• sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    What’s illegal about it? Are they committing some kind of fraud? Is there some threat of harm if people don’t buy it (i.e. extortion)? Where exactly is the potential crime?

    Yeah, it would be pretty stupid to buy this in general, especially if you can’t actually afford it, but being stupid isn’t illegal.

    • Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Fomo is a form of coercion, and im pretty sure that’s a crime in this case. The industry uses underhanded and shady practices to get people to spend money on things that have no intrinsic value.

      I can see from your comment that its possible you haven’t looked into this very much because you sound like me a few yesrs ago when i didnt see the harm as im not particularly susceptible to the ways they pedal microtransactions/in game purchases.

      • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        lol it very obviously is not a crime. It’s not even a civil action.

        I don’t support the whale business model for video games, but the idea that it’s somehow a crime is a laughable lack of understanding of the law.

        • Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Not coercion in regards to shady business practices. But in 2015 in the uk coercian was made a criminal offence. Since im from the uk you can understand where im coming from when i say its a crime.

          • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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            11 months ago

            It does not even loosely resemble the broad, non-legal definition of coercion in any way. There are zero similarities. Let alone the statutory definition, which is not near as broad.

            It also is not and does not resemble FOMO, which is also not illegal anywhere and is practiced by every business on the planet.

            • Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              No, fomo isn’t illegal. Coercion is. And although the legal definition of coercion doesnt include the mental distress one feels when feeling like they might miss out it doesnt mean that it cant be argued from a philosophical angle that fomo is a form of coercion.

              Your view that it bares zero resemblance is very static.

              Only a sith deals in absolutes 😜

              • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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                11 months ago

                No valid definition of coercion has any resemblance in any context to what is happening here.

                Some things are absolute, and the fact that you don’t even sort of have any idea what you’re talking about is one of them. You’re not making a “philosophical argument”. You’re spouting completely incoherent gibberish.

                • Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
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                  11 months ago

                  I guess you are entitled to your opinion. If i only you allowed me to be entitled to mine without trying to insult me.

                  • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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                    11 months ago

                    It’s not an opinion. You are objectively wrong, completely redefining words to mean things that are entirely different.

                    You are not entitled to lie with words without being called out for it.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        No, fomo is not a form of coercion whatsoever. Here’s the legal definition in the federal legal code:

        coercion

        (2) The term “coercion” means— (A) threats of serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; (B) any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; or © the abuse or threatened abuse of law or the legal process.

        So it requires the threat or implied threat of serious harm or abuse of the law against a person.

        And no, not looking cool or being at the top of a game isn’t “serious harm,” you’d be laughed out of the courtroom and perhaps fined for wasting everyone’s time if you tried to make that legal argument.

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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            11 months ago

            The original context of this chain is a legal one:

            Isn’t it time to get some regulations on m(i/a)cro transactions? This seems very illegal to me and it is exploiting people’s addictions.

            Yes, you didn’t say that, but you responded in that context. I asked “what is illegal about it?” and you directly replied with the note about coercion. To me, that clearly implies you think this is a form of legal coercion, and now you’re backpedaling because I showed that’s explicitly not true. You’re moving the goalposts.

            • Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              That completely fair. You can definitely interpret that implication from what i said. I need to be more careful with my choice of words in future.

              However, i assure you my intent was not to make a legal argument.

              I was saying that coercion is illegal, which is true. And that i believe that fomo is a form of coercion, which would be my opinion. But it doesn’t read that way.

              Sorry.

              • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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                11 months ago

                No worries, it just gets confusing when terms are used loosely and differently in a conversation.

                For the record, I disagree that both that FOMO is a form of coercion (even the regular dictionary definition implies force is involved) and believe it shouldn’t be illegal to entice adults with it, but there should be limits on marketing to children. That said, any form of advertising can be considered a form of fomo, so I’m not exactly sure where the line should be. That said, we do have limits on fraud, which covers things like making unrealistic claims (e.g. this cosmetic will make you win). It’s disgusting, but shouldn’t be illegal.

    • filister@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Isn’t it what regulations are for?

      Plus a lot of micro transactions and all kinds of bullshit like this are targeting the adolescents so at least they should be bound by law that whoever purchases those virtual goods is above 18 at least.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        I agree, that part might be illegal because adolescents cannot legally consent (in most cases). So there’s a chance there, but my guess is that an adolescent isn’t going to be making a $48k MTX purchase (they aren’t old enough to legally have debt, and probably not old enough to earn that much).

        In general though, I can’t think of any law this violates.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        What’s fraudulent about it? Here’s the definition of fraud:

        A deception practiced in order to induce another to give up possession of property or surrender a right.

        The legal definition is either an intentional or (usually reckless) negligent misrepresentation of fact. From what I’ve seen, every manipulative MTX game never misrepresented any facts (you will get X if you pay Y), they just create an environment where you want the thing more than you normally would (e.g. the thing won’t be available tomorrow). That’s not fraud, it’s just FOMO, the crux of advertising.

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            There’s a difference between being “a fraud” and being unsuccessful. Development continues, and people seem to like the direction it’s going, so it’s not like they abandoned the project and ran off with the money.

            I think it’s part scam, part poorly managed game, but I don’t think it fits the legal definition of “fraud” since they’ve largely delivered on their promises, just incredibly slowly and inefficiently.