Author: Shao Shiwei; Source: Mankiw Blockchain Legal Services
Recently viewed There are two pieces of news. One is that on February 29, 2024, the trading card game Parallel launched a public beta version. The other is the e-sports game Degen Game (a real-time strategy game that combines MOBA and cards, also known as the Web3 version of Clash Royale) launched by DegenVerse, a Web3 game e-sports entertainment platform, which received strategic investment support from Boyaa Interactive.
Both news conveyed a message to us , it seems to be a good direction to modify the traditional card game and apply it to the field of Web3 games.
The development of Web3 games is indispensable for reference from traditional games. Similarly, the legal risks that have arisen from traditional card games can also inspire Web3 game entrepreneurs. .
Card games can be roughly divided into traditional card games, trading card games (TCG) and general card games.
TraditionalCard games, or card games, such as "Poker", "UNO", etc. .
Trading card game is based on collecting cards. The collected cards are composed into decks and played Game battle. Compared with traditional cards, the difference between trading cards is that the decks used in the game are no longer fixed. For example, Pokémon trading card game, Hearthstone, etc.
(Hearthstone)
PanCard games incorporate more elements, such as Dota Legend, which combines cards with action, Clash Royale, which combines cards with real-time strategy, and Clash Royale, which combines cards with tower defense. Arknights etc. Compared with trading card games, card games have made more extensions to electronic games.
(Dota Legend)
1. Blind box-like card sales model
The gameplay of the trading card game is that players combine the collected cards into cards Group and compete. There are two ways to collect card decks: pre-packs and supplementary packs. The so-called pre-packs are the official decks composed by themselves. The cards in them are all fixed and can be played after being opened. The supplementary pack is to put a certain number of cards with a certain theme into the card pack, and the cards in it are randomly obtained. This results in a certain scarcity of a small number of cards.
Although my country currently does not have legal regulations specifically targeting trading card games, its business model and sales strategy are somewhat similar to blind boxes. They all create a phenomenon of scarcity of specific cards to attract players to buy more card products. Therefore, you can refer to the applicable laws and regulations regarding blind boxes.
For example, Pokémon cards only use red and blue to represent the rarity of the card, but the rare cards and common cards in each pack of cards are not announced. Proportion of cards.
In the "Shanghai Compliance Guidelines for Blind Box Business Activities", it is stipulated that blind box operators should publicize "product types, box drawing rules, product distribution, product quantity, hidden money extraction probability, product value range and each Key information such as the number of times a series can be drawn and the amount limit.”
2. Legal issues faced by second-hand card trading
When players cannot purchase their favorite cards through official channels, they will look for ways to trade second-hand cards. Such as offline trading clubs or online live card drawings. The scarcity of cards will trigger market speculation. After market speculation, the nature of the cards has undergone a qualitative change from a game competitive attribute to a financial attribute.
In June 2021, a judicial auction triggered heated discussions on the Internet. A Blue Eyes White Dragon game card that seems to have no actual functions has a starting price of 80 yuan, and the highest bid for this game card has exceeded 87 million yuan.
Various popular card removal methods on Douyin In the live broadcast room, players or scalpers draw cards to obtain rare cards. Based on the "consensus" psychology in the card circle (this is similar to NFT digital collections, the more people recognize the value of a certain type of NFT, the higher its price will be), many players generally agree on the rarity of the card, then the card The price of the card will skyrocket due to its collectible value.
These buyers may not use the purchased cards to play battle games, and the purchased cards may be sold by them at a higher price.
In January 2022, all members of a certain star card club were arrested during a live broadcast, causing the live broadcast to be interrupted. The reason is that this gameplay already involves gambling. The reason why card drawing constitutes online gambling is that users pay to purchase goods and draw cards based on the mentality of small and broad. The results of card drawing are random, and the drawn cards can be cashed out and exchanged for legal currency. This has formed a closed loop of the gambling chain.
(All members of a certain star card club were arrested during the live broadcast)
3. Risks that need to be avoided when hosting live broadcasts of card events
The organizers of game events have formed a Common business operating models. Hosting live broadcasts of game events itself does not involve any illegality, but the settings of some gameplay mechanisms may involve legal risks involving gambling, for example: the platform allows anchors to privately add player contact information and recover game coins; the platform and Banks and merchants cooperate to provide users with game currency/game props monetization services for users to score points, and the platform organizes users to conduct live betting, gamble on the results of the game, etc.
For example, in October 2023, the Shanghai High Court issued acase:
（https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/qFVfzjd3SbMcToZtnAiOVA）
Li Moumou runs an e-sports company, In 2020, the company developed and launched an online game APP, which can form teams online and organize players to purchase tickets to participate in the "Honor of Kings" and "Peace Elite" mobile game competitions. The top players can share the "bonus pool", and the APP will "take" from the tickets and set up a cash withdrawal function. After the game, players can withdraw cash from the APP based on their ranking. As of the incident, the amount of gambling money on the APP reached more than 2 million yuan, and the platform organizers were sentenced by the court to the crime of opening a casino.
1. Prevent the risks that cards bring to the platform due to their financial attributes
In the design of business models, platforms need to find a balance between profit and compliance. In terms of gameplay design, strengthening the scarcity attribute of certain types of cards will enhance the fun of the game and mobilize players' enthusiasm to participate in the game. However, excessive publicity and momentum will cause speculation and make the price of scarce card resources reach a high level. to outrageous prices. If the platform supports players to trade with each other, the platform only charges a handling fee. If the price of the scarce card drops in the future, the buyer who finally takes over will be dissatisfied with the platform due to his own losses. If the platform does not open a secondary trading market, but supports mutual transactions between players, the price speculation will become even more uncontrollable (because the platform cannot limit the price). Both of the aforementioned trading models may lead to complaints from relevant users due to a drop in the price of scarce cards. In this case, the platform may be interviewed by the relevant regulatory authorities for rectification, or may involve criminal risks.
2. Prevent gambling risks in the setting of game mechanisms
In foreign Web3 games, in-game tokens can be traded on virtual currency exchanges, which naturally have financial attributes. However, in domestic card games, the redemption of virtual currency funds must be prohibited. In the card game, players need to formulate appropriate strategies based on the attributes and skills of the cards. There are complex interactions between different cards. Players need to make the best decisions through careful consideration. There will be rich content in the game. Players can adjust their tactics according to different opponents, so it is not a matter of betting on probability. However, as mentioned above, if there are modes such as betting on winning or losing, live broadcast card drawing, etc., there is still the possibility of gambling.
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