this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2024
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Games featuring paid loot boxes will soon receive a mandatory 'M' rating in Australia (www.gamedeveloper.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

... I'm sorry, what?

Do ... does any Mario Party game even have microtransactions? You know, specific game content unlocked by an additional purchase with real world currency? Much less ones where the outcome of a purchase is substantially randomized?

EDIT:

Games that feature "simulated gambling," such as casino games, will be legally restricted to adults aged 18 and over with a minimum classification of 'R 18+.' Projects that were classified before September 22 won't need to be reclassified unless they lose their current rating due to "revocation or modification."

This sounds like it isn't a retroactive change, its a going forward change. It's explained further in the actual guidelines:

Situations where video games may require reclassification Video games that were classified prior to 22 September 2024, but add in-game purchases linked to elements of chance or simulated gambling content may require reclassification if adding this content is likely to affect the classification of the game. For example: – video games classified G or PG that add in-game purchases linked to elements of chance after 22 September 2024 are likely to require reclassification – video games classified G, PG, M or MA 15+ that add simulated gambling content after 22 September 2024 are likely to require reclassification

So... yeah, Mario Party games would have to be patched or re released or something to add more gambling content.

It does seem to indicate that, going forward, a Mario Party game that simulates casino like gambling would get an R 18+ rating, but the Mario Party franchise does not seem to me to have had any minigames that even sort of resemble a casino type game, even with neutered or non existent betting/staking mechanics, in about a decade.

The upcoming Super Mario Jamboree, though public info on the minigames is incomplete, also does not appear to depict any casino like games.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Did you read the article?

This doesn't just cover microtransactions. In fact, the new law is harsher on fake gambling than it is on real gambling - loot boxes get classified as M, but a poker minigame is an automatic R18.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

That's just ridiculous, you can also just play poker without any money for fun

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Apologies for editing after you replied, I have a tendency of making a quick point and then expanding on it with an edit.

Hard to copy and paste lots of shit on a shitty phone.

But basically, its not a retroactive re rating of any game unless the game is patched to add in simulated gambling or loot boxes.

While sure, Mario Party 3 has simulated gambling minigames, I doubt its getting patched any time soon, and the upcoming Super Mario Party Jamboree does not appear to have any mini games simulating a casino type game.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

But basically, its not a retroactive re rating of any game unless the game is patched to add in simulated gambling or loot boxes.

This FAQ say titles will need reclassification if the modify their loot box payouts, so any ongoing live service game will get an updated classification eventually.

Q. Would changing the rewards within an existing paid loot box, cause the video game to require reclassification?

A. Adding new rewards to existing paid loot boxes constitutes adding new in-game purchases linked to elements of chance and may cause a video game to become unclassified and require reclassification depending on the original classification of the video game.

https://igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/INFRA6558-Australian-Classifications-%E2%80%93-Fact-sheet-%E2%80%93-industry-FAQs_v6.pdf

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

"The definition of simulated gambling applies to any interactive activity within a video game and does not consider how much of the game consists of simulated gambling," reads the FAQ, which also notes the test for simulated gambling "does not consider the type of currency (in-game versus purchasable) used."

You don't need micro transactions to get the legal Restricted 18 label. The gacha games that you spend real money on get an M while any instance of casino games gets you an R18. I wanna know if they're including poker in that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Same apologies to you for my edit, but again as with the other similar reply, games are not retroactively rated R 18+ unless simulated gambling is added after September 22.

Yes, if older Mario Party games were patched or updated or remastered and released in a week, they'd be R 18+, but thats probably not gonna happen, and the upcoming Mario Party game doesn't appear to have any casino like minigames.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I love when people comment and vote before they actually read the article.

Mario 64 DS had Luigi's Casino, and Mario Kart had the Wario (?) themed Casino map. Its not outlandish to think Mario Party could include such elements in the future.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

... Its totally fine to include a casino as a setting so long as interactive gambling is not a thing the player can do.

Did you read the article or the actual government literature it links to and quotes from?

Nothing is going to change about existing Mario game ratings.

I'd say it would be outlandish for family friendly Nintendo to suddenly reverse course on general world cultural/legal perspectives and re introduce gambling games when they have not done so in years, the same years many countries have been cracking down on lootboxes/gambling in games for their target demo, kids.

Finally, I didn't downvote you. I only downvote people who are being exceptionally idiotic or abrasive or rude. I almost always prefer to engage with ideas or comments I take issue with but are not presented horrifically: the point of a discussion board should be discussion, not an internet points contest.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I was not saying that this was retroactive. Merely that new games in the Mario Party series could be rated R18+ because of this, perhaps I was not concise enough. Of course, this also applies to any game, Mario Party was only an example because even if a casino is not explicitly used, gameplay which imitates gambling such as a slot machine or some other "randomized reward" element of a game, is gameplay that is pretty common to Mario Party's minigames.

Fire Emblem Heroes is a mobile gacha game by Nintendo that is still ongoing and was released in 2017. In just 3 years the game grossed $656 million USD globally, which makes it Nintendo's most lucrative mobile game. Gacha is considered gambling by this regulation.

I agree with engaging in discussion. I was voicing my frustration at a behaviour that was common to Reddit, and Lemmy is supposed to be different from Reddit. Better. So I was both disappointed and frustrated to see the exact same behaviour as what happened over there. Because someone will say something someone else follows it up and then everyone bases their entire opinion on the reply, then regardless of if the second comment is edited or not people.just completely disregard everything the first commenter says. Its a terrible way to foster a community and a behaviour I hope dies off very quickly. Unfortunately it would seem that social media is conditioning people to do the opposite.