China Forcing Publishers to reveal lootbox drop rates

loboguild

This was originally posted on reddit, sharing it here as well.

https://pvplive.net/c/chinas-forcing-publishers-to-reveal-loot-box-drop-

Imho it's great that somebody takes the studios by the horns. Lockboxes are gambling and should be regulated and treated as such. Companies like PWE and Cryptic aggressively exploit several bias related to gambling in a game that's played by kids.​​

litaaers

Just wanted to post here, so that when this gets buried for eternity in the deepest depths of sand/jungle/glacier, when they find it in 2000 years, I can say I was a part of history!

mysteriasdrassa

Oh please,,, It is not even remotely gambling. To be gambling, it would have to be someone placing money on an item taking the chance that they may or may not win a cash reward. True, you are taking a chance every time you open one, but I bet you dollars to dohnuts, those kids you mentioned as being misled by the game companies into spending their hard earned paper route money, have already got the odds figured out on the chances of getting anything good, way better than most of the adults playing this game. JMHO

thevampinator

Yeah I am happy they are doing this, I imagine abuse by gaming companies has gotten noticed by the china goverment. Hopefully they crack down on perfect worlds abuse and over pricing of in game items.

thecrowley

Would the donkey chase the carrot if it knew its chances of ever getting the carrot? I'd like to think not, except if it's an idiot donkey. Sadly a lot of us are idiot donkeys who will keep chasing it.

urabask

Knowing PWE they'll probably end up using different odds on international servers than they do in China.

mysteriasdrassa said:

Oh please,,, It is not even remotely gambling. To be gambling, it would have to be someone placing money on an item taking the chance that they may or may not win a cash reward. True, you are taking a chance every time you open one, but I bet you dollars to dohnuts, those kids you mentioned as being misled by the game companies into spending their hard earned paper route money, have already got the odds figured out on the chances of getting anything good, way better than most of the adults playing this game. JMHO

Christ.

You're just transferring real money for virtual currency and gambling with that. You're arguing that it's not gambling because it doesn't meet the legal definition (at least in some states/countries), but it's without a doubt gambling in the conventional use of the word.

China of all places wouldn't be making laws like this if kids knew the odds involved.

sh00termcl0vin

urabask said:

Knowing PWE they'll probably end up using different odds on international servers than they do in China.

mysteriasdrassa said:

Oh please,,, It is not even remotely gambling. To be gambling, it would have to be someone placing money on an item taking the chance that they may or may not win a cash reward. True, you are taking a chance every time you open one, but I bet you dollars to dohnuts, those kids you mentioned as being misled by the game companies into spending their hard earned paper route money, have already got the odds figured out on the chances of getting anything good, way better than most of the adults playing this game. JMHO

Christ.

You're just transferring real money for virtual currency and gambling with that. You're arguing that it's not gambling because it doesn't meet the legal definition (at least in some states/countries), but it's without a doubt gambling in the conventional use of the word.

China of all places wouldn't be making laws like this if kids knew the odds involved.

I agree definitely meets the definition of gambling. China just happens to be quicker than other countries when dealing with technology related issues.

The main problem in creating laws like this is that gambling over the internet is new territory for countries that have existing laws that were designed around conventional concepts of gambling (aka casinos etc.) and don't really address the idea of "virtual property". In the mean time online "robber barons" take advantage of the lack of regulation to make a quick buck, knowing there are 0 consequences if they adjust percentages or values without the consumers knowledge. Since there is no oversight there is no incentive for these companies to play fair and the potential for abuse is limitless.

loboguild

mysteriasdrassa said:

Oh please,,, It is not even remotely gambling. To be gambling, it would have to be someone placing money on an item taking the chance that they may or may not win a cash reward. True, you are taking a chance every time you open one, but I bet you dollars to dohnuts, those kids you mentioned as being misled by the game companies into spending their hard earned paper route money, have already got the odds figured out on the chances of getting anything good, way better than most of the adults playing this game. JMHO

This doesn't mean we can't change what we call gambling. Imho publishers are working a grey area here and I'm glad that it's getting more publicity.

earlgreybeard

I would only be guessing but it feels like these odds get changed all the time... a big part of what drives them to keep making the rng oppressive and depressing is the large contingent of try-hards ,whales and pay2players that max everything out within a week of it going live.. then rng gets nerfed into oblivion for the rest of us because these players give the game management the idea they have made everything they have been using to gate our progression too easy to get.. and boom
stealth nerf for the rng drop of stuff like bottles, turtle moult and lanolin etc etc

casual players become so reluctant to even bother trying for these items now

the rng factor for the artifact weapon features is what got me.. that nearly made me leave the game , I guess in way I wish i had of before I got too involved by doing the guilds/social/buying zen that locked me in..

I so hope one day they will be forced to make these odds a reasonable chance instead of closest to impossible that they can make it.

demonmonger

It would be nice if every 20 boxes we were given a legendary 100%

disposablehero

> @thevampinator said:
> Yeah I am happy they are doing this, I imagine abuse by gaming companies has gotten noticed by the china goverment. Hopefully they crack down on perfect worlds abuse and over pricing of in game items.

Yeah, take THAT, free enterprise!