a parenting concern as is funding or denying any chance-based purchases they desire, along with protecting their own financial information so their decree can't be bypassed.

    The problem is a large percentage of parents have no idea what is happening to their kids in these games.

    That's a parenting issue. Parents that are ignorant about what they allow their children to do and what it involves are at fault regardless of other factors.

    One doesn't need to be a technical wizard to notice in app and chance based purchases exist in a game. One need simply practice due diligence.
    Part of the problem is that lootboxes are partially intended to hide the business model from parents, and a lot of parents don't understand what lootboxes are, having grown up themselves in an era that didn't have them.  That's why I proposed a mandatory disclaimer.  Sure, let the games have lootboxes, but make parents aware of what they are and which games have them.
    Lootboxes are not hidden. They are blatantly on display in the games that have them. Any parent that takes the time to check out what they are considering allowing their children to play will know of them and their nature.

    The only way parents would not be so aware is if they don't bother to check out what they are considering exposing their children to, which is a parenting issue no disclaimer will resolve no matter how mandatory.
    The whole methodology of gambling is to con the punter, there are a myriad of ways to do so from sleight of hand to hiding information. If anything adding gambling to video games has allowed even more obfuscation of the processes by which they rake in the money.

    Loot boxes clearly give random results with varying values attached. There is nothing confusing about that. There is no opportunity for slight of hand. The degree of stupidity being contrived here such that such confusion would be possible is absurd.
    Not actually true. CoD Mobile was caught back in 2019 a while back engaging in some sleight of hand actually with rigged loot boxes.

    It actually displays a few things too, including how rates are described to hide what the actual breakdown may be.

    It's actually quite easy to pull sleight of hand when selling people mystery boxes.
  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 24,273
    edited August 2022
    Uwakionna said:
    The whole methodology of gambling is to con the punter, there are a myriad of ways to do so from sleight of hand to hiding information. If anything adding gambling to video games has allowed even more obfuscation of the processes by which they rake in the money.

    Loot boxes clearly give random results with varying values attached. There is nothing confusing about that. There is no opportunity for slight of hand. The degree of stupidity being contrived here such that such confusion would be possible is absurd.
    Not actually true. CoD Mobile was caught back in 2019 a while back engaging in some sleight of hand actually with rigged loot boxes.

    It actually displays a few things too, including how rates are described to hide what the actual breakdown may be.

    It's actually quite easy to pull sleight of hand when selling people mystery boxes.

    There are many games with players wanting to know the odds, they do not all have full transparency by any means. Ethically gambling should have no place in video games which are a form of entertainment just like reading a book or watching a film, gambling is something in our society that needs a fence around it. I go to the races occasionally myself and bet on horses, that's how betting should be, a separate activity.

    To sum this up gambling elements in video games need to come under the same laws as gambling games online do, the self regulation that has occurred over the last couple of years is weak and just an attempt to put that off. Ultimately I want gambling out of gaming and that would be a step towards that.


    Post edited by Scot on
    BrotherMaynard
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 927
    edited August 2022
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
    Sometimes we need fantasy to survive reality 
    https://biturl.top/rU7bY3
    Beyond the shadows there's always light
  • vegetableoilvegetableoil Member RarePosts: 768
    Deathkon1 said:
    And which of those casinos, lotteries, etc,  allow children to gamble? That is the primary difference between casinos and lootboxes in video games. An adult has the right to know the risks of gambling, smoking, drinking and still choosing to do it. A child does not. And since parents cannot be relied upon to supervise their children in these cases, as most are  barely qualified to breathe much less breed, governments have to step in.
    Pffff lol most people I knew in school openly bragged about their parents letting them do whatever and never getting grounded along with some being handed money and told to go away, as the generations go by it will be kids teaching kids even when or if they try to teach them correctly they won't know how to because they themselves were never taught correctly or even at all in most cases.
    can you blame them though? for older generations loot boxes didn't exist. If no one explains it to them how would they know what it is? Not every parent are gamer, to them, games are just harmless fun, not some predatory money system, and the people that run the government are older, and old enough to be great grandparents where even a phone used to be a rotary phone and didn't have internet, watching black and white tv If no one explained it to them how would they know what loot boxes are?

    If you have kids, probably in the future there are some even worse than loot boxes suddenly will exist. like locking people in the matrix perhaps lol.
  • IselinIselin Member LegendaryPosts: 18,719
    edited August 2022
    Uwakionna said:
    Scot said:
    Quizzical said:
    Luiden said:

    What children are exposed to is a parenting concern as is funding or denying any chance-based purchases they desire, along with protecting their own financial information so their decree can't be bypassed.

    The problem is a large percentage of parents have no idea what is happening to their kids in these games.

    That's a parenting issue. Parents that are ignorant about what they allow their children to do and what it involves are at fault regardless of other factors.

    One doesn't need to be a technical wizard to notice in app and chance based purchases exist in a game. One need simply practice due diligence.
    Part of the problem is that lootboxes are partially intended to hide the business model from parents, and a lot of parents don't understand what lootboxes are, having grown up themselves in an era that didn't have them.  That's why I proposed a mandatory disclaimer.  Sure, let the games have lootboxes, but make parents aware of what they are and which games have them.
    Lootboxes are not hidden. They are blatantly on display in the games that have them. Any parent that takes the time to check out what they are considering allowing their children to play will know of them and their nature.

    The only way parents would not be so aware is if they don't bother to check out what they are considering exposing their children to, which is a parenting issue no disclaimer will resolve no matter how mandatory.
    The whole methodology of gambling is to con the punter, there are a myriad of ways to do so from sleight of hand to hiding information. If anything adding gambling to video games has allowed even more obfuscation of the processes by which they rake in the money.

    Loot boxes clearly give random results with varying values attached. There is nothing confusing about that. There is no opportunity for slight of hand. The degree of stupidity being contrived here such that such confusion would be possible is absurd.
    Not actually true. CoD Mobile was caught back in 2019 a while back engaging in some sleight of hand actually with rigged loot boxes.

    It actually displays a few things too, including how rates are described to hide what the actual breakdown may be.

    It's actually quite easy to pull sleight of hand when selling people mystery boxes.
    It's almost like people don't want to know that the same way they can add "pity" systems that manipulate the RNG in the players favor after a certain condition is met, they can also manipulate RNG for other purposes when it suits them.

    It's not just lootboxes that can and do have less than technically pristine RNG systems. I see this almost religious belief that "RNG is just RNG" in games that don't even have lootboxes despite ample historical evidence that devs can and do manipulate RNG for a variety of reasons.

    The income from lootboxes gives them a huge incentive to play around with tweaks and thresholds and they're not all as simple and easy to discover as the infamous COD 9 or 10 lootbox threshold before the desirable items begin to drop.

    Published odds can be and often are also misleading.
    ScotUwakionna
    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”

    ― Umberto Eco

    “Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” 
    ― CD PROJEKT RED

  • kitaradkitarad Member LegendaryPosts: 8,164
    edited August 2022
    Scot said:
    Quizzical said:
    Luiden said:

    What children are exposed to is a parenting concern as is funding or denying any chance-based purchases they desire, along with protecting their own financial information so their decree can't be bypassed.

    The problem is a large percentage of parents have no idea what is happening to their kids in these games.

    That's a parenting issue. Parents that are ignorant about what they allow their children to do and what it involves are at fault regardless of other factors.

    One doesn't need to be a technical wizard to notice in app and chance based purchases exist in a game. One need simply practice due diligence.
    Part of the problem is that lootboxes are partially intended to hide the business model from parents, and a lot of parents don't understand what lootboxes are, having grown up themselves in an era that didn't have them.  That's why I proposed a mandatory disclaimer.  Sure, let the games have lootboxes, but make parents aware of what they are and which games have them.
    Lootboxes are not hidden. They are blatantly on display in the games that have them. Any parent that takes the time to check out what they are considering allowing their children to play will know of them and their nature.

    The only way parents would not be so aware is if they don't bother to check out what they are considering exposing their children to, which is a parenting issue no disclaimer will resolve no matter how mandatory.
    The whole methodology of gambling is to con the punter, there are a myriad of ways to do so from sleight of hand to hiding information. If anything adding gambling to video games has allowed even more obfuscation of the processes by which they rake in the money.

    Loot boxes clearly give random results with varying values attached. There is nothing confusing about that. There is no opportunity for slight of hand. The degree of stupidity being contrived here such that such confusion would be possible is absurd.
    That is a very naive look at these systems. There have been so many instances where game companies have been adjusting their RNG and reducing certain positive outcomes to be less than 5 percent chance even in games where they were not selling ways to increase the percentage or chance of success.

    You have to be really oblivious to have missed the data mining that have come out and shown the way RNG actually works for these game developers. You would probably stand a better chance if it was really RNG.

    Don't have to look very far just take a look at the Diablo Immortal drop rates to  know that it is completely manipulated.

    Think about it for one minute. The very fact that are selling you ways to increase the randomness in your favour means they can totally control it. I am actually quite shocked at how much faith you have placed in these mobile game shysters.
    Asm0deus

  • KnightFalzKnightFalz Member EpicPosts: 4,522
    kitarad said:
    Scot said:
    Quizzical said:
    Luiden said:

    What children are exposed to is a parenting concern as is funding or denying any chance-based purchases they desire, along with protecting their own financial information so their decree can't be bypassed.

    The problem is a large percentage of parents have no idea what is happening to their kids in these games.

    That's a parenting issue. Parents that are ignorant about what they allow their children to do and what it involves are at fault regardless of other factors.

    One doesn't need to be a technical wizard to notice in app and chance based purchases exist in a game. One need simply practice due diligence.
    Part of the problem is that lootboxes are partially intended to hide the business model from parents, and a lot of parents don't understand what lootboxes are, having grown up themselves in an era that didn't have them.  That's why I proposed a mandatory disclaimer.  Sure, let the games have lootboxes, but make parents aware of what they are and which games have them.
    Lootboxes are not hidden. They are blatantly on display in the games that have them. Any parent that takes the time to check out what they are considering allowing their children to play will know of them and their nature.

    The only way parents would not be so aware is if they don't bother to check out what they are considering exposing their children to, which is a parenting issue no disclaimer will resolve no matter how mandatory.
    The whole methodology of gambling is to con the punter, there are a myriad of ways to do so from sleight of hand to hiding information. If anything adding gambling to video games has allowed even more obfuscation of the processes by which they rake in the money.

    Loot boxes clearly give random results with varying values attached. There is nothing confusing about that. There is no opportunity for slight of hand. The degree of stupidity being contrived here such that such confusion would be possible is absurd.
    That is a very naive look at these systems. There have been so many instances where game companies have been adjusting their RNG and reducing certain positive outcomes to be less than 5 percent chance even in games where they were not selling ways to increase the percentage or chance of success.

    You have to be really oblivious to have missed the data mining that have come out and shown the way RNG actually works for these game developers. You would probably stand a better chance if it was really RNG.

    Don't have to look very far just take a look at the Diablo Immortal drop rates to  know that it is completely manipulated.

    Think about it for one minute. The very fact that are selling you ways to increase the randomness in your favour means they can totally control it. I am actually quite shocked at how much faith you have placed in these mobile game shysters.

    It's not naive in the least. I don't put faith in lootbox sellers. I put faith in human intelligence. That chance based always favours the house. Of this people are well aware. Lootboxes as chance based purchases will always favour the seller.

    The precise details of that favour aren't necessary to know that it exists just as one doesn't need to know the precise odds to be aware they always favour the house. It is nothing more than an extension of what is common knowledge.

    To suggest this is difficult to discern in nonsensical.
  • UwakionnaUwakionna Member RarePosts: 1,139
    That's actually a concerningly naïve stance.

    One putting faith in human intelligence to make an informed decision, relies on them having as complete of information as possible to make the decision.

    The odds themselves, are a part of that information, just as well, when loot boxes are rigged (like the prior linked example) that should also be known and called out.

    But better yet, it shouldn't be happening in the first place. There's a reason gambling had to become regulated, much as there's a reason loot boxes have shown the need for regulation.

    Putting the onus on "parents" to regulate an entire industry through buying habits completely ignores the fundamental issue of the ethically bankrupt that think it's fine to enable and exploit in the first place.
    Asm0deus
  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,975
    Quizzical said:
    Quizzical said:
    Luiden said:

    What children are exposed to is a parenting concern as is funding or denying any chance-based purchases they desire, along with protecting their own financial information so their decree can't be bypassed.

    The problem is a large percentage of parents have no idea what is happening to their kids in these games.

    That's a parenting issue. Parents that are ignorant about what they allow their children to do and what it involves are at fault regardless of other factors.

    One doesn't need to be a technical wizard to notice in app and chance based purchases exist in a game. One need simply practice due diligence.
    Part of the problem is that lootboxes are partially intended to hide the business model from parents, and a lot of parents don't understand what lootboxes are, having grown up themselves in an era that didn't have them.  That's why I proposed a mandatory disclaimer.  Sure, let the games have lootboxes, but make parents aware of what they are and which games have them.
    Lootboxes are not hidden. They are blatantly on display in the games that have them. Any parent that takes the time to check out what they are considering allowing their children to play will know of them and their nature.

    The only way parents would not be so aware is if they don't bother to check out what they are considering exposing their children to, which is a parenting issue no disclaimer will resolve no matter how mandatory.
    What percentage of parents who aren't gamers themselves even understand what lootboxes are and why some people hate them so much?

    Every single parent that adequately checks out a game their child wishes to play that happens to have lootboxes will know of them as looking at the monetization of the game is part of that process. Why people hate them is irrelevant to the understanding of what lootboxes are and how they work.
    Have you ever tried to explain how gaming monetization works to a non gamer? (More of them than you might think)

    I particularly enjoy their incredulous looks when I explain how much money is stupidly spent on our favorite hobby, they struggle to fathom how such a twisted system could exist, much less be willingly supported by gamers.

    So yeah, lots of adults, (not just parents) don't really grasp the traps and pitfalls children face....
    Asm0deusvegetableoil

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

    Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

    Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™

    "This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon






  • KnightFalzKnightFalz Member EpicPosts: 4,522
    Kyleran said:
    Quizzical said:
    Quizzical said:
    Luiden said:

    What children are exposed to is a parenting concern as is funding or denying any chance-based purchases they desire, along with protecting their own financial information so their decree can't be bypassed.

    The problem is a large percentage of parents have no idea what is happening to their kids in these games.

    That's a parenting issue. Parents that are ignorant about what they allow their children to do and what it involves are at fault regardless of other factors.

    One doesn't need to be a technical wizard to notice in app and chance based purchases exist in a game. One need simply practice due diligence.
    Part of the problem is that lootboxes are partially intended to hide the business model from parents, and a lot of parents don't understand what lootboxes are, having grown up themselves in an era that didn't have them.  That's why I proposed a mandatory disclaimer.  Sure, let the games have lootboxes, but make parents aware of what they are and which games have them.
    Lootboxes are not hidden. They are blatantly on display in the games that have them. Any parent that takes the time to check out what they are considering allowing their children to play will know of them and their nature.

    The only way parents would not be so aware is if they don't bother to check out what they are considering exposing their children to, which is a parenting issue no disclaimer will resolve no matter how mandatory.
    What percentage of parents who aren't gamers themselves even understand what lootboxes are and why some people hate them so much?

    Every single parent that adequately checks out a game their child wishes to play that happens to have lootboxes will know of them as looking at the monetization of the game is part of that process. Why people hate them is irrelevant to the understanding of what lootboxes are and how they work.
    Have you ever tried to explain how gaming monetization works to a non gamer? (More of them than you might think)

    I particularly enjoy their incredulous looks when I explain how much money is stupidly spent on our favorite hobby, they struggle to fathom how such a twisted system could exist, much less be willingly supported by gamers.

    So yeah, lots of adults, (not just parents) don't really grasp the traps and pitfalls children face....

    Chance based purchases aren't limited to games. Virtually all adults are aware of them through other means whether through games of chance, charitable auctions, lotteries, scratch tickets, bingo and on and on and on. People that have issues controlling their purchases of such are also not limited to games. Recognizing the nature of lootboxes is an easy transference of common knowledge long established.

    Children face no traps or pitfalls with lootboxes that their parents don't shove them into or fail to notice them approaching.
  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 24,273
    edited December 2023
    That's a positive step from Singapore in addressing the concerns around loot boxes. It's great to see governments taking initiatives to regulate such aspects of gaming, ensuring fair practices and protecting consumers. It would be interesting to see how this model evolves and if other countries follow suit.
    I am going to say you are an adbot (unreported), but if not do post to tell me I am wrong. :)
  • WargfootWargfoot Member EpicPosts: 1,406
    If you think this is about something other than the government getting its cut of a profitable enterprise, you're a moron.
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
Sign In or Register to comment.