China To Tighten Controls on Video Gaming Industry (scmp.com) 60
Beijing is moving to curb excessive spending on video games across the country, according to a new draft regulation, dealing another blow to the world's largest video gaming market that is still recovering from the government's previous industry crackdown. From a report: Online games must not offer rewards that entice people to excessively play and spend, including those for daily logins and topping up accounts with additional funds, according to draft rules published on Friday by industry regulator the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA). All video games must put a cap on how much players can top up their accounts and alert users about "irrational consumption behaviour" via a pop-up window, according to the NPPA.
They seem to be doing it wrong (Score:1, Flamebait)
I haven't seen or heard of anything from China (or S Korea for that matter) that isn't a scam.
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Re: They seem to be doing it wrong (Score:1)
No, they're still busy de-welding the doors of all of those people they caged in during zero-covid.
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You'll notice they'll never reply to me because the Chinese censors won't allow it due to the words I used.
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Well, that's because there's no other viewpoint. There's what's the US free press can tell us, and there's only what the Chinese government gets to tell us. All Chinese media is controlled by the state, which led to the shutdown and ar
I can sympathize, a bit. (Score:4, Interesting)
Have you played any games by such companies as Ubisoft or Electronic Arts? They are terrible about this sort of thing.
In their minds, each game is a money-sucking empire. You buy the game, then you must pay again for cosmetic items, and pay again to unlock playable characters, and pay again to unlock special items, and play again to unlock special vehicles, and play again to unlock new areas, and pay again to get a PvP advantage, and pay again to skip some of the boring grindy parts of the game, and then two years later there is a new version of the game for which you must shell out another top-of-the-market price, to start the process over again.
And on top of that, they throw this in your face while you are playing, constantly dangling these desirable items in front of you as if to taunt you for not having them. And just to add insult to injury, they also us the game to force you to look at ads for their other games.
Personally, I hate this. I made the mistake of buying games from each of these companies once, and only once. But apparently there is a huge crowd of people who don't have the self-discipline to play games that treat them well, and they buy these games and just spend like mad.
My primary reaction is "grow up!" People who fall for this are victims but also they are just being stupid, making terribly unwise decisions with their money, allowing themselves to get addicted, and just carrying on like that, when they should wise-up and goddamn stop. But, well, they won't. They just won't. The facts are in: people get addicted, overspend to their own detriment, and like it that way.
So, what are we to do? In America the strategy is "a fool and his money are soon parted." Done. Let the companies victimize these people. If the fools refuse to exercise a modicum of self-discipline, then they deserve what they get. China's strategy seems to be "protect the weak from themselves." The motivation seems to be more about economic harm than about helping people in need, but even so, that's the angle they tend to take.
I am not defending China, even on this decision. I am just saying I understand where they are coming from, without endorsing or approving of it. Video game addiction is real, it is economically harmful, and this is their approach. So, at a minimum, I get it.
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Hmm. I get what you are saying. I must be buying different games though. Or maybe that's the key word, I BUY my games. Baldur's Gate 3 has nothing of that and it's an amazing game with plenty of replay value.
I guess if you are playing "free" games, then what do you expect? They do micro-transactions.
As you say, if people are stupid enough to put up with the micro-transaction form of gaming, they deserve what they get. I would be just fine with "Pay to win" being illegal. I just won't play those kinds of gam
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Dude, 'free games'? Take a look at for example The Sims 4 and its roughly three gaziliion 'expansion packs'.
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I guess I don't consider expansion packs as micro-transactions but then what I think of as an expansion may not be accurate in today's world. An expansion is typically cheaper then the original game and it will add more levels, more classes, more items and more game play features. Sometimes they are optional because they are horizontal and only add cosmetic jewelry that you can take or leave, based on your preferences.
Most the games I've played, you generally wanted to buy the expansion because of all the n
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Baulder's Gate 3 was made by Larian. They don't pull crap like Ubisoft and EA. Consider games like Madden for example. You pay top of the market prices for that game, and then its "micro" transactions everywhere! I put "micro" in quotes because fifteen bucks is far too big to qualify.
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Eventually they will.
I think what happens is
>small studio gets acquired by larger corp (probably due to the siren song of increased development budgets)
>MBA cretins want to maximize their ROI, so they push MTX, day 1 DLC and other completely consumer unfriendly fuckery
OR
>AAA dev budgets balloon into the hundreds of millions of dollars
>MBA cretins need to juice the quarterly numbers to justify the cost
>Day 1 DLC,MTX and other fuckery.
Gaming is getting objectively worse with the constant, CONST
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Gaming is getting objectively worse with the constant, CONSTANT diversity pandering
You are complete fucking moron to think this is what is killing games.
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alienating your core demographic is always a good business plan.
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That is good to know.
I would explain why you are fucking retarded, but you wouldn't understand.
So crawl back to your game console, load up GoW, and jerk off to the level 11 machismo and genocide.
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Some great argumentation and reasoning my overly progressive friend. Happy Friday.
Cheers.
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It is the biggest of them being full of every monetization scam known to man.
You pay a premium for them that recently went up for no good reason.
Then you are force to create an account so they can sell that data.
Then you are spam with ads.
Then you aren't even able to complete the game unless you put in another 10x the purchase in micro-tranactions.
And the idiots every fucking where that eat this shit up.
That is the biggest issue with games today.
So go
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I own Madden 23 (last years game) and while I know I don't play the standard way most probably do (My xbox doesn't connect to the Internet, EVER!), it's 100% playable and enjoyable game without any micro-transactions.
I love playing the franchise mode and it's also challenging trying to play franchise while being just the receiver or running back.
Out of morbid curiosity, what kind of micro-transactions are they convincing people to buy on xbox live?
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Soon the CCP will be fielding their own video game. You spy on your family and friends and then report in the video game how often they diss Xi Jinping. The game gives you social credit for this. If you are able rat on 10 family/friends in a 2 week period, and get your CCP social credit up past 90, then you win a FREE copy of Mao's Stupid Little Red Book. Extra credit is given for fingering your parents.
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Like in the USA, some body building supplement manufacturers have been called out for secretly adding methamphetamenes to their products. They then claimed it was "contamination."
Corporations that maximise profits by doing shitty things to their customers obviously need regulation.
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Yes, it is a scam.
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Scams the both of them.
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Instead of trying to control the bad games, why don't they promote actual good games?
This isn't about promoting the Chinese game industry, it's about stopping gaming addiction in general. It's not about making good games, it's about stopping bad practices in all games, and the western studios are right up there among the fucking worst when it comes to this.
How do you promote making a good game? Specifically how do you do it when utter pushed to mobile shit like Diablo Immortal rake in over half a billion dollars in yearly revenue.
pay to win games need to go! make them monthly fee (Score:2)
pay to win games need to go! make them monthly fee based to get stuff.
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(Yes, I do know about Guild Wars. That is not a counter example.)
I wonder... (Score:3)
Call me cynical but I wonder if they aren't trying to crack down on time spent with video games as a way to push people to other activities. Other activities, such as, oh, I don't, mingling with others and trying to form relationships and produce babies?
I know video games are a spectacular form of birth control. They are relatively cheap. Provide near limitless entertainment. Are always available. They don't say no. They don't come with any obligations.
Not sure how it is with younger generations, but even though plenty of millennials play video games, nothing seems to dry out your typical female then to admit you play video games. Like, oh, you must be a manchild, you play video games.
Possibly China is trying to take away this amazing distraction because it's allowing people to focus on that instead of relationships and baby making.
Re: I wonder... (Score:2)
China still strictly caps the number of children people can have. The last thing they'd want is more fertility.
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No, they do not. All caps were removed in 2021.
Re: I wonder... (Score:2)
No they didn't. In 2021 they replaced the two child policy with the three child policy.
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The three child policy was instated in May 2021, and replaced with a full removal of all caps in July 2021.
Currently there are no restrictions on number of children in China.
Re: I wonder... (Score:2)
No, they just got rid of the fines. But that doesn't mean violating it goes unpunished.
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They got rid of all consequences. There is no punishment. No cap. No restriction.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/2... [cnbc.com]
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how dare they take control of their own demographics, it's absolutely racist and vile in 2023 to still hold try to hold to the idea of an ethnostate. China will need a diverse population to participate in the knowledge economy, they're kneecapping themselves by not taking in millions of immigrants to offset their sub-replacement birthrates, and will pay the price accordingly.
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Some people get a dopamine rush when playing video games, and other people do not. It's not a conscious choice, that's just a matter of genetics. And it tends to be mostly men who get the rush and mostly women who do not (but there are exceptions on both sides). People who do not get the rush simply cannot understand the appeal, and any adult that plays games seems outright childish to them. So, that explains the phenomenon you are seeing.
But that is only one reason among many why dating has fallen off
Re: I wonder... (Score:2)
Don't date wing nuts and don't beat up women and that protects you in the vast majority of situations.
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Silly? Sure. Dismissive? Yes. Why? Because the problem is overblown, and in my opinion (based on experience) mostly by people who are contributing to the problem in some degree and just don't want to change their behavior.
It's a lot harder to sell a false accusation when it's implausible.
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The economic stuff I think it definitely true and I've found dating after my divorce much more difficult then when I was in my 20s. To be fair though, I know so much more about myself and have standards now, so some options I just won't entertain. My problem is I'm nearly 40 and your average woman at this age is married and typically has kids. The ones that aren't married that want to be, want kids as well. Many of these women are highly educated with professional jobs and don't tend to date down, which goe
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nothing seems to dry out your typical female then to admit you play video games. Like, oh, you must be a manchild, you play video games.
This has less to do with millennials and far more to do with the company you keep. Stop trying to pick up girls in sports bars and you may find your horizons broadened.
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Honestly, I'm just taking a step back from the whole dating scene and focusing on self-improvement instead. Not to increase my dating chances, but to become a happier person for myself. If I happen to meet someone, cool but I'm done with dating apps and am not going to actively "try" anymore. I'm okay being single. I can take care of myself. I know how to cook, clean and maintain a nice home. Money is tight but I'm still saving money every month (which is awesome!).
I miss the companionship, someone to eat d
tighten the controls? (Score:4, Funny)
Stop catering to China (Score:3)
The video game industry is trying to repeat the blunders of the movie industry by trying to cater to the whims of the Chinese regime in a vain attempt to enter a new market, while at the same time they only manage to piss off their original consumer base by not giving them what they want.
Do you really not get it? China is trying to destroy your chances to land a successful game to protect their own gaming industry, while at the same time trying to expand it into your market. And if you don't watch out, your players will go "up yours!" and buy the Chinese games that are more interesting than yours because they don't try to bend over backwards to cater to some ridiculous demands that NOBODY who actually plays your fucking games wants!
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The video game industry is trying to repeat the blunders of the movie industry
What most people want in games are not games. They want flashy lights. And that is what the game industry is catering to.
BG3 might have sold a lot, but that is nothing compared to the little amount of work you have to do to draw new waifus and increase some numbers.
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I'm honestly wondering why nobody bothered to implement a pachinko [wikipedia.org] machine in a game. They are pretty much that. A load of blinking lights where you do, in essence, nothing but hold a knob to make the blinking lights go.
At the same time, I'm kinda worried that if I looked, I would probably find many, many games like that. Pretty much every idle clicker is, in its essence, one...
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Do you really not get it? China is trying to destroy your chances to land a successful game to protect their own gaming industry
Errr no. The rules here apply equally to China and non Chinese companies, and the rules apply to game mechanics not games.
Actually I'm going completely the other direction. I praise the CCP for this laws, and I hope western countries follow suit. Modern games have turned to utter shit thanks pay to win, pay to unlock, or DLCs that should have been part of the base game. All combined with a formula designed to be addictive rather than in any way good all to get you to part with more money.
Fuck China for ever
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Show me skeletons in a Chinagame and we talk.
intentionally addictive and expensive (Score:3)
My hope (Score:2)
Maybe China can crack down on boss fights that require insanely flawless play next