It still is Wucher in Germany and illegal to offer such a deal - it does not even have to be in the real world, this law applies to any kind of world, even a virtual one, because it is about taking advantage of someone by abusing his/her weaknesses.
Makes me wonder if ZOS has consulted local/country laws before coming up with this concept. Because I know other games do exactly the same thing and they're still operating world-wide.
But they do not have their server in germany - this makes a difference, because ZOS has their EU servers in Germany, and so the offer is issued from germany and is under german jurisdiction by that.
Legally this is not gamblingEncouraging gambling is completely irresponsible, and it is my opinion that ZOS should have to get a Gambling License to implement this feature
This feature, no matter how many other games also implement it, is repugnant.
I agree, but legally it is not gambling because of one fact, you purchase the boxes/RNG items using exclusively the game's own currency which legally as no monetary value except to the company in question, thats how they bypass the laws.
This is the one main reason why online games have their own currency systems for buying virtual items it voids them of all and every consumer law.
The only item that involves a monetary transaction and which is covered by consumer laws worldwide is the purchase of (in this company's case) 'Crowns' and as long as you receive the correct amount of Crowns you agreed to pay for the company as complied with the law, from there on you are on your own and the company can do whatever they want concerning items purchased via Crowns all because as mentioned Crowns are not a legally recognised currency.
It still is Wucher in Germany and illegal to offer such a deal - it does not even have to be in the real world, this law applies to any kind of world, even a virtual one, because it is about taking advantage of someone by abusing his/her weaknesses.
Makes me wonder if ZOS has consulted local/country laws before coming up with this concept. Because I know other games do exactly the same thing and they're still operating world-wide.
But they do not have their server in germany - this makes a difference, because ZOS has their EU servers in Germany, and so the offer is issued from germany and is under german jurisdiction by that.
It still is Wucher in Germany and illegal to offer such a deal - it does not even have to be in the real world, this law applies to any kind of world, even a virtual one, because it is about taking advantage of someone by abusing his/her weaknesses.
Makes me wonder if ZOS has consulted local/country laws before coming up with this concept. Because I know other games do exactly the same thing and they're still operating world-wide.
But they do not have their server in germany - this makes a difference, because ZOS has their EU servers in Germany, and so the offer is issued from germany and is under german jurisdiction by that.
Ah, I didn't know that. Hopefully @ZOS_MattFiror and @ZOS_BrianWheeler have looked into the legality issue in Germany.
It still is Wucher in Germany and illegal to offer such a deal - it does not even have to be in the real world, this law applies to any kind of world, even a virtual one, because it is about taking advantage of someone by abusing his/her weaknesses.
Makes me wonder if ZOS has consulted local/country laws before coming up with this concept. Because I know other games do exactly the same thing and they're still operating world-wide.
But they do not have their server in germany - this makes a difference, because ZOS has their EU servers in Germany, and so the offer is issued from germany and is under german jurisdiction by that.
Interesting point, but it reminded me of Blade and soul, which also has eu servers also based in Germany BUT the owner of the company who hires the server is based in Texas US.... and also their 'game' servers are based in Germany BUT their cash shop server and also the IP address of their online cash transaction site is located in Texas , so my point yes their game server is located in Germany BUT everything is legally based in the the US and only has to comply with US laws.
It still is Wucher in Germany and illegal to offer such a deal - it does not even have to be in the real world, this law applies to any kind of world, even a virtual one, because it is about taking advantage of someone by abusing his/her weaknesses.
Makes me wonder if ZOS has consulted local/country laws before coming up with this concept. Because I know other games do exactly the same thing and they're still operating world-wide.
But they do not have their server in germany - this makes a difference, because ZOS has their EU servers in Germany, and so the offer is issued from germany and is under german jurisdiction by that.
Interesting point, but it reminded me of Blade and soul, which also has eu servers also based in Germany BUT the owner of the company who hires the server is based in Texas US.... and also their 'game' servers are based in Germany BUT their cash shop server and also the IP address of their online cash transaction site is located in Texas , so my point yes their game server is located in Germany BUT everything is legally based in the the US and only has to comply with US laws.
Well chances are no one has ever been sued because of these so called loot boxes.. while justice departments haven't found it very interesting to look into.
I wonder if anyone knows if there is any jurisprudence in regards to people sueing companies because of gamble boxes?
Well chances are no one has ever been sued because of these so called loot boxes.. while justice departments haven't found it very interesting to look into.
I wonder if anyone knows if there is any jurisprudence in regards to people sueing companies because of gamble boxes?
Well chances are no one has ever been sued because of these so called loot boxes.. while justice departments haven't found it very interesting to look into.
I wonder if anyone knows if there is any jurisprudence in regards to people sueing companies because of gamble boxes?
this is not a case where people would have to sue them - this is a crime investigation and is done for free by german officials. If there is a problem, the state will sue them, not a civilian.
Well chances are no one has ever been sued because of these so called loot boxes.. while justice departments haven't found it very interesting to look into.
I wonder if anyone knows if there is any jurisprudence in regards to people sueing companies because of gamble boxes?
this is not a case where people would have to sue them - this is a crime investigation and is done for free by german officials. If there is a problem, the state will sue them, not a civilian.
I am not sure if this is actual criminal activity. I would earlier say it's a civilian issue where games bankrupt someone because of the gambling, that's atleast the area where I would think jurisprudence would come from.
The reason that this is criminal is sketchy at best imo. But would certainly be a nice investigation, but not something I think either the German or European justice department would be interested in.
Well chances are no one has ever been sued because of these so called loot boxes.. while justice departments haven't found it very interesting to look into.
I wonder if anyone knows if there is any jurisprudence in regards to people sueing companies because of gamble boxes?
this is not a case where people would have to sue them - this is a crime investigation and is done for free by german officials. If there is a problem, the state will sue them, not a civilian.
I am not sure if this is actual criminal activity. I would earlier say it's a civilian issue where games bankrupt someone because of the gambling, that's atleast the area where I would think jurisprudence would come from.
The reason that this is criminal is sketchy at best imo. But would certainly be a nice investigation, but not something I think either the German or European justice department would be interested in.
Bouldercleave wrote: »Bouldercleave wrote: »You people act like ZoS has a flippin gun to your temple.
So much drama and overreaction about an OPTIONAL feature of the game.
The ONLY one here that I can agree with though is Cazzy. At lease Cazzy had a rational reason for disliking the feature.
Bad enough that you do not see it as reasonable, if we do not want to support a game which preys on people with a gambling addiction and those who have low self-control, when it comes to getting what they want - some of them will spend thousands of dollars on this - I have seen that in Archeage - they might even get themselves and their families into real nasty situations due to that they have no control over this or are too weak - this is not that far from what Cazzy said - but it does not apply just to Cazzy - and it can effect even those, who are not yet having this problem - they can get addicted to gambling.
I guess we could all just live in individual bubbles and hope that no one talks to, takes advantage of, or bumps into us.
Honestly, it is NOT ZoS responsibility if you can't control yourself. I am a FIRM believer in personal responsibility. A select few have a legitimate problem, but the vast majority just use it as a cop out.
It still is Wucher in Germany and illegal to offer such a deal - it does not even have to be in the real world, this law applies to any kind of world, even a virtual one, because it is about taking advantage of someone by abusing his/her weaknesses.
Makes me wonder if ZOS has consulted local/country laws before coming up with this concept. Because I know other games do exactly the same thing and they're still operating world-wide.
But they do not have their server in germany - this makes a difference, because ZOS has their EU servers in Germany, and so the offer is issued from germany and is under german jurisdiction by that.
Interesting point, but it reminded me of Blade and soul, which also has eu servers also based in Germany BUT the owner of the company who hires the server is based in Texas US.... and also their 'game' servers are based in Germany BUT their cash shop server and also the IP address of their online cash transaction site is located in Texas , so my point yes their game server is located in Germany BUT everything is legally based in the the US and only has to comply with US laws.
No that is not the case - let ZOS offer this, I will contact the officials in germany - resp. my lawyers will - and then this will be investigated - most likely ZOS will get a fine and has to take it down or move their servers out of germany - if they continue doing it, the servers will be confiscated - for ongoing criminal activity - this will not violate our laws in germany, I am a lawful person and will bring this to the attention of officials.
Bouldercleave wrote: »Bouldercleave wrote: »You people act like ZoS has a flippin gun to your temple.
So much drama and overreaction about an OPTIONAL feature of the game.
The ONLY one here that I can agree with though is Cazzy. At lease Cazzy had a rational reason for disliking the feature.
Bad enough that you do not see it as reasonable, if we do not want to support a game which preys on people with a gambling addiction and those who have low self-control, when it comes to getting what they want - some of them will spend thousands of dollars on this - I have seen that in Archeage - they might even get themselves and their families into real nasty situations due to that they have no control over this or are too weak - this is not that far from what Cazzy said - but it does not apply just to Cazzy - and it can effect even those, who are not yet having this problem - they can get addicted to gambling.
I guess we could all just live in individual bubbles and hope that no one talks to, takes advantage of, or bumps into us.
Honestly, it is NOT ZoS responsibility if you can't control yourself. I am a FIRM believer in personal responsibility. A select few have a legitimate problem, but the vast majority just use it as a cop out.
I have to STRONGLY disagree with you here @Bouldercleave. It's deeply troubling that any company would prey on those people with any sort of addictive personality or gambling addiction. What's far worse is the exposure of supposedly harmless lock box gambling to children and the young people who are naive to such things. My closest friend has struggled with gambling addiction for all of his adult life and it seemingly most likely stems from exposure to gambling at a young age.
Let's be clear here, these "locked boxes" are designed to stimulate the exact same chemical response in the brain as gambling on poker machines. They are designed to take advantage of the way our puny little brains are wired to get cash out of us. They pollute the games we love to play and the world at large. They are evil and the people at Zos who made the decision to put gambling in their game should be ashamed.
It saddens me to see others defend such tactics.
Bouldercleave wrote: »It still is Wucher in Germany and illegal to offer such a deal - it does not even have to be in the real world, this law applies to any kind of world, even a virtual one, because it is about taking advantage of someone by abusing his/her weaknesses.
Makes me wonder if ZOS has consulted local/country laws before coming up with this concept. Because I know other games do exactly the same thing and they're still operating world-wide.
But they do not have their server in germany - this makes a difference, because ZOS has their EU servers in Germany, and so the offer is issued from germany and is under german jurisdiction by that.
Interesting point, but it reminded me of Blade and soul, which also has eu servers also based in Germany BUT the owner of the company who hires the server is based in Texas US.... and also their 'game' servers are based in Germany BUT their cash shop server and also the IP address of their online cash transaction site is located in Texas , so my point yes their game server is located in Germany BUT everything is legally based in the the US and only has to comply with US laws.
No that is not the case - let ZOS offer this, I will contact the officials in germany - resp. my lawyers will - and then this will be investigated - most likely ZOS will get a fine and has to take it down or move their servers out of germany - if they continue doing it, the servers will be confiscated - for ongoing criminal activity - this will not violate our laws in germany, I am a lawful person and will bring this to the attention of officials.
LOL - best of luck with that my little white knight...
Bouldercleave wrote: »Bouldercleave wrote: »You people act like ZoS has a flippin gun to your temple.
So much drama and overreaction about an OPTIONAL feature of the game.
The ONLY one here that I can agree with though is Cazzy. At lease Cazzy had a rational reason for disliking the feature.
Bad enough that you do not see it as reasonable, if we do not want to support a game which preys on people with a gambling addiction and those who have low self-control, when it comes to getting what they want - some of them will spend thousands of dollars on this - I have seen that in Archeage - they might even get themselves and their families into real nasty situations due to that they have no control over this or are too weak - this is not that far from what Cazzy said - but it does not apply just to Cazzy - and it can effect even those, who are not yet having this problem - they can get addicted to gambling.
I guess we could all just live in individual bubbles and hope that no one talks to, takes advantage of, or bumps into us.
Honestly, it is NOT ZoS responsibility if you can't control yourself. I am a FIRM believer in personal responsibility. A select few have a legitimate problem, but the vast majority just use it as a cop out.
I have to STRONGLY disagree with you here @Bouldercleave. It's deeply troubling that any company would prey on those people with any sort of addictive personality or gambling addiction. What's far worse is the exposure of supposedly harmless lock box gambling to children and the young people who are naive to such things. My closest friend has struggled with gambling addiction for all of his adult life and it seemingly most likely stems from exposure to gambling at a young age.
Let's be clear here, these "locked boxes" are designed to stimulate the exact same chemical response in the brain as gambling on poker machines. They are designed to take advantage of the way our puny little brains are wired to get cash out of us. They pollute the games we love to play and the world at large. They are evil and the people at Zos who made the decision to put gambling in their game should be ashamed.
It saddens me to see others defend such tactics.
KoshkaMurka wrote: »Bouldercleave wrote: »Bouldercleave wrote: »You people act like ZoS has a flippin gun to your temple.
So much drama and overreaction about an OPTIONAL feature of the game.
The ONLY one here that I can agree with though is Cazzy. At lease Cazzy had a rational reason for disliking the feature.
Bad enough that you do not see it as reasonable, if we do not want to support a game which preys on people with a gambling addiction and those who have low self-control, when it comes to getting what they want - some of them will spend thousands of dollars on this - I have seen that in Archeage - they might even get themselves and their families into real nasty situations due to that they have no control over this or are too weak - this is not that far from what Cazzy said - but it does not apply just to Cazzy - and it can effect even those, who are not yet having this problem - they can get addicted to gambling.
I guess we could all just live in individual bubbles and hope that no one talks to, takes advantage of, or bumps into us.
Honestly, it is NOT ZoS responsibility if you can't control yourself. I am a FIRM believer in personal responsibility. A select few have a legitimate problem, but the vast majority just use it as a cop out.
I have to STRONGLY disagree with you here @Bouldercleave. It's deeply troubling that any company would prey on those people with any sort of addictive personality or gambling addiction. What's far worse is the exposure of supposedly harmless lock box gambling to children and the young people who are naive to such things. My closest friend has struggled with gambling addiction for all of his adult life and it seemingly most likely stems from exposure to gambling at a young age.
Let's be clear here, these "locked boxes" are designed to stimulate the exact same chemical response in the brain as gambling on poker machines. They are designed to take advantage of the way our puny little brains are wired to get cash out of us. They pollute the games we love to play and the world at large. They are evil and the people at Zos who made the decision to put gambling in their game should be ashamed.
It saddens me to see others defend such tactics.
I agree.
I know of some people who literally lost everything they had because of slot machine addiction. And I greatly despise this kind of stuff.
Too bad there's no laws to regulate those things in video games... At least casinos need special licences etc which makes setting it up a little bit more difficult. And even in rl casinos slot machines are being rigged, and non-transparent software makes it even easier to tamper with... Which is, of course, often used by greedy developers. Its such a shame.
timidobserver wrote: »As long as they don't put limited subscriber items like the first senche mount and the mask of cheerful slaughter in them I am fine with it.
As I understood it, they will give a chance, albeit very rare, to win such limited items... which I disagree with as it causes a gambling mentality, where players who have problems with gambling end up spending £100's.
I know may players in dcuo who spent litterally £100's for Booster Bundle boxes. When they didn't get that special aura, they bought another box and repeated until they got one. A business model like this takes advantage of people with such problems in self-control. That is quite shameless.
If this goes ahead, ZOS has lost my respect
They said they won't be adding subscriber reward items. It's still gambling for anything you want, but they aren't offering every item that's existed.
Bouldercleave wrote: »You people act like ZoS has a flippin gun to your temple.
So much drama and overreaction about an OPTIONAL feature of the game.
The ONLY one here that I can agree with though is Cazzy. At lease Cazzy had a rational reason for disliking the feature.
KoshkaMurka wrote: »Bouldercleave wrote: »Bouldercleave wrote: »You people act like ZoS has a flippin gun to your temple.
So much drama and overreaction about an OPTIONAL feature of the game.
The ONLY one here that I can agree with though is Cazzy. At lease Cazzy had a rational reason for disliking the feature.
Bad enough that you do not see it as reasonable, if we do not want to support a game which preys on people with a gambling addiction and those who have low self-control, when it comes to getting what they want - some of them will spend thousands of dollars on this - I have seen that in Archeage - they might even get themselves and their families into real nasty situations due to that they have no control over this or are too weak - this is not that far from what Cazzy said - but it does not apply just to Cazzy - and it can effect even those, who are not yet having this problem - they can get addicted to gambling.
I guess we could all just live in individual bubbles and hope that no one talks to, takes advantage of, or bumps into us.
Honestly, it is NOT ZoS responsibility if you can't control yourself. I am a FIRM believer in personal responsibility. A select few have a legitimate problem, but the vast majority just use it as a cop out.
I have to STRONGLY disagree with you here @Bouldercleave. It's deeply troubling that any company would prey on those people with any sort of addictive personality or gambling addiction. What's far worse is the exposure of supposedly harmless lock box gambling to children and the young people who are naive to such things. My closest friend has struggled with gambling addiction for all of his adult life and it seemingly most likely stems from exposure to gambling at a young age.
Let's be clear here, these "locked boxes" are designed to stimulate the exact same chemical response in the brain as gambling on poker machines. They are designed to take advantage of the way our puny little brains are wired to get cash out of us. They pollute the games we love to play and the world at large. They are evil and the people at Zos who made the decision to put gambling in their game should be ashamed.
It saddens me to see others defend such tactics.
I agree.
I know of some people who literally lost everything they had because of slot machine addiction. And I greatly despise this kind of stuff.
Too bad there's no laws to regulate those things in video games... At least casinos need special licences etc which makes setting it up a little bit more difficult. And even in rl casinos slot machines are being rigged, and non-transparent software makes it even easier to tamper with... Which is, of course, often used by greedy developers. Its such a shame.