It isn’t always that simple. It could lead to age verification requirements which might be the goal as opposed to banning loot boxes. Then what has people upset about discord wanting face scans or IDs could end up becoming a legal requirement for online gaming accounts that want to play games rated T and higher.
And this age verification thing has been getting pushed throughout the world with attempts at chat control in the EU and what’s already happened in the UK.
It isn’t always that simple. It could lead to age verification requirements
You seem to be under the impression that gambling is illegal only for children in New York, but that’s not what’s happening here, gambling is illegal in New York for all ages.
It’s more I’m skeptical of government intentions these days. And not like the US government venture into the area is going to fill me with confidence.
When it comes to social media for example I’ve seen more comments and headlines of people saying stuff like it should be banned for younger people, which of course would mean the need for verification. Something companies like Palantir or links to it like Persona see money there is to make from it. And pushing for government contracts not just in the US but in the EU.
And think of the children has been a go to strategy to try to get people onboard with general push to collect more information.
Ideally straight up banning loot boxes and classifying it as Casinos would be ideal to kill it off. I’m just worried that it’s going to instead turn into a justification used to require ID collection, since what people see as a solution and the actual goal of governments don’t often align.
At the expense of everyone’s privacy even if you don’t participate in the loot box economy, because you know the laws won’t be written for only if you access them it’ll be a blanket requirement. That’s not the way to get rid of loot boxes.
The line between banning loot boxes and banning games like Balatro is a very fine one, with a need to specify that what is being banned is monetary transactions to access lottery pools.
That kind of accuracy and genuine intent is not what is currently present in lawmaking in most countries.
I hope I’m wrong about this, but I don’t think I am.
I don’t think the line is that fine in that case, considering all random mechanics in Balatro give ephemeral rewards that only last until the end of a run, which is an isolated instance of a game with limited playtime, those mechanics cannot be paid for with real money, the resulting rewards cannot be sold for real money or traded with other players, and generally cannot affect any other players in any way, not even visually through cosmetics.
As far as I know, Balatro is only really being targeted because it’s stylized after poker, with the enforcement having no actual understanding of what the gameplay looks like.
I think at bigger risk from actual laws would be MMORPGs where you can get random loot drops from enemies/chests, and those also tend to have markets where people grind valuable drops and use in-game trading to transfer them to other players in exchange for real money.
That’s the issue! I’m not saying Balatro is gambling in any sense, I’m just saying that people incorrectly perceived it that way due to the connection to poker.
By legislating them to be illegal and then fining developers that don’t comply. Sliding scale fines that wipe out the cost benefit of the loot boxes in the first place would suffice.
But it’s definitely not by compromising everyone’s privacy and forcing them to identify themselves because the government wants to be able to identify everyone everywhere at all times and uaing children as the excuse like they always do.
Yeah, I didn’t think about that. That is kind of a nightmare scenario. I still stand by what I said. Now the question is, do I trust legislation to make a good decision that doesn’t fuck over everyone in the end? And if so, do I trust a multi-billion dollar company to not do some horrendous malicious compliance?
Another scary thing is Palantir who’d be all for the push for verification with them positioning themselves to make money off of it, and wanting to be responsible for collecting data on everyone. They already turned out to be a partner of Discord through Persona.
They’ve already pushed for government contracts even in Europe. And with how things look like with the US government how much confidence is there in the US government.
I’m not sure government involvement will lead to the type of outcome people think it will.
It isn’t always that simple. It could lead to age verification requirements which might be the goal as opposed to banning loot boxes. Then what has people upset about discord wanting face scans or IDs could end up becoming a legal requirement for online gaming accounts that want to play games rated T and higher.
And this age verification thing has been getting pushed throughout the world with attempts at chat control in the EU and what’s already happened in the UK.
You seem to be under the impression that gambling is illegal only for children in New York, but that’s not what’s happening here, gambling is illegal in New York for all ages.
It’s more I’m skeptical of government intentions these days. And not like the US government venture into the area is going to fill me with confidence.
When it comes to social media for example I’ve seen more comments and headlines of people saying stuff like it should be banned for younger people, which of course would mean the need for verification. Something companies like Palantir or links to it like Persona see money there is to make from it. And pushing for government contracts not just in the US but in the EU.
And think of the children has been a go to strategy to try to get people onboard with general push to collect more information.
Ideally straight up banning loot boxes and classifying it as Casinos would be ideal to kill it off. I’m just worried that it’s going to instead turn into a justification used to require ID collection, since what people see as a solution and the actual goal of governments don’t often align.
Well, not all forms. The State of New York runs a lottery itself, for example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Lottery
implement age verification on games with loot boxes. watch sales crash. stop making loot box funded games.
At the expense of everyone’s privacy even if you don’t participate in the loot box economy, because you know the laws won’t be written for only if you access them it’ll be a blanket requirement. That’s not the way to get rid of loot boxes.
What is the way to get rid of loot boxes?
Straight up ban them. No age gate, no nothing. Just no more loot boxes. It’s worse than a fucking casino and those should be banned too.
The line between banning loot boxes and banning games like Balatro is a very fine one, with a need to specify that what is being banned is monetary transactions to access lottery pools.
That kind of accuracy and genuine intent is not what is currently present in lawmaking in most countries.
I hope I’m wrong about this, but I don’t think I am.
I don’t think the line is that fine in that case, considering all random mechanics in Balatro give ephemeral rewards that only last until the end of a run, which is an isolated instance of a game with limited playtime, those mechanics cannot be paid for with real money, the resulting rewards cannot be sold for real money or traded with other players, and generally cannot affect any other players in any way, not even visually through cosmetics.
As far as I know, Balatro is only really being targeted because it’s stylized after poker, with the enforcement having no actual understanding of what the gameplay looks like.
I think at bigger risk from actual laws would be MMORPGs where you can get random loot drops from enemies/chests, and those also tend to have markets where people grind valuable drops and use in-game trading to transfer them to other players in exchange for real money.
That’s the issue! I’m not saying Balatro is gambling in any sense, I’m just saying that people incorrectly perceived it that way due to the connection to poker.
Well that applies to far more than this subject.
By legislating them to be illegal and then fining developers that don’t comply. Sliding scale fines that wipe out the cost benefit of the loot boxes in the first place would suffice.
Don’t know. That’s not my specialty.
But it’s definitely not by compromising everyone’s privacy and forcing them to identify themselves because the government wants to be able to identify everyone everywhere at all times and uaing children as the excuse like they always do.
I wonder if they ask everyone for ID. My account is old enough to drink.
Yeah, I didn’t think about that. That is kind of a nightmare scenario. I still stand by what I said. Now the question is, do I trust legislation to make a good decision that doesn’t fuck over everyone in the end? And if so, do I trust a multi-billion dollar company to not do some horrendous malicious compliance?
… and I’m not going to answer these questions. :|
Another scary thing is Palantir who’d be all for the push for verification with them positioning themselves to make money off of it, and wanting to be responsible for collecting data on everyone. They already turned out to be a partner of Discord through Persona.
They’ve already pushed for government contracts even in Europe. And with how things look like with the US government how much confidence is there in the US government.
I’m not sure government involvement will lead to the type of outcome people think it will.