Why Are Gamers So Paranoid With Government Involvement?

Agheil writes - "Fellowgamers, Chris Lee, the US Lawmaker who provided more awareness on the Star Wars : Battlefront 2 fiasco not too long ago is back with a plan to place legislation on the inclusion of, “gambling mechanisms”, such as loot boxes.

Gamers are worried what this might bring in terms of more government involvement.

I try to look at both sides."

[AspiringProGenji]

I support this!
BING BING BONG

[N1]

I support this as well, we need to make a change!

[electricbanshi]

Honestly ! Gamers against this are not seeing it clearly. We need this, EA brought this upon thmeselves. Maybe this will help them understand, I dont know.... Also Happy Birthday ;)

[N1]

Gamers who are not for this are jumping to conclusions or could be the new generation of gamers...

[rollerdisc]

We need this to go through, it seems like the momentum is still going but its not where it was when this all started. Legislation an regulation for loot boxes needs to happen. People saying that people need self control clearly havent met people with these types of additive behaviours.

[Agheil]

I’m trying to keep the momentum! Hopefully something happens and we can be rid of loot boxes!

[rollerdisc]

@agheil that’s the dream 👌🏻

[firelens]

Gamers against this are the hooked to loot boxes...

[Agheil]

Maybe some, but others are worried about future regulations ( possibly ).

[rollerdisc]

I can believe this, seeing some of the saying Please don’t take them away... that should say something.

[Agheil]

I personally see different sides to this, the one anagaist govt are afraid of what it might bring and the other side doesn’t fear this will happen. Also thank you :)

[rainslacker]

Sadly, what EA is now responding to isn't so much the complaints that gamers have had for over a decade now, but rather the potential to royally screw their long term plans to fleece the consumers.

The end result will be the same for us, but it's not like our own voices are the one's speaking right now.

But, since the result is the same, maybe it'll curb some of these poor practices in the future, and maybe companies will spend more time paying attention and trying to find that happy middle ground. MT are so bad it seems to be an all or nothing thing for consumers now. The consumers are so fed up with the premise of MT that they don't want them at all, even though there are some MT which aren't so offensive or obtrusive.

[rollerdisc]

Let keep this train going, paranoid gamers or not.

[firelens]

choo choo !! haha had to do it.

[Agheil]

Hahah

[rollerdisc]

LOL

[firelens]

We need this, these gamers can who are against this maybe will realize they can buy more games with they money theyve saved? Or better yet! food? Living expenses?

[Agheil]

Basically, no need to spend $1000s on gaming when you don’t need to.

[rollerdisc]

Most of these gamers are kids I believe. They won’t understand worth until they have expenses.

[Agheil]

Maybe. They’re are also adult who go through this as well because they have the money.

[Jinger]

No, we don't need their help. The last thing we need is some bureaucrats that don't know shit about the gaming market sticking their nose and dictating what games can and can't be.

I can't wait for the inevitable move on game violence since they also believe that is what cause kids to go on violent streaks.

A free market is a free market. If you don't like something, don't freaking buy it. Simple as that.

I love how people are turning to the government which is way more predatorial on everyone to help legislate something that doesn't need them. How about they focus on fixing our taxes and medical and lowering our military spending. Or how about not getting rid of net neutrality... you know, shit that actually matters.

[Ittoittosai]

The only people that benefit from a "free market" are the ones sitting at the top pushing the cheapest stuff possible, while telling you its the best.

[Agheil]

I don’t understand the defense with this. Govt regulation has helped in different areas in time.

Why can’t it help here?

[JackBNimble]

Do we need gaming to be policed by the government? It's a slippery slope.
I say give adult ratings for these games and choose whether or not to buy them.

[rollerdisc]

@jacknimble that’s literally what this is all about. I feel like some people haven’t watched the video or even read what Chris Lee regulation is about.

It’s about putting in regulation so that when a game has gambling mechanisms, it has a 21+ rating on it. It’s not a ban, it’s not a tax, etc.

Just an age restriction to limit the market and thus convincing publishers to stop the practice.

[Agheil]

We need some type of regulation, we have a self regulated industry but that has just gotten publishers to get greedy.

We have a voice. It’s gotten louder. Sensorship/taxation, if ever attempted, will be called out.

[agent4532]

Net Neutrality is not going anywhere, there is a delay to the decision. Fixing our taxes and medical is extremely important. This may not be as important or high priority, but is better that the government regulates lootboxes/microtransanctions than letting game developers/publishers get any more greedier. We need to start somewhere, if us gamers can't even tell corporations no to their anti-consumer practices what chances do we have in letting our politicians to do their job.

[rainslacker]

Your right. Your idea of just letting it be, and that all gamers are whiny entitled brats and these companies should be able to do whatever they want is a much better way to go.

I mean, it's not like you weren't in here for 2 weeks vehemently defending MT, saying that they weren't bad, that they were needed, and that gamers should just shut up about it and be thankful for whatever crap was peddled to us even if we didn't like what was being done.

I'm very much a supporter of the free market, but at the same time, the free market is allowing a rather marginal part of the community and consumer base to be exploited, while the majority of them still have to deal with it by the forced inclusion of MT in ways that are becoming increasingly obtrusive to the experience that we want.

With that being said, all that complaining that we did is a part of the free market system. You can't preach putting faith in the free market, all while saying anyone who exercises their desires for what the market offers is meaningless to the discussion and should just accept everything as a forgone conclusion.

On top of that, the free market failed those that are consumers in this case, but greatly benefitted the companies. If this was because of the majority rule, then fair enough, but that's not the case. When the free market fails, those consumers that want something will seek out other resolutions.

As of right now, all the government is doing is looking at classifying loot boxes. They aren't looking at regulating the industry, nor is there any sign they're looking at censoring content in any other way. While I understand the slippery slope, in this case I'll wait until the slippery slope happens, because I'm sure if the government tries to do something we don't agree with and oversteps their bounds, we'll be more than happy to rail against it....potentially more than we are doing with EA right now.

You say that government regulation is a slippery slope. But the last time the government even had the threat of regulation, the ESRB started, and the industry regulated itself. The industry and those who sell games started to adhere to a standard for ratings that was similar to the movie industry, and that was a good thing. The threat of regulation here may do the same thing. So not all regulation is bad.

[Jinger]

I never said yiu guys cant or shouldnt speak up. I just called you guys whiners because I was tired of the 20+ articles with all the same comments every day.

The free market hasn't failed... it's not like every game or publisher is like EA. There are a TON of options. So if you don't like the EA practices, don't buy it. Buy all the other great games without the stuff you don't like.

It's pretty simple. I hope the industry makes it's own changes to keep the government put. All we will se though is them integrate another way to nickle and dime.

[CoinOrc]

I agree. People who are for government regulation of video games have forgotten the 90’s and early 00’s when politicians try to regulate and censor games.

[uth11]

governments who are eagerly building casinos everywhere for the tax revenue and running lotteries are suddenly worried about so-called 'gambling' in games that dont even pay out money as a reward?

sorry, don't buy it. its just a handful of politicians looking to make a name for themselves by grandstanding

[Ittoittosai]

Um thats like state governments this is talking about federal laws. Second last I checked casinos and lotteries have age limits and are policed loot boxes arent. Third several games have for the last three years have had loot boxes that have items that can be turned into real money...so yeah.

[alphafallen]

That’s the thing, loot boxes have existed, the companies have had time to think about the consumer.

The thought of bigger pockets mattered more. Now we need something done.

[rainslacker]

Yeah, well you can't play the lottery or gamble in a casino unless you're 21. So if they feel loot boxes are gambling, what's the problem?

The government doesn't have a problem with gambling....except on the local or state level in some places...it just wants to make sure that it's done in a responsible way, and of course they want the taxes and revenue from it.

You also have to consider that the regulation of Loot Boxes means the likely loss of revenue from them, and possibly other forms of MT, thus the "worried about taxes" argument doesn't really work, since they likely won't make as much on whatever else there is.

[NotAfanBoyy]

When has govt regulation ever ended well for consumers? How many people wanting govt intervention bought this game and didn't return it, despite the negative reviews?

Doesn't EA have their own lobbyist spokesholes to buy off congress? It seems likely they could gain more power with this move.

[Ittoittosai]

Your car, insurance, water, lights, gas, power lines, roads, bridges, supermarkets, the internet.......regluations improve alot of things sometimes they dont do it for the better but the precentage is lower than you think. Second regluations exist and usually can be tied back to either some disaster or bad company practice in the past.

The American finacial melt down can be tied back to Citibank pumping billions into our polictical system to roll back depression Era reforms made yo the banking system because those regulations went away the great receassion happened. Regulations are important and benefit you whether you like them or not.

[alphafallen]

Well said.

[The_Sage]

You do realize that everything that you listed is a mess right now, other than supermarkets, right itto?

I work for a municipality.

[Ittoittosai]

I work for the DOT so your point is moot man and Im pretty sure I can turn on my light, cook wih gas, take
Bath with water and use internet, roads and bridges just fine every hour everyday, every month and every year Ive been alive. So I dont see a mess really.

[The_Sage]

You work for the DoT and you don't see a problem? Have you ever driven into or out of Chicago at rush hour?

[rainslacker]

In the past 20 years the idea of regulation has become synonymous with too much control being given to corrupt individuals. however, a lot of regulation happens because so many industries can't be trusted to regulate themselves with ethical and moral business or operating practices. Other regulations exist to protect the consumer or certain aspects of society, because society itself hasn't shown itself to be responsible enough on it's own to take care of themselves.

There are certainly instances of regulation which oversteps the bounds of the governments mandate, but regulation is plentiful and not usually as evil as some believe it to be. The powers that be that tend to make the most fuss about regulation usually don't do so from the consumer perspective, rather the corporate perspective, and they peddle this notion that whatever happens will be bad for the consumer, individual, or society, even though that's not often the case.

[NotAfanBoyy]

I agree with the ethical responsibilities these agencies are supposed to uphold. Unfortunately they don't work that way. They are more similar to the corporations they are there to regulate.

Most are corrupt, taking money from large corporations. Our tax dollars pay the regulators, and we pay again the costs corporations incur paying the regulators, in the form of hidden taxes in their products and services.

It's up to consumers to vote with their wallets.

People spent billions on all these stupid loot crates and DLC. Why not regulate dumb people from opening their wallets to support bad business practices?

[rainslacker]

As of yet, there is no indication that this current "regulation" is coming from any kind of corruption. In fact, the corruption is likely to come from keeping it deregulated.

I wouldn't say most regulatory committees are corrupt, but there are certainly instances where that is the case. However, despite this corruption, the actual act of starting regulation is usually not from that stand point. It is sometimes in cases of where one company is trying to prevent competing industries from getting a foothold...like with fracking more recently. But in that case, there was also big money spent on spreading this idea that fracking is bad, and that was all on the competing industries and wasn't just regulation. The corporations are spending this money to prevent regulation, and passing that off onto consumers. The fact they are willing to spend that money is more unethical than the powers that try to regulate in the interest of the consumer or society.

It's easy to generalize this stuff to make one's argument....and it's exactly what I was talking about in my original post. There is this belief that regulation is bad, when it's not always bad, and more often than not, actually there to protect the people, the environment, or society in some way.

There are tens of thousands of regulatory laws within the US. So many, we have whole sections of bureaucracy that handle them employing hundreds, if not thousands of people. We live with these every day, and I'd imagine if they ceased to exist, the US wouldn't be the Utopian free market that everyone seems to think it would be.

As I said, there are certainly cases of corruption which can be cited, but it's just fear mongering to act like any and all regulation is bad.

[Ittoittosai]

Im not scared of it at all but Im not afraid of government either it should be afraid of me. Americans fear government instead of making it fear them.

Mega corps like EA etc arent going to do anything out of the "goodness of its heart" and it gives two shakes about what you want, it only cares about what you'll buy and what it can sell you not what you want and it will do whatever it has to to get that point across like pushing narratives like "single player is dead", "games cost more to make now and the prices hasnt increased in decades", "time spend to dollat value" blah blah blah when its all nonsense. This whole Star Wars disaster has been awesome it opened the door and exposed the lie being pushed by big pubs for years now. Games, as Ive been saying for the last 10 years, arent any more expensive to make they are actually less expensive because they are actually putting in less work but getting the same return ot even more.

Ea wont be hurt by leaving the MT out of battlefront and neither would the industry. If regulation is the only way to kill this bullshit bring it on.

[Agheil]

It’s time for regulation.

[alphafallen]

The conversation of game costing more now, what about movies? Big blockbusters cost more now.

Where was the price increase there?

[Ittoittosai]

Um at the theaters, box office prices have almost doubled, when I was in middle school and highschool 20yrs ago you see a nonmatenna for 6$ its now almost double if not double that. Movies and games are totally different also in terms of pay structure. Actors, screen writers, directors and others actually make more money if a film does better than expected, they also get paid royles. Game actors etc get paid flat fees and make no extra or royles at all plus the pubs and devs of video games sometimes get tax breaks and incentives like Ubisoft.

[rainslacker]

Prices have gone up from about $6 20 years ago to about $12-15 now.

That being said, movie production costs have risen signifcantly since then, while gaming production costs have remained relatively consistent for the past 13 years. There was a spike in production costs for gaming at the start of last gen, but it has leveled out and remained relatively constant. What hasn't stayed the same is the bloated marketing budgets, which are sometimes as much, if not more than the actual development costs. However, for the biggest budgets, those costs are usually fronted by the console makers, so not even a cost that the publishers see, which is one reason games have remained fairly low in costs since the start of last gen...at least in the US.

[rainslacker]

I don't fear government, I just think politicians are stupid and do stupid things which annoy or affect me.

I'm not one to really think that regulation is inherently evil or corrupt, but I personally don't care for regulation where it isn't necessary.

In this case, the gambling aspect I feel is worth looking at. However, if this government intervention were to be much broader in scope and decided to look at if MT were legal or ethical, and if they should be regulated, I'd certainly not be supporting it. As of right now, it's not even regulation, it's classification, which will decide if one single thing within one single aspect of gaming needs to fall under government oversight. Due to the nature of what's being looked at, I'm not that concerned at the moment, nor will I produce dooms day theories about how Jack Thompson is salivating in the corner to try and bring back his campaign against violent games.

But I'm one of those people who is well aware that this regulation if enacted will not put an end to MT, we just may not see so many predatory implementations. I'm also sure it won't do away with P2W models, even in big AAA games. I know that when that happens in the future...likely from EA, there isn't much that's going to change compared to what happened before EA broke the proverbial camels back. It just won't be random anymore.

[bluefox755]

Because the government screws things up more than they fix things, and the things they "fix" are usually problems that they had a hand in creating to begin with.

[Agheil]

In this situation they didn’t help the breaking, the industry greed did.

A help in this area wouldn’t be bad. Think about no regulation, this will only get worse.

ESRB isn’t doing anything, they can’t. So what do we do?

[1nsomniac]

Why not?

Name me one thing that ever improved from the government getting involved with it???

[raWfodog]

Interstate travel :)

[The_Sage]

When government gets involved in anything it becomes a mess.

[spartan112g]

The last thing we need is a group that knows nothing about games trying to govern it. We regulate ourselves. Bad word of mouth and profit slipping did way more than the government could. They say we’re afraid of government involvement. The other side is afraid of market freedom just like how they’re afraid that single player games are going away when three stellar ones released in the same day. (Odyssey, AC: Origins, Wolfenstein 2)

[opinionated]

Paranoid? What a pathetic statement. How about you look at the history of government involvement in industry. Any industry. That’s a start....

[Razzer]

lol....which government? There is more than one, you know.

[EatCrow]

Normally im against big governement but when it is this kind of thing which is really bigger then gaming itself...gambling for kids. Then I do believe the govt should get involved to regulate this BS that for some dumbass reason ESRB doesnt want to regulate.