The situation around the loot boxes is heating up. In Australia, as a result of a large-scale study, it was concluded that the influence of loot boxes on players is psychologically similar to the influence that gambling has. The authors of the study also suggested limiting the sale of games with loot boxes.
The work was carried out by one of the committees of Australia — Environment and Communications (hereinafter ECRC) — for the Senate, the upper house of the Australian Parliament. A small reference: in Australia, the Senate delegates a number of tasks to its committees, thereby increasing the speed and quality of decisions taken afterwards.
The ECRC was faced with the task of discovering how harmful micropayments with random content issuance can be, whether they are a form of gambling and whether the existing rating system in the country takes all this into account.
To answer these questions, a survey of more than seven thousand people was conducted, among other things. Its main conclusion was made public yesterday, September 17, as part of the committee’s public hearings. It sounded disappointing for the gaming industry: the stronger a player’s penchant for gambling, the more he spends on loot boxes.
The latter allowed us to conclude that, psychologically, loot boxes are similar to gambling mechanics. This, according to the document from the hearing, also means that luboxes can cause the same harm as gambling. Moreover, from the point of view of researchers, luboxes can lead to gambling addiction in gamers.
The authors of the work recommend that games containing loot boxes should have the appropriate labeling (“in-game gambling content”), and also that the possibility of restricting the sale of such games to adults only be seriously considered.
Also, as you can learn from the transcript of the hearings, representatives of the committee have already contacted their colleagues from Belgium and the Netherlands, who earlier this year forced a number of large companies (Blizzard, Valve, 2K Games) to change monetization in local versions of their games.
Also on the topic:
- Blizzard will remove the sale of loot boxes from Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm in BelgiumIn Belgium and the Netherlands, CS players:
- GO banned from opening loot boxesValve has suspended the sale of game items for CS:
- GO and Dota 2 in the Netherlands because of the law on loot boxesSource: Games Industry