You can't sue us for making games 'too entertaining,' say major game developers in response to addiction lawsuits
You can't sue us for making games 'too entertaining,' say major game developers in response to addiction lawsuits
Microsoft, Rockstar, Epic, and others are being sued for using "addictive psychological features" in games like Minecraft, GTA 5, and Fortnite.
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This all sounds a lot like the moral panic around alcohol, which led to Prohibition in the 1920's. And that turned out so well...for organized crime.,
This is also the same type of panic which showed up around dancing, comic books, movies, TV and a whole host of other forms of entertainment down through the years. At some point, we need to accept that entertainment can be addictive, and too much can be bad, but that's not a legal (or tort) problem, but a social one. We don't need to give credibility to the [Jack Thompsons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(activist\)) of the world with their pearl clutching and attempts to control everyone. Instead, we need to be offering help and treatment to those who have trouble self-regulating.At the same time, I'm all for taxing the hell out of microtransactions, much like many nations do with alcohol. Put it on a sliding scale. Directly buying cosmetics which do not affect gameplay can be on the lower bound with a marginal tax. Anything which has an effect on gameplay gets taxed at a higher rate. Anything which involves a random chance is either directly outlawed or taxed at a crippling rate. And "points/coins/gems/widgets" as a required currency to buy anything is flat our outlawed and the people who came up with the idea get fed feet first into a chipper shredder.
You've got a controversial stance, but I agree with you along the lines of personal responsibility with sensible regulation.
IMO any game with these casino mechanics need to be labeled as gambling and age limit to 16+ or so.
Ya, I tend towards the libertarian side of the political compass. That doesn't always play well on Auth-Left dominated Lemmy. But, I never was one to care about imaginary internet points.
While I'm with you on the age restrictions, I suspect it wouldn't have that much of an impact. Kids lie all the time about their age online, and I really hate the ideas of age verification which often gets floated with these things. There's enough problems around tracking people already without laws mandating that tracking. And sadly, may of the kids who are currently enabled to play these games by their parents would still be enabled to play these games by their parents. Not too many 13 years olds are getting credit cards. Those kids' parents are often the ones buying stuff. Though this is another place where "points" and the like are a problem. As kids can circumvent the restrictions by buying points cards with cash and then using them online. Still, no point letting "perfect" be the enemy of "good enough".
The gift card racket for FN, Blizz, Roblox, etc is NUTSO! They dont even need CCs when they ask for only one thing each holiday.
But yea, fair point on the age restrictions. Somethings gotta give though.