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Diablo Immortal Won't Release in Two Countries Over Loot Box Laws, Team Reveals Accessibility Option
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Member UncommonPosts: 12,599
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Actually, 20 consumer organisations in Europe are currently looking at more legislation for more countries. Hopefully, when enough countries enforce these, companies will have to adjust their practices instead of simply ignoring these places while pretending nothing is wrong.
In other news Ni No Kuni Crossworlds is perfectly accesible and playable in the Netherlands and Diablo Immortal isn't. Crazy stuff.
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
Norway is up next. They are discussing it now.
There is a difference between regular pay 2 win, where you can buy items directly and gambling aka loot boxes.
I have no quarrels with buying cosmetic items in an Itemshop ingame, as long as I can buy the exact items I want.
The issue is with loot boxes, which is just a disgusting and disguised way of gambling, where the most desirable items are hidden behind RNG's of 0,01% (example). Trying to force people to spend crazy amounts of money to try get the item(s) they want.
It's well known that these loot box systems were designed by hired in Psychologist consultants to trigger addictive behavior in people. So I am glad more and more countries are finally starting to look into it and ban it.
Ni No Kuni Crossworlds is just a different abomination altogether and I hope this whole NFT/Blockchain garbage crashes and burns in a bonfire. The quicker it fails, the better!
They literally told him/her not to expect Diablo Immortal unless his country changes their laws.
Essentially: "Yes, we know these practices are so distasteful and predatory that your entire country banned them. Fuck off unless you change your minds."
Gambling isn't the most cultivated amusement, but the reasons for it remaining legal are well-grounded.
The US lawmakers will get right on this as soon as they pass legislation to limit its' citizen's access to high powered firearms.
"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
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
It may be an awesome game, but there are no shortage of those these days to fill my free time without D:I, and Blizzard's full of a bunch of douchenuggets it seems. C'est la vie.
Archeage EU - Nui
The fact that this game won't launch in Nederland and Belgium tells me all I need to know.
This game will be hot garbage infested with micro transactions and gambling boxes. Typical for your average mobile trash game.
I disagree that enforcement can't be directed at kids. At a minimum, countries should attempt to do so. The "for the children" argument to support broader restrictions on adult activities is a very poor one.
Gambling isn't illegal in most countries. I'll grant that it's mostly regulated, however.
Your opinion about the game is just that - your opinion. It shouldn't rule the choices of others. You're certainly free to ignore the game. But there's little reason why someone else shouldn't be able to choose for themselves to play it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_verification_system
No system is perfect, obviously. Yet to outlaw an activity for everyone simply because some kids may also engage in it would implicate a ton of other activities, goods, and services.
In any case, what is the underlying assumption at work with these bans? That if kids engage in a little in-game gambling, they'll turn into lifelong gambling addicts? If so, where is the evidence for this?
This whole argument reminds me of the attempt to ban "violent" video games, based on the whole same flawed premises.
B ) there is absolutely nothing wrong with a regional consumer base finding a specific marketing or monetization scheme distasteful enough to ban it. That's... kind of exactly what happened with things like cigarette marketing here in the U.S.. To great effect, I might add:
https://www.lung.org/research/trends-in-lung-disease/tobacco-trends-brief/overall-tobacco-trends
E-cigarettes are probably going to go through the same phase trend as more data comes in, depending upon how all that data shakes out as the industry improves its processes and technology, too.
The video game ban is also an economic decision, at least in part. The ban on violent video games wasn't about a monetization structure, it was wholly about a morality issue with the game's content.
re: A, not sure what you're arguing here. Enforcement of one law is a problem, so gotta pass a broader law? If so, what's to prevent the new law from becoming problematic to enforce too?
re: B, a government finding a monetization or marketing scheme "distasteful" is a very poor and problematic basis to ban it. Such a basis is extremely open-ended and can capture just about any scheme in existence. As long as someone finds it "distasteful". This of course ignores the whole question whether such bans are effective. History shows they tend to be counter-productive.
Noticed also that you didn't respond to the evidentiary/harm basis for an in-game gambling ban.
Interesting to note about the decline in tobacco use, especially among the young, has occurred during a period of increased e-cigarette use. And yet, for many of the same reasons given to ban in-game gambling - for the children! - we're witnessing efforts to ban e-cigarettes.
I have no idea what you mean by "The video game ban is also an economic decision, at least in part." Have a source for this claim?
"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
"The message also warns that it's illegal for citizens of Belgium and the Netherlands to download the game from a different country, and even if you don't get busted for your scofflaw ways, you might get banned—although "in similar situations in the past where RNG loot boxes were against the law in certain countries we did not ban any players for it," the rep added."
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-immortal-wont-be-released-in-belgium-or-the-netherlands-because-of-loot-boxes/
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
If some person has gambling addiction (or any other kind of addiction) - that person should get a proper medical help and restrict himself/herself from playing online games completely. Other people shouldn't lose an option to enjoy such activity in a responsible way just because of small amount of people with addiction issues. And I am thankful I still live in a country which still respects my freedom of enjoying this (at least for now), including allowing me to purchase alcohol drinks and enjoy them in a responsible manner even if an extreme minority of people cannot enjoy that in a responsible way and can develop an unhealthy addiction to consuming such drinks.