I was visiting the Hearthstone subreddit, and saw this post: China to force online games with loot boxes publicly announce item probabilities
Do you guys think this would apply to things like mystery boxes too? Is it even going to affect Realm? I’m really curious. Maybe there’s some Chinese lawyers in here who can answer this.
RotMG has Asian servers and I’m fairly certain we have at least some Chinese members in the community, so this could indeed affect the game.
However, as some people on the NeoGaf thread you linked pointed out, game developers can just put up official drop rates exclusively for the Chinese and then have different probabilities for everyone else.
This is one of the few times I agree with the Chinese government. I get why gambling exists, I just think it needs more transparency, especially when targeted at kids.
Speaking of which, considering Mike Pence’s track record, have you American players considered the possibility he might outlaw games with loot box-type features, including RotMG?
However, as some people on the NeoGaf thread you linked pointed out, game developers can just put up official drop rates exclusively for the Chinese and then have different probabilities for everyone else.
That could definitely happen, thought about that too. Let’s hope Deca isn’t just a corrupt casino owner.
He’s in a powerless position, aside from political influence. Given all else he seems to want to push I doubt he’ll make this his pet project. VP’s generally have little effectual power.
State-side casinos and lotteries have to publicize the odds of winning any given game. I don’t see this as much different, though policing internet gambling in its infinite forms is a huge task. I doubt RotMG will get swept up, especially as it doesn’t support Chinese languages natively.
No. Mike Pence may be a hardcore conservative, but he is heavily counterbalanced by Trump in any way that affects money. I think Trump is willing to give the conservatives whatever they want on moral issues, but at the end of the day economic decisions will be whatever he considers to be in his own best interest. Since at the moment pseudogambling is one of the biggest parts of the gaming industry, I doubt very seriously if they would put meaningful regulations in place. One repercussion of doing so would be that gaming companies would move headquarters to places where the regulations are more lax, removing a big industry from the American economy.
That said, I wish they would. It is absolutely ridiculous that gambling is illegal in so many places in the US, but due to the progression of video games in the last decade gambling specifically targeted at children has become the de facto revenue source for an entire industry. It turns my stomach.
I vaguely remember the game not being accessible from China, because it’s running on Google’s network.
Also, if XYZ country makes a new law, will it affect the rest of the world? No.
Allow me to tell you this.
I have lived in China at some point. That’s where the Troubleshooting Guide was made.
China has firewalls. Google, Western Social Media, ete are blocked. So are many online games I’ve tried.
#RotMG is blocked.
Thus, I don’t think it should apply to the game.
Unless you have a VPN.
Even if they only apply it to China, how will they prevent other players from around the world from getting them, if it will be as simple as joining the asian servers.
Ok one thing I really don’t understand is why this matters so much? Its not like by exposing the numbers they will suddenly decrease, and ruin everyone’s chances. Can someone please explain?
China central government strongly dislikes gambling. As endemic as it may be in real life they’ll do what they can to tamp it out. By forcing people to see their odds I presume they hope it will impact the popularity of such schemes, perhaps to the point they’re less profitable than other more morally clean alternatives.
rip i traveled to China when i first started playing to visit, but never played there b/c of that.
Yeah, i hate how they have everything by Google blocked…
It would be nice to know Mystery Box rates, but RotMG is tiny, so I doubt there’ll be any big impacts on the game itself.
I’m just reviving because I wanna ask if anyone knows of Chinese RotMG players.
Rotmg does not work in China believe it or not (not in 郾城 or 安徽. The Asian servers were made for Vietnam japan and Taiwan.