Judge Rules on Loot Boxes

[BLUEVOODU]

I know there have been loot box controversies in the past... are they gambling?  Are they not?   I first started noticing it with Counter Strike:  Global Offensive.  Man... some people put a lot of money into the keys to open the cases. And Steam also took a hefty fee once you tried to sell those said items if you were lucky enough to get a valuable one.  At one point, I had found a $69-89 AK... Which is all worthless now I believe.  There were pending legal issues on this game ij certain countries if I remember right.

I noticed this article:
DUTCH JUDGE RULES THAT EA SHOULD BE FINED €500K EVERY WEEK UNTIL IT REMOVES FIFA LOOT BOXES - videogameschronicle.com

Holy crap that's a hefty fine. Other games ran into some of the same issues ... but I can see where the issues come in.  In a way it is gambling... Which the odds on some of those items are horrible.  Interesting FIFA has loot boxes.

Thoughts,  comments, post it up!

[targetrasp]

I'm sure most people still characterize video games as a hobby / recreation dominated by minors. When video game companies build in a mechanic that's essentially gambling there's bound to be consequences, just because of the assumed audience.

[retro junkie]

I never thought of loot boxes as being a problem like that. I had a Marvel Loot box sub for a while. It was horrendous trying to get unsubscribed. The loot boxes were never on time. And they would not cancel the sub. I finally had to get rid of the card used to make payment. That ended my time with loot boxes and it left a bitter taste in my mouth. But considering them gambling, that thought never occurred to me.