Games with micro transactions will get a label in North America
The American Entertainment Software Rating Board will stamp a logo onto games with microtransactions and/ or other in-game purchases. The In-Game Purchases logo is placed on physical packaging and at download stores.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is an American self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games. The new label is a direct reaction towards the outcry over loot crate systems in games like Star Wars: Battlefront II, Need for Speed: Payback and Destiny 2and have signaled a willingness to legislate them, reports polygon.
The labeling will “be applied to games with in-game offers to purchase digital goods or premiums with real-world currency,” the ESRB said in a news release this morning, “including but not limited to bonus levels, skins, surprise items (such as item packs, loot boxes, mystery awards), music, virtual coins and other forms of in-game currency, subscriptions, season passes and upgrades (e.g., to disable ads).”
The label will appear separate from the familiar ESRB rating label (T-for-Teen, M-for-Mature, etc.) and not inside it. Additionally, the ESRB has begun an awareness campaign meant to highlight the controls available to parents whose households have a video game console. The label is not designed to warn adult gamers that a game might contain microtransactions; it’s designed for concerned parents buying games for their kids. “Parents need simple information,” Vance said. “We can’t overwhelm them with a lot of detail... We have not found that parents are differentiating between these different mechanics.”
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There has to be a big banner "Pay-to-Win Title". I take it as an abuse to pay for a game to be able to pay much more.
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That'll teach 'em!
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Jim Sterling did a good video on this. To sum it up a way too late milk toast solution that doesn't fix or resolve a god damn thing. The example he used was that the Witcher 3 would have this same ESRB rating logo as Battelfront 2 and the 'paid for content' in those two games couldn't be more different. He also mentioned what worth does this rating system have when, as we have seen with Battlefront 2 this 'paid for content' can be added / removed post release, i.e post rating.
What a massive and utter waste of time.
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Like that is going to change a damn thing.
Pathetic, but not surprising.
Money talks.
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The ESRB means well, but many parents these days find it's very convenient to use any video games their child wants to play (independent of any ESRB rating system) to:
1) Shut the kid up.
2) Give parents endless amounts of time to catch up on social media and get their nails did.
3) Know where your child is at all times (glued to the TV or PC).
Really, the biggest problem with micro-transactions is for adults with addictive personalities and the fostering of addictive personalities in children. Is it really different than states selling lottery tickets and telling people to "Gamble Responsibly" while offering an 800 number to help you with your gambling addiction?
This is a token action the ESRB is taking in cooperation with the gaming companies employing micro-transactions to say "see we're doing something about this so it doesn't need gambling regulation".
The ESRB can't parent the children. The ESRB is adding yet another label for parents - who never look at what they are buying their kids or their kids are buying - to ignore. For the parents who are involved, they evolve with the technology and stay in touch with what their kids are doing.