Should microtransactions and loot boxes be banned?

There's been a recent loot box ban in Belgium, but should loot boxes and microtransactions be banned everywhere?

[Ruegrong]

Yes

[DaCajun]

Loot boxes with random stuff that you have no idea what you will get or even get duplicates when you paid money for it is just wrong. Yes PAID loot boxes should be banned.

In F2P games I understand why micro-transactions are there. Micro-transactions for items in F2P that doesn't affect gameplay I'm ok with because I know what I'm paying for but at the same time they should be reasonably priced. In no way should buying them cost more than or even add up to more than a full priced game.

Micro-transactions of any kind should never be in paid games. If games are costing more and they need to make up those costs then charge $5 or $10 more. Not nickel and dime people and preying on some peoples, especially children, addictions to double, triple, or even quadruple their profits like the con-artists they're being. Also considering these days you don't really own a digital product and these companies can nickel and dime you then they can just take your digital rights from you without warning and almost at will.

In my opinion they should rethink their game development. These companies waste so much money and effort on the most useless things that are not needed. How about not having to have famous actors voice act in your game because personally I couldn't care less as long as the dialog is done correctly. They just had Jon Bernthal voice act in Ubisofts "Ghost Recon: Wildlands" and he'll be in their next game "Ghost Recon: Breakpoint" and the quest I played with him in it really didn't make any huge impact in the game to me. It could have been some guy off the street an it would have been no different. I really like Jon Bernthal's acting especially in The "Punisher" but I want a good game and shoehorning some actor into your game will not make it better no matter how much money you throw at it so stop wasting money or crap like that and actually spend it towards game play and better content.

[JaXion5]

Off topic but I find it hilarious you responded to a one word comment with a whole essay.

[Razzer]

Nope

[Araragifeels]

Yes*

[Razzer]

I don't want governments in the business of regulating games. At all.

And whatever happened to personal responsibility? Why is it someone else can tell me what I can and can't do with my money in games? And the pure and simple fact is that if you don't want to buy a loot box or micro-transaction......don' ;t buy a loot box or micro-transaction. All part of this whole "freedom" thing.

[Ricegum]

Razzer

But loot boxes are becoming a huge part of AAA games. Gone are the days when you unlock things for, you know, playing the game. Greedy companies are getting greedier and it does need to stop. There are no positives to loot boxes for us at all.

[Razzer]

"Gone are the days when you unlock things for, you know, playing the game."

No they are not. Do not try to tell me that you cannot unlock stuff in games by playing them. You can. I know. I play games. Saying those days are gone is simply false.

[Ricegum]

Razzer

Nope. Play an older generation game, and then come back and play a modern game and you'll notice the difference. It's not false at all.

Please stop feeding this problem.

[Razzer]

Hmmmm, you mean like Days Gone? Seem to have been able to unlock everything I need by playing the game.

Where is the problem?

[Prince-Ali]

People like you are the problem! Game companies have been warned TIME AND TIME again that they need to regulate THEMSELVES with this new untapped MS and lootbox trend.. but no.. they pumped that well unregulated until the government did what they they were expected to do and they decided they were gonna try regulate!
This isn't about you being able to spend your money how you want... that's really not the issue here, it's ALWAYS about how things are regulated, marketed and distributed and the fact these games are now seriously affected by MS and lootboxes in terms of worsening the experience or grind means the issue is CERTAINLY not about 'freedom' or 'control'.
Once again... people like you are part of the problem because you refuse to objectively assess what's ACTUALLY happening in comparison to what you THINK is happening... ¬_¬

[Razzer]

No, people like you are the problem. There. See how easy it is throw out random bullshit lines? Just stop.

You may expect governments to spend their crucial tax payer resources to regulate video game (yes, regulation does cost the government money), but gosh.....I have this crazy idea that governments should be involved in stuff more important than how folk spend their disposable income in a video game.

And yes, it absolutely is about freedom and control. If a game is affected by lootboxes so much that you have to grind a lot, how about this: don't buy the game. That is your freedom. And seriously.....you want the government involved so you don't have to grind as much? Is that a joke? That's just asinine. You act like this a issue of national security. Sorry, it isn't. This is about something that exists as an optional transaction. Key word: optional. And you want to be able to control whether others have that option. If you want to affect games then do so in the court of public opinion. Go crazy yapping about Battlefront or Middle-earth. EA has already taken a couple of hits in their stocks because of MTs. Fine. If they decide MTs are not worth it....fine. And when the base price of games jump $20 don't bitch about it. But you go down the road of governments involved in video games then you are changing the industry for the worse.

"you refuse to objectively assess what's ACTUALLY happening in comparison to what you THINK is happening"

More silly lines that are nothing but fluff. If you are going to continue to post can you just cut out the bullshit?

[meganick]

I used to be on your side on this issue, but now I’m on the side of banning them after seeing the industry flagrantly abuse them and getting worse with time. The shadiest abuse is when publishers release their games with no MT’s to avoid criticism and trick people into buying the game, and then a month or two later they patch MT’s into the game and even alter the flow of progression to compel players to pay to progress.
MT’s should be banned in all but F2P games, and loot boxes should be banned entirely as they are a form of gambling and you never know what you’re getting. You could even get things you already bought in previous loot boxes in some games, which is shady as heck.

[Razzer]

"The shadiest abuse is when publishers release their games with no MT’s to avoid criticism and trick people into buying the game, and then a month or two later they patch MT’s into the game and even alter the flow of progression to compel players to pay to progress. "

Examples?

[TekoIie]

"but now I’m on the side of banning them after seeing the industry flagrantly abuse them and getting worse with time"

What's your legal argument for banning them? See you want to disagree and say they should be banned but offer no reasoning that would hold up in a court of law to back yourself up. What reasoning would You provide that doesn't also have a knock on effect for things like gambling.

[TekoIie]

"I don't want governments in the business of regulating games. At all."

Out of interest how literal are you in this statement? I can think of one good regulation being that China demands the drop rates in Loot boxes be made public which to me is good because itinforms the consumer o what the odds are of them receiving what they want while also still giving them the option to purchase it.

Regulation can be good and also destructive. It's not a straightforward topic.

[Razzer]

If there is information that needs to be relayed to the public about a game then we have the ESRB and PEGI. They have done a great job informing parents about the mature content of games so I see no reason why they could not also handle information like this. I would rather self-governing bodies handle these issues rather than governments which can easily become overreaching in time.

[TargusX]

Troll much?

[Razzer]

So if I answer the question in such a way you disagree with.....that is trolling? lol

[Dragonscale]

@razz, it all depends on context. If a game is free to play then fair enough, there are a few ftp games which have none intrusive mt's, or purely cosmetic. Its when big pubs like ea put them in full price aaa's its not good and pure greed. Yes some aaa's don't have them, sekiro for instance, but games like fifa, battlefront etc take the p1ss tbh. Also the reason governments are taking action is to protect vulnerable people and children as paid lootboxes are classed as gambling which is why the Belgian government banned them, and rightly so tbh, its not quite as simple as just personal responsibility. Also asking the games industry to regulate itself just wouldn't work.

[Razzer]

"protect vulnerable people"

Vulnerable from what? Themselves? If they cannot keep themselves from clicking "buy" then yes that absolutely is a issue of personal responsibility. Society needs to get passed this idea that governments are here to prevent people from making poor choices.

[Doomster1971]

Yeah they should.

[DillyDilly]

Yep

[MetroidFREAK21]

If they add game altering mechanics like more powerful weapons, or abilities that give you an edge in multiplayer yes. If it is just cosmetics that give no edge then also yes. People shouldn't be nickel and dimed to death with these insane money grabbing schemes. If people want to buy something, they should outright be able to buy it. Like for example if I want to buy a skin, I should be able to buy it outright like Fortnite offers with their system. To me that is an okay style purchase, but boxes that cotain loot is RNG until you open it is something that needs to be banned.

[gangsta_red]

no

[Araragifeels]

si*

[staticall]

Microtransactions in paid games - yes.
Lootboxes in paid games - yes.
Lootboxes in free-to-play games - depends, if it's pay-to-win, then yes too.

Microtransactions in free-to-play games are ok, because game have to be monetized somehow, paid games are already monetized.

And before people say «But they're optional» - they might be, but they still affect everyone. Look at some latest games, like Anthem, even Mortal Kombat 11, they become more and more grindy. Why? Because it's fun? Of course not.

And yes, i do not want government involvment, because it'll open a flood gates and eventually, they'll start banning more and more. But what can customers do? Protest? How, remember what "Gamergate" turned into (by, imo, both sides)? Don't buy the games? I didn't buy Destiny 1 or 2, Anthem, FIFA and NBA 2k, did they change anything in their games? No. Don't buy microtransactions? I don't buy them, but they make them less and less optional with each new game.

[Smokehouse]

No.

The law is our defense, not a weapon to enforce your trivial shit opinions. The more you turn it into a joke, the less real protection we are going to have. If you can’t protect your wallet from shitty practices then no law will save you, you’re just a moron who is going to get suckered by the next practice they resort to.

[Shikoku]

MT as in skins and emotes? no. loot boxes hell yes

[AK91]

Yup

[Codedan]

Give them an inch they will go a mile. The government shouldn’t have control over consumer freedom. If you want the possibility of them banning games you find normal then go right ahead and support this.

[Gwiz]

Yeah what you said at the beginning is not just the government though,they had a lot of time to regulate it but they didn't.,they have nobody but themselves and their greed to blame,although they will still put the blame elsewhere.

[Codedan]

Except consumers have a choice. Once the government takes away a freedom you most likely will never be able to retrieve it.

[Gwiz]

and you think they don't know people fear letting the government interfere?wake up man lol.
I even saw some BS like " lootboxes are an artistic expression " lmao,sure putting the Mona Lisa in a box is art GTFO.

[quent]

Yes, unless they don't use real world currency to unlock, make extra content worth spending extra money on

[Gwiz]

LET THEM BURN IN HELL.

[Prince-Ali]

dont ask dumb questions...

[Stanjara]

Yes!

[SegaGamer]

Loot boxes have been in gaming for years, I remember playing the Dragon Ball Z Budokai games that had what was basically just loot boxes in the form of capsules. Loot boxes being there is not something I have a problem with. The problem I have is when you can buy in game currency with real world money to spend on these loot boxes, that is something I detest.

Microtransactions are the real evil here and I don't even think they can be called microtransactions any more, there is nothing micro about their price. I can buy a full game on sale for the price of microtransactions that will barely get me anything in the game.

We are way past the point where people can use the excuse "if you don't like them, don't buy them, just play the game". When you have megatransactions being a core feature of the game, it's hard to ignore them. So many games these days require hundreds of hours to complete 100% unless you buy megatransactions to lessen the grind. This shouldn't be the way, they know nobody has this much time on their hands. There is nothing about these megatransactions that enhance the fun, nobody can say they enjoy spending real life money on a game to speed up the grind. The only reason microtransactions exist at all is so the publishers can make more money, they don't exist because it "gives players a choice", it's all about filling those publishers greedy pockets.

[Majors]

Yes on full price games you should get the Full experience. If games are reduced in price then fair enough sell loot boxes on COSMETICS ONLY... There should NOT be pay to win of any sort within loot boxes that includes armour, weapons and perks of any kind which gives your character the edge on other players.

[EricLane]

No, not banned legally, but I wish there were a movement against them. A free market move AGAINST them. For example, if Sony said they weren't allowed on their consoles.

[Smokehouse]

Agreed.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

This is America.

Not China 🇨🇳

[Lividgravy]

No they shouldn't. If u can't afford them get a better job or steal your mom's credit card

[blacktiger]

Lootbox shouldn't be banned however it is a lottery since it is paid with real money and getting value back in a random way. That's how slot machine work. That's called gambling. So no it shouldn't be banned but it should be labeled under GAMBLING,

[jeki]

Banned by who, the federal government? No thanks.

[mogwaii]

Yes.

[StarLink]

For free to play no. For payed games yes.

[nucky64]

loot boxes aren't a good thing at all.

[galmi]

yes

[Tross]

Um, let me think...YES!!!

[Retroman]

I can't believe the writer asking this Dumb question
of course it should be Banned.

[Cmoney007]

It has become a bigger problem after Battlefront 2. It needs to be burned with fire.

[TargusX]

Yes and the new practice of selling three variations of a games which have only been released! Con!

[sampsonon]

loot boxes no, as long as they are free and in the game to be found. Microtransaction should only be cosmetic.

[Pro_TactX]

No. It is Government overreach, pure and simple.

[firefoxprime]

@ Razzer

Holy Cow, this dude is delusional. He literally believes what these companies are feeding him....😏

[BlaqMagiq1]

Uh obviously.