The loot box is quite a daunting term when it comes to Video Games. FIFA, Call of Duty, and various other games have them. If you are not sure what they are; they are essentially something you buy that gives you a random chance at items. These could be strictly cosmetic or actually useful. The biggest issue with this is that it causes people to get hooked like gambling does. “One more hand” or “one more roll” can now be “one more box” while on the search for something valuable. This is especially damaging because children like to play these games. It is absolutely adequate to play these games without touching loot boxes, but kids may not realize that. Their parents often have their credit card information hooked up to the gaming system in the house, and this leads to financial chaos. The children might continue to buy and buy until they get something from these packs. It’s like gambling with someone else’s money. The worst part is that it exposes children to this environment at an early age, and could leave their parents missing money in the process.
Regulators in some countries have tried to put a stop to this. 15 European Union countries agreed that this is a problem to look into. Belgium outright banned loot boxes since they decided it fell under their gambling laws. This resulted in large companies pulling out loot boxes completely in Belgium. This resulted in the cause gaining momentum in the United States. Those efforts have since stalled, however. Lobbying from the big video game companies have curbed any progress that has been made in this regard. I guess money talks, and $3o billion is plenty for political leaders to step down from this issue.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63072724/acastro_190206_32221_lootboxes_gambling_0001.0.jpg)
source: https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/19/18226852/loot-boxes-gaming-regulation-gambling-free-to-play
Interesting article, Jimmy. I’ve definitely noticed in the past five years that loot boxes have become increasingly popular in the video game industry. I’m glad you brought up the countries in the EU that outright banned loot boxes. Last summer I read an article about the Netherlands completely removing loot boxes from CS:GO and continue to see news about European countries toying with the idea. Do you think the US will ever do away with loot boxers or is the video game lobby is too strong?
source: https://www.pcgamesn.com/counter-strike-global-offensive/csgo-lootbox-netherlands
Loot boxes are indeed addicting as I can say from personal experience. Video game companies are capitalizing off these loot boxes. They make these boxes enticing by the chance to win rare, limited edition add-ons to the game. Children are still developing their brains and cannot comprehend how dangerous this is. I think the fact that video games are able to successfully pull this off absolutely horrifying. These loot boxes are feeding to the statistics. “The number of children classed as having a gambling problem has quadrupled to more than 50,000 in just two years, a report has claimed (BBC)”. I have no idea if this could truly get regulated for the US.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46286945