New 'Loot Box' Regulations in China
China has just passed new regulations concerning to online games that includes some interesting clauses relating to 'loot boxes' and other similar systems. The new law requires developers to be transparent about the exact 'draw probabilities' of these items.
What this means for Hearthstone is that Blizzard will be required to reveal what the exact chances are of opening specific card rarities in your card packs, as well as confirm the existence of other systems and algorithms related to this. For example the 'pity timer' that was discovered by players but has as of yet never been officially confirmed / talked about.
While we already know fairly accurately what the average chances are for Hearthstone it will still be nice to have it officially confirmed.
Blizzard will be required to display this information either on a dedicated page on their (Chinese) website or on a prominent spot inside the game.
You can read the relevant sections of the new law below that was translated by /u/czhihong over on reddit:
- Online game publishers (who provide virtual goods or services with any form of random mechanisms) shall not directly request gamers to to indulge in such activities through a direct injection of cash or virtual credits.
They shall promptly and publicly announce information about the name, property, content, quantity, and draw/forge probability of all virtual items and services that can be drawn/forged on the official website or a dedicated draw-probability web page of the game. The information on draw probability shall be true and effective.
- Online game publishers shall publicly announce the random draw results by customers on the official website or in a prominent spot in-game, and keep records for government inquiry. The records must be kept for at least 90 days. When publishing the random draw results, appropriate measures should be taken to protect user privacy.
- When online publishers are providing virtual goods and services with any form of random draw properties, they shall provide players with an avenue to trade for other virtual goods, either using virtual cash or any other ways to obtain similar virtual goods and services.
It is not certain how China will act on developers who do not comply to these new rules, and so far Blizzard has not yet commented if they are planning to.
These regulations only apply to the Chinese market but because Hearthstone is identical across regions everyone benefits from it! So far people around the internet have reacted very positively about the new law. Tell us how you feel about it!
This is horrible. Governments should not interfere in games. Don't thread on my games china.
Do you live in China? Then it does not concern you
If china can do this it can also do negative stuff. And it could give other government ideas on video game regulations. Heck just look at Australia and their censorship.
This thread is hilarious
If the chances for cards to drop are the same in every region, then it results in chances being displayed for all regions. It concerns all HS players.
How, in any way, is demanding a company to be honest and up front a horrible thing? Sounds like you're just anti-Government lol
Niiice!
in japan i think they implemented something regarding gacha rates for games. it's the mechanism implemented in games in a surprise box so to speak...Spending money on a machine slot rigged in the houses favor... at least it will be fairer to the consumer knowing the odds their up against :X Surprising China would do this, so kudos to them where credits due.
https://bothgunsblazingblog.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/gacha/
This could mean a couple things... 1) You MUST have a non-cash means of getting "loot boxes" or 2) You must have a means of obtaining the items in loot boxes without rng.
Either way, I think Blizz already does that with Gold and Dust?
slightly related.... are the chances of getting legendary better if 30 packs are opened at one sitting vs opening 30 packs at 1 pack a day? remember this being mentioned twice in the forums.
As far as I read on that subject, no. There is no evidence that the "pity timer" reset after a specific amount of time.
Good, now I can quantify how unlucky I am with packs.
Good to see China has their priorities straight.
Your tax dollars at work!
I dont think blizzard will do the trade thing. they would have already implemented it if they wanted that. one can dream tho
It seems to me that providing the avenue to dust your cards and turn them into other cards meets that particular requirement. It says trade OR provide a way to get similar items or services.
I don't think that last point specifically means player trade.
It's along the lines of the dust system, where one can use virtual goods to create other virtual goods. This is to prevent players from buying stuff that can't be used.
i.e. if there was no dust system in HS, and you opened more than 2 of any card.. those extras would have no value.
after years of HS I don't really care XD all those packs I opened, I pretty much got the feel of what I'm suppost to get anyway
but still a good thing overall :D