PSO2 and other Games with Gatcha Prizes in Japan Could be in Trouble.

[BloodPuddles]

To incite game wars: Yes, lots of MMOs trash PC/Console ones; the trash ones that exist on PC/Console. No mobile MMO has even 10% of the quality of either WoW or FF14, which are arguably the 2 "best" MMOs currently on the market.

FfXIV very arguably is lol. I was so shocked how simple that game is. The only time you ever need to think at all during gameplay is if you're a healer with really dumb damage, or a tank with a very dumb healer. Some trials/raids have some neat stuff to them, not nearly enough to justify 100's to 1,000's of hours and dollars though. Also the story is stupidly cliche garbage, it's only still a thing because it's got Final Fantasy in the name. Square Enix isn't capable of doing anything good anymore, other than cliches and fan service. (Sorry I can't not trash on FF when it's brought up. They destroyed the series and it upsets me.)

Edit: Game wise lots of mobile MMOs have double the quality of FFXIV. It's literally nothing but pretty pictures and magic explosions, graphics are irrelevant in games.

[Aexorcet]

FfXIV very arguably is lol. I was so shocked how simple that game is. The only time you ever need to think at all during gameplay is if you're a healer with really dumb damage, or a tank with a very dumb healer.

FF14 requires more thought that PSO2 does honestly, so unless you avoid PSO2 as well, I don't see why you would consider it so bad. PSO2 has vastly superior gameplay mechanics, but very bland situations in which to play. FF14 is pretty much the opposite. While most content in FF is low in difficulty, Square also does cater to hardcore players, which Sega has struggled with in the last couple of Episodes.

Regarding loot boxes, they're garbage. I'll be glad to see them gone, but I just wish people would realize that they're terrible and not contribute.

[BloodPuddles]

I almost just got into rant mode again lol. Basically every dungeon you're doing the exact same thing, everybody who plays a class will end up the exact same character, every class within the same role doesn't play very differently. 95-99% of content is filler, literally just interacting with objects, talking to NPCs, or killing a random mob for the dozenth time. I hate it because it's the first FF that is completely unoriginal, with absolutely no new concepts. I haven't played 11 or 12, but I assume they had some original stuff in them. Also actually now that I think of it X-2 didn't have anything original, they didn't want to make that though, it was just free money because fans wouldn't stop begging for it.

Edit: What the hell, that still ended up way bigger than I intended.

[ArcaneTechs]

Government oversight is there because people show no signs of moderation, nor intent on moderating, bruh. Both buyers and devs are in the wrong in the end, and that's why a 3rd-party is involved.

gotta have mom and dad hold youre hand but thats not enough so i guess big bro has do it too. i mean really, plenty of ways of getting the devs to stop their behavior, obviously one of them is dont buy/stop playing their games but i am mean, who i am kidding? people wont do that and continue to feed into this sorta of business.

nothing wrong with lootboxes as long as you can just normally play and unlock them that way, they dont contain p2w items and is completely cosmetic. the option to pay with real money is there but never needed to advance in anyway, heck even throw dailies to unlock a couple as you play.

[SteveCZ]

gotta have mom and dad hold youre hand but thats not enough so i guess big bro has do it too. i mean really, plenty of ways of getting the devs to stop their behavior, obviously one of them is dont buy/stop playing their games but i am mean, who i am kidding? people wont do that and continue to feed into this sorta of business.

nothing wrong with lootboxes as long as you can just normally play and unlock them that way, they dont contain p2w items and is completely cosmetic. the option to pay with real money is there but never needed to advance in anyway, heck even throw dailies to unlock a couple as you play.

Fun fact: Not everyone is strong enough to stop spending cash over those whenever they have cash, and it's proven by how they can rake billions out of it that the government gets involved to realize the reality that probably most their citizens are indeed and always.... uneducated?

[Zephyrion]

gotta have mom and dad hold youre hand but thats not enough so i guess big bro has do it too. i mean really, plenty of ways of getting the devs to stop their behavior, obviously one of them is dont buy/stop playing their games but i am mean, who i am kidding? people wont do that and continue to feed into this sorta of business.

nothing wrong with lootboxes as long as you can just normally play and unlock them that way, they dont contain p2w items and is completely cosmetic. the option to pay with real money is there but never needed to advance in anyway, heck even throw dailies to unlock a couple as you play.

I mean lootboxes are a thorny case, as most of the practices/substances that get regulated. Japan issued a gambling law because gambling addiction was a thing, and ruined the lives of many people... Both the companies that had casinos and similar structures AND the customers who like gambling took it badly, and therefore made pachinko parlors, which is basically a very dirty irl lootbox deal ( pay money, get random prize, can exchange said prize for money...which is basically gambling except in the law, gambling specifically meant "spending money to hope and get money" and therefore a loophole was found and exploited).

Which is the reason why hopefully they go the regulation route, and not the straight ban one, because I know for sure, if they are straight banned, companies will most certainly find workarounds and loopholes to make their bucks with skewed and unfair systems, and players will keep indulging in their bad spending habits/addictions.

[SteveCZ]

Japan did ban virtual gacha before for a shortwhile that the game companies come around with a new solution which is box gacha (you dig until you got everything in the box, but still random on what you get first, just like the real one), but that ban doesn't last long, until today.

I'm skeptical they can even manage to make it happen again.

[BloodPuddles]

I'm a strong disbeliever in non physical addictions. If it's not causing siezures and voices in your head it's just idiocy. The only symptom of a mental addiction is disappointment, which absolutely anyone can handle fine.

Edit: vvv It's in no way forced, people make a conscious willing decision to hurt themselves. No addiction at all physical or mental can make you do anything. I have met people claiming to suffer from a mental addiction, and I try very hard to cut myself off from them. If someone is willing to do something that shitty I want nothing to do with them. They're just scumbags or trying very hard to play the victim.

[Masu]

I'm a strong disbeliever in non physical addictions. *snip*

Probably because you never met anyone suffering from such troubles in your close surrounding...

[Zephyrion]

I'm a strong disbeliever in non physical addictions. If it's not causing siezures and voices in your head it's just idiocy. The only symptom of a mental addiction is disappointment, which absolutely anyone can handle fine.

Edit: vvv It's in no way forced, people make a conscious willing decision to hurt themselves. No addiction at all physical or mental can make you do anything. I have met people claiming to suffer from a mental addiction, and I try very hard to cut myself off from them. If someone is willing to do something that shitty I want nothing to do with them. They're just scumbags or trying very hard to play the victim.

Actually there are two parts in addictions. The "direct" chemical addiction and the "indirect" chemical addiction.

"direct" one is obvious : alcohol, drugs and the likes create a dependency on your body, and when you try to stop you experience withdrawal symptoms. It's the reason why you go to the hospital to get treated...but it's only one part of the issue, which explains how people fall back into alcoholism or drugs. While it gets rid of the "body" addiction, it doesn't get rid of your habits, your "mind" dependency on those, the "pleasure" you experience using these substances, the shots of dopamine your brain gives you for experiencing said pleasure.... All of this is ACTUALLY what lies in the core of most of addictions, and is the "indirect" part of the addiction.

Now if you consider gambling addicts, sports junkies, sex addicts and all the likes, of course they won't experience actual physical withdrawal symptoms, but all the mental ones are there. So all those are still addictions in the sense that addicted people feel they can't live without the thing that gives them pleasure. In this case they are addicted to the "high" state your brain causes by producing things like dopamine or adrenaline, so much so that the worst cases do experience physical drawbacks from not being able to indulge in the activity that gives them that

To end this, I'll say it has been scientifically proven than most addictive behaviours have an innate part to them. It explains why some people can indulge in any potentially addictive activity or substance with blatant excess while never developing any addiction, while others are prone to quickly develop addictions even when exercising caution with said activities/substances, and yes this include all forms of gambling. The ramifications go much, much farther than just "they became addicted because they didn't pay attention/they are stupid/ they have mental illness/insert whatever cliché here.