There is a line in "Forrest Gump": Life is like a chocolate, you never know what the next piece will taste like. This phrase is most appropriately applied to the blind box industry that has emerged in recent years — you never know what goods you can pull out of the blind box.
But it is precisely this unknown mystery that stimulates consumer curiosity, and the uncertainty of probability increases its addiction.
With the east wind of blind boxes, many internet manufacturers have also launched blind box products, and the NetEase big player app is one of them. To put it simply, NetEase Big Player is a tide play mall created by NetEase bringing together its own game IP peripherals, as well as other popular handmade, models, and trendy products. What is different from the traditional mall is that NetEase attaches great importance to the blind box game in this mall.
Users can choose to buy goods directly, or they can choose to buy a blind box to randomly get a product, such as digital products such as mobile phones, game consoles, headphones, or various types of animation handmade.
As for what is specifically offered, depending on the probability, the higher the value of the commodity, the lower the probability.
Does this gameplay feel familiar?
Many people first thought of NetEase's Kryptonite card draw game, but the prizes changed from game props to physical goods. The problem is that when virtual game props become physical goods, the value of the goods is linked to cash, and with the addictiveness of the probability mechanism, it is difficult to define whether NetEase big players are games, e-commerce, or even disguised gambling?
Is NetEase suspected of gambling in disguise, and what subtle routines have been used by NetEase big players in the process of selling blind boxes?
First of all, the conclusion is that as far as the criminal law norms are concerned, NetEase big players may indeed be suspected of gambling in disguise.
At present, online gambling is mainly divided into two categories, one is the transfer of traditional gambling to the network, and the other is the "disguised gambling online game" derived from online games.
The cleverness of NetEase's big players is that it combines online games with online stores, so it is difficult to classify it, but we can define it according to the relevant characteristics.
According to the relevant articles on the official website of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, gambling behavior mainly has three characteristics: one is that the bet has greater economic value; the second is the uncertainty of the outcome of the game; and the third is that the behavior has the conformity of the constituent elements.
As far as the first article is concerned, the standard for filing a gambling case is that the sum of the absolute values of winning and losing is greater than 1,000 yuan. The magic gift bag on the NetEase big player APP is priced at 299 yuan at a time, and the highest value prize is 8499 yuan of iPhone12, which is obviously the sum of the two is much greater than 1000 yuan, which meets the gambling identification standards.
The second is easier to understand, gambling must be based on an uncertain event as the criterion for judgment, if the probability of NetEase large players is random, it meets the identification criteria, if the probability is manipulated, it constitutes the crime of fraud.
Article 3 needs to be understood in conjunction with article 303 of the Criminal Law, that is, "for the purpose of making profits, gathering crowds to gamble or gambling as a business", constitutes the crime of gambling, NetEase as an enterprise, naturally for the purpose of profit, its APP has a huge user group, in line with the "gathering crowd" standard.
From the perspective of the above three points, the blind box play of NetEase's large players basically meets the above characteristics, and its interactive form may be suspected of gambling in the sense of criminal law. Of course, some people will say, this is not a lottery, it should not be so serious, of course, we do not have the right to give a judgment, this is just a question we give from the perspective of consumers, I believe that everyone will also have their own views, and the final conclusion also needs to be given by the relevant departments.
But After all, NetEase is an Internet manufacturer, and the legal department is certainly not eating dry food, and some problems will definitely be circumvented.
For example, if the user is not satisfied with the drawn goods, they can choose to be recycled by NetEase, but they must be deducted 20% of the price of the goods as a handling fee. So you see, although users are woolen, but in the end they have not returned empty-handed, and it is difficult for NetEase to be labeled as gambling.
However, even if it is a black heart casino, the tap is basically only about 5%, is NetEase's 20% handling fee a bit too much?
The price of blind box products is also suspected of being abnormally high, such as the Sony ps5 host national bank version of the price as high as 6999 yuan, but in a certain east only 5988 yuan, the price difference of more than 1000, is it difficult for NetEase to open the light for this host?
The reason is that the high handling fee and high commodity price are all aimed at increasing the transaction fee of users to recover goods, thereby grabbing higher profits for the platform.
In addition, the intricate platform rules also make NetEase invincible in its own routine.
For example, full of three goods to free shipping, otherwise it costs 15 yuan postage, many times the user draws the goods are not expensive, can only choose to be recycled, you think NetEase is making money on the probability, in fact, it earns the user recovery fee.
Some netizens also reflected that if the goods drawn are out of stock, they cannot submit the shipment, and the goods will be automatically forcibly recycled after a certain time, and the recovery price is the user's lottery fee.
That is to say, even if you draw an iPhone, but the display product is out of stock, then sorry, as long as the time has passed, NetEase will only refund you the lottery fee at most.
In essence, NetEase is most likely using the user's "gambler" psychology to make money, and it has long been familiar.
As early as 2016, NetEase launched the "1 yuan to buy" game, the iPhone worth 6000 yuan, the price is 6500 yuan, and then divided into 6500 equal parts, each participant can spend one yuan to participate in the lottery, and finally the probability will be 6500 parts, and finally no matter who draws the iPhone, NetEase guarantees that there is a 500 yuan difference to earn. It was not until 2017 that the state characterized "one-dollar purchase" as gambling behavior, and NetEase removed it from the shelves.
One-dollar buying is characterized as gambling, so what about two-dollar buying, three-dollar buying, or N-dollar buying in blind box play?
In fact, logically speaking, it is just a new bottle of old wine! Whether it is a few yuan to buy, the core problem inside, on the one hand, is the value of the commodity, in the end is there a price of inflated, shoddy, or even counterfeit, or do not send prizes, volume absconding, etc.; on the other hand, is the regulatory problem, such as NetEase big players, as a well-known platform, the number of users is huge, in the end how to ensure that the operation of the platform is not risky? Is it self-managed? Whether there will be fraud in the process, such as designating winners, using robots to participate in pulling down the winning rate of real consumers, etc., these are all risks and need to be regulated.
In addition, if you search for NetEase big players in a certain place, you will find a large number of European emperors showing off that they have won high-priced goods, but if you leave a message to question it, you will immediately be blocked by the deletion. I have to say that even the water army has been used, and NetEase's eating appearance this time is really a bit ugly.
Not only that, NetEase's terms of service are also eye-opening.
In the service description of NetEase big players, the platform lets "users understand and agree that there may be certain defects in the goods of the Magic Lucky Bag", "There are micro-flawed products that do not belong to quality problems", "After opening the box online, it does not support 7 days without reason to return" and "The product information may change at any time, and the company will not notify you separately".
To sum up: NetEase's products may be defective, but micro-flaws are not defects, do not support 7 days without reason to return and exchange, the product information platform can be modified at will, and will not notify users.
Listen, is this human word?
Being both a referee and an athlete is enough, and the new Consumer Protection Law, which came into effect on March 15, 2014, stipulates that online shopping products can be returned without reason within 7 days of the date of arrival, which is also ignored.
If NetEase admits that it is selling goods, then its overlord clause obviously violates the consumer's right to fair trade. If NetEase believes that what it sells is not a commodity, then its suspected disguised gambling is solid.
The China Consumers Association said that the basic attribute of the blind box is the commodity, and the operator must bear the statutory quality guarantee responsibility to ensure that the quality information of the commodity is true, and cannot overuse the curiosity of consumers to mislead people into impulsive consumption.
There is a proverb in the West that a bird looks like a duck, barks like a duck, and walks like a duck, then it is a duck. Whether NetEase big players are ducks or not ultimately depends on how the law defines them. But even if you take a step back, just as a merchant, what NetEase big players do is debatable.
More importantly, the audience of NetEase Blind Box, a considerable part of its game users, teenagers account for a high proportion, their economy comes from their parents, self-control is relatively weak, once caught in the marketing of this "gambler" mechanism, it is often difficult to get out. We do not demand that NetEase become a charity enterprise, but as a Chinese Internet company, we still hope that it can keep the basic bottom line of respecting consumers and protecting teenagers.
Of course, the use of similar routines of enterprises are not only NetEase, so we hope that while innovating various business models, supervision should keep up in time, and can not hope for industry self-discipline, only in this way can the interests of consumers be protected to the greatest extent.
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