Blogs It's time Valve owns up to its part in skin gambling

Classic NeoPets back like 15 - 20 years ago had slot machine games and other gambling styled games for their in-game currencies. And that site is meant for children under 13. And you could pay cash for in-game items and trade them as well. Its virtually the same.

Honestly, it doesnt bother me very much at all. Scumbags like those scamming streamers who lied should be decried, but overall this is no better or worse then account selling in WoW, Clash of Clans, DBZ Dokkan Battles, etc.

 

By the same standard, shouldn't most free games be removed from Play/iTunes?

 

if it stops the rampant abuse of player psychology to make players into ATMs instead of using it for making fun games, I don't see the problem.

with great power comes great responsibility, and the games industry is due for a dose of responsibility with how hard some developers are willing to abuse the ability they have to shape the play habits and spending habits of their userbases, especially those with low self-control (there are a few slimy examples of designers explicitly targeting this population segment)

 

I don't quite understand what it is they're doing...but I've never been attracted to any kind of gambling anyway.
NOr to in-game-buys really.

 

I read this comment at the weekend and i'm still annoyed on your behalf, Gareth.

 

May I ask what happened? Did you win in-game currency which you spent, but never received the in-game goods? I apologize if you rather not talk about it. Please ignore if so.

Sorry if this belongs in its own thread but:

I thought I had followed video games for the longest of time, yet I had not heard of NeoPets. I went on Wikipedia to read about it and was surprised to learn about their methods of making money, especially how directed at children they were.

I remember playing Shenmue back in 1999 (Japanese version) and loved how the game incorporated famous brands with their in-game items and environment. In NeoPets they speak of immersive advertising and I wonder if it is slightly similar? The inclusion of online marketing surveys was a little shocking. The US version of Shenmue has a Teen rating, which means that content is generally suited for ages 13 and up.

This is the same as the NeoPets age limit, right? But here you can buy items with real money. Do 13 year olds have credit cards now or are they still using their parents'?

Is the game still alive and kicking using the same in-game economy and marketing methods?

 

Tbh I had never considered the detail of this. As someone who doesn't give a **** what his gun looks like this sort of business had always seemed like a way for people to part with their money funding valve to make games that end up very cheap for people with more sense like me to play.

However yes it is quite clearly gambling, and if I caught my 14 year old doing that I'd come down on them like a ton of bricks.

Oh 13 year old's don't get credit cards but they do get debit cards which can be used to pay for steam games and by extension to gamble on these sites (obviously the money has to be in the account first).

 

You don't even need the debit card, you can sell items on your steam account to get money to spend on skins/ect.

 

Thanks for the explanation. I wonder, did they continue offering this lottery type and do you know if anybody else ever won enough in-game currency to afford something similar, and if so, did they end up getting it?

 

Looks like Valve have brought the hammer down. http://imgur.com/a/qCKwk