andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2018-09-12 12:00 pm

Interesting Links for 12-09-2018

movingfinger: (Default)

[personal profile] movingfinger 2018-09-12 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
The loot-box decision in Belgium seems like it could make any blind purchase randomized-contents "lucky dip" illegal---including bubble gum cards, cereal box prizes, baseball cards, possibly prize machines where you put money in and get a trinket. But not outright raffles, I think---for example, I paid for chances in two community raffles in the past week, for pieces of art; both of them I lost, but although I was technically gambling by buying chances, I viewed my tickets as a donation.

Am I really understanding this correctly? (I would like to see citations for trading cards misleading children somehow or turning them into destructive gamblers.) Is the real problem here the use of real currency to purchase in-game credits which are exchanged for the loot packs, rather than requiring them to be earned by playing the game? Eliminating the cash buy would make far less money for game companies, of course, but arguably could make playing itself more addictive.
fub: (SD Fub)

[personal profile] fub 2018-09-14 10:21 am (UTC)(link)
I think the main point is that with those things (like, for instance, packs of Magic cards), the odds of getting a rare item are advertised and known in advance.