Belgian Gaming Commission Recommends Criminal Prosecution over Illegal Loot Boxes

Megalith

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In its most recent report, the Belgian Gaming Commission wants Electronic Arts, Valve, and Activision Blizzard to be criminally prosecuted over loot boxes featured in FIFA 18, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Overwatch. The BGC considers these illegal gambling, as they involve a monetary wager that could lead to a win or loss.

Other recommendations from the BGC include developing specific permits for video games that feature loot boxes, and marking them accordingly. This is coupled with the suggestion of age verification in stores when purchasing codes or gift cards, and a principal ban on minors being able to purchase games featuring the mechanic.
 
Considering a majority of income from these games comes from these micro-transactions, and less then 50-60 dollar cost of the game those companies should simply stop selling in that country.

But being as all these things are done online, I would think it's similar then going to any gambling website. I swear countries need to hurry the fuck up and realize that "their borders and laws" don't mean a whole lot of shit when it comes to the Internet.
 
I am on board with CS:GO and PUBG being considered gambling since you can sell your items on Steam, so there is actual money on the line, but the others I am not so sure about. They have no value to anyone but you, so I think they should be legal, I don't like them, but that doesn't make them illegal.
 
I feel like if blizzard wanted to avoid being grouped up with everyone else for OW, they should let you buy lootboxen for specific things, such as boxes that only contain sprays or only contain skins. Obviously this would cut into their profits but I feel like it'd be a solid compromise. At least that way it'd be more akin to those things that used to be in stores where you put in a quarter and get a mini-football helmet or stickers or whatever.
 
Them monks drinking way too much beer and trying to politic. Seriously if you don't like loot boxes don't buy them, grow up people.
 
I'd be happy with them just being required to show the odds of every drop. Before and after any changes.
 
cmon people, this is a GOOD thing!! am i the only one that thinks $60 is enough for a game?

if you're gonna make the game "pay to win" then just sell the upper tier items for a straight up price rather than run it like a d@mn slot machine.

i mean c'mon, that's as close to gambling as it gets.
 
It's whatcha get for using America as a stepping stool to the world economy. Find out the greener grass is actually astroturf.
 
The better approach is to put the members of the boards of directors and all of the share holders in prison for illegal child gambling.

Consecutive sentences for every single kid that they illegally sold their gambling services to. Like would happen to a casino. We could make it proportional by the value of the holdings.

I figure you put a guy with a single EA share in prison for five years and the CEO in prison for 50,000 years you might finally start a trend of criminal culpability not just being for poor people.
 
Fools and their money are soon parted. I don't see a crime here, just stupid people doing stupid things.
 
Now if we could just make it illegal to shut down online-only games you've paid for (bricking them) without an offline or private server patch.
 
Considering a majority of income from these games comes from these micro-transactions, and less then 50-60 dollar cost of the game those companies should simply stop selling in that country.
I agree. I also believe that most countries should adopt the same rules as Belgian, cause fuck micro-transactions.
But being as all these things are done online, I would think it's similar then going to any gambling website. I swear countries need to hurry the fuck up and realize that "their borders and laws" don't mean a whole lot of shit when it comes to the Internet.
It does if you wanna operate in that country, which they do. Look what happened to Steam in Australia where they believe they didn't need to return games cause they operated in America, but they do have offices in Australia.
 
There is nothing more that I hate in games than loot boxes. I believe they are the single worst thing to happen to games. That said I don't believe criminal charges accomplish anything here. Force companies to stop, fine them if they don't.
 
It does if you wanna operate in that country, which they do. Look what happened to Steam in Australia where they believe they didn't need to return games cause they operated in America, but they do have offices in Australia.
Yeah that's the thing they need a physical presence in those countries, now I'm not sure which companies have a physical presence in Belgium but if they don't... then yeah Belgium laws do not apply to the internet.
 
Yeah that's the thing they need a physical presence in those countries, now I'm not sure which companies have a physical presence in Belgium but if they don't... then yeah Belgium laws do not apply to the internet.

Well, Valve has a download server in Belgium. Many of these companies use Steam as a distribution platform. Some are probably sold at retail? Sounds like presence to me.

I know what you mean but something tells me Belgian laws do apply to internet commerce in Belgium. Just think about it for a second. Do you think no company in the world has to follow any laws when it comes to doing business on the net? Hah...
 
Wait, what's the excuse for FIFA having a "loot box"? I mean, I haven't played FIFA for well over a decade, but it is still a football game, isn't it?
 
I know what you mean but something tells me Belgian laws do apply to internet commerce in Belgium. Just think about it for a second. Do you think no company in the world has to follow any laws when it comes to doing business on the net? Hah...
Ok, I create some app game that has loot boxes, it's up to the Belgian government to government to go through the steps to have Apple/Google region block the installation of the app, it's not my job to follow the rules of every country in the world. Fine no more app game, it's a flash game hosted on a website that is in the US, has loot boxes, it's up to the government to block that IP address from the whole country, it's not my job to setup a system to not allow Belgian IP into my game. Same idea with FIFA, or whatever other lootbox game, if access is simply a matter of punching in an IP address then it's up to the country in question to erect borders to stop the downloading of said game or whatever. And my magical money making game takes Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, and Bitcoin, so Belgium is going to prevent all those other financial institutions from doing business?
 
Wait, what's the excuse for FIFA having a "loot box"? I mean, I haven't played FIFA for well over a decade, but it is still a football game, isn't it?
A couple youtube videos popped up on it, apparently you can get certain players for a "free for all" mode, saw some dude get like Ronaldo or something and freak out to the point where he threw something through his TV.
 
I'm torn because while I hate fraudsters I also hate stupid people as well.
If Fraudsters win, then they'll be stupidly rich. We don't want that now do we?

Well, Valve has a download server in Belgium. Many of these companies use Steam as a distribution platform. Some are probably sold at retail? Sounds like presence to me.

I know what you mean but something tells me Belgian laws do apply to internet commerce in Belgium. Just think about it for a second. Do you think no company in the world has to follow any laws when it comes to doing business on the net? Hah...
That and eventually Europe will likely adopt a similar rule. Europe has a lot more pro-consumer laws than Americans do, cause we don't want any of that pesky regulations to get in the way of business.
 
Ok, I create some app game that has loot boxes, it's up to the Belgian government to government to go through the steps to have Apple/Google region block the installation of the app, it's not my job to follow the rules of every country in the world. Fine no more app game, it's a flash game hosted on a website that is in the US, has loot boxes, it's up to the government to block that IP address from the whole country, it's not my job to setup a system to not allow Belgian IP into my game. Same idea with FIFA, or whatever other lootbox game, if access is simply a matter of punching in an IP address then it's up to the country in question to erect borders to stop the downloading of said game or whatever. And my magical money making game takes Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, and Bitcoin, so Belgium is going to prevent all those other financial institutions from doing business?

Yes, yes. I agree in principle. But give that article a read. They're not complete idiots, even though they are government administrators.

We only hear about what they want because the big dogs finally caught up with the massive changes in the market - the regular folk had arrived on the internet on a global scale, thanks to smartphones. They were in a place where absolute nobodies were raking 10 million a day. Imagine a 15 person company making more money than EA and Activsion. Can't have that.

All they had to do was cut content to little pieces and incorporate slot machines in what used to be their main product. Pretty horrible situation. But I am not going to blame the government people, not even the companies. It's always the stupid peeps :(
 
Screw loot boxes, screw pay to win and screw freemium games. But if one of them gets executives jail time (loot boxes) you know what? Screw them. Take your loot boxes and shove them.
 
winning vs losing in this regard is the same result. You get cosmetic junk.
 
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