The line between banning loot boxes and banning games like Balatro is a very fine one, with a need to specify that what is being banned is monetary transactions to access lottery pools.
That kind of accuracy and genuine intent is not what is currently present in lawmaking in most countries.
I hope I’m wrong about this, but I don’t think I am.
I don’t think the line is that fine in that case, considering all random mechanics in Balatro give ephemeral rewards that only last until the end of a run, which is an isolated instance of a game with limited playtime, those mechanics cannot be paid for with real money, the resulting rewards cannot be sold for real money or traded with other players, and generally cannot affect any other players in any way, not even visually through cosmetics.
As far as I know, Balatro is only really being targeted because it’s stylized after poker, with the enforcement having no actual understanding of what the gameplay looks like.
I think at bigger risk from actual laws would be MMORPGs where you can get random loot drops from enemies/chests, and those also tend to have markets where people grind valuable drops and use in-game trading to transfer them to other players in exchange for real money.
That’s the issue! I’m not saying Balatro is gambling in any sense, I’m just saying that people incorrectly perceived it that way due to the connection to poker.
By legislating them to be illegal and then fining developers that don’t comply. Sliding scale fines that wipe out the cost benefit of the loot boxes in the first place would suffice.
But it’s definitely not by compromising everyone’s privacy and forcing them to identify themselves because the government wants to be able to identify everyone everywhere at all times and uaing children as the excuse like they always do.
What is the way to get rid of loot boxes?
Straight up ban them. No age gate, no nothing. Just no more loot boxes. It’s worse than a fucking casino and those should be banned too.
The line between banning loot boxes and banning games like Balatro is a very fine one, with a need to specify that what is being banned is monetary transactions to access lottery pools.
That kind of accuracy and genuine intent is not what is currently present in lawmaking in most countries.
I hope I’m wrong about this, but I don’t think I am.
I don’t think the line is that fine in that case, considering all random mechanics in Balatro give ephemeral rewards that only last until the end of a run, which is an isolated instance of a game with limited playtime, those mechanics cannot be paid for with real money, the resulting rewards cannot be sold for real money or traded with other players, and generally cannot affect any other players in any way, not even visually through cosmetics.
As far as I know, Balatro is only really being targeted because it’s stylized after poker, with the enforcement having no actual understanding of what the gameplay looks like.
I think at bigger risk from actual laws would be MMORPGs where you can get random loot drops from enemies/chests, and those also tend to have markets where people grind valuable drops and use in-game trading to transfer them to other players in exchange for real money.
That’s the issue! I’m not saying Balatro is gambling in any sense, I’m just saying that people incorrectly perceived it that way due to the connection to poker.
Well that applies to far more than this subject.
By legislating them to be illegal and then fining developers that don’t comply. Sliding scale fines that wipe out the cost benefit of the loot boxes in the first place would suffice.
Don’t know. That’s not my specialty.
But it’s definitely not by compromising everyone’s privacy and forcing them to identify themselves because the government wants to be able to identify everyone everywhere at all times and uaing children as the excuse like they always do.