Remember when they told us Pogs would make us gambling addicts?
The same year, the UK government resisted pressure to regulate loot boxes, saying the video game industry could self-regulate instead.
Oh yeah, how well is that going?
Self-regulation is a lie, you need an objective referee to ensure everyone is playing by the rules. Having a referee that can’t punish anyone is as good as not having one at all
“Oh yessum I’ll absolutely deliberately lower my profits for the safety of my customer, you bet!” People who think business has any other motivating incentive than profit are the dumbest kind of bootlicker and it makes me so sad.
It’s not even a referee, it’s three shareholders in a zebra print trench coat.
Self-regulation can work for safety but only if the measures needed to make things safer are cheap and pretty much don’t require quality control (e.g. do not install a slippery type of floor in front of your butcher counter) and the consequences are severe even without regulation (bad press, significantly fewer customers, medical bills to pay for the customer who does slip,…).
Self-regulation can work in cases where the incentives are set up just right, but when it works you have no real need to bring up regulation at all so whenever regulation is worth considering at all self-regulation has already failed pretty much by definition.
Most European countries should outright ban that shit. Only harm comes from this. Blizzard can be rightfully criticised for many their practices over the past decades but at least they got rid of loot boxes in OW.
They are not loot boxes, they are surprise mechanics, okay?
Corporate fines should be GDPR style… a percentage of global revenue.
making anyone say anything is violation of free speech! what is this, korea???
