In early December, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the LDPR party, appealed to the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation with a proposal to introduce labeling for children's video games that have loot boxes and, in general, the opportunity to shop. According to the Izvestia newspaper, the ministry did not agree with his idea.
Recall that Slutsky claimed that such video games can cause addiction, and this is especially dangerous for children.
"Children, secretly from their parents, spend tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of rubles on in—game purchases, not understanding, due to their age, the consequences of such costs for the family," the deputy wrote in the appeal.
In addition to labeling, Slutsky also suggested creating "additional parental control mechanisms" or developing restrictions that would be applied if the child still makes a purchase.
In a response to Slutsky, cited by Izvestia, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation indicated that Russian legislation already obliges publishers to classify video games by age — such an obligation is prescribed in the law "On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development." The ministry agrees that other types of labeling are needed that will take into account the content in video games. However, Slutsky is not the only one who suggests doing this. The Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation is currently working on its draft law.
"Considering the above, we note that the regulatory mechanism currently being worked out in the industry includes the necessary level of control, including parental control, over information disseminated using video games or contained in them," the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation replied.
Last week, Slutsky made another proposal related to video games. Together with a group of deputies, he introduced a bill to the State Duma, which proposes to limit in-game advertising to 15 seconds and prohibit it from being shown more than once every 20 minutes.