So when does Platinum Mirage opens up ?

[LineageRazor]

Basically, virtual gambling gets super sketchy.

Pretty sure virtual gambling only gets murky once real-life money enters the equation. If you're spending cash for gil, and then frittering it away, then the lawyers' ears might perk a bit, but officially in this game it is not allowable to trade real-life money for gil. A way to gamble away in-game currency isn't even gonna ding their radars.

And, to be fair, even if real-life money is involved those ears might perk, but not by much. Gacha-based mobile games are a huge thing right now, and that's almost explicitly spending real-life money to spin the virtual roulette wheel. If the legal train gets rolling, those will definitely be the first stop.

[CosmicKirby]

Particularly in China and Korea. Actual gambling mechanics are incredibly risky, because players can start betting actual money, this is a huge legal liability. I've seen things as simple as 6sided dice removed from games like Mabinogi because actual gambling became a thing.

[Stormfur]

Yeah..I think the reason why they can't do it is because of the game's rating and the propensity for gambling / spending real money in game. There are some odd rules when you start going international. I think it was china that had a rule that you couldn't show bones in a video game or something.

[Ametrine]

Gacha-based mobile games are a huge thing right now, and that's almost explicitly spending real-life money to spin the virtual roulette wheel. If the legal train gets rolling, those will definitely be the first stop.

Interestingly, China recently passed a law stating that any and all "gacha" or lootbox based systems MUST report to the players the exact percentages they have for receiving specific items they are rolling for.

I found this interesting as it meant Blizzard would be forced to reveal how their lootboxes were stacked.... Only for Blizz to stop selling lootboxes to Chinese players altogether, instead forcing them to buy the ingame currency directly. Lame.

But, you also need to note that Gachapon and lootboxes don't leave you empty handed. You can't "lose," so to speak, even though the chance at valuable prizes are the reason you keep coming back and spending more.

That's one of the loopholes.

[Urthdigger]

As I recall, there are laws in certain countries against blatant gambling games, which is why the game corner was removed/replaced in the re-releases of Pokemon gen 1 and 2. Those same laws are likely why we can't have slot machines or poker or such in FFXIV