Friday, January 3, 2020

Loot Boxes is Gambling

In many Countries, you need to be at least 18 years old in order to gamble. Gambling machines are designed to be addictive with their sounds and attractive light effects and we can see the exact same logic being used for loot boxes in games.

A loot box is a mini game, within a game, that give you a chance at winning in-game items. Many gaming companies are including these into their games as a way to make more money out of the consumer base. The problem is that, unlike casino gambling where you have to be 18 years old, kids are playing these games and are exposed to the addicting effect of it all.

Even if we were to change the rating of those games to "Adult Only - Reason: Gambling" kids can still play them. It would be difficult to stop a kid, for example, from playing Fortnight at this point.

The only game I like that also had loot boxes was "The Division". Even though I never bought one with real money, you could win some loot boxes via in-game events, I definitely felt the "feel good" feeling that comes from winning a rare item. Being an adult, I was able to identify this feeling easier than a kid would of.

Keep gambling away from the kids.

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