A UK parliamentary committee has staged an inquiry into addictive and immersive technologies and has recommended that in-game spending should be regulated by gambling laws, with loot boxes...
A UK parliamentary committee has staged an inquiry into addictive and immersive technologies and has recommended that in-game spending should be regulated by gambling laws, with loot boxes entirely banned for sale to children.
The UK has been making these noises for some time now, and they clearly want the industry to self-regulate. Given that option -- effective self regulation, or government imposed and then EU...
The UK has been making these noises for some time now, and they clearly want the industry to self-regulate.
Given that option -- effective self regulation, or government imposed and then EU imposed regulation -- I'm a bit surprised at the attitudes displayed by some of the companies asked to give evidence to the committee.
When a government calls you in for a chat you need to pay attention and show respect. Bluffing it probably isn't going to go well.
In contrast, we were struck by how difficult it was to get full and clear answers from some of the games and social media companies we spoke to and were disappointed by the manner in which some representatives engaged with the inquiry. We felt that some representatives demonstrated a lack of honesty and transparency in acknowledging what data is collected, how it is used and the psychological underpinning of how products are designed, and this made us question what these companies have to hide. It is unacceptable that companies with millions of users, many of them children, should be so ill-equipped to discuss the potential impacts of their products.
Having struggled to get clear answers and useful information from companies across the games industry in particular, we hope that our inquiry and this report serve to focus all in the industry—particularly large, multinational companies whose games are played all over the world—on their responsibilities to protect their players from potential harms and to observe the relevant legal and regulatory frameworks in all countries their products reach.
(Bold as original)
This is a great way to get a heavy handed set of regulation imposed upon you.
I don't think the industry will self-regulate at all. Jagex for one are owned by a Chinese multinational who have undoubtedly been the ones pulling the strings when it comes to the game's heavy...
I don't think the industry will self-regulate at all. Jagex for one are owned by a Chinese multinational who have undoubtedly been the ones pulling the strings when it comes to the game's heavy monetisation. If they won't listen to the swathes of their game's community protesting against bad changes, there's no way they'll listen to the government.
Other big publishers who are notorious for lootboxes probably couldn't give two shits about the UK market and likely think we're small fry when it comes to game sales.
The only time I've seen the games industry regulate itself was when the ESRB was established in America. But this was an unique situation where retailers and the government effectively banded together to clamp down upon video game content that they saw as immoral. The likes of games like Doom, Night Trap and Mortal Kombat are incredibly tame by today's standards but in the early 90s, any depictions of violence were anathema. The US ratings system was clearly a compromise because the industry and retailers didn't want heavy handed government regulation.
Personally, I'd go even further than the UK government's proposals and I would fully support an outright loot box ban like Belgium and the Netherlands have. This is for several reasons:
Gambling is already a restricted activity in the UK. You have to provide verification documents to prove your identity to gamble online and any casino will rigorously ID check you. Comparatively, there are very few if any age verification checks required to play video games or purchase microtransactions.
Even if we told the BBFC or PEGI to slap an 18+ label on any games with lootboxes, parents will largely ignore those warnings, as they do with violent video games. These games are popular and largely played by children. I seriously doubt that they would be deterred by a big fat 18+ label.
A lot of parents are either ignorant to or don't have a clue how to set up parental controls on a console. The only other alternative would be to censor and heavily control access to the internet. I don't want Britain going down that path regardless of whether it's to stifle extreme views, protect kids from porn, or to protect consumers from lootboxes.
Loot boxes are killing the games industry. They are being slapped liberally onto video games that already have a £50 price tag. I wouldn't be surprised if predatory practices like this in time put off consumers to the point where we see another market crash.
A UK parliamentary committee has staged an inquiry into addictive and immersive technologies and has recommended that in-game spending should be regulated by gambling laws, with loot boxes entirely banned for sale to children.
Jagex in particular has come under fire from Parliament for their lack of controls or safeguards on player spending, after admitting that players could spend upwards of £1,000 a week on loot boxes. While not mentioned in this particular article, Parliament did hear from a member of the public whose son racked up considerable debts "in excess of £50,000" through spending on microtransactions in RuneScape.
The UK has been making these noises for some time now, and they clearly want the industry to self-regulate.
Given that option -- effective self regulation, or government imposed and then EU imposed regulation -- I'm a bit surprised at the attitudes displayed by some of the companies asked to give evidence to the committee.
When a government calls you in for a chat you need to pay attention and show respect. Bluffing it probably isn't going to go well.
https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/digital-culture-media-and-sport-committee/news/immersive-technology-report-17-19/
(Bold as original)
This is a great way to get a heavy handed set of regulation imposed upon you.
Recently a gaming addiction clinic opened in the UK. One player self referred because they've spent 20,000 in one game. https://twitter.com/ArtScienceDoc/status/1174631818458521605
I don't think the industry will self-regulate at all. Jagex for one are owned by a Chinese multinational who have undoubtedly been the ones pulling the strings when it comes to the game's heavy monetisation. If they won't listen to the swathes of their game's community protesting against bad changes, there's no way they'll listen to the government.
Other big publishers who are notorious for lootboxes probably couldn't give two shits about the UK market and likely think we're small fry when it comes to game sales.
The only time I've seen the games industry regulate itself was when the ESRB was established in America. But this was an unique situation where retailers and the government effectively banded together to clamp down upon video game content that they saw as immoral. The likes of games like Doom, Night Trap and Mortal Kombat are incredibly tame by today's standards but in the early 90s, any depictions of violence were anathema. The US ratings system was clearly a compromise because the industry and retailers didn't want heavy handed government regulation.
Personally, I'd go even further than the UK government's proposals and I would fully support an outright loot box ban like Belgium and the Netherlands have. This is for several reasons:
Gambling is already a restricted activity in the UK. You have to provide verification documents to prove your identity to gamble online and any casino will rigorously ID check you. Comparatively, there are very few if any age verification checks required to play video games or purchase microtransactions.
Even if we told the BBFC or PEGI to slap an 18+ label on any games with lootboxes, parents will largely ignore those warnings, as they do with violent video games. These games are popular and largely played by children. I seriously doubt that they would be deterred by a big fat 18+ label.
A lot of parents are either ignorant to or don't have a clue how to set up parental controls on a console. The only other alternative would be to censor and heavily control access to the internet. I don't want Britain going down that path regardless of whether it's to stifle extreme views, protect kids from porn, or to protect consumers from lootboxes.
Loot boxes are killing the games industry. They are being slapped liberally onto video games that already have a £50 price tag. I wouldn't be surprised if predatory practices like this in time put off consumers to the point where we see another market crash.