• Aatube@kbin.melroy.org
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    24 hours ago

    This appears to be a direct consequence of a recent settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which had charged HoYoverse with deceiving minors into spending for their loot boxes. The Chinese developer was subsequently banned from selling them to users under 16 without a parent’s express consent, paid a $20 million fine to the FTC, and was also subject to the following stipulations:

    • Prohibited from selling loot boxes using virtual currency without providing an option for consumers to purchase them directly with real money;
    • Prohibited from misrepresenting loot box odds, prices and features;
    • Required to disclose loot box odds and exchange rates for multi-tiered virtual currency;
    • Required to delete any personal information previously collected from children under 13 unless they obtain parental consent to retain such data; and
    • Required to comply with COPPA, including its notice and consent requirements.

    @[email protected] @[email protected]

    • serenissi@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      I don’t understand. For spending money one requires banking/card information. How children will get their guardian’s banking details without their consent?

      • Aatube@kbin.melroy.org
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        12 hours ago

        Have you paid for things on mobile in-app? The operating system stores your info behind a password (or biometric) because adults (non-gambling as well) also hate having to memorize 16 digits flawlessly every time they needed to make payments.

        • RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          10 hours ago

          I’ve refused to move my payment from password to biometrics purely because I’ll spend more if I don’t have to type out my 22 character password. A few times I’ve gone to buy something and seen the password field pop up and just like… uhh cbf.

          And then saved like $30.

    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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      18 hours ago

      But the adults, they weren’t deceived in any way. Hoyo scammed them fair and square.

      Ban the entire business model.

      • Aatube@kbin.melroy.org
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        17 hours ago

        No laws against that (lootboxing), yet, and I doubt EA doesn’t have their lobbyists against such laws if enacted. It’s also something that has existed so long as to become a cornerstone of mobile gaming… well, a cornerstone outside of the stupid Voodoo dot-io kind, anyways. While extremely unethical IMO I wouldn’t call it any more deceptive than any regular casino, that is.

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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      24 hours ago

      The why is rarely argued. The how is always the point of contention. That’s why I am wondering what they are asking for age verification.

      • Aatube@kbin.melroy.org
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        24 hours ago

        I don’t understand what you mean. They’re clearly requesting ages over 13 and disabling purchases for those under 16.

        • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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          23 hours ago

          I am asking how will they verify the age?

          EDIT: I think you might be misunderstanding the grammar. I am not asking “what for”. “What for” = “why”. I am asking “what do they want as a form of age verification”.

          • GhostedIC@sh.itjust.works
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            23 hours ago

            Yeah, if the end consequence is creating a giant database of photos of US ID’s (and storing which accounts theyre associated with as a nice bonus) then that is, in my opinion, not great.

            I understand Discord is already rolling out ID verification in the UK and their solution is to use a 3rd party service (you send them your, they just send discord a "is over 18? YES/NO). Personally I don’t think thats much better but it won’t be Discord’s own liability when they find out call center employees in India or Vietnam are using the images of your ID to sell online or something.