I'm sorry if the following post comes off as a bit angry. I'm writing this off the cuff and am very aggravated by the situation.
Today I received an email from Google Play Support stating that Luck be a Landlord has been geo-blocked in the following countries: United Arab Emirates,
So you think an FPS should be taken down for murder?
Similar to some countries banning games that depict skulls or blood, these countries have banned games that depict gambling. This is different from banning games that contain loot boxes or actual gambling.
No because that’s not killing anyone.
But a slot machine simulator is still gambling even if it doesn’t really pay out.
So a slot machine simulator getting banned in countries that ban gambling makes perfect sense.
But the creator apparently thinks it’s because those countries just love capitalism so much…
I don’t know what’s hard to understand
Uhh, no? That’s not what gambling is?
Didn’t you know that every choice you make throughout the day is gambling?
Every random number generator is gambling, dammit. Right down to quantum mechanics.
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That’s gambling with your life man.
See my previous comment
What about Vampire Survivors, as well as numerous other games, using spinners or other slot-machine-like animations to represent RPG drops? Should all of these games be banned for the same reason? If anything, many of these better re-create the slot machine experience with their flashy effects and more substantial results.
In Super Mario Bros 2 you use a slot machine to get extra lives at the end of each level - I hope they’ve banned that game too.
I’m not exactly up to date on mobile games…
But if their primary gameplay is a slot machine simulator, then yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re also banned.
Although people who play a lot of mobile games would explain the type of replies I’m getting. So it probably wasn’t intentional, but you did help, thanks!
These aren’t mobile games, they’re desktop games, and this isn’t anything new. These same themes and effects have been used for decades. As someone else points out, even the retro Mario games have you use spinners and slot machines. RNG is exciting and helps make a fun and engaging game. I mean, by that same logic, a game like Catan should be banned because one of its primary mechanics is just being rewarded for favorable dice rolls, as you would be when gambling on dice.
There is a metric fuckton of slot machine games on the playstore. This game, which isn’t gambling, is being limited while other slot machine games aren’t.
It would be different if the policy was applied equally to other apps as well.
You’ve been told multiple times it is not.
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LbaL is also on Steam btw, I played it there a few years ago
Well the UAE for instance recently made a deal with a Las Vegas casino. Wynn Resorts.
Exceptions are made, clearly.
I googled that.
It’s set to open in 2027 because they’re confident by then it will be legal.
But it’s 2023 and it’s not legal. So sure, if in 2027 it’s legal and this mobile slot machine simulator is still banned, maybe it would matter
Really, Luck Be A Landlord just needs to call them ‘duty free luck draws’ or something. Or disguise the slots as horse races. Gambling is rampant in places like the UAE, it’s just gamed,(haw). So that’s all LBAL would need to do. I doubt it’s worth the effort for the sales in the countries banning it though.
Except gambling on racing is legal.
Are you just trolling?
The fps isn’t killing anybody and spinning the wheels in luck be a landlord isn’t taking anybody’s money.
Neither is bad.
FPS games aren’t actually killing anyone.
And a slot machine simulator is not actually gambling. Gambling is the wagering of something of value (“the stakes”) on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. (Wikipedia) . If you are not paying or receiving money you are not gambling. You are just playing a game.
Present evidence that fake gambling causes real gambling. Not evidence that it actives dopamine receptors. Actual gambling.
Fantasy and fiction don’t cause maladaptive behavior. One day society will accept that this is still true for audiovisual media, just as it had to be slowly accepted for music, just as it had to be slowly accepted for books.
This is like saying meteorologists who predict the rain cause it…
u wot? It’s not a slot machine simulator either.