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Belgian Minister of Justice Koen Geens wants to ban the sale of games with loot boxes.
Belgian Minister of Justice Koen Geens, hopes to ban the sale of games with 'additional' purchases, if it is not clear what exactly these purchases involve.
Gamers can purchase so-called 'loot boxes' with real money in some games. These are random upgrades in these virtual boxes. Players do not know what they get in advance, that is deemed and ruled gambling. "Gambling and gaming mixing, especially at a young age, is dangerous for the mental health of the child," says Geens. He hopes to restrict the sale of these extras in games. "But that takes time, we have to go to Europe," he adds. "We are definitely going to try to ban it."
The Dutch and Belgian gambling authorities have previously started investigations into games with loot boxes, to determine whether they are gambling games. The Belgian authority was quite sure about this recently: they call "the mixing of money and addiction" a form of gambling, even if that happens in games.
Moving a few km upwards to the Netherlands - The Dutch authority emphasizes that game rewards must have economic value before it is labeled as gambling. If the games in the Netherlands are rules to 'gable', this can lead to a (temporary) ban on sales. At the moment there is no law in the Netherlands for online games with gambling elements in it, but laws are determined in the Dutch Senate.
What ignited all this is, of course, Star Wars Battlefront II and the pay to win schemes as well as the loot boxes you can purchase, without knowing what is inside them. Currently, Publisher Electronic Arts removed the possibility to spend real money from the new game Star Wars Battlefront II.
cryohellinc
Senior Member
Posts: 3404
Joined: 2014-10-20
Senior Member
Posts: 3404
Joined: 2014-10-20
#5494596 Posted on: 11/22/2017 10:03 AM
fOrTy_7
Senior Member
Posts: 345
Joined: 2005-06-18
Senior Member
Posts: 345
Joined: 2005-06-18
#5494598 Posted on: 11/22/2017 10:07 AM
Thank you Dice for briging a doom (or at least a chance of it) to loot boxes.
After Battlefield 1 fiasco and now this you definitelly lost a client.
@Barry J: The article doesn't say anything about micro-transactions in general, it only mentions loot boxes. So micro-transactions in games like GTA V where you can buy 8 million of GTA$ for like 60€, for which you can only buy one or two premium in-game items is still possible, because 'you know what you're buying in advance'.
Personally, I think that sooner or later market (that means us gamers) will corrects this.
There were larger backlashes for smaller reasons, e.g. OpenVI ban. I think people will eventually get so pissed off over this, that there will be consequenses even for biggest publishers. Gamers just need to unite and hit them when it hurts, that is their wallets.
Thank you Dice for briging a doom (or at least a chance of it) to loot boxes.
After Battlefield 1 fiasco and now this you definitelly lost a client.
@Barry J: The article doesn't say anything about micro-transactions in general, it only mentions loot boxes. So micro-transactions in games like GTA V where you can buy 8 million of GTA$ for like 60€, for which you can only buy one or two premium in-game items is still possible, because 'you know what you're buying in advance'.
Personally, I think that sooner or later market (that means us gamers) will corrects this.
There were larger backlashes for smaller reasons, e.g. OpenVI ban. I think people will eventually get so pissed off over this, that there will be consequenses even for biggest publishers. Gamers just need to unite and hit them when it hurts, that is their wallets.
lucidus
Senior Member
Posts: 11835
Joined: 2011-12-31
Senior Member
Posts: 11835
Joined: 2011-12-31
#5494605 Posted on: 11/22/2017 10:35 AM
lol ... I hope WB and EA get fucked royally.
lol ... I hope WB and EA get fucked royally.
ATOJAR
Member
Posts: 59
Joined: 2007-03-10
Member
Posts: 59
Joined: 2007-03-10
#5494610 Posted on: 11/22/2017 11:02 AM
I wonder how this would work with the likes of FIFA points? I mean technically you know that your buying FIFA points, you know how many you are going to get for your money so technically this isn't gambling. You then you use them FIFA points to buy FIFA packs, these essentially are loot-boxes ... Right? As you dont know what you are going to get. But you can only buy the FIFA packs with FIFA points and you can only buy FIFA points with real money.
I mean once you have bought them say 15,000 FIFA points with real money you are then gambling with in-game currency and not real money but you are forced to buy FIFA points with real money in the first place.
I wonder how this would work with the likes of FIFA points? I mean technically you know that your buying FIFA points, you know how many you are going to get for your money so technically this isn't gambling. You then you use them FIFA points to buy FIFA packs, these essentially are loot-boxes ... Right? As you dont know what you are going to get. But you can only buy the FIFA packs with FIFA points and you can only buy FIFA points with real money.
I mean once you have bought them say 15,000 FIFA points with real money you are then gambling with in-game currency and not real money but you are forced to buy FIFA points with real money in the first place.
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Senior Member
Posts: 2790
Joined: 2006-02-23
I hope this happens not knowing what your purchasing in a game is a joke, I don't trust game publishers who are to money focused and don't see a problem with this type of system,
a law will stop games heading in this direction they should stick with DLC in purchased games as in adding more to the game for those who want it and not effecting those who don't.
If a game is Free then I am fine with pay to win and in game purchases to progress through the game.( I don't purchased this type of game to costly) but when you purchase a full priced game you have already given your money to play the game and should only pay more to do more.