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Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

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Re: Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

#21

Post by Loughla »

constantcrying wrote: post #18

I personally hate micro transactions and avoid games like these, especially mobile games, like the plague. But we have to be honest here, these micro transactions are what consumers want . There is a reason that gatcha games (and paid mechanics of those games are implemented in the games mentioned in the article) are so successful and so popular. Consumers of mobile games, unlike consumers of PC games, enjoy these me…

Can we agree to stop calling it anything but gambling? Because it's just gambling.

Also, the fact that it's called gotcha (got ya) has always had the hair up on the back of my neck.

Re: Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

#22

Post by Hamuko »

Loughla wrote: post #21
constantcrying wrote: post #18

I personally hate micro transactions and avoid games like these, especially mobile games, like the plague. But we have to be honest here, these micro transactions are what consumers want . There is a reason that gatcha games (and paid mechanics of those games are implemented in the games mentioned in the article) are so successful and so popular. Consumers of mobile games, unlike consumers of PC games, enjoy these me…

Can we agree to stop calling it anything but gambling? Because it's just gambling. Also, the fact that it's called gotcha (got ya) has always had the hair up on the back of my neck.

It's not named "gatcha" or "gotcha". It's "gacha", derived from ガチャポン.

Re: Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

#23

Post by tokai »

Loughla wrote: post #21
constantcrying wrote: post #18

I personally hate micro transactions and avoid games like these, especially mobile games, like the plague. But we have to be honest here, these micro transactions are what consumers want . There is a reason that gatcha games (and paid mechanics of those games are implemented in the games mentioned in the article) are so successful and so popular. Consumers of mobile games, unlike consumers of PC games, enjoy these me…

Can we agree to stop calling it anything but gambling? Because it's just gambling. Also, the fact that it's called gotcha (got ya) has always had the hair up on the back of my neck.

Like having your bookie in your contacts as 'the scammer'.

Re: Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

#24

Post by constantcrying »

tokai wrote: post #20
constantcrying wrote: post #18

I personally hate micro transactions and avoid games like these, especially mobile games, like the plague. But we have to be honest here, these micro transactions are what consumers want . There is a reason that gatcha games (and paid mechanics of those games are implemented in the games mentioned in the article) are so successful and so popular. Consumers of mobile games, unlike consumers of PC games, enjoy these me…

Consumers also want opioids and toxic childrens toys, among other harmful things.

An opioid addiction is no where close to dropping a hundred Euros a month on video games. I doubt that many people on here actually would want to ban adults from spending "too much" money on video games. And my comment is in response to the general sentiment that this represents some kind of "anti-consumer" behavior, when there is a large organic market for this and consumer actively want these features.

Personally I am very paternalistic and would support a total ban on these mechanics, together with legal limits of how much money people are allowed to spend on activities like these. Of course making any of these activities available to kids, should be banned as well. This is obviously an extremely unpopular position, since, as I said, consumers really enjoy these mechanics.

Re: Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

#25

Post by constantcrying »

Loughla wrote: post #21
constantcrying wrote: post #18

I personally hate micro transactions and avoid games like these, especially mobile games, like the plague. But we have to be honest here, these micro transactions are what consumers want . There is a reason that gatcha games (and paid mechanics of those games are implemented in the games mentioned in the article) are so successful and so popular. Consumers of mobile games, unlike consumers of PC games, enjoy these me…

Can we agree to stop calling it anything but gambling? Because it's just gambling. Also, the fact that it's called gotcha (got ya) has always had the hair up on the back of my neck.

>Can we agree to stop calling it anything but gambling? Because it's just gambling.

No. It is not just "gambling" it is a very specific form of gambling, which is unlike most other forms of gambling. E.g. for most other gambling activities, the expectation is that the reward is monetary (see e.g. sports betting, roulette).

This should be clearly demarcated from micro transactions, where a predetermined reward is offered for a fixed amount of money. Lootboxes, where a digital reward (which may or may not be resellable) is given and gatcha mechanics, which are a very specific genre of gambling for digital rewards.

I see no reason why all of these should be treated the same.

>Also, the fact that it's called gotcha (got ya) has always had the hair up on the back of my neck.

Pure coincidence. The name comes from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashapon

Re: Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

#26

Post by HWR_14 »

NorwegianDude wrote: post #16

As a game developer myself, I think young kids should not be able to make purchases on their own. But some of the ideas on what needs to be done is just silly. Here is some of the ideas the Norwegian Consumer Council suggested: - All things in games should be shown in real money value, not in game currency that you have to but for real money, and the price should reflect the most expensive way to get the currency. -…

> Bigger purchases give more, because the percentage lost to fees are lower.

So you sell $100 of in game currency for $85. It's all the same except 1 coin equals one cent when you buy it in the smallest bundle.

> I'd be a financial institution and break the rules of all major card networks.

It's measured in dollars but it is a gift card. It's not that serious.

Re: Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

#27

Post by swiftcoder »

NorwegianDude wrote: post #16

As a game developer myself, I think young kids should not be able to make purchases on their own. But some of the ideas on what needs to be done is just silly. Here is some of the ideas the Norwegian Consumer Council suggested: - All things in games should be shown in real money value, not in game currency that you have to but for real money, and the price should reflect the most expensive way to get the currency. -…

> I sell bundles of in game currency. I don't allow users to select just how much they want to buy. I don't do this as part of an evil plan

So if I look at your in-game purchases, I’m going to find that they aren’t all priced to make the user buy the next-larger increment of currency… right?

Re: Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

#28

Post by BigTTYGothGF »

jimbob45 wrote: post #9
mslate wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if you have children, but this is exactly what a healthy government regulatory framework looks like.

Cherry picking the foreign company with the deepest pockets for “crimes” every game developer commits these days? Surely, HN of all places recognizes that the EU fines Meta/MS any time they have a shortfall in their budget.

> Surely, HN of all places recognizes that the EU fines Meta/MS any time they have a shortfall in their budget

Am I supposed to be upset at this?

Re: Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

#29

Post by Hamuko »

jimbob45 wrote: post #9
mslate wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if you have children, but this is exactly what a healthy government regulatory framework looks like.

Cherry picking the foreign company with the deepest pockets for “crimes” every game developer commits these days? Surely, HN of all places recognizes that the EU fines Meta/MS any time they have a shortfall in their budget.

Can you show me the graph that shows the relationship between "EU budget shortfalls" and "Meta/MS fines".

Re: Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases

#30

Post by autoexec »

NorwegianDude wrote: post #16

As a game developer myself, I think young kids should not be able to make purchases on their own. But some of the ideas on what needs to be done is just silly. Here is some of the ideas the Norwegian Consumer Council suggested: - All things in games should be shown in real money value, not in game currency that you have to but for real money, and the price should reflect the most expensive way to get the currency. -…

> As a game developer myself, I think young kids should not be able to make purchases on their own.

As a gamer, I don't think they should ever feel the need to purchase anything with real world money in a video game, even with a parent. Purchasing the game should be the last time a parent ever has to worry about spending actual money on it.

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