US politician says EA created a "Star Wars-themed online casino"

[HEXUS]

Gaming firms should cease these "predatory practices" in games or face sales regulation.

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[Raven74]

Finally someone will stop those greedy bastards(i mean all companies that do this not just EA).

[philehidiot]

Devil's advocate - isn't this the same premise as when I used to buy Magic The Gathering booster packs as a kid? I was exchanging money for a packet of thoroughly useless stuff which may have been good or it may have been pointless. This is the same except the amount of money seems to be somewhat larger.

Personally, I think the whole being able to buy upgrades in games is just crap and exploitative anyway. What happened to working for it and gaining rewards for excelling at the game? You're just encouraging kids to throw money at a game which will be obsolete within a year or so in order to give them effectively nothing in return. At least with MTG cards you can trade them, sell them, etc and they never stop working when the developer decides the game has run its course and shuts down the servers.

[EvilCycle]

They can't let this slip by the way-side, they have to pursue this and regulate now, even if taking the issue of minors gambling out of the equation, this type of practice is abhorrent and is ruining the enjoyment and value of gaming as a whole.

I will accept having purely cosmetic items on sale provided you can choose what you buy and it doesn't affect gameplay for others, I even agree with charging for major expansion packs, but everything else needs to go as quickly as possible.

[Valantar]

Devil's advocate - isn't this the same premise as when I used to buy Magic The Gathering booster packs as a kid? I was exchanging money for a packet of thoroughly useless stuff which may have been good or it may have been pointless. This is the same except the amount of money seems to be somewhat larger.

Personally, I think the whole being able to buy upgrades in games is just crap and exploitative anyway. What happened to working for it and gaining rewards for excelling at the game? You're just encouraging kids to throw money at a game which will be obsolete within a year or so in order to give them effectively nothing in return. At least with MTG cards you can trade them, sell them, etc and they never stop working when the developer decides the game has run its course and shuts down the servers.

Your Magic card packs didn't come with audio and visuals making the opening process a grand spectacle, while loot box openings are directly modeled on the audiovisual features of slot machines. This is not in any way a coincidence - there's a significant amount of study behind this, into which stimuli trigger excitement, expectation, and keep users coming back for more regardless of the outcome. That this is marketed to kids makes it all the worse. There's good reason why gambling is regulated in most countries, and (even if this has no possibility of a monetary payout, the perceived value of the items at stake is still high) this is nothing more than a form of gambling that circumvents current laws and regulations.

[philehidiot]

Devil's advocate - isn't this the same premise as when I used to buy Magic The Gathering booster packs as a kid? I was exchanging money for a packet of thoroughly useless stuff which may have been good or it may have been pointless. This is the same except the amount of money seems to be somewhat larger.

Personally, I think the whole being able to buy upgrades in games is just crap and exploitative anyway. What happened to working for it and gaining rewards for excelling at the game? You're just encouraging kids to throw money at a game which will be obsolete within a year or so in order to give them effectively nothing in return. At least with MTG cards you can trade them, sell them, etc and they never stop working when the developer decides the game has run its course and shuts down the servers.

Your Magic card packs didn't come with audio and visuals making the opening process a grand spectacle, while loot box openings are directly modeled on the audiovisual features of slot machines. This is not in any way a coincidence - there's a significant amount of study behind this, into which stimuli trigger excitement, expectation, and keep users coming back for more regardless of the outcome. That this is marketed to kids makes it all the worse. There's good reason why gambling is regulated in most countries, and (even if this has no possibility of a monetary payout, the perceived value of the items at stake is still high) this is nothing more than a form of gambling that circumvents current laws and regulations.

I was hoping to draw out a comment like that with the devil's advocate thing and I think you're spot on (I've never looked into it beyond what was briefly covered in my psychology qualifications but I've always been fascinated with the mechanisms behind slot machines and how some flashy lights can draw in grown adults). I think what makes it worse (as you elude to) is the disparity between the perceived worth of the input Vs the output. A slot machine is £20 in, maybe £70 out - it's all money at the end of the day. In this you put in £20 and get an "extremely rare, hardly ever seen, show off to your mates" item back which handily can't be obtained from any other source. They're working on making the items you can "win" seem like they're worth more than the money you're putting in when really they're worth nothing more than a line of code in a file somewhere. It's artificially created supply and demand taken to extremes to create high perceived value and excitement.

[shaithis]

If this is enforced, it is going to affect a lot of games and I do wonder how physical card games would be exempt......it's exactly the same principle.

The pessimist in me thinks that if it is enforced, game prices will go up as the likes of EA tell us they need to do it to balance the books, while raking in more record profits.

[LeetyMcLeet]

If this is enforced, it is going to affect a lot of games and I do wonder how physical card games would be exempt......it's exactly the same principle.

It's the same principle, yes, but give a kid a pack of cards and then an in-game loot box to open and ask him/her which was more exciting to open. Which one gave them more of a 'buzz' (or even adrenaline) to open? It's VERY clever how they're disguising it, very clever. Gaming devs have basically evolved (good old) Apple's 'in-app purchasing model' and turned their games into casinos by making the 'un-box experience' addictive, just like an actual casino and that's the difference. This is something that minors should not be exposed to. Period. It's disgusting.

As a 30-something 'gamer', I'm grateful that I got to experience the huge advances in the late 90's that gave us 3D gaming and everything that followed; all those truly great games and endless free mods that kept a smile on my face for years at an affordable cost and without having to gamble a single penny. We had it good! These days 'triple A' titles are released monthly, they're not even finished (or features are removed in order to make way for additional purchases), players can legitimately purchase in-game goodies to give them advantages over other players, a lot of hardware is overpriced... it's ridiculous atm.

Sorry for rant lol

[DaMoot]

Would be nice to have one of these big companies to get their hand slapped good over the micro transaction gambling that is in so many games these days. EA is a great target for an industry lesson.

[Zhaoman]

Great news! If they do as they say then I'd like to see any game with 'loot crates' or randomized instant rewards for real life money be 21+ only, be regulated the same as gambling and be labelled as such and about time!

I might just get back into playing new (<21) games if this change comes into effect. It's a disgusting practice and one obviously targetting kids and it has taken way too long for anyone to finally step in.

[badass]

The pessimist in me thinks that if it is enforced, game prices will go up as the likes of EA tell us they need to do it to balance the books, while raking in more record profits.

This is better than the status quo. At least the price you pay to buy the game actually gets the entire game so you can decide based on just that.

[shaithis]

This is better than the status quo. At least the price you pay to buy the game actually gets the entire game so you can decide based on just that.

To someone who has no self-control, maybe. For those of us who don't get sucked in, it means games will probably cost more.

I have a lot of fun playing Hearthstone, have spent about £5 on it so far, some people I know spend over £200/year buying cards for it. Yes, it would be nice having more legendary cards but I can muddle through without them.

Would I be playing it now if I was charged £20-£40 3 times a year for expansions? No.

[badass]

To someone who has no self-control, maybe. For those of us who don't get sucked in, it means games will probably cost more.

I have a lot of fun playing Hearthstone, have spent about £5 on it so far, some people I know spend over £200/year buying cards for it. Yes, it would be nice having more legendary cards but I can muddle through without them.

Would I be playing it now if I was charged £20-£40 3 times a year for expansions? No.

Not just for those of us with no self control. I have enough self control to not buy games in the first place because of the fact the games can be incomplete without all of these micro transactions. For example, most racing games. I'm not paying a couple of pounds for just one car. For some games, getting every desirable car in the game can make it cost hundreds of pounds. However, if instead of costing £30 the game cost £60 but had every car, I would pay for it. (or more specifically, wait for it to be cheap on steam/elsewhere)

[OilSheikh]

Didn't EA say that the Star Wars battlefront series would have no micro-transactions?
Now, it seems to be riddled with them.

[QuorTek]

It is about the stockholders getting lots of coins rather than creating a quality product that people would buy and maybe cherish for years... very few games end in the hall of fame in a figure of speech.. and these quick titles form X company especially EA seem to be like forgotten quick.

[Wolfclaw]

Ban in game purchases, half the fun of gaming is earning your rewards !