In the new age of gaming, there are a lot of new questionable practices in gaming, one of the worst is loot boxes.
Loot boxes are the idea of you opening a pack and getting a random item anywhere from amazing to terrible. Many modern games use these, some popular ones are FIFA with player packs and Star Wars Battlefront 2 with its star cards. Most games leave their loot boxes entirely cosmetic but some additional things which will make the games easier to win for richer players. The idea is the more money you spend the higher chance of you obtaining a reward sound familiar? Even 16 countries in Europe have recognised this. Neil McArthur, chief executive for the UK Gambling Commission, had this to say:
“We have joined forces to call on video games companies to address the clear public concern around the risks gambling and some video games can pose to children.”
The Stance Of This Alliance Of Countries
The countries that are taking a stand are The UK, The USA, Belgium and the Netherlands. The main action all of these countries have taken are (except the UK) are declaring loot boxes as gambling and taking out the ability to trade items and open loot boxes in DOTA and CSGO. Their reasoning behind this is if they stop this high-risk behaviour early on it will stop younger children gaining a gambling addiction from these types of games. EA best known for sports games like FIFA is under investigation by the Belgian Gaming Commission for its heavy loot box implementation in their games. EA’s chief design officer had this to say on the matter (source is taken from the verge)
“I’d be lying to you if I said that what’s happened with Battlefront and what’s happened with everything surrounding loot boxes and these things haven’t had an effect on EA as a company and an effect on us as management,” he explains. “We can shy away from it and pretend like it didn’t happen, or we can act responsibly and realize that we made some mistakes, and try to rectify those mistakes and learn from them.”
It seems like EA has learned from what has happened let’s hope other Developers can follow in their example and adapt their business practices to something less harmful to younger users.
- by Liam Watson, Reporter
- Sources: The Verge, The Telegraph
