Re:A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge ...
by whiddershins on Saturday October 27, 2018 @08:45AM
(#18315487)
I think that’s not the best defense.
I believe if I had a slot machine that paid out in free vacations instead of cash, there would be no doubt playing it is a form of gambling.
I think it’s that the micropayments don’t get a random return. When someone buys to complete a level it is a predictable outcome, not a gamble.
People get variable return on item drops, but you don’t generally pay with money for item drops, just time.
There is a one-step-removed way in which I think video games could be regarded as a kind of indirect or obscured gambling.
1-I pay to receive an in game item like a weapon
2-I use that investment to go out and kill monsters for treasure drops
3-I end up with some randomly variable items of value that are by definition valuable, because people will pay me for them, TOS doesn’t establish a thing’s market value.
But I think this would really require us rethinking or redefining a number of concepts.
I believe if I had a slot machine that paid out in free vacations instead of cash, there would be no doubt playing it is a form of gambling.
I think it’s that the micropayments don’t get a random return. When someone buys to complete a level it is a predictable outcome, not a gamble.
People get variable return on item drops, but you don’t generally pay with money for item drops, just time.
There is a one-step-removed way in which I think video games could be regarded as a kind of indirect or obscured gambling.
1-I pay to receive an in game item like a weapon
2-I use that investment to go out and kill monsters for treasure drops
3-I end up with some randomly variable items of value that are by definition valuable, because people will pay me for them, TOS doesn’t establish a thing’s market value.
But I think this would really require us rethinking or redefining a number of concepts.