Just last month, Hawaii’s state representatives started an investigation regarding predatory loot-boxes due to EA and DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront 2. Democratic State Representative Chris Lee was very vocal about the situation, and seems to take the matter serious enough to make a new video called “Time To Step Up”.
Posted not too long ago comes a video of Lee explaining that far more can be done than just “look into” a situation regarding predatory loot-boxes and microtransactions. The U.S. lawmaker also wants to ban minors gaining access to video games that feature “gambling mechanisms” sporting a “percentage chance” of getting an item using real money.
In other words, participants/buyers who want to play games featuring said content must be 21 years of age or older to do so.
Moreover, this ban wouldn’t play on physical copies of games but digital games, too. This means that games containing premium loot-boxes that are available digitally cannot be accessed by folks under 21, meaning that platforms such as Steam would have to cooperate with this bill.
The new video featured on Lee’s YouTube channel discussing predatory loot-boxes sits below for you to look over:
For those who are left out of the loop and have no idea what problems have occurred with loot-boxes over the years, one good example of shady practices regarding said crates comes in the form of Battlefield 1’s Desert Gold skin.
A lot of people often tell people not to buy loot-boxes, but in BF1 the system was very straight forward and simple at the start with no real money involved. The loot-box system changed over the course of time and went through a lot insofar that it caused a huge controversial problem.
The old system saw players opening a couple “Superior Battlebacks” and getting what they wanted very quickly, until January 1st, 2017 rolled around. The problematic “Desert Gold Scandal” and EA and DICE’s ill practices can be thoroughly looked over thanks to LevelCapGaming.
The problem with the above is that the devs could and still can change drop rates without any proper disclosure, playing on the naive and laughing all the way to the bank by doing so:
Thanks to community feedback we have increased the drop-chance rate for the Desert Gold legendary vehicle skin in Battlepacks.
— Battlefield (@Battlefield) December 30, 2016
Right on! You'll have to let us know once it pops for you.
— Battlefield (@Battlefield) December 30, 2016
The discussion as to whether loot-boxes and microtransactions are a form of gambling is still ongoing. With that said, what do you think of loot-boxes being regulated by the government?
