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posted by
cmn32480
on Monday January 08 2018, @03:34PM
from the 1-in-365,214,231-chance-of-getting-the-good-stuff dept.
from the 1-in-365,214,231-chance-of-getting-the-good-stuff dept.
Loot boxes in video games give the player a random item, perhaps a weapon or a skin, typically in exchange for payment. Should they be viewed as a legal sweepstakes or as an illegal lottery? This video examines the legal issues and explains how loot boxes could be structured to avoid running afoul of gambling laws (which vary by state) in the U.S.. The video concludes that many current implementations of loot boxes are really illegal lotteries, and conjectures that major game companies use them anyway because the risk of being prosecuted isn't enough to dissuade them.
Previously: Belgium Moving to Ban "Loot Boxes" Throughout Europe, Hawaii Could Restrict Sale to Minors
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Are Loot Boxes in Games a Violation of Gambling Laws?
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First study the enemy. Seek weakness.
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(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08 2018, @05:27PM (1 child)
Clearly, there is a lot more going on for people who enjoy gambling; not every gambler is some simpleton cranking on the slot machine like a mindless, drugged-out automaton.
There are loads of statistics, and game theory, involved in calculating odds—there are oodles of rules to learn, and social skills to hone, which makes a lot of gambling an intellectual pursuit; there is a certain milieu that is enticing to people, such as blue suede shoes, scantily clad women, and cigars, and tasty alcoholic beverages; there are memories of fun outings with friends, of letting loose, and indulging in a certain degree of hedonism; there is the camaraderie of fellow travelers, and the nostalgia of past victories.
Please.
You're the reason we cannot have nice things; you walk into the voting booth with your complete inability to place yourself in someone else's skin, which makes you entirely dangerous and totally unworthy of participating in the coercive action inherent in politics. There's a reason that schooling children used to involve debate tournaments where the students were required to argue both sides; this taught them to seat their minds in someone else's reality, if only temporarily. You need to practice this skill, because you are sorely lacking here.
(Score: 2) by https on Monday January 08 2018, @05:35PM
...and if you'd actually done that, you'd remember that some people's reality is disconnected from it.
Offended and laughing about it.