Dutch government moves to ban loot boxes, says microtransactions manipulate children, loot boxes are a form of gambling and are addicting

Authored by resetera.com and submitted by Aggressive_Sea_8206

Yuntu said: Can someone from a country where its already banned tell me how you can still access those games? I assume if you have them installed they just keep working?

Because I don't wanna stop playing Genshin just because my government decides to make decisions for me. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Qassim said: Go on, we're listening to your particular concerns with this. Not vague statements that could apply to many different types of things and situations, what's your actual issue with this and how do you think it could backfire?

Kids getting their pay-for-lootboxes off dodgy criminals on the street? Injecting unsafe loot boxes into their veins? People going through a dangerous withdrawal from their loot box addiction? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

JuniperAndSage said: And yet, there's a whole OT full of posters enjoying it just like any other game, same as in the Genshin OT.

This is sensationalistic bullshit. Nobody is being 'tricked' into spending that much. We know from Apple that mobile players spend less than console and PC players- most spending nothing, a few percent spending hundreds a year, and a couple percent spending in the thousands per year.

The literal handful of people in the world who spend $100k on a mobile game are extreme outliers. This is like using record high retro cart auction prices to make generalizations about console gaming as a whole. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

The target of your concerns should be the developer for using a predatory business model not the government for trying to protect its citizens. If the point is "well I can use it responsibly", unfortunately sometimes society has to have policies that protect the vulnerable at the expense of those who aren't.As others have said it depends. If you're on steam, steamdb can give you an extensive breakdown of region locks and other purchase and gifting restrictions that developers might use per title.It's not worth engaging with that poster going off of their stuff from the diablo immortal thread. Some of the worst empathy and missing the point I've seen on this board in a while, like so:

dismalwasteland on July 3rd, 2022 at 21:31 UTC »

Spain announced the same, last month. I'm hopeful more countries do the same or at least be more aware of the issue.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spain-crack-down-videogame-loot-boxes-blamed-pathological-behaviour-2022-06-01/

MrMarcusRocks on July 3rd, 2022 at 20:51 UTC »

Everyone that plays games knows that this is true. More countries need to follow suit

PestyNomad on July 3rd, 2022 at 20:38 UTC »

Finally some people with some sense.