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TitianGerm

Mark Hamill wrote: »

From that article:


So the argument is that the things in loot boxes have no real "money's worth" therefore they don't count as gambling. But doesn't that only apply to loot box market places where you can't also buy the item you want directly for a set amount of money? Isn't the main defence for e.g. Overwatch that you can buy skins directly and bypass the loot boxes if you want to. Therefore those skins have a set "money's worth".

This argument really amounts to "it is gambling if you can avoid the gambling mechanics and it is not gambling if you can't"?



And of course that is leaving aside the question of "money's worth" in of itself. If some people are willing to spend money on the chance of getting something, that implies that thing is worth money to them.

You can't buy the gold in Overwatch so you can't assign a value to it. You can earn it in game or as a drop in a loot box.

Mickeroo

I presume the "money's worth" is more related to not being able to sell the contents for money after the fact rather than not being able to buy them directly in the first place. If you can't convert something to money it doesn't have any monetary value. By that definition any game that lets you sell the contents on the steam marketplace would be gambling though.

Gunmonkey

TitianGerm wrote: »

You can't buy the gold in Overwatch so you can't assign a value to it. You can earn it in game or as a drop in a loot box.

Yeah, you can only buy the loot boxes directly in Overwatch. Which is worse, as you can drop tons of cash and never get the skin you wanted, and the pity amounts they give for duplicates are pathetic (500 credits for a duplicate Legendary skin, they cost 3000 to buy outright).

I would bet more money and manpower in EA, Blizzard and Valve are being directed at how to weasel out of "lootboxes = gambling" than any game they've made in the past 4 years.

TitianGerm

Gunmonkey wrote: »

Yeah, you can only buy the loot boxes directly in Overwatch. Which is worse, as you can drop tons of cash and never get the skin you wanted, and the pity amounts they give for duplicates are pathetic (500 credits for a duplicate Legendary skin, they cost 3000 to buy outright).

I would bet more money and manpower in EA, Blizzard and Valve are being directed at how to weasel out of "lootboxes = gambling" than any game they've made in the past 4 years.

I don't play Overwatch that much anymore but you earn the gold/credits fairly quickly through games and then your get a loot box every time you level up.

Do you get them at the end of every competitive season as well?

Do you still get duplicates in Loot Boxes? I thought that was changed?

Penn

TitianGerm wrote: »

I don't play Overwatch that much anymore but you earn the gold/credits fairly quickly through games and then your get a loot box every time you level up.

Do you get them at the end of every competitive season as well?

Do you still get duplicates in Loot Boxes? I thought that was changed?

I never played Comp but I don't think you can earn any gold from just playing. You only get gold from duplicates or as an actual reward in a lootbox. I think it's a different currency you get from playing Comp that can only be used to buy gold weapons.

You can still get duplicates in lootboxes as far as I know, but they did substantially reduce the odds of it at one point. I think the biggest chances of getting dupes now are seasonal loot boxes which are guaranteed an seasonal item and therefore greater odds of getting a dupe of one of those.

But what should also be factored in should be what tends to happen with most games that have lootboxes which is the dilution of the reward pool with pointless emblems, avatars, stickers etc, the vast majority of which no-one cares about. Everyone cares most about skins and emotes. Everything else is mostly just used to dilute the reward pool to make it much harder to obtain something you might actually want, and they add more and more as they go on.

With Overwatch for example, say an average of 75 character-specific items for 31 characters, that's 2,325 items not including generic emblems and stickers which for sake of argument brings you to 2,600. Four items per lootbox is 650 lootboxes minimum without getting any dupes.

Doom Trilogy released on Switch!!!!

Out today too....

https://gonintendo.com/stories/340926-original-doom-trilogy-getting-surprise-release-today-on-nintendo

gimli2112

Fortnite competition in New York this week, prize money US$30M BBC news really struggling to understand
Shouldn't have listened to adults when I was a child I might have made something of my life

Robert ninja

Mickeroo wrote: »

I presume the "money's worth" is more related to not being able to sell the contents for money after the fact rather than not being able to buy them directly in the first place. If you can't convert something to money it doesn't have any monetary value. By that definition any game that lets you sell the contents on the steam marketplace would be gambling though.

That "money" can never escape the steam market, though. It's more like store credit. Non-refundable... says it every time you interact with the market.

Retr0gamer

gimli2112 wrote: »

Fortnite competition in New York this week, prize money US$30M BBC news really struggling to understand
Shouldn't have listened to adults when I was a child I might have made something of my life

You'd have to play thousands of hours of a **** game though.

Robert ninja

Deleted User wrote: »

Doom Trilogy released on Switch!!!!

Out today too....

https://gonintendo.com/stories/340926-original-doom-trilogy-getting-surprise-release-today-on-nintendo

Heard this

• Bethesda account required
• Internet required for multiplayernvm it's just DRM apparently
• CoC acceptance for online playapparently CoC even for singleplayer, there is no multi. jesus
• remade the game in a proprietary engine when the engine and all source ports are literally both libre and gratis and already been ported to the Switch by fans
• black bars at the side
• bugged aspect ratio with horizontally stretched graphics
• slowed down music

If even half of these are true then the original is still better. Astounding. Think I'll launch some gzdoom tonight perhaps.

You missed that the backwards compatible version was delisted from the xbox one store and is now only available to those that own it if it's already installed or can download it on 360. They were different versions of the games with separate achievement lists etc. but still a bit petty imo

J Mysterio

gimli2112 wrote: »

Fortnite competition in New York this week, prize money US$30M BBC news really struggling to understand
Shouldn't have listened to adults when I was a child I might have made something of my life

Haha. I love it.

Azza

Speaking of classic Doom re-releases, looks like the PC and PS4 are getting an official port of Doom 64. That's pretty cool, might pick it up. I hear it a great game.

https://www.dsogaming.com/news/doom-64-has-been-rated-by-esrb-for-pc-and-ps4/#more-128201

Dr. Bre

https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/0727/1065587-irish-teenager-to-compete-in-fortnite-world-cup-final/

Ole ole ole..

Robert ninja

https://twitter.com/LumpyTheCook/status/1154818088728244229

https://twitter.com/LumpyTheCook/status/1154822252514467840

evolving_doors

Dr. Bre wrote: »

https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/0727/1065587-irish-teenager-to-compete-in-fortnite-world-cup-final/

Ole ole ole..

Where's can you watch the Irish guy playing?

Is it today at 5pm?

Smiles35

evolving_doors wrote: »

Where's can you watch the Irish guy playing?

Is it today at 5pm?

His tag is 'lolboom'

evolving_doors

Smiles35 wrote: »

evolving_doors wrote: »

Where's can you watch the Irish guy playing?

Is it today at 5pm?

His tag is 'lolboom'

lolb0om with a zero after the b I think

gimli2112

I watched one of his youtube videos today. My old man brain couldn't keep up with what was going on but he said "yeah, yeah" like me a few times, which always confused the UK guys I used play with.

Smiles35

Watching now. He finished 20th out of 100 in the first game. 5 more games to go.

Grumpypants

gimli2112 wrote: »

Fortnite competition in New York this week, prize money US$30M BBC news really struggling to understand
Shouldn't have listened to adults when I was a child I might have made something of my life

A 15 year old from the UK came second in the duos final and is now a millionaire. Interview with his mam saying he started playing at 13 and she threw out an xbox because his grades were suffering.

Reckon she has had a change of mind now

For the little interest i have in Fortnite, this is great for the whole esports and gaming industry in general.

RobertFoster

Grumpypants wrote: »

A 15 year old from the UK came second in the duos final and is now a millionaire. Interview with his mam saying he started playing at 13 and she threw out an xbox because his grades were suffering.

Reckon she has had a change of mind now

For the little interest i have in Fortnite, this is great for the whole esports and gaming industry in general.

I heard her say that on BBC news this morning, also saying she broke one of his headsets. I suppose if I had a kid that had just won over $1m I might admit to my anger issues on TV as well.

"My son was playing too much football, so I punctured his ball and threw out his expensive kit..."

Robert ninja

Wonder if they'll take all his earnings. They sound bitter enough to do it.

pixelburp

Teenagers are idiots. We were all that age once, and if we're being totally honest, that version of us was a thundering plonker who knew f*ck all. Unless those reading still ARE teenagers, in which case ... ... uh.

So the idea of teenagers walking away with a million, before they have the emotional maturity to deal with that kind of money, is depressing. Can't be good for development of an adult with rational expectations. Presumably it's going into a trust mind you.

And before someone says it, I absolutely think the same of teenage Premiership footballers and their ilk. Rugby at least tries make its youngsters finish school (and professionals tend to peak later, given the specificity of positions).

Smiles35

Our fella is no longer in the top twenty. One game to go.

johnny_ultimate

Watching a few of these Fortnite matches out of curiosity, and the endless wall building is both technically impressive from the players and why I absolutely cannot play the ****ing game.

gimli2112

pixelburp wrote: »

Teenagers are idiots.

that's a terrible generalisation, only the ones who play videogames are.

super_furry

Any parent with half a brain would try to stop their 13-year old kid from dropping or neglecting school to concentrate on being a professional Fortnite player.

super_furry

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Watching a few of these Fortnite matches out of curiosity, and the endless wall building is both technically impressive from the players and why I absolutely cannot play the ****ing game.

I think Fortnite is best summed up for me as a competitive FPS where as soon as you shoot someone, they turn into a five-storey building.

johnny_ultimate

The Irish kid did not rank, alas, but fair play to him. 50 grand and a trip to New York isn’t too shabby at that age.

Congratulations to the 16-year-old who just set himself up for life by being extremely handy at building virtual walls at speed.