Insight Into a Patch Note

Unturned U3 Discussion
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So in the Patchnotes for Unturned 3.20.3.0.

I’d like to clarify something in a simple way, the reason for Unturned disabling Unboxing in Belgium is not because it wants to be “similar to Valve games” (the reason the patchnotes give) or “Coronavirus”.

It is because Nelson has likely been violating Belgium Gambling Law’s ever since April of 2018.

I know- heavy, right? Nelson is great! How dare our Belgium consider what he’s doing potentially illegal!

Well- it’s more complicated then that. (I tried being simple but we can’t now).

So basically, there has been LOTS of controversy over large scale game development companies like Electronic Arts having games with very-similar-to-gambling lootboxes and other microtransactions that have been attributed to many incidents of child-gambling, so called “Card-Wipes” (when people have themselves or others spend so much money on gambling for lootboxes that they basically wipe their card of money). This ended up escalating in late 2017 when Electronic Arts released a game called “Star Wars Battlefront 2”. It was a first person shooter following the official Star Wars license and was critically crushed by community members and media for it’s egregious microtransactions and lootbox system which had a heavy impact on gameplay. Failed Marketting attempts, attention by politicians and a few months later, Belgium banned Gambling via Lootboxes in certain digital forms.

Something of note is that Valve’s game Counter Strike: Global Offensive was one of the games considered a violator- which is why Lootboxes were removed
(Lootboxes only had to be removed in Belgium of course) so that is likely why he cited that as his reasoning rather than the more likely option from a company (even a small-scale indie one).

Fast forward to now and it has been nearly 2 years since the Belgium Gambling Law. Meaning that Nelson potentially made money off of this directly or indirectly for nearly 2 years. This of course- went into direct violation of the Belgium Gambling Law and so by the end of the whole ordeal, Nelson finally pulled Lootboxes from Unturned 3.0. Finally enterring solidarity with Belgium Gambling Law.

That is the likely story and likely reasoning for why Nelson might’ve actually pulled Lootboxes from Belgium…

This is quite lengthy but I hope it gives much needed insight, even if it leans against Nelson, about his decision, the patch note and the time it took to finally implement it.

And if what happens with small-team developer forums happens here- I got it on notepad to be saved in case it is deleted by a member of SDG Staff.

[color=cyan] POST FIXES:

Changed (also referred to as “Bundles” by some) to NOTHING

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I think everybody already knew this and is why Nelson has leaned away from loot boxes overall besides a few curated ones like Dango and Easter Island. Plus nobody was questioning this to begin with.

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Jesus my eyes, the formatting of this guy’s topics will kill my retina.

Also, what are you even trying to accomplish with this

‘‘I got it on notepad to be saved in case it is deleted by a member of SDG Staff.’’

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I know but I just felt off when I saw that in the patchnotes it mentioned “because valve” as a reason.

I felt like it needed to just be documented in 1 spot the real reason. Because in my opinion it should’ve just said “In accordance with Belgium Gambling Law”, but my aim is to document and hopefully educate any 12 year olds that might think “FuCk LiE HalF UnTurNED!?!?!?!?!!?”

Think that doesn’t represent the thought process of some people… You’re wrong. There is atleast 1 person for everything!

Edit:

I also had a small concern that because it was directed in a sorta negative light towards Nelson that it might just be straight up deleted. I’ve not dived into Nelson as a centerpoint much in Unturned and I don’t want to take much risks.

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Just to clarify: bundles and lootboxes are two different things. Nobody calls the bundles “lootboxes”, nor vice versa, because the bundles are literally not lootboxes.

Buying a bundle is the equivalent of just buying an item outright. Here’s an example of what people are referring to when they say “bundle”: Unturned on Steam

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Thank you for the insight and I will be editting that to fix it (and I will MENTION the fact that I editted that fix in)

EDIT: I’d also like you to try and tackle the whole thing rather than just nitpick errors that do not have major effects on the post. PM me if you find a small issue. I want replies to be on the post’s meaning or people talking about replies on the post’s meaning/their opinion on it.

Edit 2: Or even just 1 part of it would be better than comments about grammar issues or referential errors! I hate to see things derailed or given too much attention because they’re bumped up by complaints about a person’s grammar or memes or just things not related to the TOPIC at hand/display that the person tried to display.

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Is there anything for people to tackle? People already know why it was disabled in U3 – we’ve never said it was because we “want to be similar to Valve games”. The patch note offered an easy comparison. :x

It feels more like another Community Lounge discussion regarding lootbox laws, rather than a U3 discussion.

But there is a lot missing from the post.

  1. Mystery boxes haven’t been droppable for years. They were removed from the drop tables several years ago, when the controversy first started up.

  2. Bundles have largely replaced mystery boxes, especially when it comes to curated content. This is especially true over the last few years.

  3. More recently, mystery boxes were reimplemented for curated maps, with a reworked system where every item has an equal drop rate. At the same time, bundles for each of these boxes were added, which gives each item straight-up via a single purchase.

People haven’t been able to obtain lootboxes during the time period the topic discusses, except off the Community Market (for the original playtime drops), and from the Stockpile (for curated content).

Even with the changes made to the system, no country offers a clear and standardized definition for what’s considered a lootbox when it comes to gambling law. The patch that disabled Belgium/Netherlands unboxing is just us standardizing instead.

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For context, here is my original quote from the update notes:

Unboxing is disabled in Belgium and the Netherlands similar to Valve games.

You are correct that the reason for disabling them in those regions is to ensure we are on the right side of the law. My decision was based on how Valve games have proceeded because their lawyers must have carefully assessed the situation. Here is the TF2 wiki quote I went off of: Mann Co. Supply Crate Key - Official TF2 Wiki | Official Team Fortress Wiki

Players located in Belgium and the Kingdom of the Netherlands are not able to open Mann Co. Supply Crates. This is because the Supply Crate system, wherein the uncrated item has only a very small random chance of having a market value worth more than the key’s purchase price, was determined to violate the gambling laws of those countries.

I have personally bought keys and enjoyed the unboxing in TF2 and CS:GO, or I would not have considered it for Unturned. In my opinion Unturned’s random items are fair to consumers because customers can choose between purchasing them directly, or an evenly distributed random chance. The price is approximately equal because a bundle with 10 items costs $10 vs the box with 1 item costing $1.

For a long time (~2 years) following the controversy we only sold direct bundles, but there was significant continued interest and demand for the random option.

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Isn’t there bundles?

Also wasn’t Belgium like 6 months ago?
So why is it relevant now

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I am glad you addressed this properly and in a respectable manner. Many indie developers or sometimes Triple-AAA-Moderation Teams would just outright remove anything harsh or legally ambigious (correct my spelling please PeskyHatTop) against them.

I am glad to know that but the reasoning for Loot Boxes is that the thrill and enjoyment created by fair or unfair microtransactions may lead to overspending or an eased transition into gambling for mainly children or young teens as has been proven by many cases of it happening.

Then that only calls for you to think about what may be best in ethical terms for the consumer.
It’s like if a grocery store sold weed (but justified it with having less nicotine) and then pulled it from shelves due to the law setting in stone that it may be harmful under circumstances.

It’s best to think of the law and consumer’s safety in scenarios like that- not what is more ‘enjoyed’. I am glad you have tried avoiding this until pulling it once Valve declared that it should have been removed. That is something good.

Then that’s good. I just wished that you could have said it transparently (I love how I’m quoting this all backwards).

Also- Nelson. Netherlands is a Kingdom?! You learn something new every day! Wew.

ADD: PESKY, WE MEAN THE ACTUAL COUNTRIES. NOT THE MAPS.

4:00 AM. Time for sleep.

Last but not least, *should I make the post title clickbaitey?

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I’d encourage you to be more… Optamistic.

Laugh track.

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Becau-- oh.

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