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Luck be a Landlord is now banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store

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Re: Luck be a Landlord is now banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store

#61

Post by graypegg »

tspike wrote: post #18
johndhi wrote: post #15

As someone who makes decisions like the one Google made here at work, sorry, dude, but arguing about it publicly isn't going to change much. Almost certainly Google has received pressure from these countries on this issue and their business there is more important to google than your single app. Google likely isn't being unreasonable - but the governments of these countries are. Sorry.

Why is there not even lip service paid to consistent enforcement?

Consistant enforcement means “local laws are consistently applied”. There isn’t one globally recognized list of content moderation standards.

Re: Luck be a Landlord is now banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store

#62

Post by waffleiron »

bakies wrote: post #50
DrFlipper wrote: post #31

What is the appeal of this game? (Beyond exploiting addictive personalities with a very thinly-veiled gambling simulator that is rightly being banned.) It looks so boring. I can't tell if the reviewers proclaiming this as an "innovation" in the "roguelike" (?) genre are trolling or not. It's an ugly slot machine game where you click a buttonn to spin. This would have been uninspired trash in 1993. What am I missing?…

You're missing the rougelike part. This game is more about deck building and rougelike elements than it is about gambling. The button to spin is indeed the least interesting part of the game.

I’ve played the game, its indeed a roguelike deckbuilder. Instead of drawing a hand of cards the same thing is simulated as a slot machine spin. Mechanically the game isn’t much different, aesthetically it is.

There is a significant level of strategy involved and a low level of luck to win.

Re: Luck be a Landlord is now banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store

#63

Post by LMHallucination »

DrFlipper wrote: post #31

What is the appeal of this game? (Beyond exploiting addictive personalities with a very thinly-veiled gambling simulator that is rightly being banned.) It looks so boring. I can't tell if the reviewers proclaiming this as an "innovation" in the "roguelike" (?) genre are trolling or not. It's an ugly slot machine game where you click a buttonn to spin. This would have been uninspired trash in 1993. What am I missing?…

You pick symbols to add to the wheel that have complex rules for what they reward. To oversimplify, it's slay the spire for people who like the deck-building part but find the battles tedious.

Re: Luck be a Landlord is now banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store

#64

Post by verve_rat »

sneak wrote: post #40
cmdli wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably changing the laws in those countries, which only the citizens of those countries can really do. Google isn't the cause here, just the middleman.

This, I believe, is called the "just following orders defense". It was attempted most famously in Nürnberg in '46. It didn't work then, and it shouldn't work now. See also: Project Dragonfly

Really? Country X doesn't like simulated gambling mechanics, Google won't release game in country X therefore Google are Nazis committing war crimes?

Re: Luck be a Landlord is now banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store

#65

Post by sirbranedamuj »

DrFlipper wrote: post #31

What is the appeal of this game? (Beyond exploiting addictive personalities with a very thinly-veiled gambling simulator that is rightly being banned.) It looks so boring. I can't tell if the reviewers proclaiming this as an "innovation" in the "roguelike" (?) genre are trolling or not. It's an ugly slot machine game where you click a buttonn to spin. This would have been uninspired trash in 1993. What am I missing?…

As someone with several dozen hours in it, I think of it as the purest distillation of the "deck builder" game genre. In a deck builder, you often shuffle your deck and the order in which you draw the cards influences the stuff you're able to do on each of your turns. This works the same way. You slowly build up a set of symbols which can appear in some random order. The first 20 of them show up on the slot board and their adjacency to other symbols causes various effects to happen. You're trying to make the 20 symbols that appear on each spin be as profitable as possible so you can keep up with the escalating rent payments.

I adore this game and I tell everyone I can about it.

Re: Luck be a Landlord is now banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store

#66

Post by gorkish »

harrisonjackson wrote: post #38

One of least effective ways to argue your case is by pointing to other apps that have the same violations. I say that having submitted 50+ apps across various categories and dealing with thousands of app review exchanges to get them released. You can find apps that violate all sorts of guidelines and laws and it is super frustrating when yours gets blocked but it is part of the business. Did they slip by a reviewer t…

It might not be very effective or in the author's best interest to make this point to Google. But my assumption is that the author has already made that attempt and now, after that remedy has failed has decided to make an open appeal.

It is perfectly proper to make this point to HN readers and the general public who know nothing about the situation. It absolutely is relevant that Google do not appear to be applying their policies in a consistent and fair manner and as such are haphazardly fulfilling their consumer promise of operating "safe and secure" app stores.

Spilling conflict into the public sphere is the new way to "turbo" unreasonable disagreements these days. Everyone does it from cable and satellite companies down to individuals getting shit on by a corporate behemoth. Though I find it distasteful, so long as it keeps working, people will keep doing it.

Re: Luck be a Landlord is now banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store

#68

Post by rvnx »

verve_rat wrote: post #64
sneak wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, I believe, is called the "just following orders defense". It was attempted most famously in Nürnberg in '46. It didn't work then, and it shouldn't work now. See also: Project Dragonfly

Really? Country X doesn't like simulated gambling mechanics, Google won't release game in country X therefore Google are Nazis committing war crimes?

Somehow, you made me wonder what phone Hitler would use, if it's Android or iOS. And what social network app he would use.

But one thing for sure, he wouldn't have time to play slots machines.

Re: Luck be a Landlord is now banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store

#69

Post by fatfingerd »

catchnear4321 wrote: post #14
exac wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps they are not, but it makes sense for them to keep their Iranian policies up to date so they can enter the country as soon as possible if they are allowed.

what’s interesting is that it isn’t geo-fenced for north korea. but it is for south korea.

North Korea is entirely GEO fenced for all android apps so no policy specifics need to be identified, unlike Iran where free games could be played but could cause a problem if they violate local law or South Korea where Google actually sells android apps.

Re: Luck be a Landlord is now banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store

#70

Post by yorwba »

echelon wrote: post #49
harrisonjackson wrote: post #38

One of least effective ways to argue your case is by pointing to other apps that have the same violations. I say that having submitted 50+ apps across various categories and dealing with thousands of app review exchanges to get them released. You can find apps that violate all sorts of guidelines and laws and it is super frustrating when yours gets blocked but it is part of the business. Did they slip by a reviewer t…

This only happened because App Stores are a central point of failure (and control and undue taxation). Tell your legislators that Google and Apple need to open up to web installs. To make them first class, with no hurdles and no scare tactics. In order to help facilitate this, open up devices to other stores from the moment of device activation - Google Play should be on iPhone, App Store should be on Android, etc. A…

Google is already open to web installs, in the sense that any user who wants to play the game can download the apk and install it on most Android phones without issue.

But that doesn't mean people will actually do so. E.g. if most installs stem from Google promoting the game on the Play Store, using only a website also means losing out on that free publicity. (Or not-free, since Google takes a cut.)

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