Interesting Links for 12-09-2018

[andrewducker]

Societal issues explained (by throwing people down pits)

(tags: society satire )

The EU is betting that Brexit will make a trade deal with India a little easier.

(tags: europe india uk trade )

Why has Brexit become a legal matter when it should be a political matter?

(tags: politics uk Europe law )

Kieron Gillen's new comic looks interesting

(tags: comics roleplaying )

Brexit: Now Conservatives are suggesting the EEA for three years as a stop-gap.

(tags: uk europe doom )

There has been no Corbyn surge in Scotland

(tags: Scotland labour politics )

EA defies Belgian loot box decision, setting up potential gambling lawsuit

If they decide that loot boxes are gambling then I can't see how, for instance, Hearthstone card packs aren't. Or, indeed, Magic: The Gathering card packs. This one could be absolutely massive.
(tags: gambling games belgium )

Which artist do you think draws the most handsome/beautiful/sexiest characters in comics? Any genre. (Nice range of styles in the replies)

(tags: comics art beauty )

'She has to go': Conservative MPs meet over plot to oust Theresa May

I don't actually think she'll lose a vote of no confidence
(tags: conservatives )

Barnier confronts Raab over discovery of Brexit no-deal letters to EU27

(tags: Europe UK doom )

Movie Star's Absence Shows Perils of Show Business in China

(tags: movies China money )

Brexit: EU can 'certainly not' accept Theresa May's single market plan, Juncker warns

(tags: europe uk doom )

‘Super-recognisers’ employed by UK police to hunt criminals may not be identifying people correctly

(tags: faces vision uk police fail )

The Effectiveness of Publicly Shaming Bad Security

(tags: security journalism )

Finding balance in the universe, a short story

(tags: short_story scifi ethics morality )

A single gene mutation may have helped humans become optimal long-distance runners

(tags: humans genetics running )

Tom Watson says Momentum should drop speaker who vandalised Warsaw ghetto

(tags: labour Jews OhForFucksSake )

Comments

[movingfinger]

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]

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.