What are you going to do when the law catches up with in game gambling? (Keys / loot box system)

geordiep

I am curious about how this particular obscenity within STO will be adjusted when the UK's gambling commission makes it illegal.
Im guessing its a case of 'when sunny make hay' kind of attitude and that hurdle will be jumped as and when.

Im fairly hooked on this game (atm) I started playing last November and put it down for 9-10 months when Monster Hunter World came out and I returned with a full wallet... I dont mean to sound like Im raging but spending £575.09 in just a few months is kinda making me step back and think about what the hell Im doing.

Im a lifetime subscriber -btw if you're thinking of doing this -DONT its not worth the money (IMO) esp. if you're going to be sticking to one character like I do. I have bought several C-store ships, items and bundles which are reasonable and I can see what Im getting UP FRONT.

Which brings me to the point of this thread - loot box gambling and the algorithms controlling them.
Im fairly convinced that the more money you spend the less likely you are to get a 'high roll' i.e. - T6 ship pack
Currently Im 2 T6 packs for (guesstimation) 500 keys... I dont like these odds and neither would the gambling commission concerning a game that allows children to play and gamble on mummys credit card.

With the wonders of modern technology ? I recorded the buying of keys and the opening of 130 boxes at the weekend and emailed my local MP (not putting her name here for obvious reasons) with the video link and an in depth description of what was happening - costs, expectations and of course the let down of the outcome. I also included my purchase history to ARC games.
I got the generic auto-response of course and I thought that was the end of it.... Nope she emailed me and will be referring to my email when these matters come before the lower house and the gambling commission.

The world of the loot box is about to come crashing down and the sooner the better in my opinion.
Then we can buy that sh*t at the C-store (sic).. hallelujah!

roguealltrek

i want the items in a store up front pricing and a guaranteed outcome ie buy a ship set price end of story.

geordiep

somtaawkhar wrote: »

geordiep#8432 wrote: »

Im fairly convinced that the more money you spend the less likely you are to get a 'high roll' i.e. - T6 ship pack

Based on nothing but headcanon and completely flying in the face of actual testing done by many people on both these forums and the STO reddit.

geordiep#8432 wrote: »

Then we can buy that sh*t at the C-store (sic).. hallelujah!

Nope, all of stuff will simply become unobtainable.

Conjecture - Is that what you meant by head cannon?
You dont know this for sure, its a possible outcome I know but then people will stop playing wouldnt they? Hmm not sure ARC's shareholders (their true customers) would like that.

Im going off my experience and comparing it to others I know in game.. I have to admit I haven't researched the biased testing done by shills around the interwebs.

dracounguis

I really hate the whole gamble box bandwagon that every company has jumped on. Just stick stuff in the C-store. Obviously, the T6 Connie isn't gonna be 3000 Zen. Probably more like 40000 Zen if you base the current EC price vs Master Key EC to $ price. But hey, if people want to throw down $400 for a ship, be my guest.

Cryptic could always make purchases of formerly gamble box ships unbound so people could still stick them on the Exchange.

geordiep

somtaawkhar wrote: »

geordiep#8432 wrote: »

Conjecture - Is that what you meant by head cannon?
You dont know this for sure, its a possible outcome I know but then people will stop playing wouldnt they? Hmm not sure ARC's shareholders (their true customers) would like that.

The things that are in lootboxes are there because CBS doesn't want them to be part of normal gameplay.

Same reason why the Tier 6 Connie was only released as a limited time promo item as part of an R&D pack, and not in the C-Store. CBS didn't want a T6 Connie that anyone could get because the Connie is supposed to be unique, and old. CBS also doesn't want things like Tholian, Undine, Iconian, whatever, ship to just be normal purchases either, because you wouldn't normally be able to use them logically, so they are slapped into lootboxes.

This is why all free leveling ships, and ships in the C-store, are all typical factional ships, and nothing else.

If they didnt want an item ingame it wouldnt be ingame end of.
This is nothing more than milking the whales, stop buying in to the excuses and justifications.
This is gambling nothing more nothing less and it will be stopped before the end of 2019 watch this space.

salazarraze

OP wonders what could happen with a US based game with regard to hypothetical UK law that might one day exist? Assuming that anything happens at all, the outcome is easy to predict. The small portion of UK players won't be able to buy master keys or fly any lock box ships in the future. /Thread

warpangel

<yawn>
This again?

geordiep

dracounguis wrote: »

I really hate the whole gamble box bandwagon that every company has jumped on. Just stick stuff in the C-store. Obviously, the T6 Connie isn't gonna be 3000 Zen. Probably more like 40000 Zen if you base the current EC price vs Master Key EC to $ price. But hey, if people want to throw down $400 for a ship, be my guest.

My point exactly.. I have no problem throwing money at a game, so a price list with uber rare ships at the top would still make them rare.
Also the daily skating for a T6 is next week which made me think of elaborate in game activities to unlock c-store items could be a thing. This would make expensive ships even harder to get hold of.

darkbladejk

we've already had several threads on this already folks and they never end well as this one was already starting to fester. /thread