Rockstar Games Plans Age Verification For GTA Online (rockstarintel.com)
from themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to technology@lemmy.world on 04 Aug 09:41
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/50410416

#technology

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Dirk@lemmy.ml on 04 Aug 09:45 next collapse

They would lose likely 98% of their player base.

3dcadmin@lemmy.relayeasy.com on 04 Aug 10:23 next collapse

more like 99%

BeliefPropagator@discuss.tchncs.de on 04 Aug 10:41 next collapse

maybe the goal is instead to try to get ahead of regulation by implementing a system that is easily bypassed by most kids (like these video based age estimations). Then they can show this to the regulator and be like: “look were already doing everything we can, no need to actually put the regulation in place”.

Senseless@feddit.org on 04 Aug 12:09 next collapse

Maybe that actually makes it playable. But who am I kidding?

eager_eagle@lemmy.world on 04 Aug 13:04 next collapse

$omething tells me that won’t happen

bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de on 04 Aug 13:40 collapse

Seriously. Our school had a presentation by a guy about kids and computer usage. The gist of it was: Roblox bad, because of paedophiles. GTA good, because it furthers role playing. Basically the opposite of the age recommendations.

Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 06 Aug 06:17 collapse

Welll…Depends on if you install mods I guess?

Lfrith@lemmy.ca on 04 Aug 11:21 next collapse

GTA online is the worst thing to happen to the series, since it killed off story DLCs. Which were a fantastic way to get new story based content for their games between the years long wait between sequels. Damn those gamers and their obsession with buying microtransactions.

real_squids@sopuli.xyz on 04 Aug 12:38 next collapse

On the flip side, it’s given it insane longevity and made it feel more modern. Playing singleplayer feels so annoying at times because of their arbitrary rules (which are still in online, but toned down a little) and gameplay/mission design.

At least GTAO showed everyone rockstar’s true nature, and you couldn’t turn away or say that it’s a small alternative game mode.
So shoutout to online and 5 as a whole for showing me enough to avoid all future rockstar titles lol

tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world on 04 Aug 17:01 collapse

GTA5 was released in 2013. GTA6 is being released 13 years later. If there had been no GTAO, we would have had at least one or two more “modern” GTA releases in that window.

real_squids@sopuli.xyz on 04 Aug 21:32 next collapse

I wouldn’t be so sure. Modern AAA games are insanely big and resource-intensive. Just look at rdr2

Lfrith@lemmy.ca on 04 Aug 21:43 next collapse

We would have had story DLC like Ballad of Gay Tony and the Lost and the Damned GTA IV got as well as Undead Nightmare for Red Dead Redemption.

real_squids@sopuli.xyz on 04 Aug 22:38 collapse

We wouldn’t have several full games is my point

Lightor@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 14:06 collapse

They want money though, they would be selling content instead of shark passes or whatever.

Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 06 Aug 06:15 collapse

I would think so.
Considering for how detailed the world is, I can see them working for a long time on it (maybe not 13 years but longer than between 4 and 5).

echodot@feddit.uk on 04 Aug 16:49 next collapse

Then they double killed it when they started introducing nonsense like flying cars with rocket launchers.

ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml on 04 Aug 21:28 collapse

Don’t forget when they triple killed it by not enabling Proton support.

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 05 Aug 16:44 collapse

worse, they disabled it. it worked perfectly on proton then they blocked it off.

TheMonk@lemmings.world on 04 Aug 17:28 next collapse

I don’t understand why people needed to give them constant money. For real, I played for a minute but never spent a dime. Why buy things when you can achieve them?

SuperSpecialNickname@lemmy.ml on 04 Aug 21:06 next collapse

Because it’s extremely annoying to earn enough money. Payouts are pathetic and things are extremely expensive to push you towards buying money. I didn’t spend any money on it thankfully, that’s just my reasoning behind it.

Lfrith@lemmy.ca on 04 Aug 21:45 next collapse

People are really weird. Stuff like that makes me not play, but for most it makes them spend. I find those consumers bizarre as hell, but they are the mainstream consumer so we are the weird ones.

TheMonk@lemmings.world on 04 Aug 21:58 collapse

This is definitely the way I feel. Even if I really want to do something, if I find out they’re doing this to squeeze me or they’re putting some wild shit in the privacy policy, I just don’t engage with their shit. Fuck those companies. I’m more angry with capitalism than I am susceptible to the desire they try to garner

FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world on 04 Aug 22:10 collapse

It was great the first couple years when people were just throwing piles of in game money around so everyone could play with all the flashy things. After they cinched up every money glitch and started pushing shark cards…online instantly lost any appeal. As you said, grinding for things in game is purposefully tedious and geared to make you spend more money.

ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml on 04 Aug 21:40 next collapse

Because number go up. lol

Also everything is insanely expensive in online.

binarytobis@lemmy.world on 04 Aug 23:54 collapse

To be honest I regret spending so much time earning money and buying so many cars. It would have been more fun riding around in a stolen piece of trash robbing liquor stores with a friend than grinding the bank heist over and over.

lechekaflan@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 01:08 collapse

Unfortunately, the online component easily becomes a profitable sideline. Sarcastically, it’s what keeps some game corporation CEOs afford their lifestyles.

madcaesar@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 17:37 collapse

I fucking hate how there is starvation and homelessness in the world, at the same time as there is morons blasting cash away into imaginary online points.

HeyJoe@lemmy.world on 04 Aug 11:50 next collapse

Phew, ok good. A few months ago, when this first leaked, it made it seem like this was going to be used for every country and for the entire game. I have never played GTA online and never will.

The internet is continuing to get worse and worse… also, those comments on the actual article were strangely to pro.

DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 04 Aug 12:27 next collapse

If we’re going to government age verification everywhere just get rid of fucking ESRB and content ratings

Skullgrid@lemmy.world on 04 Aug 13:40 next collapse

If we’re going to government age verification everywhere just get rid of fucking ESRB and content ratings

This is a game made in Scotland, ESRB is a voluntary US based system.

SheeEttin@lemmy.zip on 04 Aug 13:52 next collapse

PEGI, then.

kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 05 Aug 00:39 next collapse

Made even sillier because Rockstar isn’t a government.

Thunderbird4@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 16:21 collapse

Yes, it’s voluntary and self-imposed by the game industry to avoid exactly this kind of nanny-state bullshit. Ergo, if governments proceed with the bullshit anyway, then there’s no longer a need for the ESRB or PEGI.

seralth@lemmy.world on 06 Aug 10:49 collapse

Or just start fucking using the AO rating.

GTA should have a fucking AO rating but because of money no game gets more then an M rating making the entire system pointless.

DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 06 Aug 12:24 collapse

Exactly. What’s the point of AO is all major retailers pledged 20 years ago that they won’t sell it? AO is basically a sales ban

Sabata11792@ani.social on 04 Aug 13:08 next collapse

So, I loose no functionality when I pirate it?

cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca on 05 Aug 00:04 next collapse

Wrong. You “lose” the age verification feature.

Psythik@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 03:04 collapse

You might not be able to connect to FiveM servers, which IMO is a major loss. FiveM is the real GTA V.

Akasazh@feddit.nl on 04 Aug 16:05 next collapse

And nothing of worth was lost

tinned_tomatoes@feddit.uk on 04 Aug 20:57 next collapse

Isn’t GTAV an 18 rated game? So children shouldn’t be able to buy it in the first place.

themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 04 Aug 21:43 next collapse

This falls on the parents instead because of dumb laws every one has to deal with this, I just hope that not all countries are this insane:

users in the UK have had to take photos of themselves and upload it to a service that uses AI to guess their age. Or, send in photos of ID such as passports or driving licenses.

interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml on 04 Aug 22:29 collapse

The problem needs to be addressed at the root, make making children illegal !

vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org on 05 Aug 08:47 collapse

Year 2025 - politicians are held under control by evidence of them having raped children

Year 2035 - politicians are held under control by evidence of them having made children outside of the state incubator

vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org on 05 Aug 08:44 next collapse

The point is to make children used to checks.

It’s a didactic law.

IRL usually children grow up feeling they are free (except for their parents) to an extent.

This is intended so that identifying yourself in the Internet were normal by the time you grow up for it to matter.

But, of course, there might be some good considerations, if you’re into playing devil’s advocate. People might remember which stupid shit they were posting when they were younger, and want for future generations to be always conscious of the difference between pseudonymity and anonymity, and superficial anonymity vs real. People might want to make it so that nobody had a false sense of security, leading to really bad mistakes. People might want this to be the step preceding some way to fight bots.

And they might even not have good considerations, but eventually realize that the oppressive system they are building is best rebuilt for something better and used differently. Wouldn’t be the first time in history.

It’s just that laying down your arms in hopes for that is unwise.

seralth@lemmy.world on 06 Aug 10:46 collapse

It’s M rated. M ratings are 17+ the ESRB rating for 18+ is AO.

M ratings are for minors, AO is for adults.

You need to ID to buy an AO game, you do not for M unless it’s a individual store policy.

Due to anti porn sentiment and stores refusing to carry porn. Only 24 games have ever gotten the AO rating

It’s considered a death flag.

It’s much like how the Deadpool movie was R rated instead of pg13. This was considered a huge risk cause R rates movies don’t make money was the common theory.

But even then R rating is also for minors. Movies have the NC-17 rating which is for 18+ and thus only adults. This would be the AO rating in games.

Stores and public facing businesses are so piss scared of having adult rated content even if it’s not porn, just because of the vague idea that adult only content HAS to be porn cause “what else would it be”

That rating systems have undermined their very purpose and become fucking useless. It’s why everything is only M rated instead of being AO when it really should be.

tinned_tomatoes@feddit.uk on 06 Aug 11:35 collapse

It’s not really relevant as the UK rating system doesn’t have M or AO clarifications. The game is rated 18 so it’s for adults only.

AlphaOmega@lemmy.world on 04 Aug 22:15 next collapse

Can you even call it GTA online if there aren’t a dozen 12 year olds running around screaming, “N***** and F*****”.

Bennyboybumberchums@lemmy.world on 04 Aug 22:38 next collapse

Moms are still getting plenty of action though, right? Wont someone think of the moms!!!

FuckFascism@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 08:14 collapse

I’m thinking of your mom right now don’t worry maboy.

Bennyboybumberchums@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 15:15 collapse

Phew. I dont know what she’d do, with out all the xbox bros fucking her 12 times a night…

FuckFascism@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 21:02 collapse

Np bro that’s what I’m here for.

Bennyboybumberchums@lemmy.world on 06 Aug 00:51 collapse

Good stuff. Cos lets be honest, those 80 year old hip bones aint gonna pop themselves in and out of place…

FuckFascism@lemmy.world on 06 Aug 01:58 collapse

You’re damn right they’re not.

Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 06 Aug 06:12 collapse

Can you call it that when chat is disabled anyway ; D

JadenSmith@sh.itjust.works on 04 Aug 22:26 next collapse

I hope they don’t block VPN access.

muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works on 04 Aug 22:37 collapse

They absolutely will

yggstyle@lemmy.world on 04 Aug 23:27 next collapse

Maybe I’m dating myself but this is the same company that released state of emergency for the PS2? That game you could literally mow down people in a mall with a mini gun?

They were worried about “the children?” News to me.

Muffi@programming.dev on 05 Aug 06:36 next collapse

They have way more investors to jerk off and please now

slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org on 05 Aug 09:32 next collapse

I mean the whole “ban gta” movement was started by rockstar themselves. They riled up the masses about how dangerous gta is, and it worked. The moms hopped onto the train and the whole movement gained momentum and the made billions.

lemmyknow@lemmy.today on 05 Aug 12:00 next collapse

I remember when me neighbour got Bully, another Rockstar game

Blackmist@feddit.uk on 05 Aug 17:42 collapse

My mum enjoyed the bonus level in the mall where you could just kill like 100 people as fast as you could.

Her favourite weapon is the flamethrower.

Her first reaction to the game was “that’s disgusting”, but I let her have a go and suddenly she was toasting a whole crowd and loving every minute of it.

Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 06 Aug 06:11 collapse

That’s disgusting!

Where can I find more!

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 05 Aug 01:34 next collapse

If they roll this out to my country, I’m just not buying any of their games. My privacy is worth a lot more than that.

I might still play them, I just won’t buy them, because I’m not doing age verification.

MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca on 05 Aug 08:51 next collapse

and i plan to pirate GTA

Matriks404@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 09:46 next collapse

The thing with age verification is that I don’t think it’s a bad thing if done securely, but still it still makes me sad, because Internet will never be the same with it. In the end it will be only few big websites who can afford to care about Internet regulation.

Well, after all maybe it’s time to switch to Gemini protocol, they are not going to regulate that!

ToxicWaste@lemmy.cafe on 05 Aug 10:22 next collapse

age verification is just a BS strawman. do you remember when we where young? we would access stuff and find ways to buy stuff. but whenever there was a reasonable but fair gap, it would be much harder to get whatever we wanted: buying weed was so much easier, than buying alcohol (without the appropriate age).

pirating is easy (even i figured it out before having enough money to buy movies & games). so the kids will just pirate that stuff and get their way anyway. age verification at the store makes so much more sense. sure, there are ways to circumvent those. but it is a reasonable stop block.

Auli@lemmy.ca on 05 Aug 10:25 next collapse

Don’t see how pirating well overcome the online age check.

ToxicWaste@lemmy.cafe on 05 Aug 11:16 collapse

fivem.net

Matriks404@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 14:01 collapse

But Rockstar Games acquired FiveM back in 2023, so I don’t see how is that relevant to piracy. In fact even if it wasn’t, there was nothing illegal about it as far as I am aware.

ToxicWaste@lemmy.cafe on 05 Aug 17:15 collapse

if you can run a private server, you can get rid of all ‘phone home’ requirements.

so you just need a cracked copy of the game itself. luckily it is completely legal to remove digital locks on anything you bought in many countries (not the usa though).

Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 06 Aug 06:10 collapse

When I couldnt buy digital stuff because of age restrictions (e.g. game shops) I at one point figured out that Steam doesnt do that and you could get Paysafecards to buy them this way.
No need for paypal (which needs an online banking enabled SEPA account or credit card) or a credit card.

ToxicWaste@lemmy.cafe on 06 Aug 16:17 collapse

exactly what i am talking about. age restriction at the physical store kept you away for a while, while not forcing an alternative/underground market. however, if you knew the only way to get it is on an alternative store - you would immediately have looked there.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 05 Aug 13:30 next collapse

Parents will just have their kids play on their accounts. This only hurts the average person who now needs to worry about who has that information and how it’s secured.

bless@lemmy.ml on 05 Aug 18:39 collapse

If that’s true its going to be funny when the account gets banned because of something kiddo did

cy_narrator@discuss.tchncs.de on 05 Aug 14:11 collapse

I though google’s assistant Gemini

vxx@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 15:20 next collapse

The same parents that allow their children to play these games now will allow them to play then.

This will just make me not want to play these games.

aesthelete@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 15:26 next collapse

With the reputation most companies have with leaking and breached data, who wouldn’t want to have their ssn and license on file with rock star games?!

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 05 Aug 15:41 collapse

Is it even hard ro find someone’s SSN anymore?

aesthelete@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 15:56 collapse

Not really, the assholes used the last four of it for college emails in the 2000s FFS.

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 05 Aug 16:04 next collapse

guess ill be pirating the next one, since there will be no online mode.

ivanafterall@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 17:14 collapse

Same exact thought.

heyWhatsay@slrpnk.net on 06 Aug 05:07 next collapse

I’m already boycotting rockstar, just make offline games and stop with the invasive bs

Now my money is going to indie developers

FlembleFabber@sh.itjust.works on 06 Aug 09:20 collapse

(almost) every game is an offline game if you pirate it ;)

ksigley@lemmy.world on 06 Aug 21:16 collapse

🏴‍☠️

Joelk111@lemmy.world on 06 Aug 05:57 next collapse

What about disabling the shitty anti-cheat or even just enabling it on Linux so I, as a 27yo, can play the damn game?

RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz on 06 Aug 06:41 next collapse

I wouldn’t mind not having to play with children. But it’s a privacy issue

schizolol9@lemy.lol on 06 Aug 06:41 collapse

Im bout to crash out this is absolutely the most stupidest idea ever. Anyone should be able to play this game regardless of age.

seralth@lemmy.world on 06 Aug 10:37 collapse

If the game isn’t rated AO it shouldn’t have an age verification.

R rating is fucking 17+ not 18+. R rating is still for minors.

If your game needs an age rating then you shouldn’t be allowed to have an R rating straight to AO for you.

Oh what’s that visa won’t let you sell your AO rated game?

Too fucking bad.

Maybe find a better solution then. ):<