"Pay to Play" Games are Egregious and Need To Go Away

[CanadianHockey]

Dumb dumb dumb. Bigger govt, more laws... crap that's not needed but stupid people want to spend money on micro transactions. Now our tax dollar are going to pay for dumb officials that feel a need to get some articles written about them for a little bit of fame because people are stupid and need the govt to tell them what to do and make laws around it. Stupidity all around.

Regulation is needed, though. Gambling is an addiction. Introducing it to gaming is circumvention of existing gambling regulations.

Its also a good idea to start a whaling / shark murdering business in Asia too. Maybe the west should consider doing that also.

You're not doing yourself any favours making ridiculous comparisons like that...

 

[KingBran]

You're not doing yourself any favours making ridiculous comparisons like that...

Exactly. Its dumb to compare a completely different culture of business with another. Thats the whole point.

 

[syz]

Cultural relativism is a logical fallacy in and of itself--but even if it weren't, video game microtransactions wouldn't be culturally relative. They're structured the same and serve the same purpose. If they were "completely different," western publishers would be neither so eager nor so able to copy them and implement them in their games.

Although at least out there they keep it to the F2P games. The west got greedy and thought that they could sneak that package into $60 games.

 

[CycloneLaunch]

Reddit is furious over fut but 1. It's always been like this and 2. There are other modes of fifa

Yeah microtransactions have kinda always been the point of FUT, no?

The Fifa community is incredibly paranoid and bitter about the state of the game, they've done a couple of shitty things around their card packs this year, changing some stadium and coach cards to rare status [basically worthless cards they can add to more expensive packs] And have added a new system of cards called Icons, the best of which would probably only be able to be acquired by people who spend a lot on the game or are the luckiest man on the planet.

A lot of the articles I read about it made it sound more like it was about microtransactions but most of the complaints I had seen on reddit it was more about the state of the game play itself. Some people think there's a hidden momentum system in the game that balances out online results, there also seems to be wild fluctuation between matches in terms of how your computer controlled players perform. The game has changed a lot with each patch as well which has pissed people off.

But nothing will change, the fifa reddit had some big thing about boycotting black friday sales on fifa, but the limited time packs they were releasing were still selling out in minutes so I doubt EA sports will be taking it seriously, they're still printing money with FUT.

 

[Ceremony]

I've never played FUT and even I know the gameplay is scripted.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I don't agree that regulation is needed at this juncture.

Again, the backlash was instantenous and intense. EA backed down very quickly.

How about we wait and see where this goes instead of clamouring for regulation right away.

I am all in favour of Governments saying that the current situation is not acceptable but regulating online components of video games sounds like a policy nightmare. Certainly not a reason to not go ahead with it but definitely a good reason to tread carefully.

 

[RandV]

I don't agree that regulation is needed at this juncture.

Again, the backlash was instantenous and intense. EA backed down very quickly.

How about we wait and see where this goes instead of clamouring for regulation right away.

I am all in favour of Governments saying that the current situation is not acceptable but regulating online components of video games sounds like a policy nightmare. Certainly not a reason to not go ahead with it but definitely a good reason to tread carefully.

That's missing the point here. A lot of people are going to hate these pay to play components regardless, but from a regulation perspective the question is whether the rising new 'loot box' mechanic should be classified as gambling, which already has it's own set of rules and regulations. People have always grumbled about paid DLC, but now the paid DLC has been swapped out for what are basically slot machines.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Yes I understand that people want to regulate lootboxes as gambling.

I don't think it is a good idea at all but I also agree that concerns about youth exposure to them are entirely warranted. It is far more complex than "regulate and the problem is solved".

My point is that government regulations should be a last resort, not a knee-jerk reaction.

 

[Emperoreddy]

EA has not backed down. Lootboxes are still intrinsic to progression and they are bringing MTs back after Christmas.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

EA has not backed down. Lootboxes are still intrinsic to progression and they are bringing MTs back after Christmas.

I prefer to adopt the "let's wait and see" approach over the "perpetual outrage".

Unfortunately, it sounds like most of the internet crowd has dug-in and is proud of being intransigent.

I think the gig is up for EA honestly. Their idea of tying progression to lootboxes only has backfired spectacularly and now they are in the spotlight for the wrong reason.

Also I love how EA removing ALL MICROTRANSACTIONS is considered as "nothing much". Intellectual honesty at it's finest.

 

[Emperoreddy]

EA straight up said they are bringing MTs back in their announcement.

This was only temporary.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

EA straight up said they are bringing MTs back in their announcement.

This was only temporary.

They still removed all of them out of nowhere. That tells me that someone very high up made a snap call and when they were asked what timeline they had in mind, the exec said "yesterday".

They likely had a lot of people who had already bought crystals or shards or whatever they are called in this game and they didn't even warn those users.

I don't think you appreciate how massive a deal that is. Yeah Disney showed up with their baseball bat but they still got the biggest publisher on the planet to essentially turtle.

Momentous is the only word that seems to do justice to this whole scene.

 

[kurt]

When it comes to gambling schemes that are chance-based, not only is regulation needed, taxation is needed. Gambling operations pay heavy taxes that more than offset the cost of oversight, and rightfully so.

People sincerely don't think regulation is required to supervise nefariously designed manipulative gambling software, often targeted at children? Give me a break.

 

[kurt]

Its also a good idea to start a whaling / shark murdering business in Asia too. Maybe the west should consider doing that also.

what

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I wanted to add this because f*** you Ubisoft.

 

[karnige]

AAA titles cost 80+million to make nowadays. new gen gamers expect it. Less cash to go around. Its why developers are scared to take chances and we see the same rehashes. Its why kanomi pulled out and into mobile. something has to give or it'll be this way as the norm.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

It looks like EA is trying to do the same exact bull**** with UFC 3 with microtransactions and lootboxes as they did with BF2.

EA Clarifies Use of Microtransactions in UFC 3 - IGN

 

[flyingkiwi]

I wanted to add this because **** you Ubisoft.

This I don't like. If I pay for a season pass that promises all the extra content, well I had better get that content then.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

 

[John Price]

 

[Eisen]

The problem is whales that drop insane money that keeps them profitable. We can vote with our wallets and still lose in the end.

Anthem is going to be an absolute disgrace.

It's still evil profiteering. It should be forbidden. Pay once. Then play the game.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Pretty cool video going into the science and methodology behind this stuff. Pretty good YT Channel in general

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

The in game images used was for Anthem. Yes, the upcoming EA/Bioware game. The idea of all this is f***ing horrifying and disgusting.

 

[Pilky01]

I'm shocked there are still people buying these games.

To be honest I don't even really feel that much outrage about it anymore. Sure its shitty that theyre preying on stupid people and children, but if morons are spending money on the product then I can't begrudge the company for making it available to them.

I gave up XBox and Playstation AAA gaming and I don't feel like I am missing out on anything at all. There is no reason others can't do the same.

At some point you only have yourself to blame for supporting an industry that treats you like this.

 

[Chaels Arms]

Yeah I'm at the same point now. What's ironic is I'll probably save money the more the lootbox pay to play stuff spreads just by being chased away from a lot of big AAA purchases.