Hawaii takes a stand against loot-boxes

[SuperNova]

Mr Puggsly said:

SuperNova said:

Do you think this is the government just randomly taking notice of lootboxes now by coincedence?

No, this is gamers calling on legislation as an instrument to defend against predatory business practices. It's part of the backlash and it's probably the only thing that is actually going to have a lasting effect.

Yes, EA removed the lootbox system from battlefront II FOR NOW. They've already said that it is temporary. And they didn't give a shit about gamer backlash until it reached Disney. If you don't think they have every intention to put the lootboxes back in just as predatory a fashion and as p2w as it already was, then you're naive. Between this and Activisions patent to encurage spending by breaking matchmaking and them putting the lootunboxing circle jerk into COD, these predatory tactics are spiraling out of control quickly.

Well people are idiots if they want government to step in. Government has a tendency to make things worse with over regulation.

Gamers should be critical of when these practices are abusive and simply not buy in. I know that's a crazy concept unless you have no faith in the average gamer.

Seeing that the average gamer spends most of their time on their smartphones, where they have been well aquainted with these systems for years, wich will make the reflexive trasition easier on console,  plus the historic evidence that the average gamer will put up with just about anything in the long run after a brief period of outcry by a few, no I do not have much faith in the average gamer.

If the average gamer was able to make smart buying decisions longterm, we would not have microtransactions in 60$ games as an expected fact of life. We would not have ever expanding retailer exclusive editions, gold, silver, platnium editions, season passes and pre-order bonuses announced before the actual game launches, day-one and on-disk 'DLC' and all of those other lovely tactics that publishers already employ to get their hands on more of the consumers money.

They work, they are successful and they did not hamper game sales in any significant way. Lootboxes will be no diffrent. If no one steps in, EA and Battlefront will suffer briefly, while Destiny 2, COD, Overwatch and all the others see healthy growth, with ever more exploitative strategies.

That's because the average gamer doesn't think about the fact that once upon a time cosmetics were in-game unlockables, that Fighting games used to come with big, healthy rosters out of the gate and that what used to be awesome expansions on games once upon a time, is today more often than not, a required buy to even get the complete base game.

So no it's not a crazy concept. It's just not a realistic longterm solution.