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geordiemp · Feb 28, 2014

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/02/28/european-commission-wants-crackdown-on-free-to-play-games

During the meetings the Commission will stress that games advertised as free should not mislead consumers about the potential costs involved, and that games should not directly encourage children to purchase items in a game, or to beg an adult to buy items for them.

Wow, this is a potential industry changer, and my personal view is about time as well.

Constant DLC / Micro transactions especially on phones/ tablets and consoles where you may already have entered a credit card can be bought so quickly by children.

Would love to see a new law that requires additional login / email or phone to have to buy in game content - that would put a stop to this hideous practice.

What does GAF think

SuicidalSteve · Feb 28, 2014

Fee to play

Rixa · Feb 28, 2014

Hopefully this goes trough. No more wording f2p and then the trash game is usually full of buy this and that to get it.

Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew · Feb 28, 2014

Don't like the dashes in thread title? Pay $0.99 to remove them.

Nikodemos · Feb 28, 2014

Yuss. They should be placed in the same category as online gambling.

Occam said:
And there is little difference between this and gambling, except that you actually have a chance to win money when you gamble.

A razor-sharp post.

benny_a · Feb 28, 2014

I usually wouldn't think much would happen based on the Eruopean Commision, but they are using the killer-argument "why does nobody think of the children?"

I foresee great success. Please be excited.

Occam · Feb 28, 2014

Excellent. I've long been saying these games should automatically be M (18+) rated; many (most?) of these games are scammy as hell. And there is little difference between this and gambling, except that you actually have a chance to win money when you gamble.

FreddieQuell · Feb 28, 2014

GAF users-want-crackdown-on-hyphens

Seriously though, I hope this goes somewhere. It's a pretty abhorrent segment of the games market. I hope it goes away.

Edit: ty based mods for the extra hyphens

UnluckyKate · Feb 28, 2014

Sometimes, EU commissions can make good thing

Corto · Feb 28, 2014

Good. Hope this leads to regulation of this sort of business model.

OminoMichelin · Feb 28, 2014

Video game markets to crash in Europe. I like honest free to play games, it's the shitty mobile ones that are the problem.

geordiemp · Feb 28, 2014

shagg_187 said:
Don't like the dashes in thread title? Pay $0.99 to remove them.

Sorry cut and paste can be an enemy.

Reading the IGN comments section is just as interesting, more people debating gun control in USA than gaming.

Back on topic, I think its the first European political item I have read and strongly support.

Eusis · Feb 28, 2014

I do worry about it possibly making things more annoying for legitimate DLC, namely on consoles, and even more benign F2P. Well, usually a few people manage to ruin something good for everyone else, though the nature of DLC was always questionable or at least arguably overpriced anyway.

Alx · Feb 28, 2014

I don't really like the "free to play" model, but I think in that context the issue is more about not letting children have access to online markets, or having adults teach them the value of money if they're begging for items.
It's as old as pocket money, just give them a fixed monthly allowance and they'll learn by themselves that they can burn it on stupid things in a free to play game, or save it for real use.

sakipon · Feb 28, 2014

This should've happened earlier. Better late than never though. I have hope hopes for this.

Nikodemos · Feb 28, 2014

In all honesty, the angle they should be using is "unscrupulous game designers/market analysts deliberately targeting obsessive-compulsive people with gambling issues and/or poor impulse control", a.k.a. "whale-catching", rather than the somewhat tired "but won't someone thing of the children".

Sacrimoni · Feb 28, 2014

EA are fucked

Foshy · Feb 28, 2014

What's up with the title? lol

Infinite_Daremo · Feb 28, 2014

Foshy said:
What's up with the title? lol

Not enough hyphens.

Guerrillas in the Mist · Feb 28, 2014

OminoMichelin said:
Video game markets to crash in Europe. I like honest free to play games, it's the shitty mobile ones that are the problem.

The problem is at least 90% of F2P titles are actually Pay 2 Play.

Jucksalbe · Feb 28, 2014

Depending on the details, this seems like a good idea.

pieatorium · Feb 28, 2014

Alx said:
I don't really like the "free to play" model, but I think in that context the issue is more about not letting children have access to online markets, or having adults teach them the value of money if they're begging for items.
It's as old as pocket money, just give them a fixed monthly allowance and they'll learn by themselves that they can burn it on stupid things in a free to play game, or save it for real use.

theres more than one ftp model

get full game buy cosmetics model
get some of the game buy the rest model
get full game and pay to speed up grinding
get the full game but at limited time (fuel, stamina etc) pay to replenish

and many more mostly combinations of these the

worst offenders basically have all the models in one, limited access to game mechanics(pay to get the missing bits), time limitations(pay to increae time), coin doublers, xp doublers, cosmetics advertisements and any other shit they can throw in there

Piccoro · Feb 28, 2014

UnluckyKate said:
Sometimes, EU commissions can make good thing

.

:Motorbass · Feb 28, 2014

Hm, it's not just Free to play. Some paid apps have the same mechanic.

Starwolf_UK · Feb 28, 2014

The problem is what will happen if the European Commission makes any laws. Will non complying apps be blocked from Europe or will it be European developed ones being non-competative because they have to have the dignity not to make children nag and are clear about additional costs being required (so appearing less appealing).

I'm not saying it is a bad thing to do, it is just I do not understand any implications that could arise from this.

Mithos · Feb 28, 2014

Didn't they also complain against random rewards when you buy an itembox in games, because it can make people keep buying them until they get what they wanted (gamble addiction)?

Lilalaunebaer · Feb 28, 2014

Good, kill this shit.

Xater · Feb 28, 2014

Mithos said:
Didn't they also complain against random rewards when you buy an itembox in games, because it can make people keep buying them until they get what they wanted (gamble addiction)?

That was Japan.

I am all for cracking down on shady F2P tactics.

Art Teitlebaum · Feb 28, 2014

The market surely needs some rules. Too many kids and simpler adults are tricked into real high investments. Scummy publishers trying to sell digital crack should face some limits.

blitzcloud · Feb 28, 2014

And this should include the chances for stuff like crates on tf2/csgo in numbers. Just like you know the chances on lotto and everything else.

If people knew that there was a, let's say 0.0001% of a knife, maybe they wouldn't spend so much trying to get it.

Every single "lotto" system where it's a random chance to obtain something should give out the numbers, else it's shady shit.

SonicXtreme · Feb 28, 2014

Crackdown was already put on games with gold months ago

mclem · Feb 28, 2014

I'm curious what muscle they have to enforce this; where are the various app stores located for legal purposes, anyway?

Deleted member 74300 · Feb 28, 2014

Video games saved from a terrible future.

Walshicus · Feb 28, 2014

geordiemp said:
Back on topic, I think its the first European political item I have read and strongly support.

What about regulation to clean our beaches? Or to reduce air pollution? Or to stop telephony companies from charging excessive fees for calls and data within the EU? Or to improve personal data protection? Etc...

Most of what the EU *actually* does is unobjectionably good.

Prophet Steve · Feb 28, 2014

Wtf at all those dashes.

I am not entirely sure on this, it kind of seems a slippery slope. I do not like many f2p practices but there are some games that do it right such as DOTA 2. Directly encouraging seems a bit vague. Would a promotional banner count if some item is on sale?

Or is this only for messages that pop up when a resource is too low that tells you that you can buy more?

ZeroGravity · Feb 28, 2014

SonicXtreme said:
Crackdown was already put on games with gold months ago

That's what I first thought when I read the title.

2+2=5 · Feb 28, 2014

Imo it will not stop anything, the most logical thing is to simply create a mandatory "free with in app purchases" label/warning + some age/money restriction for purchases, all good things imo, it's time for the wild app market to get some laws.

quantumnerd · Feb 28, 2014

I think limits on this kind of thing can be good. Devs do this kind of BS because they have to be competitive, and rules can make it competitive to be clean of it. Games aimed at children shouldn't be "F"2P.

RaikuHebi · Feb 28, 2014

Occam said:
Excellent. I've long been saying these games should automatically be M (18+) rated; many (most?) of these games are scammy as hell. And there is little difference between this and gambling, except that you actually have a chance to win money when you gamble.

Exactly what I was telling my friend the other day. Very exploitative of children, not that advertisers aren't already, but this pseudo-gambling has to be stopped.

Foshy said:
What's up with the title? lol

You have to pay £1.99 to get rid of each hyphen or £9.99 to get rid of them all. £14.99 lets you put any hyphen where you choose and £19.99 lets you put different symbols instead of hyphens.

peanutbutterlatte · Feb 28, 2014

Good. Terrible, terrible way for the industry to go.

Mendax · Feb 28, 2014

good, i hope they ban f2p alltogether. its a cancer upon the industry, leads to bad design and is getting worse and worse.

Xater · Feb 28, 2014

Mendax said:
good, i hope they ban f2p alltogether. its a cancer upon the industry, leads to bad design and is getting worse and worse.

Now that is just stupid.

Randdalf · Feb 28, 2014

blitzcloud said:
And this should include the chances for stuff like crates on tf2/csgo in numbers. Just like you know the chances on lotto and everything else.

If people knew that there was a, let's say 0.0001% of a knife, maybe they wouldn't spend so much trying to get it.

Every single "lotto" system where it's a random chance to obtain something should give out the numbers, else it's shady shit.

The difference with TF2/CSGO/Doto crates is that what you get out of them is worth no less than the money you paid to open it. You're not gambling your money away with the chance to lose, you're always guaranteed to get something of equivalent or greater value.

Sentenza · Feb 28, 2014

Guerrillas in the Mist said:
The problem is at least 90% of F2P titles are actually Pay 2 Play.

No, that's not the problem.
It's only natural that you are supposed to pay some money to enjoy a product at its full. The "free" part is there just because it makes easier to lure customers in.

The problem is that those alleged "free games" don't just ask money to give you the full experience; they also deliberately exploit people with compulsive tendencies into addiction, without putting a reasonable ceiling to how much money you can spend into them.

Mendax · Feb 28, 2014

Xater said:
Now that is just stupid.

no its not, f2p is bad for everyone because to get the full experience from a game you will always end up paying more than you would for a single retail price. And in the case of childrens games its even worse because its just blatantly tricking them into in app purchases.

if a game is designed with f2p in mind its always aimed at milking more and more cash from consumers instead of trying to be of such a high quality that people will buy it a retail/entry price.

DiscoJer · Feb 28, 2014

If nothing else, game makers should be required to post the odds for their gambling boxes.

Like what chance do you have of getting various items.

Xater · Feb 28, 2014

TucoBenedictoPacifico said:
No, that's not the problem.
It's only natural that you are supposed to pay some money to enjoy a product at its full.

The problem is that those alleged "free games" don't just ask money to give you the full experience; they also deliberately exploit people with compulsive tendencies into addiction, without putting a reasonable ceiling to how much money you can spend into them.

No, I think that is the problem. If you call yourself F2P it has to be possible to reasonable enjoy your game without spending a dime. Giving them money comes automatically if you enjoy the game enough. The best F2P games work that way.

Mendax said:
no its not, f2p is bad for everyone because to get the full experience from a game you will always end up paying more than you would for a single retail price. And in the case of childrens games its even worse because its just blatantly tricking them into in app purchases.

if a game is designed with f2p in mind its always aimed at milking more and more cash from consumers instead of trying to be of such a high quality that people will buy it a retail/entry price.

You sound like someone who has zero experience with well do e F2P games that have great business models. Stop generalizing.

FyreWulff · Feb 28, 2014

The gambling style of F2P purchases definitely needs to be regulated. Even casinos have rules over how much money they'll let someone lose before encouraging them to leave.

Probably a lot easier to prey on the compulsive gambler when you don't have to deal with them in person.

OminoMichelin · Feb 28, 2014

Mendax said:
no its not, f2p is bad for everyone because to get the full experience from a game you will always end up paying more than you would for a single retail price. And in the case of childrens games its even worse because its just blatantly tricking them into in app purchases.

if a game is designed with f2p in mind its always aimed at milking more and more cash from consumers instead of trying to be of such a high quality that people will buy it a retail/entry price.

So I guess you never played TF2. I bought it when it was sold with the orange box, but I haven't spent a cent on it ever since.

Yagharek · Feb 28, 2014

Free to play games are pretty much scams at best, fraud at worst. Hopefully they get banned altogether.

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