Paid content in videogames (DLC, loot boxes, passes, currencies, "surprise mechanics" and - new! - pay more or wait!)

Tomous wrote:strawberry float this.

Well, here’s some bullshit: fighting game Dead or Alive 6 has, in a recent update, introduced a new form of microtransaction, in which players are charged real money to change a character’s hair colour. Then charged again to change it back.

The move went live in the recent 1.60 update, whose big deal was that it was going to allow for all kinds of customisation options, and is only an issue for PlayStation 4 users (the only platform this update will be released on), not anyone playing on PC or Xbox One.

Loot boxes: Lords call for 'immediate' gambling regulation

The House of Lords Gambling Committee says video game loot boxes should be regulated under gambling laws.

The Lords say loot boxes should be classified as "games of chance" - which would bring them under the Gambling Act 2005.

"If a product looks like gambling and feels like gambling, it should be regulated as gambling," their report says.

And they warn that such a change should not wait.

"The Government must act immediately to bring loot boxes within the remit of gambling legislation and regulation," said a statement accompanying the report.

Loot boxes have long been controversial in video games. They offer players a chance at a randomised reward when opened. To further complicate matters, boxes can often be bought for real money, and the rewards can sometimes be traded.

The Lords report is wide-ranging, covering the entire gambling industry, but focuses in part on new forms of gambling, and those targeted towards children.

"There is academic research which proves that there is a connection, though not necessarily a causal link, between loot box spending and problem gambling," it says.

One expert, Dr David Zendle, explained to the committee that either loot box spending causes problem gambling, due to their similarity - or that people who have gambling problems spend heavily on loot boxes. But he warned that either way, the connection was "extraordinarily robust".

The Lords report concludes that ministers should make new regulations which explicitly state that loot boxes are games of chance. It also says the same definition should apply to any other in-game item paid for with real money, such as FIFA player packs.

The Government told the committee that its planned future review of the Gambling Act would focus on loot boxes. But the Lords report warns: "This issue requires more urgent attention."

more heat than light wrote:I'm not really bothered by microtransactions and find them easy to avoid, but I've recently had my eyes opened as to how much of a problem it is. I'm in a clan of Gears Pop players and chat regularly with them on Discord, and I've been astonished at how eager they are to part with their money.

One recent exchange... 'This pack is excellent value for money, it's only £20'. 'Yeah I know, I just bought 4'. I mean, you've just dropped £80 to buy some improvements to your troops on a mobile game. How does this make sense to anyone?

Trelliz wrote:They're about creating a culture where paying money is the acceptable and expected way to interact with the game. It is insidious and entirely deliberate.

more heat than light wrote:

Trelliz wrote:They're about creating a culture where paying money is the acceptable and expected way to interact with the game. It is insidious and entirely deliberate.

Oh absolutely. I just don't get how anyone can't see that. If it was like 50p here and there, but dropping £80 in one go? Surely you have to realise that there's something not right about that purchase.

Trelliz wrote:

more heat than light wrote:

Trelliz wrote:They're about creating a culture where paying money is the acceptable and expected way to interact with the game. It is insidious and entirely deliberate.

Oh absolutely. I just don't get how anyone can't see that. If it was like 50p here and there, but dropping £80 in one go? Surely you have to realise that there's something not right about that purchase.

All the mechanisms of artificial scarcity, behavioural conditioning, positive reinforcement and a constant drip feed of "content" through live services are meant to bypass the rational part of our brains that say spending that amount of money on effectively nothing is a bad idea. I've paid a fair bit on one or two games, and it took a moment of epiphany to say to myself "what if I just...stopped?" And managed to walk away from it.

The way you said they talked about "good value" and being "only £20" shows that the process has worked on them pretty fully.

BID0 wrote:

Trelliz wrote:

more heat than light wrote:

Trelliz wrote:They're about creating a culture where paying money is the acceptable and expected way to interact with the game. It is insidious and entirely deliberate.

Oh absolutely. I just don't get how anyone can't see that. If it was like 50p here and there, but dropping £80 in one go? Surely you have to realise that there's something not right about that purchase.

All the mechanisms of artificial scarcity, behavioural conditioning, positive reinforcement and a constant drip feed of "content" through live services are meant to bypass the rational part of our brains that say spending that amount of money on effectively nothing is a bad idea. I've paid a fair bit on one or two games, and it took a moment of epiphany to say to myself "what if I just...stopped?" And managed to walk away from it.

The way you said they talked about "good value" and being "only £20" shows that the process has worked on them pretty fully.

Plus those kind of people tend to see that money as an investment, so they need to keep paying for future bolt ons otherwise the money they've already spent has been wasted and they lose what they've accumulated.