Linden Lab to Ban Second Life-Based Gachas at the End of This Month; Vaki, the SL User/RL Lawyer Who Foresaw This Move, Explains Why

Late last month,  Vaki, a longtime Second Life user who is also a real life attorney that's represented several SL users on legal questions, told New World Notes to expect a crackdown on SL-based gachas:

"Realistically," as Vaki puts it to me, "the likely scenario — if there is ever a crackdown — is that pressure will be put on Linden Lab to get its platform cleaned up, and Linden Lab will then put pressure on creators, exactly like it did with 'skill-based games' (in-world gambling) five years ago."... In fact, Vaki adds, "I would suspect that there already is pressure, particularly as the US keeps talking about loot box legislation."

Vaki's forecast just came true, with Linden Lab announcing today that gachas would soon be banned from Second Life:

Due to a changing regulatory climate, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to sunset a very popular sales mechanism for content in Second Life.  It’s widely known as "gacha", and is defined by a chance-based outcome as a result of a payment. We know that creators plan their content releases far in advance and will need to re-tool their products, so to mitigate the impact to those affected, we are giving a 30-day grace period, until midnight SLT on August 31.  After that time, selling content via gacha machines will no longer be permitted in Second Life.  Enforcement won’t start until September 1; after that date an Abuse Report for “Gaming Policy Violation” will be the preferred method of reporting this content to Linden Lab.  

"I don't think Linden Lab's post was actually very good at explaining what people can't do," Vaki tells me today, after reading the announcement. "You're going to have a ton of people trying to find the boundaries of this decision..."

Fortunately, Vaki has a long thread on Plurk explaining more about the legal policies at play:

There's been a lot of debate about lootboxes and gachas on other games, because those are clearly games of chance — you're just clicking on a thing to get your ultra-rare outfit or avatar skin or whatever. And you have to pay to get the gold or gems or whatever in order to buy them: that's a step removed from the of value thing needed to place the bet, but it's close enough, really. But with lootboxes, the thing you get doesn't have an intrinsic value of its own. You can't resell it. Other than selling your account, it's mostly worthless. So... it isn't clearly gambling, and the lootbox debate goes on.

But.

Over here in SL, we have gachas. We spend Lindens on them, which do have an intrinsic value: they are redeemable for cash. They are a game of chance. And on the outcome of the game, they provide something of value — it might be something of very little value, something mostly worthless, but it might be something worth a lot.

So it's been a long time coming, I suppose, but as countries crack down more on lootboxes, gachas, and online gambling, this was kind of bound to happen.

Much more here. And much more from Vaki on this topic, hopefully soon.

Comments

[Montecore Babcock]

While I don't do grachas, so it makes no matter to me, this logic about banning them seems to make little sense. You know what prizes are available and the odds. No one's forcing you to pay. And the Linden itself has no real value.

[bye gacha]

You don't know the odds.

[Olyvia DeCuir]

You don't know the odds because the creator selects how many "pulls" you have to pay for before it gives a rare or an ultra rare, so the sky's the limit on how much the creator can make from a given gacha machine by just setting the number of pulls to get a rare at a number so high that it's nearly impossible to get. People end up spending a LOT of money to get the rares...in most cases it's more than the value of the product in the machine. I've always said that gachas are that addictive combination of gambling and shopping. That's probably why they're so popular.

[Adeon Writer]

So the Gacha people already have a gameplan.

Linden's rule is that you must 100% know what you are going to get at the time of purchase. You can't ever hope for one thing and actually end up buying another.

..So the Gacha people are simply going to make the devices tell you what they're about to give you for their next purchace. They still have rarity and all that, so of course no one's going to leave it on a good item: You have to go to a Gacha and think if you want to pay to have it roll and buy it and the thing you want if it shows up.

At the end of the day, it changes almost nothing.

Linden hasn't commented on it yet, but I've specifically asked Patch Linden for his input on if this loophole is going to be permitted.

[Kaylee West]

Never understood gachas, never wanted to waste my money ending up with something I didn't want.

[Eduardo]

Lindens have a real value. You can cash out and turn it into rl money..people do it all the time to pay rent and stuff..may not get a lot from a gacha..but it has a value

[Tobie]

Out of curiousity, what about random vendors? You know those things you find at breedable markets were you pay a certain amount for a chance at something decent, will they still be valid?

[Yoofaloof Pacer]

I'd love to hear from any hardened gacha fans about how playing them has ruined their life. I'll wait...

[Jo]

Second Life isn't your world anymore. It's going to be real life soon.

[Christina George]

Second life is real life its not a game.

[Frankie Antonioni]

Here is a solution to the new gacha rule. Allow gacha machines on some islands. If gachas are legal in your country, then you can go to gacha islands. The islands would be set at mature, and you will have to have payment info on file. On these islands, you can have gacha malls. People can rent places at these malls. Creators that are from countries, that don't allow gacha machines, can sell them to people that can go to these islands. It could be a 50/50 type deal.The money made would be split by the creator, and by the person that owns the machines. And the people that play the machines, can resell what they win.

Now granted, if you are from a country that doesn't allow gachas, then you can't visit the gacha islands, and you can't play the machines. But they can go to gacha yard sells, and buy gacha items. They just can't play the machines.