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Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe

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Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe

#201

Great. Now do Roblox. In the game "Steal a Brainrot" the kinds of things kids can spend money on in the game that's supposedly safe for seven-year-olds is disgusting. £29.99 for a "secret lucky block" - and that's BEFORE price discrimination. Literally wiring the brains of kids as early as possible to have a tendency/preference towards "random variance rewards." I am really pleased to see any government doing somethi…

I hope Roblox is banned for my 10 and 9 year olds including their peers, so that I can enforce it. I am glad I managed to refuse them a 1.99 payment until now while other parents allow whole 20s. After ruining their time and brain now they want to steal from them, adding insult to the injury. Please, Ursula, ban them as soon as possible.

Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe

#202
post #164
post #98

"Lootboxes", "cases", "packs" and other chance-based systems that involve spending real money or an in-game currency that could be obtained by spending real money should be banned completely, all of those systems exploit brain vulnerabilities for profit. Also, prediction markets, sports betting, online casinos, shitcoin exchanges.

It's interesting that your list skews entirely digital, and that more physical games of chance like lotteries and blackjack are not on the list. Do you see them as fundamentally different?

Pokemon cards, magic the gathering fits that too

Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe

#203
post #98

"Lootboxes", "cases", "packs" and other chance-based systems that involve spending real money or an in-game currency that could be obtained by spending real money should be banned completely, all of those systems exploit brain vulnerabilities for profit. Also, prediction markets, sports betting, online casinos, shitcoin exchanges.

If you start banning everything that causes addiction, a market big enough to trade on the Nasdaq would collapse, vanish.

Okay, and?

Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe

#204
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The proliferation of gambling over so many domains has radicalized me against it in a way that I didn't think would've been possible a few years ago. I grew up in Italy when sport betting was illegal and you had to do it through illegal channels, and I did it now and then like everyone else, and thought we should totally make it legal. At some point all betting, slot machines etc.. became legal and it's been a disa…

The best solution is through education. For example by showing in big letters the return-to-player ratio: On 100 EUR you will get → 79 back, if you put them again in the machine you will get → 62.41 → 49.30 → 38.95 → 30.77…

While I think education matters, I also think at some point if something is purely negative for society one should restrict it, rather than try to reach an ideal state were people are educated enough to handle it right.

It Is illiberal but I don't see an argument beyond the slippery slope one at this point in my life.

Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe

#205
to the dozens who use the rating system as a deciding factor for getting games for their kids, i suppose this will help.

meanwhile, one of the game that would have been affected by it, Counter-Strike 2, is already rated M by ESRB [1]. it is undergoing a major case in NY as we speak, and there are many professional players, also recognized by the devs, that openly stated they played the game since their early teens. [2]

it does mean that a lot of more suitable games for younger audience, such as the sports title released every year. but a lot of them already have free titles with pay-to-win mechanics. i wonder if the enforcement would really differ any more than it currently is.

[1] https://www.esrb.org/ratings/9406/counter-strike/

[2] https://www.hltv.org/player/19230/m0NESY

Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this Fixed odds betting terminal how most slots work in North America as well? I'm aware of a few places where it isn't required. But the reality is if your RTP is something like 10%, not many people are coming by that often

A fixed-odds betting terminal is a type of slot machine. But unlike other categories of slot machine, it was (at one time) allowed a maximum bet of £100 and a maximum payout of £500. The RTP was around 95%, but allowing such a large maximum bet meant you could easily lose a lot of money, very quickly. In 2019, the regulations changed to make the maximum bet £2 (50 times lower), in line with most other slot machines.…

OK thanks for explaining that. I have to ask, are people still allowed to go place large bets on things like craps and roulette?

Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fixed-odds betting terminal is a type of slot machine. But unlike other categories of slot machine, it was (at one time) allowed a maximum bet of £100 and a maximum payout of £500. The RTP was around 95%, but allowing such a large maximum bet meant you could easily lose a lot of money, very quickly. In 2019, the regulations changed to make the maximum bet £2 (50 times lower), in line with most other slot machines.…

OK thanks for explaining that. I have to ask, are people still allowed to go place large bets on things like craps and roulette?

Yes, as far as I know, there are no stake limits on real games in real-life casinos.

The stake limits are for slot machines (online and offline) to stop gamblers rapidly losing their life savings.

The nearest regulations for real casinos are allowing players to set a deposit limit (so e.g. they can't spend more than £X per day) and that games can't run "fast" - no more than 50 games per hour/table. Also the local council controls what the casino's opening hours can be.

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