A player of counter-strike: Global Offensive has reported to Valve to maintain “a betting market illegal online» within the multiplayer shooter. Regards, clear to the market of skins to a time has begun to be as popular as the be four three or cs_assault; Perhaps more.
Michael John McLeod, resident of Connecticut, says that Valve (the game developer, and owner of Steam) “has been complicit in the creation, maintenance and promotion of a market” in which players and third-party use skins as if they were a casino chips. «In the economy of eSports, skins are as casino chips that have monetary value outside of the game itself, by the possibility of converting them directly,» explains the complaint.
Valve, explains McLeod, ‘allowed, gave support or sponsor illegal betting allowing millions of Americans to link their individual Steam accounts with third party websites’ that allow buying and selling skins, which can ‘be exchanged and used as collateral to bet”.
The absence of a verification of age at some of these sites “enables children make illegal bets”, explains. Referred to a report by Bloomberg that speaks of bets of adolescents with skins counter-strike as one of the realities of that business, moving 2,000 million dollars. That report States, in fact, that «as there is a liquid market to turn each pistol or knife, make a bet with skins is essentially the same as gambling with real money».
«Valve owns the League, sold the casino chips and receive a share of the profits from the casino through foreign websites to keep the farce that Valve does not promote or benefit from betting online», says the complaint. «Most of the people who participate in the economics of counter-strike gaming: Global Offensive are teenagers less than 21 makes Valve and the actions of others accused even more unacceptable».
McLeod says have been seduced by the betting of skins, and losing money. This disclosure by the bad comes the complaint.
Although it may sound extreme, the McLeod case points in an interesting direction. The connection between video games and betting or gambling is not new; Moreover, as time passes, more evident becomes. The trick here is how Valve benefits because your bets are virtual: United States is the second country that more bet CSGO Lounge, one of these third-party sites that mentioned the complaint, and although sports betting is illegal in 46 States does not apply any territorial restriction in the betting; age is not checked.
And it is ugly and that don’t like approaching, but the truth is much more within the DNA of the game are small payments with real money (and think that they are deep inside: all the latest super hits include micropayments of a species or other), more control must have to avoid abuses and dark practices. Such complaints or cases such as that of TinyBuild and G2A are sign that the digital economy has some challenges that we must still address.
