It seems like loot boxes are an evil that must be eradicated. Gambling has always been a problem in society, and in more recent years, digital gambling through video games has become quite a rampant ISSUE, especially when loot boxes started appearing. Things have become really serious, as various countries banned loot boxes, and now Australia’s Senate passed a motion which aims to investigate them and their use in games. The Environment and Communications Reference Committee is going to lead this investigation, and they will report their findings in September.
These legal battles with loot boxes are going to greatly affect the video game industry, we are sure of it, as more and more countries are either banning them or investigating them. We heard about this in a post by MSN, and it seems like it was Senator Jordon Steele-John of the Australian Greens party that presented the option of investigating loot boxes. Naturally, the entire Senate supported this action. Jordon also said:
“I have significant concerns about the adequacy of current consumer protection and regulatory frameworks for monetised game mechanics, particularly when we know they are accessible to children … an incredible number of popular big name titles incorporate these kinds of monetised game mechanics, not as a way of improving in-game experience, but as a way of simply prying more money off of their players,”
In all honesty, he does have a point, but we are still anxious to see what will happen in September once their research comes to a close.
