Lootboxes: They are the purest "surprise bags"! But some surprises got stuck between the heads and shoulders of some fans, and they got the famous, notorious "fat" neck. For some of them, this swelling seems to have been corrected for now - even if it took a little longer. Over four years ago, some players of the MMORPG ArcheAge sued the developer Trion Worlds. The accusation points were misleading advertising in the game and the use of a virtual lottery with loot boxes in the game. Now, in an extrajudicial proceeding, an agreement was reached on a compensation payment of 420,000 US dollars, which corresponds to the equivalent of approximately 380,000 euros. More Helpful Hints Lootbox: gambling or not - that is the questionThe legal dispute dealt with these points in detail: Misleading advertising: Paying subscribers should receive a 10% discount via the Patreon. However, this was not adhered to. Instead, they received 10% more real money currency when they bought one. Look at this site. Use of a lottery: Like other apps or games, ArceAge uses a loot box system. This contains very valuable content. The complaining players accuse the developer of practically operating a lottery.All of this would violate the California's Consumers Legal Remedies Act, the False Advertising Law and the Unfair Competition Law, and thus it would be illegal or, better said, damage to the players. They then defended themselves with their lawsuit. However, in order to avoid a legal dispute of many years with an uncertain outcome and costs that cannot be calculated, Trions World decided to pay the compensation without admitting a debt. Both parties see themselves in the right somehow and have probably taken the path of least resistance with this agreement. Loot boxes repeatedly criticizedThe discussions about the use of loot boxes just don't stop. Since their introduction about ten years ago, they have been devilish tools for one devil's tool and harmless extensions for others. What are they exactly now? And why are they so discredited? Loot translates from English as prey or loot and Box is known to be a box. It is therefore virtual containers that must be found, unlocked or bought in computer games. Payment is made either with real money or with a game currency. Go to this website The contents of these boxes vary widely and are not known beforehand. Mostly it is items, weapons or other special equipment that should give players an advantage in the game. And you are already at one of the main criticisms regarding loot boxes. With the purchase of these boxes through money, you cannot really estimate which content you can actually buy, because these are often defined by a random generator. And this is very similar to gambling, if not to be equated, according to the critics. There are known cases in which young people spent several thousand euros on the purchase of loot boxes and were thus in a rather financial imbalance. Supporters argue, however, that the purchase is voluntary and is not necessary to achieve the goal of the game. They only partially simplify it. In addition, there was no loss of the money invested, since one would always receive an equivalent. Legal gray area of loot boxes You are clearly in a legal gray area on this subject, and that is probably why Trions World has reached an out-of-court settlement so as not to create a precedent that could possibly be to your disadvantage. Some countries have already done this. Belgium and the Netherlands have classified the enlargements as gambling and there are also many discussions in some other countries and various bodies and commissions have been set up to deal with this issue. The House of Commons in the British Parliament in late 2019 demanded that the loot boxes be classified as a game of chance. In 2017, the gambling authorities in Germany came to the conclusion that loot boxes were not a game of chance after an evaluation. That this is of course an immense business area is obvious. Many game manufacturers can only keep the retail prices of their games low by using micropayments in the form of loot boxes. Germans spent 866 million euros on these microtransactions in 2018. Ascending trend. Of course, this area of business does not want to be destroyed by the manufacturers and is opposed to any form of restriction or prohibition. Lootboxing - curse or blessing, the question is not so easy to answer and is likely to continue to be controversial. Of course it is a free decision whether to buy these extensions or not. However, it can of course be doubted whether underage players are reflected in such a way that they are always aware of the scope of their decisions. Perhaps a suitable means of control would be to purchase in Alterscheck. There may also be no either or, but something in between.
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