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[killatopak]

He has this avatar though

No idea at all who he is, I just googled him.

If you can call Asmongold a WoW enthusiast then he is someone who is known for being an MMO enthusiast. I dunno the exact amount but he probably has reviewed all MMOs known to man plus a few classic games.

Unlike Asmon who buys thousands of dollars of in game items to show you how predatory a game is, JSH shows you how while spending $0.

 

[Clear]

I don't think Asmongold is the ideal person to bring forth this issue. He's not radical enough.

He's pretty ignorant to be perfectly honest, which is a bigger issue.
He has no real insight, and quite a lot of his argumentation would get utterly shredded by anyone competent at presenting the "industry" view.

 

[Inviusx]

Loot boxes are ancient history now, publishers pivoted away from that shit like 2 years ago when they saw the writing on the wall.

The current landscape of predatory shit was designed to be as "friendly" as possible.

 

[Tams]

Government regulation has to happen now. Self-regulation had failed yet again.

I don't have much experience with games that are essentially gambling and encourage it strongly, though I did quit RuneScape in absolute disgust over it. I bought some coins in Pokémon GO once, but that's it. But seeing how addicted to RuneScape I was, I could see that that could have turned into a major problem.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Unless this person moonlights as a streamer and their real job is "child psychologist w/phd" I don't see how talking to Ted Cruz about video games will accomplish ANYTHING but generating clicks for this person.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Lootboxes are a pile of shite, ultimately its down to parents to manage their childrens lives of course but its still some bullshit they hire people to make it as addictive as possible and put it in games played mostly by the chillens. It feeds into the whole fomo society so even if the kid has a good head on their shoulders and the parents are keeping an eye out they will get shit from other kids about it and get left out. The answer is of course, "Be friends with other kids who aren't little cunts who would do that" but try telling your kids that and see how it goes, kids are little bastards to each other haha.

Its just like anything else we got shit/fomo from other kids when we were in school in the 80s and 90s, but when its tied to the online social media world it amplifys the issue ten-fold.

Any kid doing dumb loot boxes is on the parents. If they are dumb enough to allow their credit card on profile allowing their kids to buy up mtx and loot boxes, that's on the parents.

Someone will counter saying it's the kids fault for stealing or being an idiot. Maybe. But like most situations in life, minors are exempt from responsibility (even though to be honest you'd think a fucking 13 or 16 year old would be smart enough not to buy $1000s of FIFA cards even if they knew their parents' credit card is open on the family's gaming profile).

The addictiveness is another reason for parents to control their kids even if they dont care if the kid buys loot boxes for a couple $100 here or there. Parents got to take responsibility to not allow things to get out of hand. Act like a parent for once. It's like the old days of playing games and visiting arcades in the 80s as a kid with a pocket of quarters. There's only so much of that my parents allowed me to do. And visiting arcades can be pretty addictive too because every arcade changed games. Every time you go in, there would be new games rotated in and out.

As for adults, it comes down to the classic case of individual responsibility vs. how much corporations or government should baby sit.

Amazingly, I don't see stores or government limiting how much people can buy booze, smokes or lottery tickets if youre an adult. All they do is set a restriction to minors. You got adults going broke at casinos and committing suicide. Yet government seems a-ok with it as long as they put a dopey disclaimer at the bottom about controlling yourself and a gambling hot line to call. So to be fair to video game companies, if government doesn't even want to crack down on sin products at stores, why should video game companies get grilled for mtx?

 

[Grumpy Toe Nail]

Respect to Ted Cruz for knowing Asmongold, at least seemed like it since he responded by saying he doesnt use twitch or play MMO's like him.

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

Ted Cruz made me like lootboxes. Lets add them to all games if he doesn't like them.

 

[TheGreatMusashi]

We live in an unlawful world without conscience or basic morality.

Never thought I'd hear the Zodiac's take on loot.

2022 folks

 

[BacklashWave534]

Ted Cruz seems like the guy who would be FOR the implementation of loot boxes and other predatory methods.

Politics aside Ted Cruz is one of the few people trying to hold big tech accountable for their actions which includes the implementation of lootboxes.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I don't get people acting as if your odds at "winning" something in a videogame are the same as in a casino or by buying a pack of baseball cards. Although there's certaintly room for trickery and abuse, casinos for example are heavily regulated (at least here in the EU). If they tell you theres a 0.1% chance of winning something, you can bet that's true because otherwise they risk having their whole business being shut down by the gov. While that may be the case for the gaming industry's developers as well (they're still not legally operated as casinos), checks and regulations are largely either absent or practically near impossible to oversee. Compliance between a real casino and some game dev is an entirely different animal. Some stupid nerd will write some code to make sure different people will have different chances to win at different times of day, or they'll outright lie about the odds displayed on your screen. Maybe they'll change the odds every other day, depending on how much money people spend trying to progress in the game. How can you trust these scumbags when there's literally no possibility for outside entities to confirm what they're claiming? When you go to a casino, at least you know what the chances are to win at a given "game". With video games, you don't. You're just being lied to about it. It's an invitation to criminals of all kind to make easy money.

 

[lh032]

i mean..at least hes doing something, compared to alot of people.

 

[OuterLimits]

Don't let little Johnny have access to the credit card.

Yes, loot boxes are predatory and may be an issue for those with gambling addictions. However, most state Governments love gambling. They can't wait until little Johnny turns 18(or 21 in some states) and blows his paycheck on a gazillion different scratch ticket games, pick 3,4,5,powerball,mega millions, etc,etc,etc,etc..........

 

[Boss Mog]

Lootboxes really are some bullshit. Imagine running a lottery where when somebody wins you don't actually have to pay them anything (and instead just give them some digital asset that has virtually no manufacturing cost); that's pretty much what the lootbox system is. Truly a company's wet dream.

Props to Epic Games for not using lootboxes in Fortnite because given how popular the game is with kids, it would've been bad.

 

[01011001]

so his fucking plan actually worked... that is wild

 

[Wildebeest]

Unless this person moonlights as a streamer and their real job is "child psychologist w/phd" I don't see how talking to Ted Cruz about video games will accomplish ANYTHING but generating clicks for this person.

As a constituent, he has a right to consult about this issue and hold the politician to account if they do not take it seriously.

 

[FunkMiller]

Unfortunately, any conversation about banning gambling in games is likely to lead to nothing, given how much money the companies who make the games can throw at politicians.

 

[egocrata]

I hate Ted Cruz and I'd argue he has the most punchable face in America, but if he is going to lead an effort to either legislate or shame gaming companies to eliminate loot boxes. I am all for it. I care more about issues than people here.

 

[FStubbs]

Unfortunately, any conversation about banning gambling in games is likely to lead to nothing, given how much money the companies who make the games can throw at politicians.

This is 2022. They'd take the money and then vote against the donors anyway (depending on what their real constituency wants), then tell them to keep donating or else.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

As a constituent, he has a right to consult about this issue and hold the politician to account if they do not take it seriously.

Consultants are hired. They are paid to complete a job task or function. They have no "right" to anything.

This person isn't being paid to "consult" on anything and they certainly don't have the ability, experience, or authority to hold anyone "accountable" for capitalism.

 

[Fuz]

I don't get people acting as if your odds at "winning" something in a videogame are the same as in a casino or by buying a pack of baseball cards. Although there's certaintly room for trickery and abuse, casinos for example are heavily regulated (at least here in the EU). If they tell you theres a 0.1% chance of winning something, you can bet that's true because otherwise they risk having their whole business being shut down by the gov. While that may be the case for the gaming industry's developers as well (they're still not legally operated as casinos), checks and regulations are largely either absent or practically near impossible to oversee. Compliance between a real casino and some game dev is an entirely different animal. Some stupid nerd will write some code to make sure different people will have different chances to win at different times of day, or they'll outright lie about the odds displayed on your screen. Maybe they'll change the odds every other day, depending on how much money people spend trying to progress in the game. How can you trust these scumbags when there's literally no possibility for outside entities to confirm what they're claiming? When you go to a casino, at least you know what the chances are to win at a given "game". With video games, you don't. You're just being lied to about it. It's an invitation to criminals of all kind to make easy money.