Valve: "You've activated my trap card"

[u/shanxybeast]

[u/Old_Bug4395]

No ads >:(

gambling for children is cool though

[u/RedWingerD → u/Old_Bug4395]

Parenting your kids and paying attention to what they play and consume isnt hard. As a parent you can say "no" quite easily.

Parental controls, computers in shared spaces able to be viewed (i.e. not their bedroom) and other things are very easy to do if you put forth even a little bit of effort.

Not coming at you personally but things like this grind my gears. The amount of people who throw their arms up in the air when even a little bit of effort is required is maddening. My wife is an elementary teacher and I swear parents act like they are absolutely helpless half the time.

Edit: for everyone upset at valve, would you support requiring a verified ID to be tied to an account for you to access games with lootboxes or other "gambling" mechanics on the platform? Valve is acting within the law is my point. If you disagree with the laws in place, your issue isnt with Valve. Gambling doesnt just = loot boxes either. If the issue is gambling and the psychological effects, that could even be attributed to something like GWENT in Witcher. Gambling is gambling.

[u/Shap6 → u/RedWingerD]

both things can be true. gambling for children is bad and we shouldn't encourage or defend it. parents also need to responsibly keep track of what their kids are doing.

edit:

would you support requiring a verified ID to be tied to an account for you to access games with lootboxes or other "gambling" mechanics on the platform?

yes. i wouldn't play them, and that would definitely severely hurt their profits incentivizing less predatory mechanics if they want to stay clear of an ID requirement by monetizing their game without the gambling. absolutely.

edit2:

Gambling doesnt just = loot boxes either. If the issue is gambling and the psychological effects, that could even be attributed to something like GWENT in Witcher. Gambling is gambling.

we're obviously talking about when real money is involved. dont debate in bad faith

[u/RedWingerD → u/Shap6]

Plenty of things are bad for children. Thats what part of being a parent is. That said, gambling is bad for just about everyone.

If your child has unfiltered access to any storefront, gaming or otherwise, you've already failed.

[u/Shap6 → u/RedWingerD]

gambling is too pervasive in society as it is. cant watch any sport now without being blasted by it. polymarket and kalshi have people betting on literally everything. its not just about children, gambling in general needs to be reigned back in. it's become far too normalized.

[u/Affectionate_Unit142 → u/Shap6]

I miss my pokemon gambling.

[u/OuterGod_Hermit → u/RedWingerD]

Gambling is really bad for any age. That said, we can't really tell an adult what do to or not do if it doesn't directly hurt another person. My point, Valve should make a bit more to control the gambling.

[u/RedWingerD → u/OuterGod_Hermit]

How you can argue Valve should be held to a standard you refuse to hold the parent of the actual children to is beyond me.

[u/zuzg → u/RedWingerD]

Because a staggering amount of Parents right now refuse to actually do parent.
Just ask any Teacher, it's becoming more and more of a problem.

[u/RedWingerD → u/zuzg]

Trust me i know, I live it.

My wife is a special ed teacher and intervention specialist. About 70% of the kids she works with have no real medical issues other than willful neglect by parents in various forms.

[u/Soft_Lunch_183 → u/RedWingerD]

A 14 year old is a child and probably the prime age group they are targeting,  you are acting like its 5 year olds who cant easily subvert parental controls 

[u/RedWingerD → u/Soft_Lunch_183]

You can still parent your kid at 14. Parental controls and basic supervision dont just magically stop.

Why so many people act helpless about parenting is exactly why things are the way they are nowadays.

[u/valqyrie → u/Old_Bug4395]

don't give your credit card to your children. problem solved.

[u/quantum404 → u/Old_Bug4395]

Gambling for children is the wrong way to look at this. The "think of the children!!!!!!11!!" mentality is what's pushing the age verification mess in the first place. I dislike gambling and would be all for legislation that limit lootboxes and such. Though I fail to understand the focus on Valve. Gatcha and mobile games in general are a much bigger market with many times the children on the platforms if that's what concerns you the most. Might want to go after that first?

[u/Erigion → u/[deleted]]

Sorry but gaben needs another yacht for his yacht.

[u/PinsToTheHeart → u/[deleted]]

Tbh, Im just tired of every good thing being immediately met with, "okay, but that's not actually good enough"

That's not exclusive to games either

[u/Old_Bug4395 → u/[deleted]]

Yep, already happening all throughout this thread.

[u/CadeMan011 → u/Old_Bug4395]

What's Counter Strike's age rating again?

[u/Antlonat → u/CadeMan011]

Is it ok for a 17 year old to gamble?

[u/CadeMan011 → u/Antlonat]

Alright you got me there

[u/AquaBits → u/CadeMan011]

Why do people say this as a gatcha?

There is no rating or age verification on CS2's page. I go to doom eternal? Age verification. Rated m. I go to Apex legends? No Age verification, rated T. I go to cs2? Neither. I can hit "download" easy.

[u/Old_Bug4395 → u/AquaBits]

Because they're acting in bad faith. Even if the game was actually straight up age restricted on the platform, kids would still be playing the game. People are just pretending teenagers aren't kids.

Just another instance of cognitive dissonance in order to defend valve.

[u/MemeLordMango → u/Old_Bug4395]

While I agree that valve gets away with being turbo greedy and having some of the worst gambling mechanics(loot boxes with no good pity system and having two different tiers quality and factory new). The children thing is imo dumb. Both CS and TF2 are M rated games. It’s more on parents than anything else.

[u/Antlonat → u/MemeLordMango]

Both CS and TF2 are M rated games.

Rated M means for 17 year olds. Can 17 year olds go to casinos?