If Chen is so worried about children's wellbeing maybe they shouldn't go for that ridiculous "oh it's just cosmetics" excuse. If that were valid then brand-name clothing companies wouldn't exist. It's long-established that children get excluded and even outright bullied for daring to have parents that cannot afford that junk. Don't get me wrong, I understand and accept that running the servers costs a lot of money. So either charge a higher upfront free, or require a subscription. *DON'T* use shameless exploitation strategies like "oh it's just cosmetics" when everyone on the planet knows the social pressures and results of doing that.
Now, is that less exploitative and damaging than putting unregulated real-money gambling ("lootboxes") into games that are available to minors? Of course. But that just *cannot* be the standard we apply...
If Chen is so worried about children's wellbeing maybe they shouldn't go for that ridiculous "oh it's just cosmetics" excuse. If that were valid then brand-name clothing companies wouldn't exist. It's long-established that children get excluded and even outright bullied for daring to have parents that cannot afford that junk. Don't get me wrong, I understand and accept that running the servers costs a lot of money. So either charge a higher upfront free, or require a subscription. *DON'T* use shameless exploitation strategies like "oh it's just cosmetics" when everyone on the planet knows the social pressures and results of doing that.
Now, is that less exploitative and damaging than putting unregulated real-money gambling ("lootboxes") into games that are available to minors? Of course. But that just *cannot* be the standard we apply...