I thought it was always this way though. The EU has always been ahead of the curve of the US in protecting consumers.
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EU to ban labeling games as free-to-play unless they are actually free
- Thread starter Zabant
- Start date
I thought it was always this way though. The EU has always been ahead of the curve of the US in protecting consumers.
Zabant
Member
Baby steps my friend, this is completely positive news, even if it only effects things slightly.
More than anything it shows lawmakers and consumer protection agencies are wising up to marketing trickery and BS
Principate
Saint Titanfall
It's about advertisements You know those random game adverts you see in websites or in general with the word free in them. They won't be able to do that anymore. Which will hurt. A lot.
It helps makes more people informed consumers, and partially demonizes the trend. I would say it's a step and could go a decent length if hating on those games becomes the new social media trend. For once I might encourage the hate train if that were to happen.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
What will the new term be? Super Advanced Vending Machine? They could abbreviate it SAVeM
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Change the acronym to SAVeMe.
The way many of these games are marketed is that there is typically a price field like:
It's not just the term but the entire marketing strategy for these games which often don't even say "free to play" but simply "free". Here for instance is the iTunes page for Dungeon Keeper: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/dungeon-keeper/id659212032?mt=8 The one thing your is probably quickly drawn to is that bolded Free statement at the top. Seeing anything about the in-app purchased (or reviews commenting on such) requires scrolling down to the bottom written in a font color that blends in softly with the background.
Consumer Safety Commission - brought to you by EA and Doritos (since we hate "big government")
7DollarHagane
Banned
This can work as long as the app or game is not allowed to specifically list its price as $0.00 as well as use the word free.
Something needs to stop this ugly trend.
These apps should also be required to list the average cost of all the micro transactions available instead of free. They should also be required to list the average frequency between purchases for users who do purchase micro transactions. That would make a lot of sense.
"Average micro transactions $4.99 per 48 hours" should help make things clearer.
Something needs to stop this ugly trend.
These apps should also be required to list the average cost of all the micro transactions available instead of free. They should also be required to list the average frequency between purchases for users who do purchase micro transactions. That would make a lot of sense.
"Average micro transactions $4.99 per 48 hours" should help make things clearer.
Vincent Alexander
Member
I'm all for this. I'm tired of downloading a free game on my phone out of boredom to tinker with, only to get 3 levels in and be asked to cough up some money. I don't care if you're a cheap tower defense game!
Zabant
Member
If you ask me this distinction is long overdue.
Attacking semantics seems like pointless bureaucratic auto-fellatio.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Attacking predator advertising that plays on consumer addictions seems like a perfectly worthwhile goal. A lot of these games are no different from casino's and yet some people want nothing worthwhile to be done about them.
It's crazy.
I think dimb was more talking about it being a low-content post unlikely to inspire meaningful discussion since "care" is a pretty hard thing to quantify and people are just likely to sling mud about which side of the Atlantic is better.
Crates dont take up your drops in Dota from what I can tell. You'll never get a crate on level up for example.
It's really not. All advertisers have to do is change up the language to "free to download" or whatever else. Really the advertising itself isn't even the issue, and the listed priorities of what the European Commission are targeting is laughable. Who can say what the "true cost" of a free to play game is? What counts as "direct exhortation" in a game?
This is a great move that does more good than harm, whole world should go for it IMO, kids spending money accidentally isn't even an issue, that's entirely on the parents or guardians if you ask me just the fact that these games aren't actually free and are mislabeled as such brings the industry harm in the long term
TheSlySoul
Member
Pretty cool idea. It is unfair to call a game F2P if you have to pay to progress. Wish the United States would follow suit. We could use less shady practices in gaming.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
He was referring to this ruling which is he talked negatively about it not simply about the difference in care itself. If he was talking about would posted US consumer friendly decisions.
They're forced to mention about micro-transaction in the game, forced to make the consumer aware about the issues of it.
If you do not care about such things then you really care little about consumer rights overall.
If they go down this path, I would expect the EU would define terms of what constitutes 'Free' in this context and ban any play on words such as 'free demo', 'free to download', 'free to think about', 'free to try' etc.
Free is a very specific word with a very specific meaning in this case.
Mobile phone scam devs are about to learn that.
The European Commission is the only organisation with any teeth I can think of that has bothered to do anything about consumer's rights in the digital space for the last few years. I hope they keep it up.
What consumer rights can someone have if they download something for free? If you download something at no cost and you don't like the business model simply walk away. The existence of micro-transactions in a game is meaningless, and not something exclusive to games that are free. Hearthstone was brought up earlier in this thread and it is something that can be played without investing money into it, but it has micro-transactions. There is nothing to distinguish between something like that and a title that demands a constant drip feed of cash.
Targeting the language used to advertise these titles is more or less a fabricated problem. It's really easy to get around any kind of restrictions. Look at the main webpage for League of Legends for example. They don't tout that it's free, just that you can "Play Now" or "Download the Game".
Zabant
Member
Just an outright ban on the word free when used in conjunction with anything that costs money is pretty hard to work around.
It sucks it has come to this, but it's needed.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Predatory tactics using the back door to play on a consumers addictions, if you have no problem with such tactics and want nothing done to stop it then I have no idea what so say to you.
Other than you are condoning scamming and unregulated gambling you do realise. Regulations are there to protect and educate for some reason you do not want that.
The EU isn't banning games it's forcing them to educate. Which your seemingly completely ignoring. Why I wonder.
tiggerkiddo
Member
Interesting...I think having to be more honest with the customer can't hurt. I have played F2P MMO's and some of them had stuff like being able to trade simple items behind a paywall. No thanks.
Garcia
Member
Yes, I agree with you.
Here For The Free Feed
Member
good start at tackling this absolutely blight on the modern gaming industry
Not banned, just regulated.
If i say my product is free, but you will have to pay me $100 to keep enjoying it a week from now, it's not free, is it.
Here For The Free Feed
Member
Pop
Member
Well I should have added and children. I wasn't including children. And I'm more of talking about console gaming not mobile where kids have access a lot quicker.
I think we run into a potential problem where a lot of general use apps or relatively harmless ones are required to be charged for, or worse some companies or sites decide to be exploitive and ban you from using the mobile site unless you buy their app and use it through that (and likely at lower quality too.) But then it's always a few pieces of shit running things for everyone else.
terrisus
Member
But it is "Free to download"
I would like it if games were released as feature-complete and in full working order, just like in the PS2 era and all the gens before it, yes. PC-style expansions don't count as IAP in my view, since they're typically bought outside of gameplay.
However, I'll settle for In-App Purchases (as in, the game begging for your money during the game, like Candy Crush Saga and its ilk, or that disgusting bit near the beginning of Dragon Age 1 where you're told about a quest, but are then told you have to pony up for the DLC to actually go on it) being totally banned in the EU, which isn't what's happening here, so keep your shirt on, eh Minsk.
Minsc
Gold Member
Well, I was simply pointing out that you had confused what IAP is exactly in your post. A 20 hour expansion unlocked from within the main game is also an IAP. So is the main game, being unlocked from a previously free download of what would could be called a demo for that matter.
