Loot Box Legislation

https://www.hawley.senate.gov/senators-h...ices-aimed

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/g...gislation/

Perhaps the most interesting portion of the bill attempts to define so-called "pay-to-win" mechanics in games. Those are defined broadly here as purchasable content that "assists a user in accomplishing an achievement within the game that can otherwise be accomplished without the purchase of such transaction" or which "permits a user to continue to access content of the game that had previously been accessible to the user but has been made inaccessible after the expiration of a timer or a number of gameplay attempts."

For multiplayer games, this would also include any purchasable in-game content that "from the perspective of a reasonable user, provides a competitive advantage."

Will be interesting to see where this goes.

My cynical guess is that, if it even goes through, game companies will just label their games 18+ - and use that as an excuse to stuff them with more sex and gore, too.

Will be interesting to see where this goes.

My cynical guess is that, if it even goes through, game companies will just label their games 18+ - and use that as an excuse to stuff them with more sex and gore, too.

18+ Maplestory. Naked Hilla and blood everywhere.

18+ Maplestory. Naked Hilla and blood everywhere.

Except we're not the primary audience, Asia is. It'd be more cost effective to just shut down all the American versions that can only be profitable via this mechanic, or drop the freemium model for a subscription model and blame it on the law.

Except we're not the primary audience, Asia is.

True, but Asia is not exactly happy with the random-result microtransaction model, either.

Both Korea and China, the only regions where Nexon shows a profit, have recently (past few years) made laws requiring companies to reveal the probabilities on their cash random-reward items. For now they have not gone further and banned such items outright, but Nexon may be wise to start developing strategies for such an eventuality.
Oddly enough, Nexon did not publish the probabilities on cubes, either in Korea, China, or Global. I don't know what loophole in the Korean and Chinese laws allows them to avoid that. Maybe because cubes don't give a "random item" (but rather a random modification to an existing item), maybe because cubes aren't "cash only" (can get them for free from the Mileage shop), maybe something else entirely.

On the other hand, the Belgian law is strict enough that Nexon hurried to implement a block in its cash shop, preventing users in Belgium from buying anything with the tiniest bit of randomness associated with it. They can't even buy Fusion Anvils, whose primary function is completely deterministic, because using an anvil also gives the player a random gift. These gifts are generally worthless, and I've never heard of anyone buying Anvils for them, but Nexon isn't taking chances. Then again, they can easily afford to lose the Belgian market.

Depending on how the American law ends up being worded, if it passes at all, Nexon might be able to circumvent it with minimum effort, or not. We have to wait and see.

Depending on how the American law ends up being worded, if it passes at all, Nexon might be able to circumvent it with minimum effort, or not. We have to wait and see.

Yaeh. My main point was they weren't likely to make drastic changes to the game content for our sake as little as we mean to their bottom line.

Will be interesting to see where this goes.

My cynical guess is that, if it even goes through, game companies will just label their games 18+ - and use that as an excuse to stuff them with more sex and gore, too.

I believe what Blizzard did in China in response to this was start selling in-game currency for money that just happens to come with free lootboxes.